Arabi Visual Arts curator Christopher Ryan is proud to announce an upcoming group exhibition to be held at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge (located adjacent to Arabi Visual Arts).

This BODY of work from artists across the globe all specifically feature Rene Broussard, the founder of Zeitgeist! The exhibition is a subset of The Curious World of Unusual Portraits which will take place during the 2023 PhotoNOLA Festival!

Reel Bear – Rene Broussard

Rene is a self-described “Fat Boy Model” who has appeared in unique larger-than-life art in multiple formats for many decades now.

This anthology of Rene consists of work in a variety of mediums from a very talented group of artists from around the world.

Featured Artists

Christopher Ryan
Kofi Amoa
Parker Pfister
David Bateman
David Rasmus

Participation

This exhibition will be listed as a sub-set of The Curious World of Unusual Portraits. Artists who have previously produced works with Rene Broussard as the subject should use the contact form to receive an invitation with a coupon code to waive the submission fee for their work. We will do everything possible to facilitate the process, including assistance with submissions, ability to pick-up your prints at Professional Color on your behalf, facilitating sales, providing links to artist’s social media and websites, and if necessary using older work provided to Rene in years past.

For further information please contact Christopher Ryan by phone at 504-373-9476.

From Rene:

“I am the founding director and programmer of Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center, an independent screening room and multi-disciplinary venue which has brought New Orleans a broad range of cinematic and multi-media offerings for over 29 years. We screen a wide selection of both American independent and international films, culled from the many festivals that we monitor on an ongoing basis, which would not otherwise receive distribution in the United States. Alongside our regular programming, Zeitgeist host film festivals and musical events, including showcases of experimental jazz, which have featured notable New Orleans artists including James Singleton, Kidd Jordan, Andrew Cyrille, Helen Gillet and many others. Zeitgeist is the main venue for Patois: New Orleans International Human Rights Festival and the New Orleans Middle East Film Festival.

Zeitgeist incorporated as a Louisiana nonprofit in 1987 and has become one of the most prestigious arts centers in the South, receiving grants from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and the Louisiana Division of the Arts and. In more recent years I myself have been asked to judge, peer review or recommend artists for numerous grants and fellowships. In 2003, Rene Broussard and Zeitgeist were jointly awarded the Mayor’s Arts Award by the Arts Council of New Orleans.

My own curatorial experience includes three years as a Film Curator for Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo, N.Y., one of the nation’s leading contemporary arts centers, where I developed a new programming series; I was invited to act as co-director of the Ways in Being Gay Festival and the director of the Outrage Gay & Lesbian Festival. I have worked as a film and theater educator in New Orleans; my own cinematic work includes short features and documentaries, including The Fat Boy Chronicles, a critical and commercial success which screened in more than 100 film festivals worldwide.”