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May 22, 2012

‘Parallel Universes’ exhibition marks 2nd year

By Lauren Mathis
Modified on: Tuesday, September 21, 2010
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People look at 100 artists' works at the Second Annual Parallel Universes exhibition.

Local artist and principal organizer Paula Hawkins of Houston’s Winter Street Studios joined 100 other artists to create a “Door to the Future” by combining art and quantum physics at the Second Annual Parallel Universes exhibition.

Hawkins, who came up with last year and this year’s quantum physics theme for the exhibition, has a “Quantum realism” style of her own, where she uses both art and quantum physics in the artwork she showcased Saturday at Winter Street Studios in Houston.

“Quantum realism is about the depiction of energy,” Hawkins said. “It allows me to explore the many worlds that exist in the realms of the mind.”

For the public who attended the exhibit to understand the idea of quantum realism and quantum physics, Hawkins and other Winter Street Studio artists, including mixed-media artist Solomon Kane, did so with the “exquisite corpse.”

“The exquisite corpse is a mixture of art and imagination,” Kane said. “It represents our ideas of what we consider the other universes.”

The two large, side-by-side canvases each consisted of smaller paintings from different artists at the studio, along with others in the area. Together, they created a large, “crazy, yet cool depiction of the universe,” said Texas Women’s University biology student Dheepa Rao.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Rao said. “Some of the paintings have faces while others are streamed with cascading colors, and it’s interesting how all of these artists’ ideas created two giant works.”

Becky Soria, who had two of her paintings in the exhibit, created one of the few paintings that actually resembled a universe.

“I usually paint abstract, primitive type of art,” Soria said.

Soria said she had to try a different method of painting to bring about the “parallel universe inspiration” for her to create this type of artwork.

Though the main event was to bring art and quantum physics together for the evening, support for charities such as Justice for Children and Change the World through Art was another important cause.

Prices for most of the paintings ranged from the low to mid hundreds, while others went for as high as $5,000. With every painting that was sold at the exhibit, 20 percent of the proceeds went to the Justice for Children, 10 percent went to Change the World Through Art, and 70 percent went to the artist.

The proceeds for Justice for Children were, according to the organization, “to raise consciousness of our society about protecting children from child abuse.”

As for Change the World Through Art, the charity contributes to the aid of artists, according to the organization, “by helping them sell their work and to help other non-profit institutions.”

With the abundant sales of the paintings and the large turnout for the Second annual Parallel Universes at Winter Street Studios, Hawkins said that she wasn’t surprised to hear the “good response and feedback” that the exhibit received from the public.

“You can tell from the turnout that there are a lot of people that are interested in quantum physics,” she said.

Whether there is an exhibit or a charity that involves creating a work of art for a particular theme, Hawkins said she will always be working hard on her paintings.

“Life is short; you have to paint.”

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