Meet Me Behind the Meet Tree 2017

Curator: So, David Michael Hinnebusch created "Meet Me Behind the Meet Tree" in 2017, using a vibrant mix of acrylic paint and other media. My first impression? A joyful, rebellious mess! Like a punk rock garden party. Editor: A punk rock garden party, eh? I see the energy, the raw brushstrokes, almost like graffiti. But beneath the surface, there's something melancholy in the figures' eyes, especially the one to the left, almost trapped. Curator: Trapped, yes, maybe by expectations? Hinnebusch blends abstraction and figuration, a push and pull between recognizable forms and chaotic emotion. The ‘meet tree’ is interesting to me; traditionally a place of coming together, rendezvous, but there’s a certain detachment in this rendering. Editor: Definitely a fractured sense of meeting, the tree itself is hardly stable. Visually it’s dynamic, a black form cutting through the riot of colour. It reminds me of Dadaist sensibilities, disrupting tradition, questioning idealized imagery. Notice how the bodies are partially rendered, fragmented by the background. The ‘meet’ becomes unstable, not just a rendezvous but perhaps an unwelcome encounter? Curator: Unwelcome, or simply…complicated. Hinnebusch uses pop-art strategies, right? High key colors, the flat planes of color, a knowing wink towards mass culture while simultaneously twisting it into something intensely personal. A broken mirror held up to the viewer, dare I say. Editor: Indeed, mirrors and encounters often invoke psychological depth and reflection, hinting at personal and collective memories intertwined in this “tree,” an archetypal symbol for connection and the hidden secrets of the subconscious, especially given those vacant expressions and disconnected gazes. The graffiti art undertones speak about claiming personal territory—the raw exposure against those high key joyful colors... Curator: A territory of vulnerability maybe. The colors promise delight but the gaze promises something… else. It's a bold painting and the use of symbolism feels very self aware to me. Editor: I concur. There’s more to decode than initially meets the eye. It makes one think about what meeting spaces, be they physical or emotional, mean for our inner landscapes.