ANTONIO CARREÑO
REVELATIONS 1
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ANTONIO CARRENO ANTONIO CARREÑO
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REVELATIONS
August 2nd - Setp 30th 2014
Opening reception August 2nd 6. to 8:30 p.m. 4
STELLA JONES GALLERY
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Cover: Magic in the Dream, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2014 7
Revelations: The Journey Success is not to be measured by the position someone has reached in life, but the obstacles he has overcome while trying to succeed. Booker T. Washington Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. Lao Tzu
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Antonio Carreño / Revelations Dr. Eloisa Johnson Introduction: Life is an arduous journey with many roads and pathways to travel. The Buddhist proverb that states “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” has a profound meaning for the life and career of Antonio Carreño. At the end of each journey or mile marker on the way, there are “revelations” that act as the keys to knowledge of who we are and the lessons we learn from each step. Antonio Carreño’s journey of discovery and “revelation” begins in the Caribbean and continues with his migration to the United States. But his sense of “place,” memories, and heart and soul still reside there—the Caribbean, where his artistic steps began and continued in America. While here, he has made many friends along the way who have taught him valuable lessons about art and life and led him by example to a richer understanding of what it means to live a life under grace. Carreño’s art exudes that grace, textural surfaces and vibrant colors that call to a deeper place i reds, yellows, greens and blue hues that send out mystical vibrations to anyone who stares into their depths. Carreño, like other Caribbean artists is influenced by the diversity of Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and European heritages that results in a hybrid of cultural influences. Yet, he has a unique style that reflects the social, cultural and environmental impact of the Caribbean on his art and sensibilities.
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The Journey Antonio Carreño is part of that transnational group of Caribbean artists that are gaining critical acclaim in the United States and abroad. With abstract imagery and brilliant color, Carreño uses visual language to communicate his feelings and emotions about both his native country and his adopted one. Born June 13, 1963, in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, he attended the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo from 1976-1982. He also studied at the Art Students League in New York in 1988 and again in 1999. Carreño remembers that he was always drawing as a child, but is not quite sure when he began the actual activity. His father worked for the local newspaper in Santo Domingo as an editor and his mother was a housewife who had certain “artistic abilities.” His mother encouraged his interest in the arts and provided inspiration to the young child. She was the one who took him to the National Art School at a very early age. The family consisted of three brothers and three sisters, none of whom entered the visual art field. A younger brother, who studied philosophy, now writes beautiful poetry. Carreño has inherited this poetic soul, as well, but in a different genre. He recalls encouragement from his siblings, which came in the form of purchased art supplies. Carreño describes his work as very “personal.” However, he admits that “It does follow certain styles and personalities.” In fact, it remains quite autobiographical. Each layer of paint on canvas uncovers the multiple layers of his life and the tropical landscape that dominates his native country. The Dominican Republic has a rich artistic history that combines indigenous tradition and modernism. Santo Domingo, the oldest city in the new world, has the oldest street, cathedral and university in the country. All of this history is infused into Carreño’s richly colored paintings. Although Carreño doesn’t identify specific influences, Caribbean artists have a long history of embracing this modernism. The 1920s and 1930s were important decades in the development of Caribbean art. There was a global interest in nationalism as old and new nations tried to find their place in a rapidly changing world. It was in this context and moment that the first Caribbean art movement appeared. Many of the early Caribbean artists studied in Paris, London, Madrid and New York or lived for a time in these cities before returning to their native countries. Despite its preoccupation with indigenous art, Caribbean nationalism was progressive and drew from modernist styles. They sampled from post-impressionism, symbolism, expressionism, cubism, art deco and later surrealism. It wasn’t until the 1950s that Caribbean artists began to show a significant interest in abstraction, shaping the ideas of modernism in Dominican art. Carreño talked about the history of The National School of Fine Arts and its famous director, Jaime Colson (1901-1975). “Jaime Colson came around 1955, and he was the director of the school. That is why the generation of the 1960s is familiar with cubism.” Indeed, Colson is virtually unknown and underrated in American modern canons, but was one of the most important Caribbean modernists. He studied in Spain and moved to Paris and absorbed purism, Picasso’s classicism and surrealism. Carreño recalls that a wide range of styles was taught at the school following a Western traditional pattern like it counterparts in the United States and abroad. An early work entitled: Deep Blue, encaustic on paper, 60X 40 inches, 2001, has a myriad of images residing there, but one must look carefully for significant signs, symbols and metaphors. Carreño’s work is reminiscent 10
