New Orleans artist John Isiah Walton has created 100 paintings that explore the Black experience — and his personal journey — through a comprehensively contemporary lens that touches on everything from Tinder dating to Walton’s Ancestry.com results.

"John speaks to that transitional period of a place that’s complicated and layered. I think we’re also at a period of time in Lafayette where things are complicated and we’re becoming a more contemporary city as we attract younger generations. Some of the difficult conversations that John raises are going to be worthwhile conversations for those younger generations. I want to showcase artists that speak to that.”

The SLU Contemporary Art Gallery proudly presents new paintings, works on paper, and a collaborative animated music video by New Orleans Based Artist John Isiah Walton. The exhibition Black Paintings: Cybernetic Folklore, Place, + Spirit derives its title from the form and subject matter depicted in Isiah’s artwork. Referencing Picasso’s “Blue Period” Isiah’s recent paintings uniformly begin with a grounding of black acrylic pigment which are then layered with white outlines and swift, colorful brushstrokes. Working in a reactionary manner, Isiah’s visual language is influenced by internet aesthetics, Black identity, pop culture, and Louisiana History to deliver poignant social commentary and a reflection of our contemporary moment. The exhibition is the first of its kind, featuring over thirty large-scale paintings created by John Isiah Walton over the last two years.

P339 Gallery presents the third in a series of 4 exhibitions of African-American contemporary and folk artists from the South, guest-curated by Diego Cortez, a free-lance curator, advisor, editor and author. Previously-curated exhibitions by Cortez include: “Jean-Michel Basquiat,” Fun Gallery, NYC (1982), “Andy Warhol’s Children’s Show,” Newport Art Museum (RI) (1985) and “Devendra Banhart: Light Alligns,” Galleria Emilio Mazzoli, Modena (2006).

Beaucoup Humidity presents eight canvas wall works (2014) by John Isiah Walton and a group of drawings left on a table (2014-15).

n the 1970s and 80s Diego Cortez né James Curtis was a conspicuous downtown trendsetter. His stylish good looks, ability to forge relationships with top talents, and a confident air that at times bordered on snobbishness lent an important boost to selected artists and musicians exploring new creative directions during this period.

These early years saw Cortez’s most memorable achievements: helping to found the Mudd Club; promoting “No Wave” music and film; organizing the exhibition New York/New Wave at P.S. 1; and most important, helping to launch the career of Jean-Michel Basquiat.


From 2007 to 2010 Diego Cortez was a consulting curator at the New Orleans Museum of Art. He is credited with organizing an exhibition of photographs by Patti Smith and donating over 500 works to the museum. In New Orleans, Cortez discovered the work of Bruce Davenport Jr., Lonnie Holley, John Isiah Walton, and other outsider artists from the South, and organized exhibitions of their work in New York and Japan.