Earth: Language and Symbols
featuring work by Rex Hausmann and Jimmy Greenfield, with accompanying works by Gina Adams, TR Ericsson, Matthew Farley, Jane Flanders, John Hachmeister, Elden Tefft, Maria Velasco,Baruch Vergara, and Shannon White.
curated by Darin White and sponsored by b.a.l.m.
January 20, 2011 - March 10, 2012
Opening Night: Friday, January 20, 2012, 6 - 9 pm

From the earth we emerge and we return to the earth.

We explore our world and grasp to adequately describe through language and symbols who we are and why. Through sculpted clay, compressed burned trees and dried pulp, minerals retrieved and many other ways we reach out to speak about the space that we inhabit as we gaze into the heavens. While it may sound mundane, in actuality there is life at it’s fullest to be explored, and held in our open hands for however long we are given. This exhibition, featuring work by Rex Hausmann and Jimmy Greenfield, attempts to dig deep into these notions through material, action, thought and image. Artists in Resonance selected for this exhibition are Gina Adams, TR Ericsson, Matthew Farley, Jane Flanders, John Hachmeister, Elden Tefft, Maria Velasco,Baruch Vergara, and Shannon White.

Universal Language: Rex Hausmann

Universal Language will exhibit a water painting performance, slide-show, photographs, and drawings from a recent sojourn to Beijing and Hong Kong. These elements explore an interaction the artist had with a calligraphy master at the Temple of Heaven where he found that across many cultural barriers, the two were able to bridge their varying cultural experiences by communicating through brush and line.The artists represented in this year’s show are producing work that ponders these questions.

Additionally, Universal Language will include an installation entitled Where There Is Land There Is War, equating historical events that occurred at the Boston Common and the Alamo.

Jimmy Greenfield’s Signs...

We live in a visual world of signs that guide, dictate, and define social norms. Many of these are culturally specific, but others are universally understood and form the basis of a symbolic language readable the world over. The signs depicted in this show are meant as warnings about the effects of unbridled population growth that puts ever-increasing pressure on shrinking natural resources, the wholesale and indiscriminate destruction of the environment, and the inevitability of human conflict that will follow. Constructed on desiccated earth, they are meant to inspire meditation about the future with the hope that by doing so, humans will somehow rise above their differences and recognize the extreme challenges ahead. This “evolution of human spirit and cooperation&rsduo; is the only process through which we will be able to ensure and maintain the survival of the living planet.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS: Rex Hausmann works as a full-time artist in San Antonio, Texas, and New York City. He currently works in his family’s warehouses, home to Hausmann Millworks: A Creative Community. Hausmann received a bachelor of fine arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design. In Atlanta, Hausmann studied under international artists Sandy Skoglund and Patrick Dougherty. Hausmann has worked on projects and lectured both nationally and internationally. His work and large projects often revolve around identities found in communal and domestic contexts, tracing their connections to religion and history. Hausmann credits brother and musician Erik Hausmann as a major influence.

Since moving to NYC in the late 1970s, Jimmy Greenfield has been an avid sculptor, percussionist, environmentalist, and citizen activist committed to community affairs. In the late 1990s, his sculpture became more politically charged dealing specifically with issues of the environment and human conflict. To this end, in 2006, he created Soapbox Gallery, a free street side public art venue in Brooklyn, NY dedicated to inspiring and promoting uncensored socially relevant work with a strong political narrative.

ABOUT THE CURATOR: Darin M. White is an artist and independent curator based in Lawrence, Kansas. With his wife Shannon, a painter and arts advocate they founded b.a.l.m. (beauty, art & life movement). Together they promote creativity and action, and encouraging others in their art and understanding. White continues to expand his artistic medium including: sculpture, installation, printmaking, drawing, producing/ curating/ juroring exhibitions and writing art reviews and articles. His love and awe of life and people are intertwined and explored in these various avenues.

This exhibition is brought to you by beauty, art, and life movement.
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