of Joan Miro’s, the surrealist painter. Neither literal nor specific in his presentation, Miro reminisced about the Catalan landscape and its “empty spaces” and “vastness” and used them as a recurring motif in his work. “Empty spaces, horizons, empty plains even those which are bare have always impressed me,” confessed Miro. Carreño is nostalgic, too, about his childhood in his homeland. Like Miro, he titillates our senses and memories with his canvases. Unlike Miro, though, Carreño’s canvases are not completely “empty.” Deep Blue resembles a landscape with a luminescent blue sky and a deep blue sea. It is a moody painting that is surrounded or “contained” by a deeply saturated blue border. This vibrant blue color shifts and shimmers only being relieved by strokes of white resembling light or clouds. “Only through that medium [encaustic] can you create that transparency,” says Carreño. Deep Blue reminds one of the intensity of color seen in the works of Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman and Clifford Still. Carreño admits that some of his latest work is much more abstract. In Deep Blue he seems to be traveling in the direction of pure abstraction. In other earlier mixed media works, such as We Are the Earth, mixed media on paper, 60 X 40 inches, 2004; Halfway Open, mixed media on paper, 60 X 40 inches, 2005; Blue Passages, mixed media on paper, 60 X 40 inches, 2006 the artist sometimes adds sand polymer acrylics to build up his surfaces. “It’s linked a little to a fresco technique. I am able to use sand in the background and to create a very airy surface or rough surface.” This compositional technique draws on the theory that Hans Hofmann proposed in his teachings. There is a “push and pull” of color that creates dynamic tension. Carreño is a prolific artist; with gestural images seemingly spilling from cultural reminiscences, past experiences and fleeting memories. Intuitively, we sense the narrative content of his paintings. One is drawn into the work without quite knowing the reason for the magnetism it possesses. There is freshness and spontaneity in the application of the paint. Sometimes, quasi-linear forms dance, hover, and cavort in a rainbow of sensuous colors. He alludes to clouds, white sand, foliage, flowers, architecture and the luminous glow of sunlight in the Caribbean—all awakening our five senses. Carreño declares that the colors of his paintings have to do with the Caribbean atmosphere. “The sun is so strong, [that] you can’t get away from it!” Many of his paintings contain yellow hues that reflect the intensity of that Caribbean sun. Perhaps, like his predecessors, the surrealists, Carreño looks for a higher reality in his paintings. It is a reality that tests our subconscious. In recent works, Carreño’s style has evolved into canvasses that are much denser with layers of paint and numerous elements, especially in his series entitled Revelation. In Celestial Blue, oil on canvas, 48 X 48 inches, 2013 (p. 15), he has composed a painting with an intense blue background with small slashes of red, yellow, white, green and blue that build up layers of three dimensional space. Unlike previously, the entire canvas is populated by these small slashes of paint that cover the entire field. Small lines are used to break up the monotony of these slashes. Celestial Blue gives us an idea of the infinite space that stands between us and other worlds and our curiosity about what lies beyond. This is a beautiful composition that reminds one of vastness of the heavens and its relationship to us both scientifically and spiritually. First Dream/Revelation, oil on canvas, 48 X 48 inches, 2014 (p.13) depicts the same formula with fewer objects being used, providing less density. Melodic, oil on canvas, 48 X 36 inches, 2014, (p. 21) repeats the same formula with vertical emphasis and larger brushstrokes. Carreño’s work features delicate linear patterns that form a grid as in Phase #2, oil on canvas, 48 X 48 inches, 2012 (p. 19). This grid supports the luscious, vibrant tones of the paint floating on the surface of the painting. He revels in the expressive nuances of the paint. Layers of colors appear translucent on the canvas, gently allowing each 11
