"Liuzza's" is an original ink & watercolor painting (in 9" x 11" frame) by John Tebeau. This 5" by 7" painting (watercolor and ink on heavy acid-free paper) was one of a series called Postcards from New Orleans..

What's the first thing you should do when attending the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival? Run to the Acura stage and get good, soggy seats for the unique jazz stylings of Sonic Youth or Bon Jovi? NO! You FIRST stop at Liuzza's for a Bloody Mary, foo.' How many times I gotta tell you that....

About the Artist:

I grew up in Michigan in a sweet little town nestled between two small lakes which fed into what we called “The Big Lake:” Lake Michigan. Unbeknownst (can’t believe that’s still a word!) to most people around the country, some of the finest beaches ever were (and of course, are) within biking distance of the house where I grew up.

I really started getting into art in second grade. Third grade is when I began to develop what you might call a “voice” (visual humor, puns, goofy characters and the like), and in fourth grade I started adding heart. That’s when I started doing caricatures of classmates who annoyed me. I’d really love to see how those old drawings stand up. My dad eventually threw everything out, but that’s a piteous story for another time.

Fifth grade was comic books—both reading them (Archie, Richie Rich) and making my own—and sixth grade meant dedicated reproduction of my favorite artists: Don Martin of Mad and Dan DeCarlo, who drew Archie. Al Hirschfeld, too. I was mesmerised by his stuff, but I didn’t dig into it as deeply. There were only so many Broadway “original cast” albums floating around the house.

After (reluctantly) leaving my hometown, I attended and graduated from the mighty University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, with a degree in…? You got it. Econ! Extremely useful degree, there. Well, to be fair, I assumed I’d go into business, but…. BUT….

After my first job in Chicago I started designing, printing and selling my own line of t-shirts.  I also had a couple other gigs, including illustration work and helping put out an alt-comix monthly publication. I was getting deeply into “alternative” comix then — artists like Daniel Clowes, Peter Bagge and Robert Crumb. I had a good run in Chicago, and my cartoon work led to several early commissioned paintings; mostly of musicians. Eventually, I sold my t-shirt screens and hopped a ride out to the West Coast.

Landed in Palo Alto, CA and crashed with a friend. What a sweet little town that was! Palo Alto led to San Francisco, where I lived in the (now tony) Hayes Valley neighborhood.

San Fran was good, but chilly. CHIL-LY. Cold and damp, a bone-changing cold that never defrosts. Ask Mark Twain about thatphenomenon. But SF was a visual feast. So many great views, like a postcard over every hill. I took hundreds of photos and started painting more, many subjects from the pix I’d taken around town. After three years in California I moved back to Michigan and got a job at a radio station in Ann Arbor.

In Michigan I had my first actual “art shows” in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Painting, painting, and painting some more. Then selling prints and originals online, via Etsy. I took drawing classes, too, concentrating on landmark buildings around town. I did a lot of poster and packaging design in Ann Arbor to boot, then Wifey got a job in New York, and boom. Here we are.

I’m still painting and drawing plenty and silkscreening again—posters now, not t-shirts. Also concentrating on more “place-based” pieces, as well as sales and commissions. Interested? Let me know.

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