Corresponding to the aims of the Gesamtkunstwerk, artists today desire to initiate social reform through combining various art forms to create a cohesive whole.
Paralleling the Art Nouveau ideals of the late 19th and early 20th century, contemporary art is continually transcending and transforming traditional notions of what art is supposed to be. Corresponding to the aims of the Gesamtkunstwerk, artists today desire to initiate social reform through combining various art forms to create a cohesive whole. We see this most distinctly with the recent fusion of art and tech. This mood of awakening provokes the global appetite for innovation and desire to connect art and life as much as possible.
In New Orleans, especially during the carnival season, the city and its people become the art. What's most luminous about New Orleans during this magical time of year is the shining of garish, almost psychedelic colors that tend to encompass the city and its inhabitants. Like Western Europe during the Art Nouveau period, New Orleans is a brilliant metropolis of art, a romantic escape from reality. This exhibition intends to highlight that romantic escape into the illuminating realm of art and features the mavericks and artistic pioneers of the crescent city avant-garde.