color to penetrate and permeate the other. But in Expansion #2, oil on canvas, 48 X 48 inches, 2014 (p. 33) there are many more controlled areas of paint that have definite edges. Solids and voids created by color contrasts make large areas project and recede. There is more of a deliberate sense of structure. Carreño seems to move back and forth through many stylistic tendencies. Indeed, the Caribbean artist has absorbed many different artistic styles, in itself. His work is akin to that of Tamayo, Rothko, Miro and Gorky with a Caribbean intensity. Moving through light and shadows, color infuses areas of his painting with a heightened emotional effect. Sometimes his colors are hot, like the seething pulsating beat of Caribbean music. Superimposed translucent colors play havoc with our depth perception. At other times, subdued earth tones smolder, igniting his paintings with the warmth of an open hearth. Carreño alludes to these earth colors as being “humble.” Peering deeply into Carreño’s composition, we see biomorphic forms playing with our imaginations, enticing our senses into discovering their identity. But they also play hide-and-seek beneath the rich luscious hues. In his sure hand, these colors cease to be ordinary. They are delicious hues that are like ripened fruit. They defy description. In a sense, some of his paintings are open-ended; the viewer is free to compose his/her own experience in a complex narrative through line, color and form. The hybrid nature, plurality and open-endedness are the basic characteristics of Caribbean culture. Carreño still keeps contact with his fellow Dominican artists while living in the United States. He is part of that group of transnational artists who seek to come to terms with their own identity in a country that they have adopted as their own. He acknowledges that his work has changed since coming here. His association with other living artists and stimulus from others like Romare Bearden have broadened his perspective. “In general I like the work of Tamayo. I love Romare Bearden and Norman Lewis. Norman Lewis has a painting, a piece, with a lot of yellow and a lot of lines…Their work becomes a part of what you do. Your environment always plays an important role in the development of your art.” Carreño describes his paintings as “passages of memories.” These memories will inspire the viewer and remind us of the ancient beauty of the Caribbean and its connection to African, African American, Amerindian and other ancient cultures.
The Sublime The developmental concept of the sublime as an aesthetic quality in nature in opposition to beauty was promoted in 18th century writings. It grew out of an interest in the fearsome and awe inspiring qualities found in nature that was admired and cultivated by writers and painters alike. Some of the superb works in the Sublime Series express the ideological aesthetics of that period. In the sublime one can express pleasure and repulsion, beauty and grotesqueness, and awe and horror. The sublime in 18th century art was expressed in landscapes and grandiose contemporary and historical paintings. Carreño’s Sublime, oil on canvas, 72 X 58 inches, 2007 (p. 41) recreates the mood of this period in simple abstraction. The painting’s deep somber colors seem deliberately muddied; even muted, lending itself to a dark and foreboding somber mood. Carreño’s usually bright and bold colors are toned down, and the swirling brushstrokes resemble a tornado. His series of semi-white paintings such as White Light, oil on canvas, 96 X 48 inches, 2012 (p. 63) Crossing, oil on canvas, 48 X 48 inches, 2013 (p. 65) and Entering #2, oil on canvas, 48 X 48 inches, 2013 (p. 67) have a sick ghostly glow that is washed out with a white ground with limited calligraphy. 12
Conclusion In this stunning exhibition each piece of art work contains a compelling personal narrative. In each painting the artist speaks to us through our visual and psychological response to his experiences. Even in an abstract piece, color, form, and design convey that experience to us. There are no buildings, landscapes, flowers, humans or animals in this exhibition; only the language of nonrepresentational painting. The artist is the poet or story teller who “spits” the visual rhymes. We imagine the story. The artist provides the framework for the narrative; the viewers may reference whatever epic story affects their lives. Synchronicity is not guaranteed. In structuralism and linguistics, synchronic and diachronic are two distinct types of study. “A diachronic study or analysis concerns itself with the evolution and change over time of that which is studied; it is roughly equivalent to historical. A synchronic study or analysis, in contrast, limits its concern to a particular moment of time.” Thus Carreño’s story has been a diachronic sweep across time with elements of synchronic stops and starts that drive his artistic journey. Each synchronic stop provides a moral lesson—a revelation, so to speak—a mark on a timeline that points out joy, sadness, loss, or exhilaration. In that sense, this comprehensive body of non-representative work provides complex stories for us all. The biblical book of Revelation is about dreams, visions and prophesies; but we can’t bank on a knowable future, we just have to keep on stepping to time. Thus, as the Buddhist monk proclaims, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with that one single step.”
