The Cajun Picasso

Being around creative people, I feel like one who thinks “inside the box.”

Architects can visualize a completed structure, composers can hear a completed compositon, and artists and sculptors can see their completed works long before their projects are actually finished.

And then there are those individuals who can see other uses in everyday objects—and even junk—and create articles and images by combining a variety of these “found objects” (see the two photos below). To me this skill requires even more of the artist because the artist must use the materials—with their fixed shapes, textures, and dimensions—presented to him/her.

Just off Johnston Street in Lafayette, LA, with its typical urban arrangement of shops and eateries is the Cajun Picasso Art and Antiques Gallery—a gallery that is “out of the box” compared to the box stores in the nearby mall.

The artwork spills out of the gallery and into the parking lot and front porch.

The figure in the wheelchair is the work of the Cajun Picasso, Dusty Reed.

In “a gallery like no other gallery”, Dustin “Dusty” Reed “has created an oasis of unconventional, contemporary-folk art. His art, and the art of the other in-house artists, takes a new approach to how art is viewed” (Shanna Perkins, lafayette.exposedtv.com/cajun-picasso).

One of those other artists happened to be in the gallery the day we visited. John Daigre, a retired pediatrician who goes by the name of "Dr. of Folk", had an early interest in collecting the works of primitive artists and then developed an interest in creating similar artworks, such as the scarecrow in the photo below.

Some of the other artists whose work is displayed are Miss Funk Master (Kai D.), Queen of Folk (Ros B.), The Chainsaw Master (Mark G.), Storyteller of the Past (Kip Hayes), The ODD MAN (Jeremy Dugas), and Mr. Trash Revival (Adam Walker), whose banjo player is shown below.

Dusty Reed’s favorite materials aren’t the acrylics, spray paint, mud, moss or sand that he uses in his creations.

“My medium, of course, is Louisiana,” Dusty Reed says. “My medium is Lafayette.”

Reed’s art is reminiscent of works by 19th-century Spanish artist Pablo Picasso with a dash of famed Louisiana artist George Rodrigue mixed in (Megan Wyatt, Theadvertiser.com). Shown below is Dusty's work called, I believe, "Family Portrait".

About Dusty himself: “The founder of Colk Art (a bridge between cubism and folk art), Dusty is set to become an artistic powerhouse in the near future. Every piece of his (from the “contemporary fine” to the “festival folk”) is blessed with the rich, Louisiana flare born from the mind of the man known as “The Cajun Picasso”.

"Dusty Reed is set to become an artistic powerhouse in the near future. His unique style is entertaining and vibrant. Every piece is blessed with that rich, Louisiana flare. Just like his namesake, Dusty's art pushes the boundaries of the norm creating a style all his own" (travelhost.com/southlouisiana/cajun-picasso).

A unique gallery; a unique artist. The longer we talked and the longer we looked at the works, the more we enjoyed our visit.