ReX DINGLER: David Teska

23 July 2006

David Teska

On Monday, March 18th, 1996, I visit my friend David Teska in the intensive care unit in Pensacola, Florida. On Friday, March 22nd, his family removed life support and he died. He died as a result of a car accident. It was a single car accident. He hit a telephone pole.

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What People Say...

Chris Rose (nola): "It's all got a very Don Quixote feel to it, a lone wolf braying into the wilderness... It's art for art's sake. And for sanity's sake as well." & "NoLA Rising, a ragtag band of insurgent art missionaries who post artwork in public places as far and wide across the region as possible."

Kalen Wright (nola): "Rex's street art pieces are a public service..."

Mark Folse (nola): "a great Artist and Agitator"

Adam Falik: "Dingler’s work is a form of activism that astutely addresses the city’s cultural and civic climate. He is both interested in the man-on-the-street and the streets itself, its cityscape, architecture and geography..."

"There is a school of thought bordering on mysticism that divines relationship between the shape of buildings and the mental and spiritual health of those who reside within them. Dingler, likewise, seeks the balance between a city’s denizens and their capacity to accept, and interact, with art."

Lisa Heindel (nola): "What a charming, articulate, passionate person…a wonderful representative of all that is right in the world."

Lady Robin (nola): "Rex Dingler is becoming a household name. From the heartfelt creativity he is sharing with the city to his battle with the evil Fred Radtke, Rex has made his way into our hearts and homes."

ANGELA PATE (nola): "New Orleans still needs so much help, but the people of NOLA are bringing back the bohemian, artistic atmosphere that makes me love it so much. Rex has become almost a cult leader, bringing NOLA back beyond just the infrastructure, but, more importantly, maybe, to its heart and soul."

Idiot the Wise a.k.a. INSPIRE (Tel Aviv): "If NOLA rises again, then its from the organized efforts of this guy...a true public art hero..."

A.J. (nola): "One day while traversing the muck of damage, alone in my car, I looked over and suddenly glimpsed a ray of color. A perfectly small square of color that simply stated Joy and then a short block away, another that read simply Hope. My car grinded to a slow halt in the street and I wept those post Katrina tears we've all shed following this time by a smile. Not a tiny grin but, a large and powerful giant size smile. "

Killian Doherty (Ireland): "ReX, a local artist, read the chasm between people’s physical disenfranchisement from their city and the unbridled appropriation of it by state as intolerable. ReX attempted to stitch this chasm closed with a humanist and practical intervention back into public space. 3,000 street signs were arduously hand- drawn, painted and affixed, to intersections throughout the city. ReX tried to weaved a sense of order back into the neglected fabric of New Orleans; his humanistic treatment gave people hope, allowing them to re orientate themselves again, empowering them to reclaim New Orleans, their home, amidst the neglect and oppression. It became a cultural movement for social justice.

SOLIDSTATE (new zealand): "If Dingler didn't exist as the patron saint of the arts that he is, if he wasn't already there as the first of a new breed of red-hots. If there wasn't already a living breathing skin-suit called Michael Dingler, underground artist, cardboard pep-rally, riverboat captain and the yeast that makes NOLA rise...then someone else would definitely have to make him up. Luckily, he's already making himself up. Raise your glasses: ladies and germs, to Tyrannosaurus Dingler."

KELLEY (detroit-ish): "This is great work!!!"

SINA (tucson): "Sunshine and art and happiness, the city, the soul will win...look how much more contagious NoLA Rising's efforts have become..."

"...Rex had the unassuming belief that if he offered public words of encouragement to those souls striving to eke out a life in post-Katrina New Orleans, that perhaps he could buoy his community and help everyone work towards a happier, and decidedly healthier future."

"...because of Rex's efforts to preserve that uniqueness that all Americans hold dear, regardless of where our legal addresses keep us anchored. Rex is nothing less than an ambassador and he has the global support to back up this notion."

MAGS (nola native): "Projects like NOLA Rising are only trying to spread a little love and joy via art to a depressed, beat-down population..."

VIRTUAL SHOCK (nola): "...it’s always heartwarming to see one of these signs."

FLEURETTE DeLIS (nola expat): "Rex's art, and what ReX is doing for NOLA, is courageous and one could say avant garde even. ReX's commitment to art is astonishing and yet not "artsy" in the "snob" sense that one often finds in the arts community. The art is often bohemian, refreshingly so; it is the art of the people and for the people, not necessarily "just for those" who have degrees in the fine arts. Often abstract or whimsical, but then, I follow the white rabbit also down the rabbit hole, and the adventure, to those who chose to travel with us, is worth the distance."

DR. D. Lee(mobile): "...a rare and unique commodity."

George "Loki" Williams (nola): "Michael Dingler is a sure cure for those gray moods!"

...the world over...

Havana, Cuba
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Uruguey
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Los Angeles, California
Wurzberg, Germany
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Spain
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New Zealand
Israel
Belfast, Northern Ireland
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Dublin, Ireland
Maquoketa, Iowa
Bexley, England
Louisville, Kentucky
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London, England
Metairie, LA
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Petaling, Malaysia
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Czech Republic
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Mobile, Alabama
San Diego, California
New Orleans

23 July 2006

David Teska

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