January 2007 (PDF) - Antigravity Magazine

journal, and home recording I’ve ever worked on, I’vebeen placing a huge importance on creating new things anddocumenting everything. Getting my thoughts out theremore than ever before—just really not wanting to wasteany time or creativity.”Katrina forced many of us to rethink our nostalgiaand personal history of New Orleans as much of it wasunceremoniously washed away. The book’s theme of“Replicas + Replacements” is a snapshot of this specialmoment where we are starting over; in that sense Constanceacts as a yearbook and each piece is like a different facefrom the class—and not all of them are exactly starstudents. But a compilation of this sort serves the readerwell as a personal barometer for art and design; as you flipthrough it you might rediscover how you feel about art.The format affords each contributor a prominent say intheir work (their self-written bios and resumes accompanyeach piece), so it is distracting at times much like theinside jokes and clever qualifiers that high school seniorsleave with their portraits. Constance informally promisesfuture issues and in them it might benefit the artwork ifthis information is relegated to an appendix so that eachpiece might speak more for itself and dialogue between theothers without interference.Throughout its pages, Constance condenses the geographyof New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana into sunny yellowblocks, suggesting that this challenge to the past is moreof a byproduct rather than a primary goal. After all, thetone and the color suggest a pleasant, peaceful state ofmind and the book merely reflects a focal point for whathundreds of us have been doing for a long time. The artistsfeatured could not have made their art without everythingthat makes New Orleans what it is, but at the same timethe perspective is larger and the influences borrowed fromfar away; one thing that is made very clear is where eachartist is now in relation to where they were before thestorm. One of Kiesewetter’s own pieces, “PDX. NOLA”pairs a silhouetted Portland, Oregon with a silhouettedNew Orleans skyline. In its utter simplicity, “PDX. NOLA”sums up a lot about what we’ve all been through: a littlerain, a little exile, but most of all another dawn where thesunlight breaks out of the blackness and extends beyondthe page. This is our time and as Constance reminds us,we’re making the most of it.16_antigravity: your new orleans music and culture alternative