Joe Brubaker: Between Worlds

First Tuesday Art Walk: Tuesday, December 5, 5:30 to 7:30 pm

The wooden carved figures of Joe Brubaker echo sources of inspiration from Spanish colonial Santos and retablo objects to Egyptian tomb figure and Buddhist stone carvings.

In recent works, Brubaker has gone beyond these early influences, crossing cultures on a broader basis. He has included forms reminiscent of ritual costumes and body decorations from indigenous peoples all over the world.

Incorporating scraps of metal and found materials, he has created a cast of characters that are at once strikingly universal and absolutely unique.

For Brubaker, there is a moment when the work takes on its own personality. “I almost imagine myself as channeling some soul that’s out there and wants to come back,” he says. “It’s really an eerie moment, a Geppetto moment”.