40 Years of Painting French Louisiana
A new book about artist Francis Pavy chronicles his work from 1985-2024.
“Every painting is a note in a song, or a rain drop in a hurricane that cannot be truly appreciated without taking Pavy’s oeuvre into account,” writes Benjamin Hickey, curator of exhibitions at the Hilliard Art Museum, in the opening to “Francis X. Pavy: Forty Years.” Released by UL Press in December 2024, the coffee table book is a piece of art in itself with the title embossed on a glossy white cover, Pavy’s patterns, colors and symbols filling in the letters of his name.
The book is divided into four decades starting with the mid-1980s, when bold, contrasting colors, thick outlines and unique patterns began to mark his work. Hickey also writes that “Pavy’s work cannot be understood a piece at a time — it must be everything at once, everything interconnected.”
An interview by folklorist Nick Spitzer follows Hickey’s introduction and details how he met Francis Pavy on the Cajun band scene in Lafayette. Born in Lafayette on Mardi Gras day in 1954, Pavy lived the first two years of his life in France, causing Spitzer to speculate that he “paints in French.” Pavy always wanted to play music and majored in music at USL (now UL Lafayette), but didn’t feel like he fit in. A ceramics class with Tom Ladousa caused him to change his major to fine arts. This explains all of the Cajun accordion players, guitars, zydeco cowboys and dancing couples floating through Pavy’s work.
Viewers will see paintings that contain Pavy’s now iconic images: oil derricks, birds, raindrops, utility poles, eyes and sugarcane stalks. But there are surprises within the pages, too — a black-and-white period from 2015-2019, photorealistic portraits of musicians and the artist’s love of South Louisiana wildlife that has intensified throughout his prolific career.
Pavy’s work has continued to evolve, especially with the opening of Pavy Studio in downtown Lafayette. His symbols — from moon eyes to canegrass — are printed on pillows, fabrics, wallpaper and bandanas so that anyone can own a piece of the artist who’s been called the “Picasso of Zydeco.”
Art Events
See “Rodin: Toward Modernity” at the Hilliard Art Museum through July 5. hilliardmuseum.org
Try your hand at life drawing on Tuesdays from 6-8:30 p.m. at NUNU in Arnaudville. nunucollective.org
Cocodrie Collective in downtown Lafayette hosts an Art Market in the 700 block of Jefferson Street in conjunction with Second Saturday ArtWalk each month. cocodriecollective.com
