Thursday night marked a milestone for the Southwest Louisiana art scene as downtown Lake Charles welcomed its newest creative space: the DPR Gallery.
The gallery officially opened its doors to the public, inviting patrons into a vibrant showcase of fantastical contemporary art.
Gallery guests experienced the immersive new exhibition by Peregrine Honig, an American multidisciplinary, internationally renowned artist whose work is in the permanent collections of several national galleries, including the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University; the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C.; and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
DPR Gallery
This is the inaugural show of the DPR Gallery’s renovated downtown space, 104 W Pujo St., the suite that used to house Botsky’s. The walls and ceilings have been painted white. The gallery is next to PaperSmith, a locally-owned cards and stationery store that moved into the neighboring suite in the spring.
The gallery space offers a luxe experience that invites locals to soak in thought-provoking and visually stunning art.
Paul Picheloup, gallery owner, created the gallery alongside friends Derek Guidry and Ryan Chet, hence the name “DPR.”
The name itself originated from their mutual friend Bridget McDaniel, an art history professor at McNeese State University, who would list the trio as “DPR” on travel itineraries, Pucheloup said.
“Us three always travel together, so it kind of stuck,” he explained. “When the gallery idea came about, we sat down and thought about what we would name it. And then DPR started.”
They have functioned as a trio for a decade.
He and Derek met in the hospitality business in 1995. The pair eventually began to cater weddings, parties and special events. It was at a wedding where they met Ryan, who Picheloup considers the “backbone” of DPR.
“When you need something done, Ryan appears,” he joked.“We do everything ourselves, essentially, but the brunt of the work comes from Derek and myself.”
Picheloup, who has been creative since he was a child, was influenced by several grade school and McNeese art professors to explore the gallery path. Through years of drawing, decorating, and honing his business and hospitality skills, he knew his path would lead him to this “next chapter,” DPR Gallery.
The goal of DPR gallery is to simply bring more art into Southwest Louisiana. DPR Gallery is in company with the McNeese Abercrombie and Grand Galleries, the Historic City Hall Arts and Cultural Center (which houses several galleries), the Brimstone Museum and the Imperial Calcasieu Museum.
These galleries all attract artists from around both the country and the world; DPR plans to join the party.
“There’s nothing wrong with more and more and more,” he said. “Why not another gallery? The more, the merrier. The more restaurants downtown, the better. The more art galleries downtown, the better. The more shopping downtown, the better.”
Rebirth
When asked about how it felt to open the gallery with an exhibit by Honig, Picheloup had one word: “amazing.”
Honig, who typically splits her time between New Orleans and Kansas City, stayed with them in Lake Charles for two weeks, soaking in the city for the first time since her visit in 2014. In complimenting her character, he deemed her a “fascinating individual.”
“Anyone can sit and just listen to her talk and explain her experiences, explain where she has been. … She has a lot to tell. And her paint and her canvas is the means of that, as well.”
Patrons who attended the opening were greeted by two men who opened a red curtain to usher them in. Guests stepped into the story book of greusomly familiar tales.
Inside displayed the works of Honig, who, despite decades of international success, earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2020.
The exhibit “Rebirth” uses classic fairy tales and folklore to explore femininity, identity and “cultural memory,” she told the American Press during an interview in room 113 of the Sherman Fine Arts Building on Wednesday.
While working on the final details of a print “Ms. Kitty Takes a Picture,” she explained how the exhibit offers different perspectives on womanhood: birth, adolescence, motherhood, end of life. Exploring the cycles of life, the exhibit walks guests through the stages with pieces depicting familiar fairy tale stories with a darker twist.
The pieces subvert the classic characters — Little Red Riding Hood, The Woodsman, The Bear, The Wolf, Goldilocks — to provoke thought into what these tales really mean.
She puts characters in place and challenges patrons to consider the consequences of the conventions.
“Who sends their daughter into the woods with just a basket and a red outfit?” she began. “In our standard culture, a woman is encouraged to marry the woodsman … but it turns out, the woodsman is just an abuser. Or, don’t date the wolf … but, then he turns out to be an elegant and kind human.
“I really present a beautiful facade that navigates things like nursery rhymes, which are inherently political. And fairytales, which are inherently sociopolitical.”
These stories are rebirthed and re-evaluated on canvas. This theme mirrors Lake Charles’ own recovery, she said. Following hurricanes, a pandemic, and widespread economic distress, the leap to open a new art studio in downtown Lake Charles is a risky one.
“Every time you give birth, you’re taking in a massive risk. So, when you’re investing in this area that is obviously volatile … these hurricanes are like two year olds … They are taking this massive risk.
“They’re basically adopting and raising this idea of what used to be a hot dog shop.”
Picheloup said the title “Rebirth” was chosen during a group discussion about the region’s challenges.
“We have this old warehouse, which was a restaurant, parking garage, and whatnot, that’s been renovated into an art gallery,” he said. “What else do we have? We have downtown Lake Charles, who’s been ravaged by hurricanes three times now in the past 15 years. There’s development downtown that’s slowly, slowly evolving.
“It’s a rebirth for downtown Lake Charles because of the direction we’re going, we’re moving forward and, and reviving the downtown.”
This is Honig’s second time in Lake Charles. Her first visit was in 2014, where she conducted a workshop for students, but this is her first time displaying her work in the city.
She first made connections to Lake Charles through Megan Green, a local interdisciplinary artist and art educator, who reached out to Honig on Facebook after watching her place second on the first season of the Bravo reality TV show “Work of Art.”
After forming a friendship and an artistic partnership, Honig made her way down to Southwest Louisiana to share her knowledge.
This is a task she is happy to take on, because she is “invested in anybody who is invested in the arts.”
Honig spent some time during her visit this week to host a printing workshop. Students helped her produce copies of “Miss Kitty Take a Selfie,” which she considers the “second edition” of her print “Mr. Piggles Goes to Rehab.”
The students, some of whom have never done a print before the workshop, witnessed her make the screens and expose the plate while she bestowed them with “special insider knowledge.”
She learned the tricks (tricks that derived from the sketchbook of Dutch Artist Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn) from Jack Lemon with Landfall Press, who she printed with for 20 years.
The print is an eight-layer wood cut, silk screen print with hand embellishments. The students helped make 130 duplications of the print. Thirty were printed on grey paper and 100 on blue paper, which was donated by Legion Paper.
Pigments for the workshop were provided by Greenleaf and Blueberry.
A majority of the prints will be sold by DPR, while the remaining prints will be sold by McNeese to raise money for arts programing.
Honig said she’s also honored to display work in a city filled with residents who engage in high-caliber creation and are technically proficient in their craft.
“It’s just great to walk into a community that’s really thirsty and really excited,” she mused. “People are fancy, but they’re not rude. People are excited, but they’re not pretentious. … It’s a big breath of fresh air for me.”
She operates on the belief that art is a practice that forms bonds between both strangers and friends, and is a vital human energy source that needs to exist forever.
“In the end, as long as we have walls and eyeballs, and that space between art and the human body, there’s always gonna be a necessity for art.”
“Rebirth” features eight large pieces and 10 smaller studies.
The exhibition will be publicly available for viewing until Dec. 31.