Robin Reynolds

Robin Reynolds - Exclusive Interactive Artwork at Galleria Balmain

Original Interactive Art

New Orleans - Between Heaven and Hell

Interactive Artwork!

Two years in the making, Between Heaven and Hell is an Anglo-American collaboration. London-based
artist Robin Reynolds and his brother Simon worked closely with Louisiana historian Sarah Borealis and
The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC)

A Panoramic View Like No Other

At first glance, the project presents a stunning panoramic illustration of New Orleans, with the historic French Quarter at its center. Surrounding it are the city’s storied suburbs, all set against the backdrop of the modern business district’s towering skyline. But this is far more than just a beautiful cityscape.

A Deeply Layered Cultural Tribute

This work is a bittersweet homage to the cultural and creative soul of the American South. It brings to life over 150 pivotal events and themes that have shaped New Orleans over the past three centuries—from its founding by explorer Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville on the banks of the Mississippi River to its evolution into a global symbol of resilience, music, and multiculturalism. Delivering a spectacular visual narrative.

Civil War!

Civil War!

This incredible artwork shows the city
underpinned by 150 colourful and interactive vignettes illustrating the New Orleans story. Here’s an excerpt….

Butler and the Women’s Order May, 1862

‘The occupying Unionist army was despised by white and many free black New Orleanians and no one expressed resentment of the Yankees on their streets more enthusiastically than the city’s women’.

Baroness Pontalba is shot!

Micaela Leonarda Antonia de Almonester Rojas y de la Ronde, Baroness de Pontalba was a wealthy New Orleans-born Creole aristocrat, businesswoman, and real estate designer and developer, one of the most memorable and dynamic personalities in the city’s history, though she lived most of her life in Paris.

Shooting survivor builds noted landmark.

Baroness Pontalba, the daughter of the philanthropic Spanish official Andreas Almonester y Rojas, endured two decades of unhappy marriage in France to her cousin Célestin. This before her father-in-law tried to murder her with dueling pistols after failing to get his hands on her fortune!

The Bull and Bear vignette

Explore the vibrant history and culture of New Orleans through New Orleans: Between Heaven and Hell—a groundbreaking Anglo-American collaboration that fuses traditional pen-and-ink and watercolor illustration with modern web technology. This immersive digital experience offers a fresh and captivating perspective on one of the world’s most iconic cities.

The many historical references are fully searchable in this interactive piece.

Go to https://nola.semrey.com

Bear and bull battles among ‘family’ spectacles!

In April 1840, the Picayune advertised: ‘A Great Fight between Some French Dogs, a Bear, an Ass, and a Bull. Admittance, $1, Children, half-price.’ These unlikely family days out to watch live animals tearing each other apart drew large crowds in the first half of the 19th century.

As the name suggests, the work is
a bitter-sweet account of the city’s
progress from virgin swampland to
modern metropolis. It covers fires,
disease, civil war, social division and
disastrous weather events, while also
celebrating the joyful traditions in
music, parading and the arts for which
it is famous.

Robins artwork is a doorway into the learning resources of The Historic New
Orleans Collection. Guided by the collection’s curators, British writer Cathy
Loughran interpreted the stories behind each element of the drawing.
These can be accessed on your cell phone or online at nola.simrey.com.
Each story links into the vaults of THNOC, providing access to supporting
documents, images and artefacts.

Robin Reynolds

Born in Zimbabwe in 1952, Robin lives and works in England. His professional background is journalism and business communication. He worked at the BBC for 23 years and was latterly head of the BBC’s art, history and collections unit (BBC Heritage).

As a semi-professional draughtsman he produced pocket illustrations. Including a series of Dickens characters, for newspapers and magazines. And for a time he was a regular contributor to Popular Gardening magazine.

He had an exhibition of larger pieces in Luton in 1981, but for many years the demands of family life and work limited his activities as an artist. Though he created fantasy pieces for the amusement of friends. Now retired, he works full-time on images that have historic resonance for general and specific markets.

Future exhibitions.

Included is a tricentennial panorama of New Orleans. The fantastical artwork is underpinned by a visual parade of imagery charting the progress of the city from swampland to modern metropolis. The work, compiled in collaboration with The Historic New Orleans Collection, is supported by an interactive guide developed by Robin’s brother Simon.

He has also produced a graphic history of the Tower of London. More exclusive exhibitions of Robins work are already being arranged for 2026.