James Michalopoulos
Thursday, September 08, 2005
I've been trying to figure out the name of this New Orleans artist for a while now. My friend chet got a small Michalopoulos print for Christmas last december which, when i saw it the other day, reminded me again of his work. There's not a whole lot of information on the web about James Michalopoulos, but i was a bit disappointed to learn that he isn't originally from New Orleans. No matter, though. He's been around long enough to understand the essence of the city and really capture it in his portraits of houses around the city.My first introduction to James' work was actually one night when i was probably about 19, walking down the dreaded Bourbon St. with a group of friends. James was painting out on the sidewalk with a bunch of his paintings leaning against a cast iron fence. Artists working out on the street in the quarter are not hard to come by, but most of them congregate around Jackson Square and rarely do you see anything there that is truly unique. Michalopoulos' work has no trouble standing out in a crowd. Eventually i started seeing prints of his work in shops throughout the quarter and at this point it seems that he's become quite well known.
After seeing him working that night on Bourbon his works have been unmistakable to me. They have such vivid color and life. The buildings sway, protrude, and recede; they live as their inhabitants live. There's never a straight line, which is probably the most accurate way to describe New Orleans. Everything is wet and fluid, even the humid air. Over the last week or so we've heard a lot about how the community of New Orleans isn't the buildings, the shops, the architecture, it's the people who call it home. But i think Michalopoulos' paintings illustrate that that's not entirely true. The buildings are full of character too.
Book House
Case For Embrace
Erath's Glance
Green Peace
Hold Out
Lean Leftly
Marvels of Mid-City
Moon Over Mazant
Moon Over Miasma
Royal and Green and Rarely Seen
Swell Rising
Treble Tres Luna
You can check out James Michalopoulos' website to buy prints, paintings, his book(!), read his bio, etc... Otherwise, good luck finding out much else about him online.
posted by j. Permanent Link
