REX HAUSMANN

Robots: they are already with us, and have been for a while. Even 59 foot ones in Japan. 

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Post Spain.  The Robots & Picasso.  Unable to stay in “The Gray” of Picasso’s Guernica (1937). 

 

Notes on Spain: The Brothers (a set of works one is completed) after one month in Spain . 

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In honor of Innova, stay in the color of every day.

A letter to Dr Kasi, Mr Finley & Kobi Supreme. 

“If a man neglects education, he walks lame to the end of his life.” - Plato 

Painting 1) “Comino: The Impossibility of Staying in The Gray of Guernica” 

Painting 2) “Comino: Chasing after Picasso and still seeing Cezanne's Mountain & Hokusai’s Great Wave

Focus: Painting 1)

Writings | Fragments: 

“Comino: The Impossibility of Staying in The Gray of Guernica” (2023) 

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The Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) is an extensive network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and coming together at the tomb of St. James (Santiago in Spanish) in Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. 

In a personal interest we were chasing Picasso all over Spain as there is always a Picasso exhibition going on in nearly every place in Spain. 

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Spain

More than an image | Notes on an image Durer, Picasso & Rembrandt: 

When in Spain and thinking about daily life these days … the subject of fracture or segments has come up. Picasso had “cubism” with Georges Braque… we have Facebook and Instagram. Simply put, the robots took over already. 

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Cubism was trying to find different sides of perspective at different times … fragments, today, even in my writings and encouraged by many are … simply put … fragmented. 

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We have busier lives than ever and technology is breaking things up into even smaller and smaller time chunks. Our time is ever more complicated and truncated.

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Self-portraits and the artists identity, as seen in the Rembrandt and in Durer and the autobiography of “The Artist” is timeless … the self, the Id and Ego … the image of self as hoped for rather than the image of self as is … these all come into play in the new works … as Louis Vega Trevino and Steve DaLuz said at the studios at Hausmann Millworks yesterday “To see with eyes that know the work on the Prado, and to just ‘see’ the Prado” are two different things.” They are correct. 

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I learned at that time that Guernica by Picasso was not well received in Spain. The painting moved a number of times in its life, so much so that the painting itself is currently falling apart. Nowadays, as a painting and object of the world Guernica is a treasure that people come from all over the world to see. It took me only 8 years to travel to see it in person … Thus the title of the new work “Camino ” a take on the “Camino de Santiago” a narrative of self exploration as well as discovery. A journal as old as time itself. Like Picasso, Durer and Goya explored their place in the world through paintings. 

Unable to stay in the gray.

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I saw Guernica in person and it had a lasting effect. Let’s just say the painting is powerful. Aesthetically the viewer notices that most of the colors are gray. I started my drawing/ study in mostly gray tones. As the drawing progressed I could only find myself saying I can’t stay in this gray. The grays of Guernica. There must be color. After personally, having experienced an awful incident about nine years ago. The one thing someone learns is the joy of every day. Living in the color, in sunlight, and warmth. Although the subject matter of Guernica is incredibly heavy and very influential, not only the history of art but also this portrait. I found myself as the days progressed, traveling further and further away from the gray. Instead traveling more and more towards the thankfulness of each God given day. The inability to stay in the gray, but to celebrate life with color form.

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Art Forum | Magazines. 

Yesterday I went into the book store on a walk with the family and saw some of the old masters (or at least references too) on some covers of magazines I did not expect. 

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Degas on the front cover of Artforum and was a reference to Picasso and Braque in George Condo (even though in the article Condo says he isn’t linked to Picasso, a statement I can’t quite wrap my head around) … it was refreshing to see.

I’ve had tremendous feedback on the new work from Spain “The Impossibility of Staying in The Grays of Guernica” … tracing its genesis to Spain directly and the epic Spain trip. So much so you open the painting up, like a book to see the reference. 

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“Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” - also Plato (To borrow another from Plato, having read much of his work when I was in my 20’s, he had a lot of good points and has been around for a while.) 

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Notes on Spain: Friends. Joey & Cory and Community. 

Joey Scott and I have been friends since 2007

Called in some old friends Joey & Cory to help with collaging on the inside of the painting “Comino: The Impossibility of Staying in The Gray of Guernica” (2023). 

Joey has been collaging for over 15 years. He went to West Point and is a poet, song writer and painter. He’s in grad school right now. Cory is a sound recorder, musician and very old friend of Joey’s & an all around solid father … Most importantly he’s a DAD. Today we collaged in the studio, before thanksgiving at Hausmann Millworks - A Creative Community. 

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Question: What if you could actually pear into the artist's life, literally. See the maps, the people and the actions that influenced the work itself? literal memories of Spain in static form. Just recently living out a history of sorts, a kind of living Facebook or meta escape in physical form. The painting opens and the viewer can see what just took place.

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A bit of History: Collage is often thought of as an archetypally modern artistic technique. The word – from the French verb coller, meaning “to stick” – was first used to describe the Cubist innovations of Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, who began to stick newspaper cuttings and other materials onto their canvases in 1912.

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Gurkha Cigars. Notes on Process: Life. 

So when I was in college, I would save up for weeks to budget for a cigar. I’d think …. If I can just make it to my “Sunday cigar” I can do anything. I would hop in my 1996 Ford Bronco, I was at Savannah College of Art and Design (Atlanta) undergrad, and I would budget for the gas, and in an old full size Ford Bronco … that’s a thing “. I’d go to this one little cigar shop in Decatur. I asked, “what’s a really good cigar?”… the owner said “Well a Gurkha is good … I like em … Grand Reserve.” (To this day a Gurkah cigar is still $20)… and I’d buy it. 

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I’d go to the top of the SCAD Atlanta parking garage. It was usually a Sunday, sitting in my Bronco and saying “one day I’ll be an artist”. 20 years later. The owner of one company knew the owner of Gurkha and said “Hey, there is this artist from Texas' '… before I went to Spain I got the text message “I hope this gets my gift for you before you go to Spain. Enjoy ''. The day before I go to Spain a massive box arrives on my doorstep. “For Rex Hausmann '' written on the box, and the fedex labels. Inside (4) boxes of Gurkha’s … GOOD ONES … a hat, a travel case … some books and a little note. The package was from the owner of Gurkha. 

The point: One day, and you don’t know that day is … great things happen … and they happen in ways that you could have never expected or imagined. It’s worth it. Stick in there … because sometimes … Life is just cool.

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On painting :

In Spain I saw so much  Goya, Durer, El Greco, Velasquez, Picasso and Rubens … one cannot help but be inspired. 

Was planning on heading up to Fort Worth Texas to see the show of the French painter Pierre Bonnard (hopefully with Professor Steve Knudsen the absolute Rockstar) . I was delayed, but will try to make it in Fort Worth.

To Artists: Dig Deep into the Past, there you will find great wisdom and joy. Fuse this with the zeitgeist of the time and you have “contemporary art”.

Now off to HEB. 

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Definitio: zeitgeist - the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time.

On display at Innova in San Antonio, TX 

End note: in Japan there are not 1 but 3-4 life sized 60 foot robots. 2 of them move. 

Just google it.  You’ll love what you see.