David Ebbinghouse, “Small Sculptures”
March 4 – April 25
Untitled, granola bar wrappers, chicken satay bamboo skewers, aluminum pop tops, red celophane "zips"
Opening reception Friday March 5th, from 5-9 pm, with desserts provided by Indulgence Pastry Shop & Cafe
David Ebbinghouse will be exhibiting a number of small sculptures utilizing materials that are usually discarded — food wrappers from Granola bars, plastic bags that contain corn chips, shiny colorful wrappers from chocolate bars, and plastic inner bags from boxes of cereal. These have been combined with aluminum pop tops, bamboo skewers from shish kabobs, and the sticks left over from burning incense to make three-dimensional structures. The forms, squares, grids and cubes, derive from minimal art, but the materials are the trash and detritus of our consumer society. Using the structural possibilities of the materials, Ebbinghouse has given them a second life that allows them to be seen in a new way.
Another series of works called “gris-gris” uses the circle as the organizing principle. These take the form of beads strung on a cord. The cord is braided from strips of plastic bags and the “beads’ are found objects, keys, small plastic toys, aluminum pop tops, and other bits and pieces culled from dumpsters. They have the look of post-apocalyptic amulets.
David Ebbinghouse was born in 1949 and has lived in Bloomington, Indiana since he graduated from Indiana University in 1971. He has been active in the Bloomington arts community for many years and for almost a decade headed the Bellevue Gallery, an artist co-op. He is well known for his performance art pieces and installations that are often combined in an exhibition opening in order to lead the audience into the world of his artistic vision. Ebbinghouse experiments in many media and pursues concepts and materials he encounters rather than using a media driven approach, (such as only welding steel or only making oil paintings).
Ebbinghouse has traveled widely, especially in India and has collected ancient beads and conducted research on them. He has published bead research and given lectures to various bead societies around the country. All this he considers to be a subset of his artistic practice, rather than a separate activity, as he seeks to integrate all of his experiences into his work. This intention to create an art that is instrumental in living a life in modern times is the same impulse behind all of the world’s mythology throughout all time and history. In this way Ebbinghouse seeks to create an art that transcends the boundaries of how we normally think about art.
 Untitled, incense sticks, candy wrappers, corks |
 Detail, Untitled |
David’s also created work as the graffiti artist “Tom Cat Spray” – below he is interviewed at his last exhibit at the Wandering Turtle Art Gallery, which featured his stencil pieces. If you spent any time in Bloomington in the 80’s and 90’s you may recognize some of his work…
Javaughn Renee, “The Chest: Tools of War and Peace”
March 4 – April 25
War Tool: Abduction
Opening reception Friday March 5th, from 5-9 pm, with desserts provided by Indulgence Pastry Shop & Cafe
Javaughn Renee’s installation, “The Chest: Tools of War and Peace,” originated from visions she had about the Iraq war. Ideas for much of the installation were inspired by a visit to a thrift store, where she observed an isle of florescent spaceships and water guns which looked like current military weapons.
Both war and peace tools are found in “The Chest,” and the subtle, often monochromatic works are informed by Quaker traditional aesthetics. She uses the idea of “simple speech,” as she builds silhouettes for concepts, beliefs and ideas that at times bring us to commit violence toward each other and sometimes bring us together.
Javaughn Renee lives in South Bend Indiana, but grew up in the culturally, economically, and geographically diverse area of Southern California. With limited funds and an ambivalence about the art world, she paints, draws and collects simple materials to create works that reveal the complexities of our humanity.
Javaughn’s first group shows were at The Unurban Café in Santa Monica, and El Mercado La Paloma in Los Angeles, and featured her colorful watercolors and oil pastels. After moving to South Bend, however, she continued an idea she began in a show at the Pasadena American Friends Service Committee in 2002. Her work, titled (), was her first piece in an installation about war. Although that work has since been destroyed, it inspired “The Chest: Tools of War and Peace.”
 War Tool : Propaganda |
 Peace Tool : Community |
Song for Joe Casey
As artists and now gallery owners, we are often asked how do you know when art is good – here is an example.
Marty and Corinne Lucas, (Return to Normal) who performed at Artpost during the Holiday Art Walk, were so inspired by the life and work of Joe Casey, they wrote this beautiful song for him -
You can listen to the song here – just click the big orange button:
Joe Casey by MLucas
Joe Casey
Joe Casey: Somewhere in America, oil on canvex, 22" x 28"
A woods of sturdy perfect trees,
seven cattle in a meadow standing strained.
A two-lane highway, a truck rolls down
loaded full with yellow grain.
Somewhere in America.
An empty house upon a hill,
the lights are on, the drapes are open -
an empty window, an empty porch,
beside an empty driveway.
Somewhere in America.
His daughter pearls, his wife knits,
he sets his easel up and sits,
and paints these scenes from yesterday,
takes his memory back a-ways.
To the Ozark hills, big Missouri rivers,
to the dripstone table at Meramec Caverns.
Where the James boys gathered to split the loot,
to the hollows and the ridges where they’d fish and shoot.
On his canvas the hills are melting, the hills are melting.
Hills are melting.
Here he’s a toddler on his mother’s knee,
all around is family.
Arranged on chairs and posed real nice,
look at the camera, smile –
twice as long as they ever smiled before.
He’s got suspicious eyes, he wonders what they’re smiling for.
Different colors, different days,
different people with different ways,
A common story, a simple scene,
a sky that’s blue above a land that’s green,
Somewhere in America.
RSS feed