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Who IS Hand-For-A-Face? A Bay Area native currently based in San Leandro, California, Edwin "Newbetter" Abrescy attributes much of his study in content to what he has experienced and learned during his ten years of work in the mental health industry -both on and off the clock. Developing his talent and skills as a youth, first with pencil, then pen compositions, Edwin evolved to the point of teaching himself how to paint in 2002. It is important to for him to share his art with others, just as the impact of being exposed to the works of others has fostered within Edwin interactions that have proved to be an integral part of his own personal evolution, as well as inspiring and fueling him to create, and make his works public. Through translating and creating a tangible record of his internal states, thought processes, emotional transitions, fears, joys, victories, and affirmations, the negative space in his life is filled, fleshed out, and completed as his part in an ongoing interaction with the world in which he exists. After much planning and gathering of forces, Edwin is currently working with five other local artists in preparation of a series of showings throughout the Bay Area, that will take place early in the summer of 2010. Edwin is also wating to announce the dates and locations for a two-person bi-continental art show in spring of 2010, between California and the UK, with former San Francisco native Emily Dezurick-Badran (http://www.dezurickbadran.com). In December, Edwin will be travelling to New York on invite to showcase art at the opening of a private gallery, and is pending permission to publicly advertise the name. Edwin has drawn on his experiences to build a voice through his art. Drawing from pieces of his past and present, as an ex-mental-health worker, as an entertainer, storyteller, and an American male who tries hard not to let these things get in the way, he speaks through his paintings about the wistful characters that are stage productions of the people he encounters, and the process of discovering and rediscovering beauty in the most unlikely of places. I experience the world as an interaction (between that which is inside and that which is outside of myself.) This world speaks to me in its own language In turn, I listen, and the intangible things that have filtered into me, both intentional and unintentional, form their own sentences in repsonse. The conversation that occurs between myself and the world that I experience takes form as I create my works, and allow myself to be a conduit for that interaction to take place. Those that view my works are not just looking at pictures, but rather overhearing two intangible conversationalists speaking with each other, as the timeline that is my life progresses through its duration. When an audience views my work, I'd for like them to listen to the story that each piece is trying to tell them, listen for any resonations within the piece, even the more visceral, as they interact with it, and it interacts with them. It is crucial to me that people hold onto their reactions from viewing my work, and carry them into their lives, allowing their own interactions with the world they see to develop.