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Stephen Hawkey Gets ‘Exposed’ in
New Show at J.Mackey Gallery
BY DAVID TAYLOR
The word “exposed” often holds a
negative connotation—used to
describe weaknesses exploited, secrets
revealed and innocence lost—but
New York artist Stephen Hawkey is
exploring a different, more positive
interpretation in his upcoming exhibition
at J.Mackey Gallery, Exposed:
The Art of Stephen Hawkey.
“I interpret the word as ‘honesty’,”
Hawkey says, describing the show’s
goal of allowing others to see this raw,
intimate side of him as “an uneasy
step in the right direction.” For him,
“art isn’t pretty. It’s who I am, what
happened to me, and how I was affected,”
he states. “All the work is selfdiscovery.
The subject matter of the
pieces has to do with what’s going on
in my life at a particular time, so all
these pieces, in some way or another,
are me having a better understanding
of who I am as a person.”
Exposed was curated by J.Mackey
Gallery owner Justine McEnerney,
whose heightened curatorial sense
picked up on Hawkey’s mission of selfdiscovery
right away and pinpointed
which of his paintings he shared the
closest connection with. “I think the
curator saw in the work itself that I
was really exposing something … and
being openly honest,” Hawkey shares.
“She literally selected my favorite
pieces!”
These pieces have all been created
using old computer punch cards from
the 1970s and ’80s, once a groundbreaking
technological breakthrough,
now ancient and useless. “The reason
I chose that as a material to use wasn’t
because of the technology, it was more
so that it’s something that has become
obsolete and serves no purpose in the
world,” he says, noting that through
his art, these iconic symbols of yesteryear
have found renewed purpose.
“I don’t like to overelaborate on my
work,” he adds. “I like people to see it
for what they think it is.”
As for the process of creating each
work featured in Exposed, Hawkey
cuts punch cards and attaches sometimes
100 of them together to create
his canvas; he then adds a layer of old
newsprint and other weathered papers
before adding a coat of acrylic paint.
The full composition is then created
atop this painstakingly crafted base.
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This fascinating creative process
is the latest in Hawkey’s lifetime of
creating art, albeit in different forms
throughout the years. After receiving
his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree
at Miami University, he began his
professional career as an art director
at a boutique ad agency, where he designed
ads for the likes of Coca-Cola,
GMC and Marriott Hotels.
After growing tired of advertising,
Hawkey went back to school for architecture,
receiving a Master of Science
degree at Pratt Institute. He worked
on the Freedom Tower and other projects
as part of his internship at SOM,
and he was later hired by Michael
Graves as an interior architect. There,
he began to take notice of Graves’s
paintings which awakened a desire to
create his own.
Now a full-time artist creating
mixed media works out of his Port
Chester studio, Hawkey draws inspiration
from self-discovery, both his
own and that of fellow artists. “I’m
inspired by self-discovery and how
other artists do it—whether it’s a musician
writing lyrics about their life
or mental health or a comedian who
makes you smile but the subject matter
is tragic.”
Through his artful self-discovery,
Hawkey has been able to find creative
nirvana, more scientifically
known as a flow state. Psychologists
describe this phenomenon as a mental
state in which a person is fully
immersed in, focused on and energized
by a particular activity, often
losing all sense of time and outside
stimulus in the process. “The most
rewarding aspect of creating art, for
me, is getting lost in the process,”
he says. “The whole reason I create
art is to try and achieve that in every
piece.”
The works found in Exposed: The
Art of Stephen Hawkey offer an
honest look into the Hawkey’s history,
passion and personal nirvana on a
level unlike any of his shows to date.
He’ll introduce this insightful exhibition
to J.Mackey Gallery at an opening
reception on Saturday, July 31 at
7 p.m. The show will remain on view
through August 31.
J.Mackey Gallery is located at 62
The Circle, East Hampton. The gallery
is open Tuesday through Sunday,
10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more
information, call 631-237-4655 or
visit jmackeygallery.com. To learn
more about Stephen Hawkey, visit
stephenhawkey.com.
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