Details:
On the evening of Friday, June 5th, we were thrilled and delighted to feature experimental electronic musician Alex Ruiz’ solo project Carnal Ex (MX), experimental electronic musician Bubba Fontaine (IND), improvisational musician Devin Sherman’s solo project Devin’s Mostly Not Blue (PGH), and free jazz improvisation group Cox Quintet (CMH).
Supporters of our 2025-2026 season include the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Ohio Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Columbus Foundation.
About the artists:
Carnal Ex is an electronic musician and visual artist from Mexico City. His work explores the integration of emerging technologies in multimodal interfaces between sound and image, creating indeterminate audiovisual systems that emphasize deep listening.
Bubba Fontaine is an American experimental songwriter, composer, guitarist, multimedia artist, and maker from Indianapolis, Indiana. His music is eclectic and sometimes, deliberately, a little bizarre. No single musical genre encapsulates the entire Fontaine catalog. Fontaine’s aural creations have been described or labeled as all of the following: experimental, progressive fusion, rock, Avant-Garde chamber, and ambient electronic music. The Fontaine musical ensemble changes frequently and is designed to shape-shift depending on the musical direction and requirements. More recent ensembles have included members of the Straight Up Chumps, the Max Allen Band, Lynzi Stringer, Tracksuit Lyfestyle, Ultravolt, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, among others. Mixing and combining sounds and textures from various talented musicians from around the globe is the backbone of Bubba Fontaine.
‘Devin’s mostly not blue’ is the stage name of Devin Sherman – a classically-trained guitarist turned improvising musician in the indie-jazz/experimental vein with flavors of funk, folk, and alternative music sprinkled in. His introspective, tone-painting approach draws listeners in to examine the colors, textures, and stories that underly his improvisations. Some tunes sound like a musical Alexander Calder mobile and others splinter and split between jazz and bluegrass and blues. He explores forms and textures, melodies and harmonies, moods and vibes in real-time. He strives to capture sounds that intrigue and express real, genuine, human feelings. A few artist inspirations are Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, and Mary Halvorson.
Gerard Cox is a pianist, trumpeter, and percussionist from Columbus with a keen interest in musical surrealism and the percussive nature of the piano. Born to a piano teacher Mom and a jazz saxophone hobbyist father, clear “rockstar” inclinations were shown at age 8 in an appearance as J.S. Bach at an OMTA music festival and at 10 as Billy Idol in a look-a-like contest for the national pop/rock magazine Star Hits. Cox developed a love for jazz in high school on through college, studying both jazz piano and B3 organ. While initially taken with the straight-ahead jazz of Art Blakey and Clifford Brown, he followed John Coltrane’s discography into his later period music and this proved to be the gateway for a fascination with free jazz and all kinds of other outsider/experimental music.