Known for his surreal and colorfully Kafkaesque paintings, Marcel Flisiuk was born in Poland, where he was profoundly influenced by his early years in the medieval port city of Gdansk. While he counts his "moody and sensual Slavic soul" among his formative influences, he also was affected by another port city, New Orleans, where the French Quarter still hints at its origins as a medieval sort of walled enclave. Flisiuk says he sold his first painting at age 10 in New Orleans, where he made friends with musicians and "aroused envy in craft painters littering Jackson Square," before expanding his repertoire to include murals, posters and CD covers. Describing New Orleans as the most European of American cities, he says it's a place "where things are played out more drastically and vividly." No kidding! -- D. Eric Bookhardt Gambit magazine When it comes to sheer weirdness, the only currently available comparison can be found in Marcel Flisiuk's paintings at Barrister's. They may also creep you out, but at least he doesn't mess with religions, focusing instead on Nola as it appears to his peculiar Polish expat sensibilities. Imagine a Franz Kafka version of the French Quarter populated by golems and gremlins, and you've got the general idea. For instance, JAMMED, left, his vision of Vieux Carre streets clogged with blocky vehicles and zombie drivers, suggests a futurist nightmare by a Creole Stanislaw Lem. And then there's his his hallucinatory CITY OF EDEN painting of a dystopian Nola cityscape, above, a strangely complex work by an artist whose novel vision is more idiosyncratic than most.-- D. Eric Bookhardt Gambit magazine Acclaimed Art Critic D. Eric Bookhardt
