[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”header” _builder_version=”4.22.0″ _module_preset=”default” collapsed=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”header and caption” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/Guardians-of-the-City-Header.jpg” title_text=”Guardians-of-the-City-Header” admin_label=”French market image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”caption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
French Market Planning Commission Plots Global Takeover<\/em> by Ric Kasini Kadour [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”COMMENTARY” _builder_version=”4.22.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”5px|5px|5px|5px|false|false” custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|false|false” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.22.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.22.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_heading title=”COMMENTARY” admin_label=”COMMENTARY HEADING” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_heading][et_pb_text admin_label=”COMMENTARY Text” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n As I get older, I start doing old man things. This year, I started feeding the birds outside my house in Gentilly. For the little birds, I leave piles of wild bird seed that I get from Jefferson Feed in Mid-City after the staff there were kind enough to suggest some food the local birds may like. The crows are different. They like unsalted peanuts I buy by the bag from Quicky’s on Franklin Avenue. One day, as I’m driving around collecting bird food, I realized I had become my grandmother, an old French woman who stocked a dozen bird feeders in the small citrus orchard she maintained behind her house in Florida.<\/p>\n I pour the bird food out from an old plastic mushroom carton and sit on the iron porch chairs and wait for them to come. They are watching me. I am watching them. I am judicious with the peanuts I leave for the crows, who, I imagine, are in a cold war with the squirrels over who gets them first. When I see a crow flying around, I drop a peanut or two on each of the lips of the porch’s columns. Then I cluck and point at the crow and then point at the peanuts. I want them to know it was me. The crows won’t come if I’m still on the porch, so I go inside and watch through my doorbell camera as they fly down and collect their treats.<\/p>\n I do all this because it brings me joy, because it keeps me off my phone, because it distracts me from the state of the world. We are blessed in New Orleans with many birds: ibis and egrets, mallards and ducks in City Park, an occasional heron by the river, or a pelican at the lake. The Canada geese are my brothers from my other country sent down to make sure I am okay. I started thinking of birds as guardians of the city, flying around, chasing away storms, keeping up on the neighborhood gossip to make sure the street beefs don’t get out of hand. I know they are just birds but the world is more interesting with fairies and goblins in it. Why can’t we imagine birds as equally magical creatures?<\/p>\n I came across Gustav M\u00fctzel’s bird illustrations in Heinrich Nehrling’s Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt<\/em> (1891). Nehrling was an ornithologist and horticulturalist from Wisconsin who retired to Naples, Florida and built an experimental botanical garden that drew such luminaries as Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Edison. (After his death, the garden fell into the hands of Jungle Larry and Safari Jane and it eventually became the foundation of the Naples Zoo.) Nehrling commissioned Gustav M\u00fctzel, an academically-trained science illustrator well-known in Germany for his work on birds and mammals, to illustrate his opus that described all the North American birds he had known. The book is lyrical in its descriptions of the birds, their behaviour and their habitats; “the rejoicing trill of the lark rang down from the blue heaven” and so on.<\/p>\n In the studio, I wanted to bring M\u00fctzel’s illustrations into my 21st century world. I combined my own photographs of highways, powerlines, and other infrastructure with photographic illustrations from Richard Halliburton’s The Complete Book of Marvels<\/em> (1937 & 1960 editions). Halliburton (1900\u20131939) was an American adventurer who hung out with Hollywood stars and once emulated Hannibal by crossing the Alps on the back of Miss Dalrymple, an elephant on loan from a Paris zoo. A forerunner of 21st century influencer culture, Halliburton is a classic example of what Susan Sontag called “the theatricalization of experience” in her 1964 essay, “Notes on Camp”, and yet, in her 2001 essay collection, Where the Stress Falls<\/em>, she wrote how Halliburton’s books inspired her to become a writer. I clipped and cut Halliburton’s palaces of marvel to build an imagined city and then I sent the birds to look after it.