Noah Antieau, curator at the Red Truck Gallery. “Armed to the teeth at an art show.”

Noah Antieau is the curator of the Red Truck Gallery: an art collective whose caliber of talent is only surpassed by its medley of personalities. They recently came to the Shooting Gallery for their group show Hard Time Mini Mall, which runs through May 4. The camaraderie among these guys is palpable, as they travel together across the nation displaying their work collectively. Noah is the ringleader whose vision has set the mission for Red Truck, and he is never far from his cohort and business partner for their eatery Lonesome’s Pizza, Nic Sin. Noah discusses screening prospective artists based on personality, the reason why New Orleans will always be his home, and why Conceptual Art is such a hustle. Below, he included photos with captions from his travels, though some of the most provocative images were sent without any explanation needed.

Read the interview and see scenes from Noah’s daily life, after the jump!

“LA Artshow, they bought us all our own, right-sized bottle of maker’s mark. Love those guys.”

Your art exposes the craftsmanship behind many of the pieces as part of its over all aesthetic. Is this is a response to the preponderance of conceptual art?

I remember seeing conceptual art for the first time when I was a kid at the New Orleans Museum. I couldn’t have been more than 10 or 11. My mom told me it was worth a fortune when I complained about it’s content. I remember thinking the artist was a con, a snake oil salesman. I tangibly remember thinking of the hustlers and cons in New Orleans. if only any of them knew they could’ve conned some millionaire out of a paycheck with a good line of bullshit and set of brushes…

Nic Sin and Noah Antieau in an LA art show.

There is a general lack of pretension in the art represented by Red Truck,  and a sense of very close-knit bond between you and your artists. What are the prerequisites to being admitted into your gallery?

Do you mean prerequisites personality-wise? We’ve passed on a lot of great artists who suck as people. We all travel together, spend a lot of time living in really close quarters, if you’re a pretentious douche it can make for a much longer art show. Also, the bulk of the places we show are pretty uptight, it helps to have some refuge from that in the guys you’re traveling with. and there is this other, more ethereal thing. I started the gallery to give my family a place to be seen, that was someplace other then a flea-market, it was for my family. I think that impulse has carried over to the other guys we’ve added since me and Bryan first started doing this. I think of the other guys as family is what I’m getting at I think. Though for christ’s sake don’t tell them that…

“This is Nic with one of our pizza boxes-we put art in each box.” (The two also run a pizza place in New Orleans.)

How long have you lived in New Orleans and what do you love about it?

Forever. It’s the most beautiful place in the world and it’s the only place I ever want to call home. I’ve lived other places, I probably will again, but this where my mail comes. really, I’ve been all over hell and creation, and this is the most amazing place on I’ve ever seen.

Noah and Nic on St. Patty’s Day.

Does the character of the city influence the majority of art from the area?

New Orleans more then any other place. the culture here is absolutely dominant. classical flautists move here and end up sounding like Clifton Chenier. Tennessee Williams moved here writing like Walt Whitman and left, well, writing like Tennessee Williams… The place is bigger than any 1 person, and there are some pretty big personalities here, so that’s really saying something.

This is how Red Truck does Christmas cards.

“D’Aquino making fun of Mr. Brainwash, who Bryan mistakenly referred to as Mr. Mouthwash…”

Some notable extras: