It’s a few hours before the doors open for the night, and a brilliant turquoise curtain ripples and sways as a sound crew behind its long folds preps for the night’s band. Looking down is Tupac Shakur—festooned in classic Shakespearean ruffles that recall the late rapper’s deep theatrical roots—and a winged Queen icon Freddie Mercury crooning like the son of Icarus and Hamlet into the skull he holds aloft. There, on the otherwise empty dance floor, stands artist Ellen Ogden discussing bar lights and their effect on mural colors with lighting specialist Amos Singleton.
Amy Winehouse, Biggie Smalls and Mac Miller are here, too, but thanks to Ogden, these neon-lit faces of the fallen aren’t solemn but celebratory. Their creative spirits live on at Dead Poet, Baton Rouge’s newest concert-focused bar and home to Ogden’s impossible-to-ignore icons.
“I wanted to blow up some positivity, to pull the vibrancy of their lives out of the tragedies,” Ogden says. “I want everything I create to feel like it has intention and purpose behind it. It’s hard to do that with a famous face.”
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Read on for the full story from inRegister‘s April issue, where Ogden talks about the work she’s done for several local bars and eateries.