Johncurtisrae is a true artist in every sense of the word. He is a man of esteemed character and integrity. He is a free spirit who is both outside of time and trapped in the past -- where he has taken up with some shady individuals (or, as he calls them, “gentlemen from Missouri”). However, I would instinctively tr… Read more

Johncurtisrae is a true artist in every sense of the word. He is a man of esteemed character and integrity. He is a free spirit who is both outside of time and trapped in the past -- where he has taken up with some shady individuals (or, as he calls them, “gentlemen from Missouri”). However, I would instinctively trust a handshake from him more than an ironclad contract signed by any of the nabobs of society today. His recreated images from the Late Unpleasantness of 1861-1865 are a delightful look back at a time that was anything but delightful. But johncurtisrae’s photos are at once humanizing and humorous, historical and hysterical, sensational and sentimental; they are pithy but never petty and unfailingly artistic in composition. He is a master storyteller whose language includes the vocabulary of images. In addition to his recreated images, johncurtisrae’s collection of original antique photos from the early years of the last century and the second half of the century before that provide a tantalizing glimpse at a simpler time, made all the more fascinating by the addition of his wit and intelligence as manifested in his titles, descriptions and comments. In short, johncurtisrae is a rare breed of man, one whom I am proud and honored to call a friend. I eagerly await his next adventure, whether solo or with the “gentlemen of Missouri.”