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”gallery Section” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” collapsed=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.22.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_heading title=”ARTWORK” admin_label=”GALLERY HEADING” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_heading][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ admin_label=”ROW ONE: 2026-07-09A & 2026-05-10A” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-07-09A.jpg” title_text=”2026-07-09A” admin_label=”2026-07-09A image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”2026-07-09A caption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Flying Through Powerlines as the City Flames<\/em> \n AVAILABLE<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-05-10A-Spires-Whose-Silent-Finger-Points-to-Heaven.jpg” title_text=”2026-05-10A-Spires-Whose-Silent-Finger-Points-to-Heaven” admin_label=”2026-05-10A image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”2026-05-10Acaption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Spires Whose Silent Finger Points to Heaven<\/em> \n AVAILABLE<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,1_3,1_3″ admin_label=”ROW two: 2026-03-20B & 2026-03-21A & 2026-05-12A” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ collapsed=”on” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-03-20B.jpg” title_text=”2026-03-20B” admin_label=”2026-03-20B image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”2026-03-20B caption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n He Watches the City for Us<\/em> AVAILABLE AT LEMIEUX GALLERIES <\/a><\/p>\n \n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-03-21A.jpg” title_text=”2026-03-21A” admin_label=”2026-03-21A image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”2026-03-21A caption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n He Keeps the Sky Safe AVAILABLE AT LEMIEUX GALLERIES<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-05-12A.jpg” title_text=”2026-05-12A” admin_label=”2026-05-12A\u00a0 image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”2026-05-12A caption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n The Alps Were Never the Same After<\/em> AVAILABLE<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,1_3,1_3″ admin_label=”ROW three: 2026-05-12B & 2026-03-19A & 2026-05-11A” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ collapsed=”on” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-05-12B.jpg” title_text=”2026-05-12B” admin_label=”2026-05-12B image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”2026-05-12B caption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n The Beasts with Their Horns<\/em> AVAILABLE AT LEMIEUX GALLERIES<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ric-Kasini-Kadour-He-Held-The-World-2026-03-19A.jpg” title_text=”Ric-Kasini-Kadour-He-Held-The-World-2026-03-19A” admin_label=”2026-03-19A image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”2026-03-19A caption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n He Held the World on His Finger<\/em> AVAILABLE AT LEMIEUX GALLERIES <\/a><\/p>\n \n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-05-11A-Look-for-the-Little-Bird.jpg” title_text=”2026-05-11A-Look-for-the-Little-Bird” admin_label=”2026-05-11A image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”2026-05-11A caption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Look for the Little Bird<\/em> AVAILABLE<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,1_3,1_3″ admin_label=”ROW FOUR: 2026-05-10A & 2026-03-20A” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ collapsed=”on” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-03-20A.jpg” title_text=”2026-03-20A” admin_label=”2026-03-20A image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”2026-03-20A caption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Like a Worm on a Hook<\/em> AVAILABLE<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/rickasinikadour.