R C Hagans – it was good while it lasted (learning to let go)

This exhibition round includes works provided by R C Hagans which will be on view in the North Floor Gallery from May 29 – July 27, 2024.  Lowe Mill A&E invites patrons and art lovers to join us for Open Studio Night, a building-wide experience when our over 150 studios will be open to the public.  The evening also includes receptions for all seven of our gallery spaces. This series gives the public a chance to meet and interact with visiting artists and discuss their work as it is on display and available for purchase. Come out, enjoy a pleasant evening, and maybe you’ll find that special piece of art that speaks to you!  The Open Studio Night reception is Saturday, July 27 from 5-7 pm.

 

From the artist: 

We’ve  had a strange couple years, haven’t we?

Something changed. Places, things, people, relationships I had built my life around don’t exist anymore. Maybe you can relate.

Like wanting to have your cake and eat it too, we can’t live in a memory, and no amount of strength will bring it back.

I’ve always been good at holding on. Picking up little forgotten trinkets off the ground to remind some future archaeologists of our “good ole days”. It’s a beautiful practice, but it can weigh you down if you’re not careful. You miss the encore looking for a souvenir.

There’s a safety in the land of memories, a comfort in the predictable past. Tomorrow is scary, and today is downright terrifying. Maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The hero’s journey of getting out of bed every morning. I feel like I’m on the road to somewhere new, but I’m still a long way from the destination.

This new work was created in type of manic monastic frenzy. If it looks different, it’s because I’m different. They say the tool shapes the craftsman. I’ve been watching it in the mirror as the work shapes the worker.

I’m trying to be better.

I love you all.

 

About the artist:

R C Hagans is an Alabama artist who communicates in a visual stream of altered-consciousness. The 37 year-old vandal’s work invites the viewer to visit a parallel dimension where the architect seems to use decay as much as evolution to shape his universe. To create a final product that is equal parts fine/folk/street art, the former missionary and cage-fighter draws on imagery from religion, pop culture, conspiracy theories, Hank Williams, and dimethyl-tryptamine.