In recent years, in order to go fishing, Simon Gunning regularly crossed the Mississippi River to the West Bank and then down to Plaquemines Parish. The artist used these excursions to collect raw images directly from the environment he encountered. Gunning was particularly drawn to the area near Grand Bayou, with its brave and battered little fleet of trawlers. The images collected by the artist near Grand Bayou are the focal point for the body of work in this exhibition.

Gunning has a startling ability to capture in his paintings the light and color of south Louisiana. In this series of work, he captures the early morning light that reveals the day’s exhilarating potential, and at other times he conveys the mysterious sense of melancholy which exudes from the abandoned wrecks and detritus as a result of ravaging storms and oil spills. For Gunning, “Postcards from Plaquemines” is an endeavor to give those who have never seen Grand Bayou a sense of what it’s like; and, for those who have been there, the artist intends this body of work as an homage to a glorious and disappearing environment.