Rex Hausmann's Ithica

The "Ithica" series was started in 2009 when I began to create advertisements from personal affectations and symbols I have been using in my work for years. When looking at the Sunday paper, a La Fiesta ad stood out. More and more of these advertisements popped out of the paper every week, changing slightly from the week before. The piece "Sunday Paper" materialized as a stockpiling of the icons: The Red Square, Bella's Cupcake, and the St. Jude candle for instance. This piece gave rise to a series of drawings and collages that were being worked on before the installations "This is My Body, This is My Blood" and "Blood and Fire" that took place in Los Angeles, Manhattan, and Brooklyn in Fall of 2009. The "Spot Collage" came about as a study for "This is My Body, This is My Blood". The idea fully materialized when I picked up the book Sailing the Wine Dark Seas: Why the Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill and flipped to a page I had read three years earlier. On the page were some notes written in the margins and then a poem that was circled and starred.
"Ithaca" by Constantine Cavafy Hope the way is long. May there be many summer mornings when, With what pleasure, with what joy, You shall enter first-seen harbors... Keep Ithaca always in your mind. Arriving there is what has been ordained for you. But do not hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts many years; And you dock an old man on the island, rich with all that you've gained on the way, not expecting Ithaca to give you wealth. Ithaca gave you the beautiful journey. Without her you would not have set out. She has nothing more to give you. (Page 70 of Sailing the Wine Dark Seas).

From this poem the paintings have come. Please enjoy this small video of a preview of the in-progress series "Rex Hausmann's Ithica". Two paintings that are not featured in the video may be seen at the DA Gallery in the Chelsea district of New York City as part of the show "Open Kitchen", curated by Nu Nu Hung. The show "Rex Hausmann's Ithica" will be held in San Antonio, Texas, at The Institute of Texan Cultures, July 2011 -- November 20011 as part of the "Texas Contemporary Artists" series.

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