Home is where the art is. This is how I felt leaving Bhare's solo art exhibition. A talented artist from North Carolina, Bhare inspired nostalgic pangs of returning home again with the work he shared in this exhibit.
Upon entering the realm of 'Building a Happier Home,' visitors are enveloped in an intimate yet expansive atmosphere. Each of the 30 pieces tells a unique story, a fragment of Bhare's journey rendered in colors and contours. The exhibition, housed within the welcoming walls of Colonna Contemporary, is a testament to his belief in art as a medium of personal growth and expression. In this space, the concept of 'home' transcends its physical confines, becoming a metaphor for comfort, safety, and the intricacies of human emotion.
Mirroring the impact of a debut album, 'Building a Happier Home' represents a unique blend of the digital and physical art realms. It began on Foundation, a marketplace for digital art, where the series' first nine 1/1 works found new homes before the opening of the physical exhibit.
The series reaches its pinnacle with a curated drop on Nifty Gateway, featuring four reimagined artworks. Bhare's artistic skills & innovative approaches forge a path for communal creativity on the blockchain. With this series Bhare, redefines our understanding of "home" and sets the stage for a new era in art, where personal narrative, physical space, and digital innovation converge.
In an interview, Bhare & I discuss his inspirations, featuring process insights & hopes for his audience.
Stonez: What were some of your inspirations for this collection? How did you develop the thematic nuances? There are a lot of connections that tell a story.
Bhare: My main inspiration came from writing a lot of journals for myself over the years - from high school and college, it's just a way that I get my thoughts down. I'm not really a sketchbook type of person, I'm always writing down different things to get stuff off the top of my head. So building this entire show was essentially making something I thought would be a happy home for myself.
There's a lot of different elements that go into making a happy home: there’s very high moments, there's very low moments, and there's everything in between. It would feel weird if I only showed the really good moments or the really bad moments because those are just moments, they’re not the whole entire picture. Showcasing different ranges of emotion is what really comes together to make this a happy home. It's something that has a firm foundation.
Stonez: The essence of home is captured because you (re)create so many different memories and moments throughout the collection. What does home mean to you?
Bhare: Honestly, home is a safe space, a safe place. Somewhere I really love to go back to. I'm very much an introverted person. So I'm always at home, I’m always doing everything at home. My studio is out of my home, my dogs’ there, I’m always cooking there. For such a long time, I didn't enjoy being at home. I was always away from my house because I was so disinterested in it. I felt so ashamed of it. But now that I've gotten older and have a space for myself, I put a lot of effort into making it a place that I really want to be at every single day.
Stonez: That's beautiful. I love the growth in your experience and how you’ve been able to translate that into your art. What do you want people to take away from this exhibition?
Bhare: Do what's really close to your heart. Because I could have literally done anything. There could have been a different theme but I chose something simple - a home. It wasn't anything that I had to think twice about, it was there. I was able to pull out everything because it was so relatable. I feel like I'm able to connect with other people if I'm doing something that makes more sense to me rather than doing something that doesn't make sense.
I really hope that everyone gets the best out of it. They really feel at home, they feel welcomed, they feel warm, they feel invited and they understand all the highs and lows that go into making a home, and hopefully they take that back home and do it for themselves.
Bhare’s exhibition is an intimate journey through experiences, feelings, and the quest for sanctuary in the world. His art encourages us to hold space for our heart’s desires, and find beauty in the simple moments as we embrace the full spectrum of our emotions.
Follow Bhare here to learn more, view his art, & stay connected.
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Amazing writeup!!!