Local artist and designer Jeff Johnson is running a new business, the Print Shop, out of his house on 18th Street. I’m especially interested in this project because I’m fond of Johnson’s whimsical, surrealistic paintings. They’re right in sync with the pop surrealism movement that’s so big today. They also resonate with the high-energy 1980s NYC pop art of Kenny Scharf and Keith Harring, and even the old school surrealism of Juan Miro, who painted all sorts of quirky looking creatures hopping around doing all sorts of quirky looking things in his famous Harlequin’s Carnival painting, completed way back in 1925. I want to focus in particular on a Johnson painting titled Premonition. The colorful work shows three rag dolls lying in positions that seem haphazard but vaguely human. A purple and white checkerboard floor spreads out before them; an electric outlet dominates the space above them. The work clearly has the whimsical quality I mentioned. But close examination reveals that two of the figures are entwined with each other, while the third figure lies alone, far away from the couple. In spite of the buoyant effect of the painting’s bright colors, the scene that’s depicted is, in fact, one of loneliness or alienation. Somehow, though, the depiction of these discomforting feelings is anything but morose. Johnson also creates cowboy art. Although I sometimes see a Remmington I enjoy, in general, cowboy art isn’t my cup of tea. But I think many of the sportsmen of Southwest Louisiana would greatly appreciate getting one of these cowboy paintings as a gift. One of Johnson’s slogans for The Print Shop is “You dream it, we print it.” What he means by this, he says, is he “can design artwork according to what you have in your head.” He can create an image in which the customer appears to be standing with a famous person. He uses dye sublimation printers and heat presses to put the designs he creates on anything from t-shirts to hats, mugs and ceramics. He has a 60-inch fine art reproduction printer that enables him to print designs on canvas, vinyl, photo papers, and, in fact, any media. He has a number of means for preserving wedding and family photos and making funeral memorials. Other places in town may be able to do many or all of these things. I’m not familiar with the workings of the printing trade. But it does sound as if a large variety of products and services is being offered. And it’s certainly worthwhile to take the time to check out Johnson’s surrealistic paintings. If you want to make an inquiry, place an order or look over The Print Shop, call 304-4971 or drop by at 314 West 18th St.
Not Sure What Surrealism Is?
Not sure what surrealism is? Why not ask your children to teach you? Yes, they will soon be able to do that. This summer, the Imperial Calcasieu Museum will offer classes in surrealism to students any grade from K through 8. Classes will run from 9-11:30 am. Youths who attend will get a snack and a break. There will be three sessions, running on the days of July 11-15, 17-22 and 25-29. Tuition is $75 (or $60 if you’re a member of the museum). Some scholarships are available. For more info, go to imperialcalcasieumuseum.org; click “Summer Art Camps” in the list on the far left of the page; then click “July Registration Form” on the page that comes up. Your Private Tour Ever wish you could tour and learn about Lake Charles’ historic district — also called the “Charpentier District” — without having to take a formal tour or do a lot of reading? If so, you may be interested in a new app just released by the Charpentier Historic District. With the app, you can take your own, private tour of the historic district any time you like. The app will give you turn-by-turn directions. App users can take either a half-hour or one-hour tour. The historic district contains architectural features and an eclectic blend of architectural styles that is found nowhere else in the world. If you’re not keen on architecture, the app will inform you about long-standing ghost stories of the district and stories about the Great Fire of 1910, which destroyed almost all the immediate downtown of Lake Charles. You can take your tour in English, French, Spanish or German or with closed captioning in English. To see a video about the app go to visitlakecharles.org/historic. To download the free app in your app store, search for “Lake Charles Historic Tour.”
