The recurring imagery in Martin LaBorde’s work springs from deeply personal experiences. Born with a hearing defect, celebrated New Orleans artist Martin LaBorde spent the first twenty years of his life in a world of near total silence. As a result, his visual sense was heightened and he developed a rich inner life to compensate for that part of reality that had been denied to him. Early on his perception of reality embraced the mystical, the spiritual, and he became acutely attuned to an alternative reality.

The present work is infused with imagery that has its roots in a lifetime of hardship, experiences and spiritual quest. They are a map of his soul manifest in a little character called Bodo who revealed himself to the artis...