Exec statement problem

[maxsbox]

I have been trying to pass a variable to a query statement.

The statement exec: appears to be the answer, however I cannot get it to
work

wrote the following:

def art2(db, z):
    y = 'db.query("SELECT * FROM artisan WHERE name = \''
    y = y+z
    y = y+ '\'")'
    print y    # prints correct string
    exec y    # gives fault message

db is the connected data base
z is the required variable, in this case 'Nico"
Also tried a few variations of the exec statement with the same result

If someone can help with the correct syntax I will be most appreciative,
the docs are a bit terse on the subject.  The ability to create such a
search on the fly is fundamental to my wish to use pygresql.

Regards

Max Wood