AVM Hawkins, Impetus Opening Reception at Mid Main Gallery, Houston, TX.
impetus
Through her solo exhibition Impetus, AVM internally explores her purpose as an artist, as well as the mysterious force that compels creativity and its necessity to be released into physical form—a story told through a compilation of paintings created from 2019 to 2021.
Impetus delves into the epic, esoteric question every human being asks themselves: “What is my purpose?” For many years, AVM grappled with finding the answer to this question until July 2017, when she decided to pursue art as her main focus—in any way possible. Two years later, AVM left the practice of law to paint full-time.
The years 2018 to 2021 were deeply significant, during which AVM painted prolifically. Within that short period, she participated in two art residencies—one in 2018 and another in 2021 at John Palmer Art Gallery—and exhibited three solo exhibitions.
Impetus showcases AVM’s quintessential works, which have signaled her continual artistic evolution while highlighting her core competencies: the use of color, negative space, and the ability to balance complexity and simplicity.
Virtual Tour | IMpetus at Mid Main Gallery, Houston, Texas
“All of my art is the residue of emotional energy, channeled into physical form. With Impetus, the art demonstrates the final results of this alchemic process. My need to create is insatiable—and necessary. I become irritated and sad if I haven’t created in a long time.
An invisible energy accumulates in my body over time. If I don’t release it constructively through art, it remains stagnant, eventually decaying. But when I channel this energy through painting, poetry, or journaling, it regenerates, recycles, and overflows.”
Always, 2019 AVM Hawkins, 57 (H) x 66 (W) inches, Acrylic, Oil Pastels & Mixed Media on Canvas. In a Private Collection.
Always is the oldest work featured in Impetus exhibition. Always is an original large scale painting, created in 2019. It marked the first time where AVM experimented with minimalism and interior design, using muted colors and subtle movement in contrast to her natural inclination for bright bold colors and gestural brush strokes.
Unknowingly at the time, Always became the inception of AVM’s meditative, minimalistic works—characterized by expansive negative space and the foundational use of texture in her abstract paintings. The work also marked her first experimentation with adding paper as texture to the canvas, establishing a technique that would become central to her art practice. Always is a seminal piece that continues to influence her current body of work and inspire ideas for future paintings.
Always, 2019 by AVM Hawkins. In a Private Collection.
“Always was the first painting in which I experimented with dampening paper—soaking it in water to alter its composition before applying it to the canvas, glazed and dripping with glue, drenched and dissolved and hardened into new shapes, crumpling and transforming into an entirely new medium. I love how it transformed the surface, giving the work a feel as if it was a cemented wall—fortified with thick layers of materials and paint—while also evoking a sense of environmental deterioration, as if worn down by the passage of time and weather. Always marked the inception of my use of texture in abstract painting. ”
Bold & Beautiful, AVM Hawkins 78 (H) x 58 (W) inches, Acrylic, Oil Pastels on Canvas.
Bold & Beautiful was the first painting AVM created during her 2021 art residency at John Palmer Art Gallery. That year, AVM was awarded a three-month residency which allowed her to exhibit her work on the first floor of the Franklin Gallery, while occupying all three artist studios on the second floor. Bold & Beautiful was the first painting AVM started and completed during this residency.
Work in progress picture of AVM in her studio at John Palmer Art Gallery, Houston, TX.
Three years earlier, AVM was one of four artists selected to participate in the nine-month Escapist Mentorship Program at John Palmer Art Gallery. AVM painted Bold & Beautiful in her former studio. Rarely does one get the chance to return to the same place and approach things differently. This time, AVM hit the ground running, instantly knowing what to do. She ordered a large roll of natural canvas, cut it into various sizes, tacked them onto her studio walls, and got to work.
Bold & Beautiful exhibited in Impetus at Mid Main Gallery, Houston, TX.
Bold & Beautiful is filled with gestural marks that dance across the canvas, created with acrylic and oil pastels while revealing pockets of the natural beige canvas underneath. AVM began in the center, working with one color at a time, organically expanding outward. Each stroke is deliberate, emphasizing the contrast relationship between connecting colors. Blue and brown complement each other, merging the energy of water and earth—creating a work that is both calming and strong, revealing its strength when tested.
Work in progress picture of AVM in her studio at John Palmer Art Gallery, Houston, TX.
“I love creating works that are visually striking from afar yet rich with detail upon closer inspection. Each mark, each gesture, is a study in contrast—demonstrating how seemingly opposite colors can amplify one another when placed together, creating something novel and deeply alluring.
Bold & Beautiful balances the dichotomy of beauty and strength, tranquility and power, yin and yang—alluding to the idea that one does not have to choose between them but can embody both simultaneously.”
Mark and AVM Hawkins installing Bold & Beautiful for Impetus at Mid Main Gallery, Houston, TX.
Bold & Beautiful embodied all the emotions and energy AVM felt at the time. It marked her debut after Covid—a year of working in isolation due to the global pandemic—and two years since she left her law practice to pursue art full-time. AVM was ready and confident, and poured that energy into her work.
“I remember thinking in 2020, when the world shut down in self-containment and social distancing, ‘this is either going to be a blessing or a curse.’ In that moment, I decided it would be a blessing. I used that time to put my head down and work in my home studio. When the world reemerged and safely opened back up for business, I was ready. The pandemic made me realize how grateful I am to be an artist—to never take this ability for granted and to work every day, not only to achieve my dream but sustain it.”
Bold & Beautiful
AVM Hawkins
Original
78 (H) x 58 (W) inches with a 1.5 inch edge.
Acrylic, Latex & Oil Pastels on Natural Canvas.
“I cannot precisely describe what moves me to create—but I must. Impetus is an obsession born from an impulsive excitement and a desire to explore, experiment, and evolve through self-expression. This force not only calls me to be a conduit for creation but demands it. Even after years of following a different path, suppressing its voice, and enduring self-denial, Impetus remains and continues to beckon. To acquiesce to its will is the greatest gift I could ever receive—and give.”
In Private Collections
AVM Hawkins (b. 1985, New Orleans) is an American contemporary fine artist of Creole descent, based in Houston, Texas. An abstract expressionist, she intuitively uses color, contrast, and movement to evoke emotion while incorporating mixed materials, layered paint, and spontaneous verbiage to draw the viewer deeper into her work. AVM seamlessly blends freehand patterns with fluid, gestural improvisations, bridging the worlds of form and abstraction to create space for exploration and fortuity.
Portfolio of Available Works, available upon request.