Kolaj Magazine Feature

Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2020 Announces Host Hotel 

KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS 2020

The International House Hotel, New Orleans

Since 2018, Kolaj Magazine has called collage artists and art professionals to gather in New Orleans for a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society; where the focus is how we celebrate and elevate the status of collage. In 2020, the International House Hotel will serve as the host hotel for Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2020.

The International House Hotel is a joyful tribute to New Orleans today–an ensemble of historic architecture, colorful characters, cheerful culture, signature food and local music unlike any other city in America. The Beaux-Arts style building was built in 1906 as the Canal Louisiana Bank & Trust and, in 1943, the site became the first World Trade Center of the world. “Dedicated to world peace, trade and understanding, it helped rebuild war-torn Europe, thrived as New Orleans’ most prominent business address and inspired more than 300 World Trade Centers in 100 countries.” In 1998, owner Sean Cummings reincarnated the building as New Orleans’ first boutique hotel. Cummings expertly curated the site and commissioned Byron Buchanan to make forty, large-scale collage portraits that honor creatives who have inspired contemporary culture. Cummings also worked with a team of experts over four years to save and preserve a Banksy fresco which now stands in the hotel’s lobby. 

Jean-Michel Basquiat from “The Creative Ones” series by Byron Buchanan.
Courtesy of the International House Hotel

“From its rich history to its current manifestation, the International House Hotel stands at the intersection of international cooperation and art,” said Kolaj Magazine Publisher & Editor Ric Kasini Kadour. “We can think of no better place for collage artists to come together.”

untitled by Banksy (1988) in the lobby of the International House Hotel.
Courtesy of the International House Hotel.

The hotel is two blocks from the French Quarter in the Central Business District at 221 Camp Street. Programs at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2020 will focus in the Central Business District with events and activities taking place on Julia Street, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and Tulane University. As in previous years, Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2020 is a decentralized event with additional venues in the Bywater and Marigny. 

collage portraits by Byron Buchanan in the lobby of the International House Hotel: Mick Jagger, Maria Callas, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Image courtesy of the International House Hotel.

CALL FOR ARTISTS, PAPERS, & PROJECTS | REGISTER FOR KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS 2020

A block of rooms at a special rate is reserved for Kolaj Fest attendees. DETAILS HERE. All Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2020 attendees are invited to attend a welcome reception in the International House Hotel’s Rockrose Restaurant on Wednesday, July 8th, 5-7PM. The Daily Collage Congress on Thursday, July 9th, at 10AM will kick off the event. 

Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, July 8-12, 2020. For details and to register, visit www.kolajmagazine.com/kolajfest/

International House Hotel Blog

Below is a blog from the International House Hotel in New Orleans that has collected my work for over a decade. Enjoy.

Art Collection

THE CREATIVE ONES 

Byron Buchanan Portraits in the Collection of International House 

Bold, compelling, and uniquely inventive: in a hotel known for having its finger on the pulse of New Orleans' innovative spirit, the mesmerizing works of Byron Buchanan pay homage to a universal creativity, personified in a series called "The Creative Ones." 

Commissioned by International House owner Sean Cummings, the private collection includes more than forty large-scale mixed media portraits and finds public expression through rotating installations in the soaring hotel lobby of the elegant Beaux Arts building. Curated groups are tailored to specific meetings at the hotel and grace the storied walls of Kingsway Studio, a captivating French Quarter venue, former legendary recording studio and now Cummings’ home.

Says Cummings, “This collection is a tribute to heroes of mine. Creative. Courageous. Rebels of the best sort. By honoring people and VOICES we greatly admire through Byron’s art, we make our own values known. These people inspire me every day.” 

Los Angeles-based Buchanan is represented in collections across America, Europe, and Russia, including those of Dr. Dre, Yves Saint Laurent Corporate Headquarters, Paris, and Macy's New York. His mixed media portraits project iconic likenesses of supremely creative individuals, mostly contemporary, all game-changers. Each work is heavily researched, and collages of newspaper clippings and other documentation become a literal, integral backdrop of each portrait. Musicians from Maria Callas to Willie Nelson. Engineers from Nikola Tesla to Ferdinand Porsche. Visionaries from Walt Disney to Steve Jobs. Sporting greats from Jackie Robinson to Pete Maravich. Political pioneers from Ruby Bridges to Mahatma Gandhi. Add a few others who “came to live out loud,” like Basquiat, Bukowski, Lennon, Dylan and Bono. And that most elegant woman of all, Audrey. 

Re-examined and re-presented in sensitive layerings that combine classic atelier techniques with the artist's own modern methods, The Creative Ones are as fresh and riveting as ever. Through the monochromatic restraint of newsprint and black and white photography, and the exuberance of gold leaf and spray paint, they endow the walls of International House with the power of human inspiration.