Silver Girl Side a 2016

David Michael Hinnebusch made this ‘Silver Girl Side a’ painting using mixed media on board and collage, but when? That’s anyone's guess! The neutral palette makes you think it’s aged, but these days a painting doesn't need to be old to look old, does it? There are layers upon layers in this artwork. At first glance it's all messy; but there is a formal structure - a composition that uses an almost comic-book layering of images. The painting is tactile, the colours are scraped and smeared across the surface, but that face in the center, what's going on there? Is that collage, or paint, or both? It's a little scary. Yet it's as if Hinnebusch is saying, “Don't take me too seriously.” This piece reminds me of work by artists like Sigmar Polke, who are all about breaking down the barriers between high and low art. What is art anyway? It’s a question that has no easy answers, and that's just the way it should be.