EJ Hauser 

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What Is My Work About?

My paintings and drawings employ text and figures into seemingly discursive elements. I paint seeking a narrow window where numbers, letters, figures, and symbols cohere into a singular image. These painted palimpsests hold conversations, and arguments, homage to the past and revelations of the day. Contradiction and balance are held in equal regard, grappling with expressions of identity, personal, and cultural histories.

 

Artist Statement
“Go thru all the former material so that things of vital importance are not lost sight of.”
-Charles Burchfield.

I use drawings to make paintings, and paintings to make drawings, a cycle of conceptual and visual cross-pollination that creates familial-like visual connections. The images inside my work include text, rock-like heads, and figures that express my interest in language, perception and psychology, mythology, and the history of mark-making / art-making.

In these pieces, words, letters, and figures are rendered onto shields, pots, and mugs.
The figures bend backwards, hold hands, and exist in other arrangements on the surface of these archaeological objects. The letters form a kind of armature for the figures. The geometry of these letters and words is adjusted to work both visually and conceptually, the form of the letters being just as important as what it says. For instance, Moonflower is not only the name for a deadly night blooming flower, but also the name of a favorite song.

The use of paper and markers was added to oil paint to give my paintings a decidedly drawn feel, and paper mounted to canvas forms a grid that becomes part of the overall composition and relates back to the page and reading as well as drawing. In some instances, markers and ink “bleed thru” the drawings, allowing me to consider both the front and back of drawings. I find these drawings valuable in their ability to simultaneously point towards the intentional and the unintentional during my process of discovery and making.

All these formal strategies allude to questions about what makes up identity as it relates to painting and art making. Mark-making and image-making being uniquely human inventions of expression and communication, and painting being an especially economic means for me to embed my personal and/or cultural details into my formal and material interests.

CV
EJ HAUSER
Born in Peru, Illinois.
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

EDUCATION

1998 MFA, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
1991 BFA, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1990 Certificate, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Philadelphia, PA

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011 Perfecto, Lump, Raleigh, NC
2009 Hale, John Davis Gallery, Hudson, NY
2008 Pinetar Starchart, Never Work, NY, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2013 
Genius of Love, curated by Jason Stopa, Brian Morris Gallery, NY, NY
Duck Duck Rabbit, curators Mike Olin & Joy Curtis, Bushwick Open Studios, BK, NY 
Thank You, curated by Adam Parker Smith, Lu Magnus Gallery, NY, NY
BOMB Magazine 2013 Gala & Silent Auction, NY, NY
Ears Nose Throat, curated by Patrick Berran, Wildlife, BK, NY
Patois, curated by Michael Kennedy Costa & Keith J. Varadi, Picture Menu, BK, NY
Donut Muffin, curated by Jessica Duffett & Tamara Gonzales, Dorsky Gallery, LIC, NY

2012
About Face, curated by Daniel Weinberg. ACME Gallery, LA, CA
The escape from the banal of everyday life…,” curated by Brooke Moyse, NURTUREart, BK, NY
Pig Party, curated by Gina Beavers, New York City, NY, NY
Epiphanic Glow, curated by Brad Hajzak, Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
Letters Not About Love: EJ Hauser, Nancy Haynes, and Sarah Peters, Regina Rex, BK, NY
Blind Spot, curated by Tamara Gonzales, Elizabeth Murray Wall, Bowery Arts, NY, NY
WAVERS, curated by EJ Hauser & Rob Nadeau, 283 47th Street Studios, BK, NY
VIP2.0 Art Fair, James Fuentes Gallery, NY, NY
Special Blend, curated by Chris Martin, The Journal Gallery, BK, NY

2011
Idiot’s Delight, curated by Craig Olson, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, BK, NY
SNOWCLONES / Art Blog Art Blog, NY, NY
Temporary Antumbra Zone, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, BK, NY
Fist City, Fowler Arts Collective, BK, NY
The Working Title, Bronx River Art Center, NY, NY

2010
Geometric Progressions, Edward Thorp Gallery, NY, NY
Collective Show NY 2010, Participant, Inc., NY, NY
Callicoon (NADA), Fortress to Solitude, curated by Guillermo Creus & Aaron Riberio, Callicoon, NY
Please Jump Around Here, Storefront, curated by Jessica Duffett, BK, NY
Exit Light, Reference Gallery, Richmond, VA
Text As Image, Lump Gallery, Raleigh, NC 
Redi-Mix, curated by James Hyde, Kathleen Cullen. NY, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2009 
Re-Accession: For Sale by Owner, curated by Philae Knight, FLAG, NY, NY

