The Front art gallery is like the ground floor of an elevator. The gritty little storefront in the Bywater is where you go to catch artists before their careers take off and the cost of their work rises out of reach. Some of the shows there are solid, some are as shaky as the St. Claude Avenue bridge — it’s always a gamble.
But, trust me, Jane Tardo’s exhibit “Adventure Cattery Quilt Show and Boutique” is a sure thing.
Tardo is a quiltmaker who stitches together astonishingly detailed fabric landscapes populated by strange, cuddly cat people. Imagine a whiskery feline face grafted onto the body of Marilyn Monroe, skirt flying in the breeze. Imagine the head of a golden tomcat atop a beefy, shirtless cowboy. Imagine an alluring Siamese mermaid, a tabby-striped nubile bathing beauty, a come-hither Russian Blue farmhand.
You get the picture. It’s all perfectly innocent. And perfectly not.
Artist Jane Tardo puts a slightly subversive spin on her quilts, such as 'Cat Island Adventure.'
Tardo said that her 6-foot-wide masterpiece called “Cat Island Adventure” took something like six weeks to make. She said the employees at JOANN Fabrics and Crafts out on Veterans Boulevard in Metairie all know her, because she’s always rooting around for patterned fabrics to splice and dice into artworks. Some of the more exotic fabrics — the come-hither farmhands print, for instance — are only available online, she said.
Tardo, 37, is a native-born New Orleanian who recently earned her master’s degree in art at the University of New Orleans. She sews upholstery and drapes to make ends meet.
Tardo said that during the two-year COVID-19 time warp, she “went hard into escapism.” She said that “everything is supposed to be perfect” in her kittyscapes. On the “Cat Island” beach, she said, “there are no bugs, nothing biting you and no sunburn.”
Indeed, the world she created during the COVID-19 lockdown is idyllic … comforting even … and weird … and wicked.
One of artist Jane Tardo's come-hither kitties, in a quilt titled 'Winter Cat Boyfriend.'
But not as wicked as the miniboutique that is part of her show. If you’ve been searching for crocheted electric tongues, or male human reproductive cell knickknacks, or gendered exfoliators called “Polly and Paul Pumice,” or other such subversions, then you’ve come to the right place.
“Cat Island Adventure” will set you back $12,000, but some of the other, smaller quilts can be had for $750. And if you just want a souvenir of the show, the artist sells cool self-manufactured baseball caps and patches that say things like “Haunted Snake Tube,” starting at $15.
The Front is at 4100 St. Claude Ave. Tardo’s show, which is in the backroom, stays up until May 8. The gallery is open only on Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m., so don’t procrastinate, y’all.
Artist Jane Tardo puts a slightly subversive spin on her quilts, such as 'Cyclist Cat Girlfriend.'
