Brad Kahlhamer “11:59 to Tucson” Catalog

Brad Kahlhamer: 11:59 to Tucson is a solo exhibition of works by Tucson-born, Mesa/New York-based Brad Kahlhamer (b. 1956), who creates highly personal narratives that are both autobiographical reflections on his life and quixotic reveries about his identity.

Born to Indigenous parents, Kahlhamer was adopted by a German American family and to this day still does not know his full background. Derived from childhood memories, fantasies about the Southwest, and experiences as an illustrator and musician, his works are a blend of dreams and nightmares that express the realities of the urban experience and a longing for his Indigenous roots.

Kahlhamer breaks his life into three realms: the “first place” of his Indigenous heritage, the “second place” of his middle-American upbringing in a white, adoptive family, and the “third place” of his work as an artist and musician. Through his art, Kahlhamer seeks to connect to a spiritual and communal sense of belonging as well as to a culture that has eluded him in the past. Addressing issues of contemporary culture and identity, he creates works that resonate with both ambiguity and ambivalence about his origins and a fervent desire to discover them.