Vernon S Place 2017

Curator: David Michael Hinnebusch's "Vernon S Place," created in 2017, is an intriguing piece rendered in mixed media, prominently featuring acrylic paint. It presents a bustling interior scene. Editor: My immediate reaction is… energetic chaos. The composition feels unstable, but the vibrancy of the color palette is undeniable. There's a push and pull between order and disorder. Curator: Exactly. Observe the application of the paint. There are deliberate strokes of color, consider how Hinnebusch uses broad strokes and layering. The structural lines try to give some kind of order to the painting, they converge towards the people gathered at a table, offering us some semblance of spatial arrangement, while it all comes to be very fragmented at the same time. Editor: Yes, that structure does give a feeling of order! And the table gathering calls forth images of domestic rituals. Food has always symbolized family and community, across countless cultures. Do you see how he depicts everyone around that central area? Curator: Note also, the graffiti elements and how the work touches upon Abstract Expressionism in parts of its execution; this combination seems intentional. Hinnebusch also pushes figuration in ways we can’t necessarily name but are made fully aware of within this piece, playing on his mastery and subversion of all those genres. Editor: Precisely. It feels deeply contemporary while borrowing from a rich visual language. This makes me think about liminal spaces in urban living—moments of connection amidst anonymity, chaos, the symbolism and meaning that the everyday life imbues in us, almost inadvertently. Curator: It’s precisely this tension that grants “Vernon S Place” its powerful character. The way different techniques converge in a seemingly unstructured form to create the reality it wants us to acknowledge as palpable and urgent. Editor: An energetic encapsulation of a moment in time, filtered through Hinnebusch’s distinct perspective and style, so charged and direct, full of a deeper resonance through everyday images of people together at a table.