New Orleans art stars Miss Pussycat and Quintron are gearing up for the opening of their show, Parallel Universe, at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Despite being staples of the local scene, this is the first time either of them has shown in a gallery. Instead, they built their cheeky monikers on their performances; which features Miss Pussycat’s elaborate and colorful puppet shows, and Quintron’s lo-fi “swamp tech” synthesizer and organ music. Suffice it to say, their work isn’t your usual museum exhibition.

Miss Pussycat’s puppets, which are designed and sewn by her, also put out videos and albums. Her section of the installation, a room painted Honolulu blue, will feature her puppets and her sets, each specific to a certain episode, as well as a new installment of her puppet soap opera, Trixie and the Treetrunks.

For his portion, Quintron moved his entire recording studio into the museum and is going to be laying down an album over a three-month stretch during museum hours. He hopes that the museum will serve to inspire him, he covered the walls of his makeshift “studio” with portraits from it’s vaults. “It’s not a performance art thing, I’m not going to be putting on a show. People will walk into silence most of the time, I’m just making a record in my office,” Quintron said.

Part of his “office” includes a section dedicated to his patented Drum Buddy, an analog music machine that works with light-activated sensors to produce drum and synth noises. The arcade version that will be on display at NOMA is remarkably easy to use and understand.

Although Quintron and Miss Pussycat are in the business of toys, their work is not cute. According to Miss Pussycat, associating their work with children can be a mistake. “These punk rock parents brought their kids, and it happened to be a particularly violent puppet show we had done on tour with the Black Lips, Santa Claus murdered a witch,” the impresario explained on a puppet show in Memphis gone awry. “ The kids were terrorized.”

Parallel Universe opens January 29 and will be on view until May 2
New Orleans Museum of Art
1 Collins C. Dibboll Circle
New Orleans, LA

All photos courtesy of Quintron and Miss Pussycat