Searching for mother of all stories

By Victoria Gail-White
Advertiser Art Critic

•	"Manner of One" is the title piece of Jon Hamblin's exhibition at Café Che Pasta. Hamblin works with oil-based enamel and latex on bark paper, roofing metal and canvas. The colors are bright and contrasting; figures are simple yet sophisticated. Manner of One: Works by Jon Hamblin Through March 29 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays Café Che Pasta 1001 Bishop St. 524-0004

Hamblin began studying psychology but eventually got a graduate degree in art. Starting off as a printmaker, his fascination with alternative surfaces segued into painting. His palette of strong, bright and contrasting colors and his use of simple figures give his work a child-like yet sophisticated playfulness. Figures with auras walk the earth and winged figures dance in the heavens.

"Good art is very inspiring," says Hamblin (a teacher for 18 years at Mid-Pacific Institute) "because it helps us break our bonds of mortality. For some people it is a song, a poetry reading, looking at their children, growing plants in a garden — whatever gives us that feeling."

Words, typically a part of Hamblin's art works, are missing from this exhibit because, he says, "I thought maybe Jon Hamblin should shut up with this show and let the pictures do the talking."

Not only do "Bourne Aloft," "Third Time," "Walker," "Solitude," "Manner of One" and "Walking Under a Shower of Meteors" talk, but restaurant goers talked as well. "He is a poet," says Maile Yawata, a fellow artist, "and the art is just a part of it. One of his pieces made me cry."

Inspired by things as diverse as music and the reflective slimy trails of slugs, Hamblin begins his work in a sketchbook with a good black ballpoint pen. Whether purging demons or contemplating the potentially exciting but dangerous presence of meteors, he says, "I am always trying to find the story that all stories come from."