"LOUISIANA BLUE NOTE"

Arthur Rimbaud’s 1871 poem, “Le Bateau Ivre” (The Drunken Boat), was written when the author was only 16 shortly after he read Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Rich with symbolism the poem shares the sights and experiences of a “drunken” boat filling with water and sinking. In 2013 French artist Mateo, aka MTO, began a road trip across the United States painting a mural series he called “OTO” (formed by combination of glasses and gold “T”). Also known for often including a work of French literature, this New Orleans mural at Touro and Marais Streets includes a book of Rimbaud opened to “The Drunken Boat” . . . referencing perhaps the possibly intoxicated figure “sinking” into the building,  the drowning of New Orleans by Katrina, and maybe even the role of alcohol in the culture of the city?