*The installation was first shown at Prospect 1, the first New Orleans’ biennial founded by Dan Cameron in 2008. No Longer Empty has invited Dan Cameron to recreate this important work in New York City. 

October 20, 2008 (New Orleans, LA)    How does a New York native become woven into the fabric of New Orleans? How does a medical student become a sought-after painter? How does catastrophe give birth to art?  The answers lie in the work of SKYLAR FEIN, an emerging artist whose career has exploded in the last year and is expected to flower this fall for Prospect.1, the largest biennial of international contemporary art ever organized in the United States.

For Prospect 1, Fein is producing “Remember the Upstairs Lounge” an installation that throws a spotlight on an overlooked piece of New Orleans history: a fire that swept through a French Quarter gay bar in 1973, killing everyone inside. The worst fire in New Orleans history has never been solved. His installation walks visitors right through the swinging bar doors, and offers visual riffs on politics and sexuality circa 1973. It has a few surprises, including an artifact from the fire--one that has been zealously guarded by a survivor for 35 years and crime scene photos that are so graphic they have never been shown.  “It’s like the Upstairs Lounge is rising from the ashes,” Fein says. “And what could be a better symbol of life in New Orleans right now?”

SKYLAR FEIN’s “Remember the Upstairs Lounge” will be presented on the 4th floor of the Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp St., New Orleans, LA.) along with two major biennial installations by Julie Mehretu and Trenton Doyle Hancock.  The exhibit will be on view from Nov. 1, 2008 through Jan. 18, 2009