Being Famous is like Ike 2017

Curator: David Michael Hinnebusch, working primarily with acrylic, created "Being Famous is like Ike" in 2017. It's a bold piece—what catches your eye first? Editor: The raw energy, definitely! It’s chaotic, almost manic, yet there’s this strange pull, this insistence on being seen. A portrait fighting its way through layers of abstraction. Curator: Indeed. It embodies a tension. Hinnebusch is channeling, in my view, a lineage of Abstract Expressionism mixed with the immediacy of street art. The figure is there, fragmented but undeniably present. Look at the linear construction; how do the stark black lines impact the composition? Editor: They create a scaffolding, almost a cage, around the subject. Restricting perhaps. Notice how they intersect with those pops of primary colour – a visual battle playing out. Also, the textual elements bleeding across the canvas add a disruptive layer, obscuring a clear reading. Are we supposed to decode this? Curator: I believe he plays with visibility and obscurity as conceptual dance partners. That idea of fame in the title…is it earned or constructed? Is it a performance of identity where visibility can both empower and trap the subject? Perhaps we see that idea explored on the raw canvas itself. The artist’s own name becomes a graphic element within the work. I find the artist to be so deeply honest. Editor: Yes, the ego involved in this production is unmissable. The use of graffiti elements pushes this discussion further. Also, the gaze, although fragmented, still demands our attention, doesn't it? We're forced to meet those eyes amid the surrounding visual cacophony. There’s also this underlying sense of the uncanny with these features… Curator: And the layering. He really went to work, didn't he? "Being Famous is Like Ike"—it’s a loaded statement in itself. Fame deconstructed. Interesting how those messy drips can turn to treasure for me, but I know some people don’t always jive with it, and that's perfectly okay, too. What final thoughts does it provoke in you? Editor: It feels like Hinnebusch offers an intriguing mirror reflecting how we perform for the digital world. Each colour a facet of a deliberately constructed image that obscures as much as it reveals. Curator: Exactly. What's concealed becomes as compelling as what’s flaunted. I guess, I find myself in the position of a very happy voyeur. Thanks, Ike.