LOS ANGELES (9 JULY 2024): In an overstimulated, multisensory world, multitasking has gotten a bad rap, but one award-winning local artist, Helane Freeman, has found a unique way to combine her passion and talent for painting and music by doing both at the same time in a new multimedia duo playing around Southern California called Rhythm & Hues. The classically trained artist who partners with singer-guitarist Gary Ballen for live performances is a product of two local arts programs, the Cultural Arts Council of Agoura Hills and the Westlake Village Art Guild, which will benefit from the sale of paintings created during a pair of upcoming Rhythm & Hues concert events.

This Thursday (July 11), Rhythm & Hues will perform at the Agoura Hills Recreation and Event Center with a portion of the proceeds of art sales going to the Cultural Arts Council of Agoura Hills. Freeman will have fourteen of her paintings on display in the gallery. On September 3, Rhythm & Hues will perform in Thousand Oaks at the B, which will benefit the Westlake Village Art Guild from the sales of paintings Freeman creates at the event.

“I’ve been a member of the Westlake Village Art Guide since I was fifteen years old. The guild hosts monthly Dinner Demos where working artists demonstrate their craft and answer questions. As a kid, I would go to these demos and watch, dreaming that one day I would be good enough to be that artist on stage giving a demonstration. That’s why September 3 will be so special when I will be doing just that with Rhythm & Hues,” said Freeman who paints and plays multiple percussion instruments with her hands and feet at the same time while Ballen plays and sings classic rock fan favorites.

Many decades before social media and constant screen time were blamed for causing ADHD amongst today’s youth and adult populations, Freeman grew up impacted by ADHD and dyslexia. Art became her method of learning and communicating. Citing Leonardo da Vinci as one of her primary influences, Freeman is an illustrator and art director who designed hundreds of album covers – from Frank Sinatra to NWA and the California Raisins – that were awarded six gold and platinum albums. She also won a Hollywood Reporter Key Art Award for the artwork she created for the box office hit “Dumb and Dumber.”

Ballen, known as the “Human Jukebox” for having a thousand songs in his repertoire that he narrows down to three hundred songs for Rhythm & Hues’ potential setlists, first met Freeman in 1989 when he was a production and stage manager for Eazy-E and NWA. After thirty years apart, the two met again randomly last year at one of Ballen’s weekly club gigs with the Cool Hand Ukes in the Ventura harbor. Ballen invited Freeman to join him for an upcoming show during which she played a stomp box with one foot, a tambourine with the other foot, and percussion on the canvas while she painted. Rhythm & Hues was born.

During Rhythm & Hues one-of-a-kind performances, a colorful new artwork is produced approximately every thirty minutes. The paintings may be inspired by the location and setting, with vibrant nature scenes and lively oceanside images being the most frequent subjects.

“I truly never know how paintings are going to turn out. It’s always a thrill ride for me. The hardest part of being an artist is letting go of the end result. While creating art and music simultaneously, you have to do just that: let go of the end result, trust your instincts as an artist and just let it happen,” said Freeman, who relishes the opportunity to give back to the two organizations that helped launch her career in the arts.

“The Cultural Arts Council of Agoura Hills and the Westlake Village Art Guild are great supporters of our art community providing education, funding, public art, awareness and selling opportunities for local artists. If it weren’t for these local art organizations, I wouldn’t have met my community and family of fellow artists, and I wouldn’t be the artist I am now with the resume that I have today.”

For more information, please visit https://wearerhythmandhues.com.