ART STATEMENT

My paintings begin with places I know and rarely paint them as they are. Instead, I paint the feeling of remembering them.

Working from memory allows me to simplify, blur, and rearrange what I have seen. Layers of paint are added, scraped away, and painted over again until the image begins to emerge through the atmosphere rather than sit on top of it. I am less interested in documenting a place than capturing the emotion it leaves behind.

Rain, humidity, fog, and filtered light are as important to my work as the objects themselves. My vertical brushstrokes echo falling rain, Spanish moss, and the quiet passage of time. These layers soften the edges between reality and memory, inviting viewers to complete the story with their own experiences.

Although my work is rooted in Louisiana, it is ultimately about the places we carry with us long after we've left them. I often feel as though the air is making the shapes instead of my brush.

BIOGRAPHY

Paul Schexnayder is a Louisiana artist, author, illustrator, and educator whose work explores memory, atmosphere, and the stories that shape a place. A lifelong resident of New Iberia, his paintings are inspired by the landscapes, architecture, and quiet moments of South Louisiana, transforming familiar scenes into evocative images that linger between memory and imagination.

He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from Louisiana State University in 1988 and has exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States. His paintings have been selected as the official artwork for numerous local and state festivals and are found in public and private collections across the country.

In addition to his fine art career, Schexnayder is an award-winning author and illustrator. He has published eleven books, including The Gumbo Gators and I Know My Louisiana Colors, and has also received recognition for his animated short films.

A passionate advocate for the arts, Schexnayder has helped shape the cultural landscape of his hometown by founding or co-founding projects including the Bayou Teche Museum, George Rodrigue Park, the New Iberia Art Walk, and the James Lee Burke statue. He has also completed several public murals throughout the region.

For more than thirty years, he has shared his love of art as an educator and currently teaches visual arts in the Iberia Parish Talent Program. He and his wife, Lee, own SCHEX Gallery in downtown New Iberia, where they showcase his work alongside a carefully selected group of Louisiana artists. They have three children.

Whether painting, writing, or illustrating, Schexnayder is driven by the same goal: to create work that captures not only what a place looks like, but what it feels like to remember it.