Strange Beautiful, Museum Exhibit
A Strange Beautiful Journey
Jerome Cabeen’s photographs have taken Southeast Texas by storm, appearing in newspapers, magazines and exhibition spaces. STRANGE BEAUTIFUL is his latest creative journey, at the Museum of the Gulf Coast from June 11 through Aug. 24. You can, in fact, be part of the opening, from 6 to 7:30 pm. Friday, June 11.
Inherited creativity
“Art and music, rhythmic colors of paint and pencil. . . these are the dimensions of my youth,” Cabeen says.
Given that his father was a renowned architect and his mother an accomplished oil painter, creativity runs in the family. Earliest memories are filled with the smell of turpentine permeating his Southwest Houston home and the sight of an easel and canvas or drafting table ready for use.
Hendrix inspired
A Jimi Hendrix lyric became the show’s title. In “Third Stone from the Sun.” Hendrix sings, “Strange beautiful, grass of green, with your majestic silver seas. Your mysterious mountains I wish to see more closely…”
The artist is, notably, a Hendrix fan.
World traveler
Given that this photographer lived in Central America and West Africa and visited 35 different countries, he says he feels “deeply shaped, challenged and changed.”
Influencers
He cites influences including Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, Alice Mann, Martine Barrat, Beaumont’s own Keith Carter, and “my mentor and guru, Jim Turner.” In short, he calls them photographers “who have left enduring fingerprints on my mental lens.”
Everything is connected
Buddhism significantly influences this exhibit.
“I am deeply in love with Buddhism and the chants and prayers I have learned from the Hindu tradition. I chose the subject matter for this show because of my abiding respect for my studies of Buddhism,” he says. “The natural world is important to the Buddhist, and the idea that EVERYTHING is connected, thus we are all part of the greater whole, resonates deeply within me. When I am hiking through nature or feel the tidal surge from the ocean baptizing me once again, it is there that I encounter the Sacred Divine. It is a communion that goes beyond words.”
Something bigger
“This show is wordless, speechless communications from something entirely bigger than myself or my cameras. Each one means something incredibly beautiful to me. Each tells a story. Each is you. Each is me. It is strange. It is beautiful,” Cabeen says.
In this case, featured images are from New Mexico, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
In conclusion
The artist graduated from Sam Houston State University with a bachelor’s degree in fine art. He then taught art in Houston. Cabeen also has a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry/Theology from the University of Dallas.
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