Although he initially demonstrated his talent as a graffiti artist on train track cars in Mississippi at the age of 15, Courtney "Ceaux" Buckley, a New Orleans-born, multidisciplinary artist has found more stationary platforms for his work.
He recently displayed his vibrant, colorful paintings at the recent Southern Parlour Exhibition hosted by the Ace Hotel. The show closed Oct. 1 but the artist paints on.
"I used to paint murals on cars themselves in the train yards while they would sit under the overpass," said Buckley, a 32-year-old painter, tattoo artist and graphic designer who grew up in New Orleans East from the age of 12. "It was a reflection of my imagination. I always liked bright and bold colors."
Since 2013, Ceaux's paintings have embraced the rich cultural fabric of New Orleans and its people in his visual work through venues like the Axiom Gallery, The Mckenna Museum of African American Art and most recently, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
"This year, 2016, was the first year that I had a showing at the Jazz Fest," Buckley said. "It was refreshing because most of these people didn't know me at all. I sold a piece to an Australian woman of a man dancing the second line on a roof with an umbrella. She asked me if this really happens. She couldn't believe it."
Ceaux was trained at The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts for two years, during his tenth and 11th grade, which provided him with instruction in musical production, history and fashion design. He recognized that his unique technique and capability to focus on a broad range of subjects sets him apart from other visual artists.
"I was used to art on the street," Buckley said. "My favorite discipline would be murals depending on the environment. I just try to let the space speak to you."
With the stroke of his paintbrush, Buckley has captured the essence of the New Orleans flavor with his two large paintings of African women that recently were posted by the entrance of the Southern Parlour Exhibition at the Ace Hotel in the Warehouse District. In a series of four salons, the Ace Hotel has presented its latest Gallery exhibition, The Southern Parlour, which showcased 18 artists of African descent within the United States and South Africa.
Hosted by the New Orleans-based Afrofuture Society and its founder, Gia Hamilton, the Southern Parlour created a new opportunity for new artists, people in the cultural arts and spectators to exchange conversation and celebrate blackness in contemporary art.
"I am most interested in the multiplicity of meanings," said Hamilton, a native of New Orleans and an independent curator who was invited by the Ace Hotel to introduce the Southern Parlour Exhibition. "The Ace Hotel offers a flow-through space with three different entrances that lead to the various salons. It is the bridge that is performing as a safe place and connecting point for the 17 New Orleans-based artists and one South African artist. The artwork is an activator of conversation and there is a broad spectrum of responses from abstract work like Ashley Teamer to multi-media like Browyn Katz from South Africa, really showing a variety of viewpoints."
Ashley Teamer, a native New Orleanian, grew up in Gentilly, now works in a number of artistic disciplines, including painting, sculpture, installation and video.
Displayed recently in the Southern Parlour gallery, her painting entitled "Don't Lick at Me," shows a mouth and tongue floating in space.
"I am always looking for symbols indicative of 'Ashley' the person," said Teamer, who now travels with her visual works to different shows and maintains a small studio at 1119 Tchoupitoulas St. "I am a curious person. My attitude is, do what interests me and follow whatever that medium leads me. I like to explore something new and then, make the image move to create an entire experience, an installation."
After attending The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Teamer graduated from college in 2013 with a major in painting and sculpture and minor in printmaking. Following college graduation, she had her first experience working outside of school as an art resident at the St. Roch Community Center from September, 2013 to May, 2014.
"The St. Roch Community respected artists like me and provide you with support which help me build my confidence and my work," Teamer said. "I was able to establish my art practice after the residency."
Now, she is spending six weeks in Michigan as an art resident with the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency while she awaits her future gallery shows in Virginia in October and Chicago in May, 2017.
"Every show is a great way to put yourself in a different context," Teamer said. "You meet new people, see other artists' work and intersect with them."
Buckley and Teamer were just a few of the individual local artists who were highlighted in the Southern Parlour Exhibition. The plan expressed by its curator, Hamilton, is to continue this show around the country, while keeping New Orleans as its home base. For more information on upcoming events by The Afroture Society, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
"I am interested in using my own platform to include other artists and create a vortex for conversations to begin," Hamilton said. "I come from an afrofuturism movement which unpacks the idea of Black imagination outside of dominant cultures. I want to bridge the gap and create a connection between the artists, curators, guests, and the public. I am thinking globally, but keeping New Orleans as the epicenter for creating this platform."