2023      11.5" x 7 3/4" x 1 3/4"
"Just because it's dark doesn't mean it's night" is an archival pigment print mounted on wood. The images is coated in the artist's homemade wax encaustic. 
It is in a custom frame bulit by the artist.
 
Some of Hochbaum's variations come with an accompanying tiny house "familiar". These familiars are a nod the the artist's childhood love for action figure collecting and for small animals.
 
"Dark/night" comes with 1 familiar.
 
"I hate my spaceship" is an image Hochbaum photographed in 2019 in Berlin, Germany. It was during a residency at the Luisa Catucci Gallery. One of his favorite projects to do while traveling is to track down local model train shops and pick up a few used houses for props for impromtu photoshoots.
 
The image carries a lot of weight for the artist because of the many serendipitous events that brought the photoshoot together. For one, the gallery assistant was willing to pose for the image at very short notice. Her look turned out to be a perfect colaboration with Hochbaum's vision. The coincidence of her nail polish that morning matching the house which David found at a shop not too far from the gallery is one of the magical deatils to this expirience. 
 
The model's heritage also has a strong connection to the artist's own. Her mortherly posture and expression evokes a compassion, worry, and tenderness that matches an emotional gesture within the artist's intent.
 
This image has gone through many of the artist's variation treatments. Unlike Hochbaum's studies or limited edition series, the variations do not have a "mothership" or main piece. Variations are all one-of-a-kind original works. Variations are an ongoing project withiout a finite number of treatments.