Jazz Fest 2023

QUARTER (LOVE) NOTE

A Portrait of New Orleans’ French Quarter

by James Michalopoulos

THE PLACE

The French Quarter - where every day is festive - is the original urban hood, quaint by modern standards, timelessly magnetic, enriched by the heydays of cotton, sugar and its place at the mouth of the Mississippi, shaped by centuries of successive, additive waves of French, Spanish, Creole, African, American, Irish, German and Sicilian immigrants, entertained by the likes of Jelly Roll Morton, Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, Al Hirt, Pete Fountain, Louis Prima, Chris Owens, Snooks Eaglin, Aaron and Charles Neville, Allen Toussaint, Trombone Shorty, Kermit Ruffins, marching bands and buskers, and inspiring works by William Faulkner, Sherwood Anderson, Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, John Kennedy Toole and countless others. Incomparable magic preserved by the City that care for history did not forget.


THE PRINT

The French Quarter is a state of mind. A wavy-gravy surreal seventy square blocks tenuously tethered to the United States as a showcase of what a truly eternal, possible yet improbable, irreplaceable, authentic, livable US locale can be when left to its own organic evolution; perfectly human in scale & nature. A sensuous menagerie of diverse souls left to their own devices.

Music fills its streets with life’s perfect pitch, syncing to the heart beats of its denizens, psychic, physical and spiritual. Without it, and the city that grew around it, there would be no Jazz Fest, let alone the last bit of unhomogenized American bohemia - birthplace of America’s only native art form - jazz, man, jazz - and unique variations on R&B, Funk, Rap and more. The richest place in America by every non-fungible measure that counts.

THE ARTIST

It’s been a decade since James Michalopoulos last created a Jazz Fest print, the world’s most collected poster. He crafted some of the most coveted prints in the series, beginning with his deeply felt portraits of Dr. John (1998) and Louis Armstrong (2001), a print that sold out on the first day of that year’s Festival. 

Michalopoulos is a habitué of the Quarter. He lives it, lives in it, embodies it and preserves it. He has depicted it for 50 years in ways that reveal its spiritual essence. In this print he elevates his vision of the Quarter through a prism of Escher and Kafka, offering it to us as a gift of transcendent inhabitable resonant memories. This ain’t no virtual reality. It’s unfettered real life filled with abstracted, angular archetypes in a place you’re lucky to dwell in if only for the blink of an eye. The avatar of your soul is in there somewhere, transmogrified. Seek it, embrace it & live it: Dancer, stroller, lover, friend, second liner, poseur, musician, observer, participant, dog walker, waiter, parader, driver, Mardi Gras Indian or just passing through.

This piece encapsulates the artist’s life work in a panorama of exquisite color and detail; instantly recognizable as his oeuvre yet more expansive than anything that preceded it. A masterwork beyond the borders of place and mind, bounded only by the frame that will display it on your wall. Shut your screens off! This is art, man, art. 

EDITIONS

10,000 Numbered prints on archival paper, 35" x 21”, $89

2,500 Artist Signed & Numbered prints with street tile imprint on 100% rag paper, 35" x 21”, $249

750 Remarques Artist Signed & Numbered prints with street tile imprint and unique hand embellishment by the Artist on 100% rag paper, 35" x 21”, $599 

350 C-Marques Artist Overpainted, Signed & Numbered with street tile imprint and other embellishments, on canvas suitable for stretching; unstretched size 41" x 27”, $999.

FRAMING*

Our solid wood frames are crafted from archival materials finished in beautiful satin black. The framed Unsigned print uses a 1.25" profile frame. The Signed and ReMarque edition frames have a .875" front profile with a 1.25” depth, creating an elegant depth. The float-mounted ReMarque edition showcases the full size of the archival print in a gallery format, adding 1.25” (top & sides) & 1.75” (bottom) of pH neutral matte around the presentation. Matted prints feature a 1.625" & 2.125” wide white neutral pH matte depending on the edition. Although Art4Now's inks are archival, our glass-clear acrylic adds additional protection, blocking 87% of UV rays. All framed prints come fully assembled and ready to hang! Art4Now does not provide retail framing services onsite. Our framing offer is specific to this print and is only available for a limited period ending shortly after Jazz Fest. Framing is available for the U.S. only.

* Frames and prints shown are digital simulations. Frames are only available for a limited period after the print is released.

Poster specifications & digital image may vary slightly from actual prints.

Text ©2023 art4now inc. Poster ©2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Foundation, Inc.