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We are the Earth, mixed media on paper, 60” x 40” 2004 14
Deep Blue, encaustic on paper, 60” x 40” 2004 15
Halfway Open, mixed media on paper, 60” x 40” 2005 16
Blue Passage, mixed media on paper, 40” x 60” 2006 17
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REVELATIONS
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Celestial Blue, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2013
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First Dream / Revelation, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2014
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Phase #2, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2012
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Phase- Ascending, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2012
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Blue Divine #6, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2013
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Melodic, oil on canvas, 48” x 36” 2014
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Holy Night #2, oil on canvas, 50” x 98” 2012
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Still in the Night #12, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2014
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Raising-Divine, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2012
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Stance, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2014
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Sights, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2014
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At Night, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2014
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Expansion #2, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2014
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SUBLIME SERIES
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Sense, oil on canvas, 72” x 48” 2011
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Sublime, oil on canvas, 72” x 58” 2007
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Blue Transformation, oil on canvas, 72” x 58” 2007
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Sequence of Thoughts #2, oil on canvas, 72” x 58” 2011
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Path, oil on canvas, 72” x 58” 2007
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Senses #2, oil on canvas, 72” x 58” 2011
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Path #4, oil on canvas, 72” x 58” 2008
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Blue Ensemble, oil on vanvas, 72” x 58” 2007
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Divine Blues, oil on canvas, 96” x 48” 2013
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Fervent, oil on canvas, 48” x 36” 2014
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Path #5, oil on canvas, 48” x 38” 2011
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Crossing, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2013
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White Light, oil on canvas, 96” x 48” 2012
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P. 54 / 55 Sarium, oil on canvas, 55” x 120” 2011
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Entering #2, oil on canvas, 48” x 48” 2013
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Passage #6, oil on canvas, 30” x 30” 2013
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Stage Two, oil on canvas, 30” x 30” 2012
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The Flame, oil on canvas, 30” x 30” 2012
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Synchronized Blue, oil on canvas, 30” x 30” 2012
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Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA ANTONIO CARRENO
Peg Alston Fine Art, New York, NY
BORN: 1963
Parish Gallery, Washington, DC
EDUCATION:
2005
1976=1982
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, IL
National School of Fine Arts, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
JoySmith Gallery, Memphis, TN Madelyn Jordon, Scarsdale, NY
Art Students League, New York, NY
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
1988, 1990
2004
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
2014 Stella Jones, Gallery, New Orleans, LA
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, IL Concordia University Museum, MI
2012 Madelyn Jordon Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
Stella Jones Gallery New, Orleans, LA
The Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
2003
2011
JoySmith Gallery, Memphis, TN
Messineo Art Project, New York, NY
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Detroit, MI
Wyman Contemporary, New York, NY
Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2010
Parish Gallery, Washington, DC
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, IL
2002
2009
Corbino Galleries, Longboat Key, FL
Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2001
Wallace Fine Art, Long Boat Key, FL
Corbino Galleries, Longboat Key, FL
2008
Simon Gallery, Morristown, NJ
Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Bomani Gallery, San Francisco, CA
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, Chicago, IL
2000
Parish Gallery, Washington, DC
Leonora Kreiger Gallery, New York, NY
Messineo Art Project, New York, NY
1999
2007
Simon Gallery, Morristown, NJ
Peg Alston Fine Art, New York, NY
G.R. N’Namdi Galleries, Chicago, IL
Madelyn Jordon Fine Art, Scarsdale, NY
Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Messieno Art Project, New York, NY
Bender Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
Wyman Contemporary, New York, NY
J.Rainey Gallery, Detroit, MI
2006
1998
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G.R. N’Namdi Art Center, Detroit, ML
Corbino Galleries, Longboat Key, FL
2007
Parish Gallery, Georgetown, Washington, DC
G.R.N’Namdi Gallery, Seven Voices, New York, NY
Virgina Miller Gallery, Miami, FL
Parish Gallery, Group show, Washington DC
Bender Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2004
1997
G.R.N’Namdi Gallery, Art Miami, Miami, FL
Parish Gallery, Georgetown, Washington, DC
G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, New York, NY
Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Henoch Gallery, New York, NY
Sindin Galleries, New York, NY
Stella Jones Gallery, BAF, New York, NY
Corbino Galleries, Longboat Key, FL
2002
1996
Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ
Corbino Galleries, Sarasota, FL
A.A.F. New York, G.R. N’Namdi Gallery, NY
La Vita Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Stella Jones Gallery, New York, NY
Drew Cryst Gallery, Sparta, NJ
Kenkeleba Gallery, Rutgers University, New York, NY
1995
2001
Arden Gallery, Boston, MA
Corbino Galleries, Longboat Key, FL
Medicci Art Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Stella Jones Gallery, New York, NY
Drew Cryst Gallery, Sparta, NJ
Stella Jones, Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1993
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Infinity, Art Gallery, New York, NY
Madelyn Jordon Fine Arts, Scarsdale, NY
1987
2000
Centro de la Cultura, Santiago, DR
Corbino Galleries, Longboat Key, Florida
1985
Bender Fine Art, Atlanta,
Dominican American Institute of Culture, Santo Domingo, DR
G.R. N’Namdi gallery, Chicago, IL
1982
Parish Gallery, Washington, DC
The Reserved Bank of the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo, DR
1999 Corbino Galleries, Longboat Key, Florida
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
Ira Pinto Gallery, Washington, DC
2011
Parish Gallery, Georgetown, Washington, DC
Philharmonic Art Center, Naples, FL
Amalia Mahony, Chicago, Illinois
Parish Gallery, Washington, DC
1988
Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida
2010
Philharmonic Center for the Arts, Naples, FL
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Simon Gallery, Morristwon, New Jersey Brenda Kroos Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio Art Vancouver, BC Stella Jones Gallery 1987 Sindin Galleries, New York, New York Simon Gallery, Morristown, New Jersey 1995 Corbino Galleries, Sarasota, Florida 1994 Carib Art Gallery, New York, New York 1993 Arden Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts 1992 Jacob Javitts Center, New York, New York 1991 Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, DR
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS: Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona Dillar University, New Orleans, Louisiana Dominican America Institute of Culture, Santo Domingo, DR Latin American Museum of Modern Art, Washington, DC Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, DR Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey The Reserved Bank of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, DR
Back cover: Antonio CarrnĂąo working on his studio.Photo courtesy of The Antonio Carreno Arts Foundation.
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STELLA JONES GALLERY
201 ST. CHARLES ANENUE NEW ORLEANS LOUISIANA 70170 PH 504 568 9050 FAX 504 568 0840
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