Portrait Mixed Media Painting by well listed artist Wayne Manns (b. 1955 - ), a prominent New Orleans, Louisiana "outsider" artist popular for his remarkable recycled art paintings | Entitled BROTHER AND SISTER | Acrylic and Found Objects on wood Panel | Inscribed, Signed, Titled and dated by the artist on the verso | Depicting a brother and sister holding hands | Housed in its own artist created frame composed of wood materials/artifacts (including antique horn) found in the 7th Ward of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina | Approx. Size: 30" H x 21.5" W x 4" D (horn).

Wayne Manns is a prominent New Orleans, Louisiana "outsider" artist popular for his remarkable recycled art paintings. "Music was and is huge in my family. I got started in the arts through music. My father was a classically trained musician, but there weren’t a lot of conductors with darker skin in the 1950s, so he started playing jazz. Myself, I started by playing classical piano, but I loved the styles of Sly & The Family Stone, Grand Funk Railroad, Santana, et cetera... so I started copying their styles and doing covers of their songs. But I always went back to jazz."

"There was a bad period of my life, I spent some time in jail, and had time to reflect on the choices I had made up until that point. But once I got out, there were people who believed in me and saw the best in me, and I wanted to turn my life around for myself as well." Manns was encouraged to start painting because he was always sketching and drawing. "I trusted my hands with what I wanted to accomplish with the visual arts. So I found that there was this connection between what I could hear and then turn and play, and what I could see and turn to draw or paint on a piece of paper or canvas. And that’s how the love for painting took off."

"I [repurpose] old shutters and pieces of wood that I find down here in New Orleans, much of which are ruins from Hurricane Katrina. There's a lot of material - I love examining it, rescuing it; kind of like an archaeologist would do. And I paint the people of New Orleans. My wife asks me why I don't paint white people, and I say 'Well, if I had white paint, I would paint white people.' [We both laugh]. But really, I paint what I am familiar with, which is the black experience."