Local artist reveals his personal life through art featured in display in Rome campus art gallery
By Kennard McCrary
[email protected]
Staff Writer
Art Review
 A local artist takes on the darker side of relationships by displaying scenes of his past relationships that have turned out for the worse. Select pieces of Jess Hinshaw's work were on display in the Lakeview Art Gallery Jan. 27-Feb. 2.
When people walked into the Lakeview Art Gallery, it was the red and the black that stood out the most.
Each piece was easily upsetting. One in particular that stood out was �But You Break Me In Two, And You Throw Me Away.�
This was a picture of a dead man with several birds feasting on his body. The man appeared to have been dead for a while but his body was not badly decomposed. Loneliness and lack of happiness is displayed through this picture.
Throughout our lives we have been asked the same question as presented in the title �How do I feel? What kind of question is that?� We often want to reply, �Do you really want to know how I feel?� That's exactly what the picture with this title does. It explains what should have been said.
It is a picture of a man and woman standing on a staircase facing each other. They are not paying any attention to the crowd in the street, which in turn is paying no attention to them. The setting suggests that one of them may already be involved with someone else, but does not care who sees them together.
One picture entitled �Heaven Too Close To Hell� definitely catches one's attention. The picture implies that a woman sitting on a step is waiting for someone to sin with her. Her legs are open and the red background express her boldness. The red symbolizes her willingness to satisfy every desire and fantasy.
Most of the art was in the style of monoprint, with a combination of etching and pencil. The monoprint was red while the etching was the color of a black ink pen. To create these monoprints the red images were painted onto a piece of plexi-glass and then run through a high-pressured press.
�Mono means one, which means it can't be duplicated; you only get one shot,� said Brian Barr, assistant professor of art.
�The red is the cause and the black is the effect,� said Hinshaw.
Allen Bell, director of the Rome Council for the Arts, said, �The paintings are edgy and gripping.�
Yes, the work is edgy and it may even give the viewer a sense of sadness, but Hinshaw's theme �Convalescence� sums it up. All of his work was part of a healing process. Hinshaw was able to confront his feelings and at the same time disregard them.
Hinshaw has taken the dark side of his personal life and revealed it to the public, and for that he has gotten much support from his family and friends. �I don't know where he got his talent from because I can't draw two straight lines. I also hope he sells them all,� said Creede Hinshaw, father of the artist.
A graduate with a BFA from Berry College, Hinshaw has had previous showings in Ireland, Atlanta and Georgia Highlands College.
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