Architect, artist David Bienn dies in Germany

DAVID IRWIN BIENN,  a noted artist and architect, suffered a fatal heart attack while traveling back from St. Petersburg, Russia on Wednesday, July 15. Bienn suffered his attack shortly after deplaning from his jet airliner in Germany. He was transported by ambulance from the airport to a hospital, where he expired. He was 61.

David Bienn

As an artist, he specialized in three-dimensional forms of sculpture. Several of his pieces are found in the Russian Federation.

As an architect, Bienn was noted for retro-fitting several historic buildings with functional designs. He designed the Res Nova Gallery on the site of a former tobacco warehouse in the Warehouse District some 20 years ago. That contemporary art gallery has since moved to New York City. He also worked for several years in New York with internationally acclaimed sculptor Keith Sonnier.

A native of New Orleans, Bienn graduated from Alcee Fortier Sr. High School before enrolling at the School of Architecture at Tulane University. Following the fall of the former Soviet Union, Bienn, who was fluent in Russian,  lived and worked for nearly a decade in St. Petersburg. It was there he met and married his first wife, Natalia Salop. The couple later had a son.

Bienn was a proponent of green housing and was credited for many of his innovative and contemporary modular designs.  Following the breakup of his marriage, he returned from Russia in 2005 after the flooding associated with Hurricane Katrina. He dedicated himself to helping to rebuild the city, but still made frequent trips to Russia to see his son and ex-wife. Bienn met his second wife, Angelica Verkeenko, in 2005 in St. Petersburg. She moved to the United States in 2009 and the two were married in 2011.

Bienn is survived by his wife and his son, Elijah Bienn of St. Petersburg, Russia, by his brother, Brian Bienn, and two sisters Mary Jumonville and Jane Vadem.

A funeral service was conducted on Wednesday, July 29,  at 11:00 a.m. at Tharp-Sontheimer-Tharp Funeral Home by Rabbi Robert Loewy of Congregation Gates of Prayer. Internment followed the service at Gates of Prayer Cemetery, 1411 Joseph Street. For more information call 504-835-2341.