Hey, What’s Up, Hello

24 × 48 inches
Acrylic on canvas
2026
$1,738

Hey, What’s Up, Hello started during Cancer season after I tried about a dozen different ways to approach the sign before finally accepting the obvious: Cancer is a crab.

Cancers really are crabs. They're nurturing and soft, but they'll buck up in a second when it comes to someone they love. The armor isn't there because they don't feel. It's there because they feel so much.

The crab also gave me a way to explore Cancer through something that feels unmistakably Louisiana.

I was anxious the day I painted this, and eventually I decided to stop fussing. I put out my favorite colors and told myself to just paint a crab. Get loose. Get colorful. See what shakes out.

This guy showed up.

I loved him immediately because he had a point of view. He's loud, playful, confident and completely committed to the bit. In my head, he's Mr. Johnny. He's got a boat and a fishing camp. He cleaned the boat that morning, filled the ice chest and sent the group text:

Got the boat ready. See y'all at 1.

He's happiest when his people are around and nobody has to perform. Everybody already understands the assignment. You bring the beer. I'll bring the boudin. We'll figure out the rest when we get there.

That kind of ease feels very Louisiana to me.

Louisiana art doesn't have to rely on the same familiar symbols to tell you where it's from. Sometimes the vibrancy does that. The humor does it. The excess of color, the way we gather and the way we understand how to have a good time can tell the story just as well.

I feel the same way about fine art. It doesn't have to be snooty or intimidating to matter. You don't have to consider yourself an art collector to know when something lights you up. There is real value in surrounding yourself with things that make your home, camp, beach house or place of leisure feel completely unlike anyone else's.

Art is allowed to be meaningful and still be fun.

Sometimes you see a painting and the only appropriate response is:

That's fucking cool.

Hey, What’s Up, Hello is that painting.