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026-05-10A-Spires-Whose-Silent-Finger-Points-to-Heaven.jpg” title_text=”2026-05-10A-Spires-Whose-Silent-Finger-Points-to-Heaven” admin_label=”2026-03-21B image” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”2026-03-21B caption” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n The Beggars and Their Wooden Crutch<\/em> AVAILABLE<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” collapsed=”on”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ admin_label=”EXHIBITION ” _builder_version=”4.22.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.22.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_heading title=”EXHIBITION” admin_label=”EXHIBITION HEADING” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_heading][et_pb_text admin_label=”EXHIBITION Text” _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The four collages from “Guardians of an Imagined City” are included in the exhibition, “And Now for Something New, Volume 8” at LeMieux Galleries in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA from 1 August to 12 September 2026. The exhibition was juried by Don Marshall & Kaori Maeyama. The Opening is part of White Linen Night 2026<\/a>. “Founded more than three decades ago as a gallery stroll designed to connect the public with contemporary art, White Linen Night has grown into one of New Orleans’ most anticipated cultural traditions centered around visual art, attracting upwards of 50,000 visitors.”<\/p>\n
12″x16″; collage of bird illustrations by Gustav M\u00fctzel from Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt<\/em> by Heinrich Nehrling (1891), illustration, “French Market, New Orleans, La” c. 1910 by the Detroit Publishing Company (LC-D4-71846 [P&P]}, inkjet photograph on 51lb Epson Ultra Premium Matte Presentation Paper; 2026. 2026-03-19B<\/p>\n
by Ric Kasini Kadour
24″x18″; collage of laser-printed artist photographs of Montreal and New Orleans and View of the Pavilion of the United States, Expo 67, Montr\u00e9al, Qu\u00e9bec<\/em> from Center for Canadian Architecture (ARCH256139) on Strathmore 80lb drawing paper; 2026. 2026-07-09A<\/p>\n
by Ric Kasini Kadour
20″x16″; images by W. Luthy from The<\/em> Complete Book of Marvels<\/em> by Richard Halliburton (1960), found bird etching coloured with pencil on Strathmore 80lb drawing paper; 2026. 2026-05-10A<\/p>\n
by Ric Kasini Kadour
10″x8″; bird illustration by Gustav M\u00fctzel from Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt<\/em> by Heinrich Nehrling (1891), illustration from The Complete Book of Marvels<\/em> by Richard Halliburton (1960), laser-printed artist photographs of New Orleans on acid-free 140lb watercolor paper; 2026. 2026-03-20B<\/p>\n
<\/em>by Ric Kasini Kadour
10″x8″; bird illustration by Gustav M\u00fctzel from Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt<\/em> by Heinrich Nehrling (1891), laser-printed artist photographs of New Orleans on acid-free 140lb watercolor paper; 2026. 2026-03-21A<\/p>\n
by Ric Kasini Kadour
10″x8″; bird illustration by Gustav M\u00fctzel from Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt<\/em> by Heinrich Nehrling (1891), illustration from The Complete Book of Marvels<\/em> by Richard Halliburton (1960), laser-printed artist photographs of New Orleans and Quebec on acid-free 140lb watercolor paper; 2026. 2026-05-12A<\/p>\n
by Ric Kasini Kadour
10″x8″; book illustration and laser-printed artist photographs of New Orleans and Quebec on acid-free 140lb watercolor paper; 2026. 2026-05-12B<\/p>\n
by Ric Kasini Kadour
10″x8″; bird illustration by Gustav M\u00fctzel from Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt<\/em> by Heinrich Nehrling (1891), illustration from The Complete Book of Marvels<\/em> by Richard Halliburton (1960), laser-printed artist photographs of New Orleans on acid-free 140lb watercolor paper; 2026. 2026-03-19A<\/p>\n
by Ric Kasini Kadour
15″x11″; bird illustration and other illustration by Gustav M\u00fctzel from Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt<\/em> by Heinrich Nehrling (1891), illustration from The Complete Book of Marvels<\/em> by Richard Halliburton (1960), laser-printed artist photographs of New Orleans and Quebec, wallpaper on acid-free 140lb watercolor paper; 2026. 2026-05-11A<\/p>\n
by Ric Kasini Kadour
10″x8″; illustration by Gustav M\u00fctzel from Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt<\/em> by Heinrich Nehrling (1891) on acid-free 140lb watercolor paper; 2026. 2026-03-20A<\/p>\n
by Ric Kasini Kadour
10″x8″; bird illustration by Gustav M\u00fctzel from Die Nordamerikanische Vogelwelt<\/em> by Heinrich Nehrling (1891), illustration from The Complete Book of Marvels<\/em> by Richard Halliburton (1960), laser-printed artist photographs of New Orleans on acid-free 140lb watercolor paper; 2026.<\/p>\n