Joe Brubaker: Origins

Artist Reception:
* Saturday, Dec. 14, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Exhibition Dates:  Dec. 7 – Jan. 10, 2020

[Pictured: Adonis]

Joe Brubaker is fascinated with human beings – how they think, how they feel and how they move.

He is interested in their physical characteristics as well as their stories, their strengths and their vulnerabilities.

The earliest inspiration for his work began in his 20s when he visited El Museo de las Momias (The Museum of the Mummies) on a trip to Guanajuato in central Mexico. The preserved bodies of victims of an 1833 cholera epidemic are on display there and Brubaker was struck with their beauty and physicality, but also with their power to tap into more metaphysical contemplations about life and death.

These and the many powerful wooden carvings of saints (santos) inspired the artist and led to his lifelong exploration of what it is to be human in his 30 years of creating figurative sculpture.

“Now what I realize is that all along there was an archetypal impulse there,” says the artist. “The work was teaching me. I started following consciously what was happening unconsciously.”

The title of the show, Origins, refers both to the original archetypes that inspired them, but also to the inclusion of earlier works he has released from his own collection illuminating his process and the journey he has taken.