Preview in Artweek, October Issue by Debra Koppman: Joe Brubaker
Joe Brubaker’s Assembled Souls will
join his Somnambulists in a celebration of his particular and
quirky vision. The Assembled Souls, a gathering of elongated,
mixed-media figures, will convene in a kind of ritual placing in the Donna
Seager Gallery while they await the arrival of the Somnambulists,
a hard-bound, limited edition book, chronicling Brubaker’s career
and creative process.
The figures, carved from wood and adorned with a variety
of other assorted hardware, flotsam and found materials, were inspired
by a range of sources, including Spanish colonial Santos, Mexican
retablo objects, Egyptian tomb figures and Buddhist stone carvings. These Assembled Souls also seem to be adorned with odd and mysterious
ritual costumes, each taking on the persona of an ancient character similar
to those found in a deck of tarot cards.
The cast of characters includes both standing figures
and legless busts. Each is a strange blend of detail and specific representation,
combined with absolute simplicity and stylization. The standing figures
reach the size of a small woman, but have diminutive heads, and virtually
nothing but sticks for legs. Something about them feels frozen, as though
they were sent back or forward in time from a long-lost civilization.
The motley crew appears almost to stand in some kind of judgment, awaiting
some next stage, reminding us perhaps of funerary figures from ancient
times.
Who are these assembled souls? Amidst the seeming royals,
is perhaps also the court jester, maybe a courtesan, and certainly some
kind of returned warrior. 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 sometimes an eerie moment.” Mystery and
ambiguity embodied in these figures are sure to conjure up memories, past
lives, or unexpected associations.
Joe Brubaker: Assembled Souls will be on view
October 1-31 at Donna
Seager Gallery, 851 Fourth St., San Rafael
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