Legacy

Paul Dean held up an old crate that contained a silver-splotched dinosaur, an alligator and the head of a Troll doll, among other children’s toys.

“I’ve been collecting these things for a while and I think I even spray-painted them silver at one point,” he explained. “I like painting things silver. I don’t know what that’s about.”

Dean, a professor of graphic design, laughed as he rummaged through the crate and reminisced about some of the projects he’s worked on in the backyard of his house in Beauregard Town, Baton Rouge’s oldest neighborhood. Dean, with his thick beard, glasses, sandals and nearly too short t-shirt, put the crate down, his words trailing off as he made his way toward the back door.

A bowling ball lay in the tall grass not far from the steps — one that probably used to sit with the eight or 10 other balls beneath the kitchen table. Inside the house was a mixture of thrift shop finds Dean has collected over the years. A decade-old art project leaned against the wall in the laundry room. An orange teapot on the living room floor looked as though it had been there forever, a fixture in the modest home.

Suddenly it was obvious why Dean favors collages to express his artistic thoughts. The combination of art, furniture, toys, bowling balls and books scattered throughout his home reflects the eclectic style of his artwork. An unfamiliar onlooker may wonder why a Troll peeks from the window, but they couldn’t argue against how well it fits into the big picture of Dean’s life.

Seated in the front room, Dean snipped at a used cereal box. The snippets, along with countless others, will form a multi-faceted image the artist likened to a gem.

“I have this box of crap and I fold the cardboard and cut it with scissors. I’m intentionally trying to put in some random element here, so that I’m not in complete control of what happens,” he said as he cut strips of the cereal box, rendering its brand less and less recognizable. “I’m trying to make it look like refractions, like in a diamond or some kind of crystal, and then, when it looks right, I glue it down.”

The style is bright and complex, yet still organized. His piece “New Dotti Berry” is a mixture of colorful packages, images of round candy and other dot-inspired fragments. But he doesn’t limit his materials to discarded packaging and pictures; he also uses money as a means of expression. In “Wu Yuan,” Dean uses Chinese currency to showcase the intricacy and beauty of the medium.

Natalie Smith, a book cover designer and former student of Dean’s, recognized his appreciation of art in unexpected places. “He can take the things that people throw away and those are his treasures,” Smith said. She explained that Dean was able to look past the material value of everyday objects.

Dean attributed his style to the art movement known as Dadaism, a cultural movement during World War I that primarily involved art as a means of protesting the war. His interest in punk rock reminded him of the Dada movement and helped influence his work.

“I was like 18 years old when punk rock was invented, so that was really fun. That was my movement,” he recalled. “A lot of the Dadaists were collage artists; they liked collage because it’s so rebellious.”

Dean noticed the album covers of the punk rock records he purchased in his early years also had a unique design. Until then, he said music covers had a slick, meticulously crafted style that often went unnoticed. Dean said that wasn’t the case with punk rock.

“One of the best things about punk rock was the ‘do-it-yourself aesthetic.’ The idea that you don’t have to get anyone else’s permission,” he explained.

A calm jazz tune tinkled in the background from the Apple computer on Dean’s desk. Don’t expect to hear punk blaring from the speakers now; Dean has since lost interest in the genre.

“You know what’s ironic?” he asked, looking surprised at his own words. “I don’t like punk rock. Even though it changed my life and I was even in some bands [and] it led to a career path and everything.”

A native of North Carolina, Dean received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina. He later traveled the world to find out what he wanted to do with his life, deciding to look for a job either designing book covers or teaching graphic design. He chose the latter.

“I taught in Springfield, Missouri, and I have to tell you I didn’t like it. I thought the whole country was the same. Then I was in the Midwest and was like—” He groaned.

Dean came to Baton Rouge in 1992 and started working as a DJ for KLSU, hosting the station’s international show.

“When I became a vinyl DJ, the tradition there is to appreciate funk. Music that works. Music that a crowd will appreciate. Funk and soul. A groove became really important to me, which in punk rock it isn’t. You know, punk is like, ‘Di-GAH, di-GAH, di-GAH, di-GAH,’ Which is not bad.” He smiled. “But I love rock ‘n’ roll and the Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop and that sort of thing.”

His DJ name, “DJmisc,” reiterates the variety present in his day-to-day life — a jumble of interests that collectively paint a picture of Paul Dean. Whether blogging on his website, dog-earing a page in a Jack Kerouac novel or piecing together his next collage, Dean tries to stick with what keeps him interested.

To relax, Dean lets the creativity flow freely so he can experience the art. “Working on [the collages] is almost therapeutic. I’ll put on a movie or whatever, or just the radio and just look at these pretty colors.”

Smith said she remembers Dean being relatable, someone you’d want to spend time with.

“He’s like the cool older brother who you wanted to hang out with and play with all the cool stuff in his office,” she said, adding that he was a good friend but a better teacher. “I always got B’s on my work because he knew that we could make it better. He really challenged your work. He’d be a friend with you, but he would expect you to be a great student also.”

Dean’s complexities can make understanding him a challenge. As typeface designer and former student Tal Leming said, “He is hard to nail down.” But Leming had no trouble praising Dean’s teaching abilities.

“Paul really made us aware of design and just finding things interesting outside of the classroom,” Leming explained. “We were taught to pay attention to the colors of leaves and the way the sun reflects off the windows in the art school building. Paul, in a lot of ways, taught us to see.”