Ever since my father died, I have become fascinated with materials belonging to my paternal ancestors.
Documents, my dad’s artwork, writing entries, engineering blueprints, photographs - they all unearth something deeply familiar yet partially unknown within me. No matter how mundane the artifacts may appear, I am engrossed by the traces of their existence and propelled toward painting what I cannot grasp with verbal language.
I started each painting by placing the photograph or paper on my father’s projector. Old papers filled with notations were no longer objects but films, hazes, and moments occurring in real time. I traced the shapes with a brush and ink. My hands were choreographed by their hands, illuminated by the light coming from the very tool my father used in his studio. My grandfather’s marks were the marks I made.
My father’s handwriting became my handwriting. My paintbrush moved just as my father’s did.
Through painting, I am able to give a tangible form to the weight of my family archive. It is not a search for information, but a thrilling encounter with embodied inheritance.
Documents and Paintings from Lew Hubbard and Lewis Hubbard
Ink and pencil on drop cloth
2020
Photograph from Aunt Sue
Ink on drop cloth
100” x 115”
2025
Photograph of Great Grandmother Norma
Ink on drop cloth
100” x 115”
2020
Painting by Lew Hubbard
Ink on drop cloth
100” x 115”
2020