Well, It Might Be Good News
Some of you may have worked as a bureaucrat at some point in the past and may not have cared much for the experience. Still, you may have picked up bureaucratic language that helps you in bureaucratic situations you get involved in down the line. An understanding of bureaucratic language would help anybody trying to understand a recent email from state Treasurer John Kennedy about how much money the state Bond Commission just spent on local projects in Louisiana. The following is the description of spending in Calcasieu Parish exactly as it appeared in Kennedy’s email: “Calcasieu Parish, $7.5 million in Revenue and Refunding Bonds for the Louisiana Community Development Authority’s city of Westlake, Louisiana Project for approximately $7,300,000 Refunding Bonds, refunding Excess Revenue Certificates of Indebtedness, Series 2009 and LCDA Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2010 and (2) approximately $200,000 Revenue Bonds, finance matching funds to obtain grants for the additions, acquisitions, repairs and/or expansions needed within the city.” Since I don’t know what the terms mean, I can’t understand the message. Take the phrase “$7,300,000 Refunding Bonds”: part of my brain wonders, “Shouldn’t there be some kind of preposition after ‘$7,300,000’?” But another part of my brain just gives up the fight and decides, “I don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.” In fancy English teacher talk, I’d say, “I can’t parse that sentence.” That means I can’t figure out what the subject, verb are. Fact of business, I can’t even tell whether it’s a sentence. The bottom line is that the long piece of prose I put in quotation marks is only going to be good news for the bureaucrat who’s able to understand what it means. For the rest of us, it’s just confusing news.
The Specter Of The Special Session
One of the big stories coming out of Baton Rouge these days concerns the question of whether Gov. Edwards will be able to persuade Republicans in the Legislature to hold a second special session on the budget gap. Part of the story is that legislative Republicans are cool to the idea of a special session. They argue that state revenues will increase to the degree that they’ll cover the $600 million gap predicted for the next state budget. And it’s true that state revenues are now in the red and predicted to stay that way. But whatever happens, state revenues won’t go up so fast that they’ll total $600 million before the deadline for deciding on a second special section. So what’s to be done? In its May 23 issue, The Daily Dime of the Louisiana Budget Project reported that “over in Lake Charles, the inimitable Jim Beam” had written some pertinent points about the budget debate. Here is one of them: “Reluctant legislators have the same ‘pie-in-the sky’ and ‘everything is going to be all right’ attitudes that existed over the last eight years that got the state into its current financial dilemma.” I like Beam’s dig at the mandatory optimism that is a feature — and sometimes an obstacle — of every level of American life in the 21st century. It’s certainly been a consistent feature of the Louisiana Legislature — even in the years before Jindal took office. I wonder whether Beam doesn’t come just as close to the essence of the problem when he writes — in the same column — “… The legislative will to solve serious tax problems simply isn’t there.” Everyone knows that the Louisiana Legislature is dominated by Republicans. And while this session’s Republicans have been over-eager to pass social conservative legislation that will certainly be overturned in federal court, the same group of Republicans appears to make fiscal changes that would take care of a $600 million budget gap. Right now, all prominent Republicans must be doing a good bit of soul searching about their party and feeling more than a little panic. If Trump loses come November, Republicans will be truly desperate to find some sort of secure sense of party identity. Could this sense of uncertainty on the part of Republicans be intensifying the Louisiana Legislature’s usual inclination toward inertia?
Question Of The Issue
The May 25 edition of Lafayette’s Daily Advertiser ran this headline: “Not your everyday banker-turned-zookeeper.” The question: Just who is your everyday banker-turned-zookeeper?
The News
“Game of Thrones: Answering 10 Burning Questions from This Week’s Episode” — Headline in Vanity Fair; No. 5 on Google News’ lists of “Top Stories” for May 23 “Sarah Silverman lights up cigarette during New York day out with sister Susan” — Headline in Britain’s Daily Mail, May 25.
The Funnies
Andy’s professor asks him to summarize the first lecture in his women’s studies class. Andy: We need to start teaching women football. Teaching women UFC. Teaching them to drive trucks without crashing. [We need to teach them to say,] “Maybe I’m only sexy, and maybe that’s all you see. But at least you can give me extra money: tip money and stuff. I’ll flirt with you. Write my name on a napkin.” They’re going to do it in a right kind of legal way that empowers prostitution. We don’t rest until we get that. That will be progress. Professor: That is extremely incorrect. Andy: I thought maybe it was. — Parks and Recreation, “Smallest Park” episode, 2011
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