PINE BLUFF, Ark. — An exhibition of drawings that explores juxtaposition of the scales of the everyday human experience and the metaphysical with imagery of earthly objects and the cosmos opens Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022, at The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas (ASC).
“Midst: Artwork by Nick Hobbs” debuts with a free, public reception from 5-7 p.m., with an artist talk at 5:30. A stargazing party, hosted by the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society, will follow at 7 p.m. Telescopes will be available for visitors to use.
The exhibition is sponsored by the Kline Family Foundation. The reception is sponsored in part by volunteer group Art Krewe and MK Distributors.
The 24 highly detailed graphite drawings, some as small as an inch square, interweave the everyday and the sublime in curated juxtapositions.
“‘Midst’” attempts to connect and understand the familiarities of the everyday earthly experiences of humanity with the metaphysical, and the seemingly limitless expanse of space and time,” ASC Curator Kevin Haynie said.
Hobbs explained that the title is a reminder that our narrow experiences exist in the midst of everything else.
“And beyond all that we know, there’s even more we don’t,” he said. “In the midst of a complex global society, forgotten millennia of human history, the sea of galaxies that we drift through at an imperceptibly slow pace (on our time scale) … all those huge unfolding stories we seemingly find ourselves smack-dab in the middle of.”
Hobbs continued, “And to make matters more confusing, being born right after the invention of the internet (1997) meant being born with a firehose of information to drink from. And we all find ourselves, now, in the midst of — neck deep in — a bloated sea of knowledge. By depicting such varied subjects in my drawings, I’m wondering about how it can all be reined in to one picture.”
These drawings are snapshots of an attempt to reconcile two scales. Hobbs, who is also an amateur astronomer, explained in his artist statement. “First, the scale of the everyday, the earthly, the personal, and the human. … Second, the scale of deep time and the cosmological.”
Astronomy influences his art and everything he does, he said. “I got my first useable telescope in middle school and that sealed the deal. I’ve had telescopes ever since, started an astronomy club in high school, and it remains a staple presence in my life.”
Hobbs, who lives in Fayetteville, is a candidate in the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Arkansas. He plans to graduate in spring 2023 with an emphasis in drawing.
In August 2022, he was a resident artist at the Willow House residency program near Big Bend National Park in Terlingua, Texas. As an undergraduate, he studied figurative drawing in the residency program at the New York Academy of Art in New York City in 2018.
He is a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston in 2020.
“Midst” marks Hobbs’ first solo show. Among the cities in which his work has been exhibited are Fayetteville and West Fork, Arkansas; New York City, Brooklyn and Syracuse, New York; McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana; Tyler, Texas; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Indianapolis, Indiana.
“Midst: Artwork by Nick Hobbs” will be on display in the International Paper Gallery through Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023.
Hobbs will also bring his astronomical knowledge to ASC’s next Second Saturday Family FunDay. The free family-friendly event — “Amateur Astronomy with Nick Hobbs” — is 1-3 p.m. Nov. 12. Hobbs will help visitors learn about the universe and guide them in using a telescope. The event is sponsored by The Pine Bluff Area Community Foundation, an affiliate office of the Arkansas Community Foundation.
For more information on Hobbs, visit his website at nickhobbs.art.
About ASC
The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas (ASC), 701 S. Main St. in Pine Bluff, is accredited with the American Alliance of Museums. ASC presents programming in the visual arts, performing arts, and the sciences through exhibits, performances, classes and local partnerships. Gallery admission is free. ASC is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday–Friday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. In 2021, ASC opened two additional facilities as part of its “ARTx3” campus — The ARTSpace on Main and ART WORKS on Main, at 623 and 627 S. Main St. For more information, visit asc701.org or call 870-536-3375.
Support for ASC is provided in part by the ASC Endowment Fund, the City of Pine Bluff, the Pine Bluff Advertising & Promotion Commission and the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Division of Arkansas Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional operating support is provided in part by the Windgate Foundation, Ben J. Altheimer Foundation, Kline Family Foundation, Relyance Bank and Simmons Bank.