On Sunday, a large group of students went to the Los Isleños festival at St Bernard’s Parish. Having, stupidly, turned down the chance to go, I instead started messaging a friend on Facebook who just so happens to live in New Orleans. His name is Tony Hollums, and I met him about two years ago when I was vacationing in the city with my family. We saw him in the market, selling some artwork that he had done. I really liked what I saw, and decided to buy one of his pieces, but not as a print. I bought the original, which he just so happened to have with him at the time. I have since gotten that framed and it is now hanging above my TV on the wall.
We decided to meet at the Somethin’ Else Cafe, which is situated across the street from the Louisiana Supreme Court on Royal St. We met up, and went in to order breakfast, only to find that they stop serving it after noon. So we got lunch instead, and while we waited, Tony showed me all that he had brought with him, which was an extensive catalogue. He mentioned how, when I fist met him, that he had just been starting out. Since then, he has done commissions for a local art school in New Orleans, some place in Chicago (I can’t remember the name), and the covers of two different magazines, one local and one that’s in the Northeast. He also mentioned that he had been an architect student earlier, and then a computer student, until he finally settled on art. He said that his style is a result/mix of his background in those three fields, which is probably why it captivates me so. As we ate our lunch, we also talked about some common interests we both had such as bands that we liked (both locally and nationally known), games we liked, and we also delved a bit deeper into those broad subjects. I won’t bore people with those details.
When the people who went to the Los Isleños festival came back to the Banana, and I heard about that all they did there, I somewhat regretted not going. I was still glad I met up with a really great guy who I never thought I would get to see again. I also got to buy a couple pieces from him before we left the state. I’ll go ahead and post what I bought from him below, so others can see for themselves.
The original piece I bought in 2012:
The two prints I bought on this trip:
I was looking at those prints zach… and the musical notes looked familiar. I hurriedly opened my drawer, and sure enough, I had bought something from him the very first time I visited nola in December 2012. Pretty cool huh? The print I bought means so much to me. I’m glad I can have a connection through you.
Those are stunning. I will look for him next time I’m in New Orleans.