September 30, 2026
This is New YOURleans
Artist and filmmaker Jason Laurits brings his irreverent visual universe to 721 Royal Street as his New Orleans-shot feature film, Loves Company, premieres.
NEW ORLEANS — After more than two decades of turning graphic art into something people can wear, collect, laugh at, and occasionally question, artist and filmmaker Jason Laurits is bringing Paste (PasteUSA.com) to New Orleans.
The independent, artist-driven brand founded by Laurits in 2004 has opened its new French Quarter location at 721 Royal Street, Paste’s first full-fledged store, marking a significant new chapter for Paste and for Laurits’ evolving body of work across art, design, apparel, retail, and film.
The New Orleans arrival comes at a particularly fitting moment: Laurits’ first feature film, Loves Company, written and directed by the artist and filmed in New Orleans starring Rachel Dratch (SNL) and Jack Plotnick (Reno 911) is also premiering at the New Orleans Film Festival on October 24th.
Rather than treating the store opening and film as separate announcements, both offer a window into the same creative universe – the work of an independent artist who has spent more than 20 years building a distinctive visual language on his own terms.
“Paste has always been about using apparel as a canvas,” says Laurits. “Blurring the lines between art and fashion, art and commerce, is what interests me. I’ve never been interested in putting my work where people expect art to be. I’ve been more interested in putting it where it can be the most expressive.”
Founded in 2004, Paste began when Laurits, at that time a musician, would silkscreen his own posters to promote his shows at NYC’s legendary rock clubs, CBGB and The Continental. He began silkscreening shirts while spending a summer in London shopping a demo and selling them at the Camden Lock Market. It took off and the rest is history.
The designs evolved into an artist-led brand encompassing graphic shirts, art prints, limited-edition gifts, collaborations, and retail. The brand has deliberately maintained an independent, discovery-driven identity rather than chasing mass-market visibility. Laurits has always simmered in the indie scene, whether in music, art, or film. Now, its next chapter is unfolding in one of the country’s most recognizable creative environments.
Located in the heart of the French Quarter at 721 Royal Street, Paste New Orleans brings Laurits’ graphic sensibility into a city whose visual culture, characters, music, humor, eccentricity, and independent spirit make it a natural setting for the brand.
That relationship is already reflected in Paste’s New Orleans-inspired work, including NOLA Spray Paint, Big NOLA Number, and Drunk Cat Mardi Gras.
For Laurits, however, the move to New Orleans represents more than the expansion of a retail brand. It creates a physical home for a body of work that has always existed somewhere between commercial design and contemporary art.
“After being inspired by New York for over two decades, New Orleans reignited something in me and sent me off into a whole new direction of inspiration. I can’t keep up with the ideas flowing from this city into my art. The people, the history, the beauty of this city has long been a fuel for so many artists and creatives. Count me in. I love living here. I love creating here.”
Over the course of nearly 25 years, Laurits has developed a practice rooted in graphic imagery, humor, popular culture, camp, irreverence, and the unexpected. His influences include artists such as Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Maurizio Cattelan, and John Waters – artists who similarly blurred the boundaries between fine art, popular culture, low brow/high brow, commerce, humor, and spectacle.
“I don’t see a separation between the creative arts,” says Laurits. “The shirts, the prints, and the films are all part of the same creative impulse. The medium changes, but I’m still making things from the same voice that I hope makes people laugh, think, or wonder.”
That sensibility extends into Loves Company, Laurits’ first feature film. Written and directed by Laurits and filmed in New Orleans, the film represents another evolution in a career that has moved fluidly between visual art, music, design, and filmmaking. The film will premiere locally at the 37th annual New Orleans Film Festival beginning October 22nd, 2026. Presented by the New Orleans Film Society, the Festival serves as an Academy Award®-qualifying event across Documentary, Narrative, and Animated Short divisions.
The timing of its premiere alongside the opening of Paste New Orleans offers an opportunity to look at Laurits not simply as the founder of a graphic apparel brand, but as an artist whose work has developed across multiple mediums while maintaining a singular point of view for close to 25 years.
Paste New Orleans is now open at 721 Royal Street in the French Quarter.
About Paste
Founded in 2004 by artist and filmmaker Jason Laurits, Paste (PasteUSA.com) is an independent artist-driven brand creating graphic shirts, art prints, limited-edition gifts, and other works rooted in Laurits’ distinctive visual language. Emerging from his work in music and screenprinting, Paste has grown into a recognizable creative universe spanning apparel, design, retail, collaborations, and visual art. The brand remains intentionally independent, irreverent, humorous, and rooted in the idea that art shouldn’t just hang on a wall.
About Jason Laurits
Jason Laurits (jasonlaurits.com) is an artist, designer, screenprinter, writer, and filmmaker whose creative practice spans nearly 25 years. He is the founder and creative force behind Paste, an independent graphic brand known for its humorous, provocative, and unconventional imagery. His work draws from popular culture, graphic design, contemporary art, camp, and the absurd. Laurits’ first feature film, Loves Company, was written and directed by the artist and filmed in New Orleans.