Jeremy Paten

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Frank G. Painia

2018

Frank Painia was a barber first, but he was also a businessman. So, not long after opening his barber shop on LaSalle Street in the late 1930s, he started expanding. First came a bar, then a hotel that would become known as the Dew Drop Inn, the home away from home for countless black musicians visiting the then-strictly segregated Crescent City. Names like Ray Charles, Little Richard, Ella Fitzgerald, and B.B. King would lay their heads there when in town for concerts. Then, often as not, they would unwind with post-concert jam sessions at the Dew Drop's music hall, added in 1945. Word soon got out, and from the 1940s through the 1960s, the Drew Drop earned a national reputation as the city's ultimate after-hours hotspot for black and white music fans alike, segregation laws be damned. The legal end of segregation in 1964 would eventually spell the end of the Dew Drop, which stopped hosting musical acts around 1968. But by then, its place in New Orleans' musical history -- as an incubator of local talent and one of its most memorable musical meccas -- would already be cemented. A portrait of Frank G. Painia commissioned by Nola Media Group, producers of Nola.com / The Times-Picayune as part of its tricentennial project, 300 for 300: People who make New Orleans, New Orleans. | Read full story |

Sold $1,875.00

Acrylic paint, charcoal, archival paper
24" x 24"
Shipping cost: $50.00

Image Description: Frank G. Painia / Main Image

Artist + Jeremy Paten

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“Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.” - Robert McKee

Stories have been shared in every culture throughout history as a means of entertainment and education, and for the transformation and passing on of traditions. Storytellers are revered figures throughout history because of the magical mystique of the tale they share through their voices and minds.

I too am a storyteller, although I share my tale in a different way. I use visual narrative as an avenue to express my feelings and relate to the world around me. My hope is for the work to span cultural barriers and be accessible to any audience.

Every person goes through an array of emotions in their daily lives: love, anger, happiness, joy, and sadness. These emotions tie us together as human beings. I strive for the viewer to deepen their gaze, connect with a part of the narrative, and experience an emotional journey.

Jeremy Paten is a New Orleans artist living and working in the Uptown neighborhood.

NEW ORLEANS

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Location All / Greater New Orleans / Greater Baton Rouge / North Louisiana / Mississippi Gulf Coast