Artist Statement

New Orleans has often been the siren locus to those in search of their muse and a refuge for the misbegotten. On his first night in the French Quarter at 722 Rue Toulouse, Tennessee Williams writes in his 1939 diary, “Here is a place I was made for if any place in this funny old world...”  Coming from Portland, which though it shares much of the liberal spirit of the Crescent City seems more enamored by cultural movements then the rabid individuals who create them, I was charmed by the willingness of New Orleanians to not only give sanctuary to the expressive odd ball, but to provide a platform for their development.  Character and Characters abound in the Big Easy, people there often appear perpetually engaged in exploring, defining, or reinventing themselves. What separates culturally driven New Orleans from other liberal cities is that here individuality is cherished. and not simply for what a gifted soul might contribute, but for its own sake as yet another example of the rich cultural coinage that has for centuries made New Orleans into a national treasure.

Post-Katrina New Orleans abounds with issues of identity on its own.  Buildings and businesses had vanished. Whole blocks that had supported generations of families were gone or radically changed. Although its urban core remains intact, the rich architectural heritage that has defined the older neighborhoods since the 19th century was radically upset. We’ve all had the experience of driving past a newly cleared lot and exclaimed, “I’ve driven past this corner at least a thousand times, and now I can’t for the life of me remember what was there.”  Imagine that scene being repeated block after block and neighborhood after neighborhood.  Imagine an entire city trying for the life of itself to remember what it was.

About the
Artist Book

I Am What I Need to Be is a limited edition, handbound artist book that accompanies this exhibit.

You may remember this sumptuous  book from our Book Power show in June. I Am What I Need to Be is a limited edition, hand bound artist book that accompanies Stewart Harvey's exhibition in the gallery this month. Rich pigment photographs are printed by the artist with archival inks on Moab Entrada Natural Matte paper and have been hand bound using a unique structure that allows the pages to lay flat by Warren Buss of Naos Press.

56 pages. 11 x 8.5 x 1.5 inches. 2010. Boxed edition of 45. $800.

To order your copy of the book please contact Laura at 23 Sandy Gallery.

Artist Biography

Stewart Harvey received a Masters of Arts in 1971 from Portland State University. He’s taught English and photography at Mt. Hood and Portland Community College and Portland State University. He also studied at many photography workshops including the last Ansel Adams Yosemite Workshop in 1981. Stewart founded the Portland Photographic Workshops series in 1982.  Out of that eight-year series evolved a photographer’s critique group known as the Portland Photographer’s Forum, a non-profit group that continues to offer portfolio reviews and career support for Portland area photographers.  In 1984, Stewart left teaching to pursue a career in professional photography.  He is currently a founding Board Member of the Photography Council of the Portland Art Museum, and a recipient of the 2007 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship.

Stewart’s personal photography has been featured in dozens of solo and group exhibitions as well as in numerous private collections.  He has photographs in the collections of in The Portland Art Museum, The Visual Chronicle of Portland, The Universities of Oregon and Colorado; New Orleans Museum of Art; The Portland and Tacoma Biennial Exhibits. Stewart’s work has also appeared in numerous publications including Wired  magazine, Life magazine, Northwest Magazine (cover), City Magazine of San Francisco, Saturday Night magazine (Canada), Valakuva magazine (Finland), OM  magazine (Russia), PM  magazine (Germany). Images in books include: The Burning Man Book, 1997;  two novel Covers: The Road to Zena  and Yoga for People Who Can’t be Bothered to Do IT.  Recent publications include:  Katrina Exposed, New Orleans Museum of Art, 2006;  Burning Book, August, 2007,  as well as a twenty-print portfolio in the Fall ’07 issue of LensWork Quarterly, plus a video and fifty-eight New Orleans Sketches in the DVD Edition of LensWork Extended #72.  Most recently, The State Museum of Louisiana purchased twenty-four Sketchbook Prints for their collection, and the New Orleans Museum of Art accepted two Sketchbook prints into its collection.

This is Stewart's second solo show here at 23 Sandy Gallery. We featured, The Quiet Fire: Art and Performance in the Landscape of Burning Man in September 2008. Click here to see this show.