Deedee Cheriel: When Brown Chicks Take Over the World // Tim Hussey: Badeschiff

Tim Hussey - Badeschiff
Badeschiff is a visual journey of self-discovery in the wake the artist’s mother’s passing. Inspired by a recent trip to Berlin and Dresden in Germany on both a technical and spiritual level, this exhibition is a calming soliloquy of Hussey’s thoughts, emotions and consciousness.

Badeschiff is a floating public pool in Berlin's Spree river, which itself is too polluted for swimming. This pristine pool, Badeschiff (translates to ‘bathing ship’ in German), represents a sanctuary in the middle of a contaminated landscape—a branch to hold onto, a place to reflect, a way to find clarity.

Influenced by a visit to the acclaimed German Expressionist collection at the Albertinum Museum in Dresden, Hussey relates his own existential quest to the emotional intensity of Expressionism’s concern for humanity. For the artist, the loss of authenticity and spirituality during the social and economic struggles of the early 20th century is reflected in own our contemporary culture. Metaphorically, we are all searching for the pool of respite embodied in the badeschiff.

Hussey’s work can be described as ambiguous abstraction, mainly composed of frenetic forms and indiscernible space. With hints of recognizable moments pointing to a larger narrative, he is more interested in the broad strokes of the human condition, why we are here, and where we are going, rather than the minutia of every day. Badeschiff overlays these unanswerable questions, while holding steady to the belief that we can still find peace no matter what the circumstance.

Tim Hussey was born in Dover, Delaware in 1970 and grew up in Charleston, SC. He received his Bachelors in Fine Arts in 1992 from Rhode Island School of Design, spending his junior year at Parsons, Paris. He has received numerous awards from American Illustration, Print Magazine and The Society of Publication Designers, meanwhile teaching related courses at The School of Visual Arts, NY. In 2009, filmmaker Adam Boozer shot a 45-minute documentary on Tim’s life and artwork, entitled “Running By Sight” which was an official selection at the DocMiami Film Festival and was aired at Comic-Con, 2011. His murals can be seen in Santa Monica at the studio of Larry David, and his memorial to the Mother Emanuel shootings can be seen in Charleston, SC. Hussey’s art has appeared in Dwell, Huffington Post, Architectural Digest, Harper’s, American Art Collector, Real Simple, NYArts Magazine. His first monograph Drown Then Swim (forward by Shepard Fairey) was released in 2010. Hussey currently divides his time between Los Angeles and Charleston with his wife Elise.