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John Bukaty

@johnbukaty

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Professional Live Painter in New Orleans 🎨🖌
Founder of @blujackartist 🎨👕

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Great piece in @rollingstone today about sober jam band life. Here’s a little of it but you should hit the official site and read the whole thing!

✍️ @dopeypodcast aka David Manheim

🎨 @johnbukaty

#phish
#gratefuldead
#wharfrat
#sobriety taken in Wharf Rat Club by @johnbukaty

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8 months ago

by @johnbukaty

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7 months ago

Get ready, New Orleans! Orleans Gallery is thrilled to announce the debut of John Bukaty’s (@johnbukaty ) Whole in My Heart, opening Saturday, September 6th at 603 Julia Street.

This isn’t just an exhibition. It’s an experience. A burst of color and movement will fill the gallery as Bukaty, a pioneer of the live painting movement, is front and center for a live painting performance right here in the gallery. There may even be surprise special guests! Expect an unforgettable evening where art, music, and community collide.

Bukaty’s career has taken him from Kansas City brewpubs to Vatican halls, from Jazz Fest stages with the Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, and Santana to fundraisers for causes close to his heart. He has painted shoulder-to-shoulder with rockstars, translating music’s raw energy into kinetic brushstrokes that seem to pulse with sound. His work doesn’t just capture the moment: it channels it, illuminating time itself with color and devotion.

Now, for the first time, his most important works converge here in New Orleans, in a show that celebrates presence, resilience, and transcendence. This is a night to witness one of America’s most original voices in art bring his canvas to life before your eyes.

📍 Whole in My Heart
🗓 Opening Reception: Saturday, September 6, 5-8pm
📌 603 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130

An evening of art, music, and magic awaits!

#JohnBukaty #WholeInMyHeart #OrleansGallery #LivePainting #NewOrleansEvents #NewOrleansGallery #NOLAArts #ArtShow #ArtExhibition #LiveArt #ContemporaryArt #JazzFestArt #RollingStonesArt #PearlJamArt #SantanaArt #NOLAArtsDistrict #NewOrleansCulture #SouthernArt #NewOrleansNightlife #NOLAEvents taken in Orleans Gallery by @johnbukaty

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a year ago

Today I celebrate 18 years sober—a life so full, beyond my wildest dreams.

Thank you, Bill B, for telling me I never had to feel that way again. Thank you, Kevin, for sponsoring me on your own time. And Pat! for sponsoring Kevin. Thank you to my Crested Butte, New Orleans and “inspiration move me brightly”recovery family and everyone (mom and family) who has helped me find my way over these 18 years.

When I got lost (hundred of times)I asked for directions. Somehow, those directions brought me here: free from the obsession of alcoholism.

As you know it has not hasn’t always been smooth. There’s been, pain, divorce, death of a sponsor and plenty of learning. But there has also been synchronicity’s, incredible cosmic coincidences -deep loyal friendships and more life than I knew was even possible.

I once was so selfish I gave up everything for one thing. Then I gave up that one thing and gained a whole world.

That’s what recovery has given me.

God bless everyone who has supported me (hundreds of people) and my work, and everyone who has given me the opportunity to help. Being called to be of service to someone else is the greatest honor I can think of.
🙏🙏🙏 by @johnbukaty

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18 days ago

#italy🇮🇹❤️ #tuscany #artist #travel #vienna Thank you Florence. So wonderful to visit the old masters and see a region so beautiful it will make you weep. taken in Florence, Italy by @johnbukaty

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2 months ago

Quick trip to Venice. I am all filled up ready to color dump some live Paintworks at the N.O.Jazzfest back home. by @johnbukaty

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6 months ago

by @johnbukaty

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6 months ago

Tank, 40”x40” acrylic on canvas. by @johnbukaty

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7 months ago

Honored to create this for the Trombone Shorty Foundation and ShortyFest at Tipitina’s
April 27, 2026. Supporting the next generation of New Orleans musicians. Acrylic on canvas 40”x40” by @johnbukaty

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7 months ago

What an amazing night of friends, family, and purpose in support of the Halo Foundation! Huge gratitude to Rebecca Welsh & @haloempowersyouth for their leadership and for hosting such a powerful evening. by @johnbukaty

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8 months ago

OF COURSE Sanctuary in Carefree AZ. -2/22 What a wonderful few days. We were surrounded by extraordinary people, high-vibrational intentions, and powerful new insights into the heart and the science of frequency. Thank you, Ian and Kyle, for the invitation to present,create and share. Wow-such an iconic gathering. In just three days we were able to collaborate, expand, and travel deeply into the mind, body, and soul—an experience I will carry with me for the rest of this lifetime. by @johnbukaty

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8 months ago

What a night — a tribute to one of the most beautiful souls in music history, Taj Mahal, at the Masonic in San Francisco. I’m so grateful that my art was a very, very small part of this incredibly large, all-star-studded performance benefiting Sweet Relief.

Still levitating a bit from the musical vibration. by @johnbukaty

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8 months ago