When Hurricane Katrina devastated the City of New Orleans, C. Beau Hoffacker was a rookie officer with the New Orleans Police Department (“NOPD”). Twelve years later, Beau is a detective and sharpshooter assigned to a specialized unit with the NOPD. And, for the past several years, Beau, who paints under the moniker “Von Hoffacker,” has used art to cope with the gravity of all that he’s seen in his career. With the gritty streets of New Orleans as his muse, Von Hoffacker has sought to provoke thought, but also courted controversy. A few of Von Hoffacker’s notable works include a mosaic of Telly Hankton, a well known New Orleans gangster, made of 40,000 bullet casings; painted portraits of 150 panhandlers, which he painted on the back of their signs; and paintings of AK-47s draped with Mardi Gras beads.

To check out Von Hoffacker’s work go to http://www.graphitenola.com/charles-hoffacker.html or go to Treo, 3835 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA to see the Telly Hankton piece in person.