Book by Rex Hausmann

Chapter Excerpts from book:

Business is Good and Everyone's Buying (2010-2011)

Written By: Rex Hausmann

Edited by: Philip Michael Arevalo

In this book you will be introduced to a number of different caricatures with fictional jobs. They are based on what I imagine real friends of mine might do in a metropolis of my own imagination. The inspiration for the setting of this community evolved from my day to day life in New York City, a commodity itself that has become a parallel universe to my San Antonio home. The fictional businesses weave together to embrace the individual personalities of the people I have come to know over the years. These idyllic moments form a bridge as real as the Manhattan or Brooklyn bridges I frequently cross to get from one part of New York to another. This metaphysical bridge links New York to my hometown of San Antonio.

Faberge Eggs & Aenon’s Bike Shop (Berlin, Germany)

Painting: “Aenon's Bike Shop”(2011) of the Guerra Collection, Boerne Texas

Relationships are like Faberge eggs, intricately woven and very fragile. At the same time, the egg is said to be one of the most stable and strongest designs in nature. And what makes Faberge eggs so lovely is all the detail. Now think back to all those past relationships with the people you have known since you were kids. How many of those people do you still speak to? I can tell you of a few, namely a guy named Dave and another named Mikey, and three girls (now women): one named Michelle, one named Felicia, and Felicia's mother, Gail. These friends make up some of the details in my life, almost like family. I say “almost” only because nothing can take the place of family for an Italian. Sorry, just the way it is. But in the end, every single relationship along the way shapes who you are today.

One of the most fascinating shapes I have ever seen in my life is a structure resembling an egg: a big, red-bricked dome in Italy located in one of my favorite cities in the world, Florence. If you look at the center of this city in the middle of Tuscany, you’ll see the towering structure that nearly every place and everything in the city refers to. A guy by the name of Brunelleschi, or "Pipo" as everyone lovingly referred to him, solved a 200-year-old problem. This was during one of the most fascinating times of European history, the Renaissance. For the center of Florence, an artist had conceptualized a structure to be the crown jewel of Tuscany. The problem with this crown jewel is that it had no crown! The logistics of finishing this jewel had not been taken into consideration. In this time period there was no delineation between artists, architects, sculptors, and craftsmen. Yes, there were the guilds, but in the eyes of people, artists were just tradesmen. Not much has changed. In America, whenever I say I am a painter, people ask me whether I paint interior or exterior and if I do sheet rock. Most of the time I just play along and say, "Sometimes I do." So when someone wanted a structure designed during the Renaissance, they asked an artist because “sometimes” they designed buildings.

Pedro Lujan’s Fuschian Noodles (SoHo)

Painting: “Pedro Pho” (2010)

From Chelsea I hopped a train to meet Pedro Lujan at the Spring St. stop in SoHo where he lives. We then began our autopilot walk to the Hand-pulled Fuschian Noodle shop. I still have no idea where it is. Pedro makes a beeline, and I just follow. While walking and enjoying the summer day, we talked about French cuisine, pit BBQ and all manner of wonderful food topics. Pedro is a food fanatic extraordinaire, not to mention a very interesting person and a great painter. As we walked, the phrase "Pedro Lujan's Fuschian" popped into my head. It rhymed, and I liked it. I jotted this down on my little iPad (which I love) not to let the idea escape, and we went back to talking.

No one at this restaurant spoke English, and nearly no one...No, I correct that, EVERYONE there was of Asian descent, and we were the only non-Asians within a 20 block radius. This place is legit! I ordered the duck soup (big mistake), and Pedro got the eye round (his was the winner). I found the duck meat fatty tasting. I asked Pedro if he liked duck. He explained, “Well, duck prepared properly is quite good. Duck prepared poorly is the experience you just had. Never pay 5 bucks for duck. It’s suspicious!” He then erupted into his usual, almost sinister-like, chuckling hiss and musing grin, as his shoulders bounced up and down. I could then see why my friends spoke his name with such awe.

After lunch we wound our way through Chinatown, smelling all kinds of things, seeing even more, and I had no idea where we were. I never do with Pedro, I just follow along. It’s more fun that way. We walked from Chinatown back to SoHo where we met Michelle Carollo for coffee. I met Michelle through a much esteemed Residency Program called "Artist to Artist" that is run by The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation. I first thought Michelle’s work was a man’s, and then was surprised to find that she had created it. She’s a woman who is, for lack of a better word, a Cherry Bomb—small but what a kick! This is a normal day in New York: meeting people, talking, trying different foods, and having coffee. It’s wonderful—when I can afford it. Gotta sell more paintings!

Painting: “Finished on The Fourth of July” (2011)

Of the Imbimbo Collection San Antonio, Texas.

Whether in fact or in fiction, my story is about sharing the American Dream with those closest to me; it is a place that I have immortalized with the metaphors of my own mind. I create, fabricate, imagine, love, and admire. The best explanation of what motivates me comes from an instillation that I completed in early 2008 called "Re-visitation" exhibited at Blue Star Contemporary Art Center in my hometown of San Antonio, Texas.

“At times these relationships are strained, at times they are celebrated, and at times, they drift apart only to be brought back together again.”
In this expression of words, paintings, photographs, and collages you will find the New York I have come to know and love. From staying on the couches of friends to eventually getting a place of my own in sublets (and searching for an affordable studio, if the word "affordable" even exists in New York City), I have created fictional businesses that embrace the ever changing nature of New York City. As put by one of my close friends, "New York City is not a physical place. New York is a place which you discover with the people that surround you."