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Eddie Ralph Hebert, Artist Statement
Our Parks, 2024
While walking in City Park in the early 1990s, I discovered an abandoned fountain containing the figure of a seated nymph with head slightly tilted and hands palms down outstretched in front of her. It was in disrepair, it held no water, and the metal was pitted and darkened with age and neglect. She appeared to be conjuring something. Later, I learned her name was Chloe. I thought the fountain was both lovely and sad, and it made me wonder about an earlier time when it worked properly. I drew and painted the statue. Recently, I revisited Chloe and happily, she and the fountain had been repaired. I decided to make another painting and considered how much City Park was a part of my growing up in New Orleans.
Along with two oak trees, Chloe became the subject of these three exhibited paintings.