Palestine Interrupted

ART – MUSIC – CULTURE

Exhibition
19 April – 24 May 2013

 

Palestine Interrupted


paintings by

Bud Hensgen

Free Palestine

Bud Hensgen’s 2011 tour of Palestine culminated in a series of 14 paintings that reflect his impressions on the injustice he found there. The individual paintings stand on their own graphically, but can also be viewed in the context of paired quotations from a variety of sources sources, such as news stories from the U.S. and abroad,  political propaganda, memoirs, journals, human rights documents, and his own thoughts. Hensgen’s training in religion and diplomacy (he studied nine years to be a Jesuit priest before joining the U.S. Foreign Service for 23 years) inform his life and artwork. He is a member of Studio Gallery in Washington, DC, The Art League in Alexandria, Virginia, the Arlington Artists Alliance in Arlington, Virginia, and the Northern Virginia Art Center in Crystal City, Virginia.

 

See Bud’s comments from the Opening Reception:

 

Meet the Artist


 


                 -Bud Hensgen

Bud Hensgen’s art generally has no political message. He is a locally-based artist whose work ranges from colorful abstract canvases filled with energy and motion to simple and lean images in black and white which encourage the viewer to reflect upon his own interior feelings. But in the fall of 2011, Bud participated in a tour sponsored by Interfaith Peace Builders, a non-denominational organization dedicated to increase understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the United States’ political, military, and economic role in it. There he became more aware of the struggle of the Palestinian people to gain their rights and independence from Israeli occupation.  Upon his return he felt compelled to express his impressions in charcoal and paint.  The result is the exhibit “Palestine Interrupted.”

Bud is a member of Studio Gallery in Washington, DC, The Art League in Alexandria, Virginia, the Arlington Artists Alliance in Arlington, Virginia, and the Northern Virginia Art Center in Crystal City, Virginia. For twenty-five years he was a U.S. Foreign Service Officer who served as press attaché in embassies and consulates in Colombia, Panama, the United Kingdom and Germany.