2008
Party at Phong’s House, curated by Chris Martin, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, BK, NY
Unbreak My Heart, curated by Brent Burket, Pluto, BK, NY
Hall-ways 2, curated by EJ Hauser, 135 Plymouth Street Studios, BK, NY

2007
Horizon, curated by David Humphrey, Elizabeth Foundation, NY, NY

2006
Hall-ways No. 1, curated by EJ Hauser, 135 Plymouth Street Studios, BK, NY

2002
Abstractions, Kimberly Venardos & Company, NY, NY

1998
Team Lump, Lump Gallery, Raleigh, NC

1996
North Carolina Triennial Exhibition, NC Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
White Columns at Green Hill Center, curated by Bill Arning, Greensboro, NC

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2013
Stopa, Jason, “Profiles: Yevgenia Baras.” Art in America Magazine, April 1, 2013
Butler, Sharon. “The donut muffin: Uniting two worlds.” Two Coats of Paint, March. 6, 2013

2012
Rooney, Kara L. “The escape from the banal everyday life to the world..” Brooklyn Rail, Dec. 2012
Butler, Sharon. “Artist as Curator: Brooke Moyse.” Two Coats of Paint, Nov. 16, 2012
Hauser, EJ. “BOMB SPECIFIC.” BOMB Magazine, Fall 2012 / Issue 121
Hauser, EJ. “Wendy White.” BOMB Magazine, Fall 2012 / Issue 121
James Kalm Roughcut. “Letters Not About Love at Regina Rex.” YouTube, June 20, 2012
Cotter, Holland. “The Latest Vibe Moved to Brooklyn.” New York Times, June 7, 2012
Jovanovic, Rozalia & Andrew Russeth. “Gallerist’s Week In Pictures…” NY Observer, April 4
Baras, Yevgeniya & Eve Lateiner. “Studio Visit with EJ Hauser.” Bull & Ram Blog, Feb. 20, 2012

2011
Calandra, Maria. “EJ Hauser.” Pencil In the Studio Blog, July 19, 2011
Maine, Stephen. “Variety Trumps Argument at BRAC.” Artcritical.com, April 23, 2011
Tureen, Rufus. “Retinal Non-Retinal: Idiot’s Delight at J Kurnatowski.” Artcritical.com, Dec. 14, 2011
Kalm, James. “The Apocalypse Found Us Calmly Unaware.” Brooklyn Rail, June 2011

2010
Butler, Sharon. “Making our post-neo-faux-expressionist…” Two Coats of Paint, Sept. 24, 2010
Hauser, EJ. “EJ Hauser: Top Ten Picks of 2010.” KCLOG Blog, Dec. 17, 2010
Howe, Brian. “A group show at Lump Gallery grapples with words.” Indyweek.com, May 5, 2010 
Naves, Mario. “Geometric Progressions.” CityArts.com, October 14¬, 2010

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2009
Bromirski, Martin. “EJ Hauser.” ANABA Blog, January 9, 2009
Butler, Sharon. “Abstract painters swim upriver this weekend.” Two Coats of Paint, May 29, 2009

2008
Bromirski, Martin. “Party at Phong’s House.” ANABA Blog, October 13, 2008
Burkett, Brent. “Unbreak My Heart: EJ Hauser.” Heart As Arena Blog, October 23, 2008
Lutz, Jon. “EJ Hauser.” The Old Gold Blog, March 14, 2008.
Maine, Stephen. “Report From the Lower East Side…” Art in America. March 2008. P.68, Illus.
Vartanian, Hrag. “Party at Phong’s House Starts with a Plan for a Party…” Art21 Blog

1996
Dougherty, Linda Johnson. “NC Artists Exhibition 1996.” Art Papers, Nov – Dec 1996
Paschal, Houston. “NCAE 1996 Exhibition Catalog.” NC Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC. p. 45-50, Illus.

RESIDENCIES

2006
Painting’s Edge, Idylwild, CA

TEACHING

2013
Artist in Residence, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Fall Semester 2013

VISITING ARTIST

2013
Visiting Artist, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, March 2013
Visiting Artist, Hunter College, March 2013
Visiting Artist, Mount Holyoke College, February 2013

2012
Visiting Artist, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, January 2012

PANEL DISCUSSIONS

2013
Alchemy Panel Discussion with Phong Bui, Dorsky Foundation, March 2013