****Charity Event Opening Reception - Friday, October 6, 2006 from 7 PM til 11 PM All proceeds from this exhibition will go to NAESM - National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities on behalf of the artist and his wife, Kathy. Please join us for a very special charity exhibition that promises to be a fresh and electrifying exploration into the ways in which we communicate feeling. Delicate and fragile, the amazing paintings/drawings of billy bob beamer were begun 30 years ago, as a way of focusing on sociocultural signs, symbols, and issues of communication. To date they have grown into a brilliantly complex original non-verbal language the artist calls "Microinteractive Word Dust" - beamer refers to his paintings/drawings as "individual messages". Born 1947 in Roanoke, Virginia; billy bob beamer is a self taught artist who after growing increasingly ill, was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue immune deficiency syndrome. A disease which leaves it's subjects in constant pain. Exploring possible treatments for FM/CFIDS, the artist discovered while participating in a biofeedback program, that he could induce a trance-like state by the act of repetitive drawing, i.e., my “Messages.” John Yimin of "Outsider Art" has written that "beamer's work lies in a world, somewhere between what you see and what you think." 5 of beamer's paintings were personally requested by NY Arts Magazine for inclusion at the 2006 Miami/Basil International Art Fair. As well as New York's annual Pulse-Armory Show. His work can be found at Gallery 402 (New York), Artshole (London, England), & U*Space Gallery (Atlanta, Georgia); His work can also be see hanging in the Governor's Mansion, Richmond, Virginia. All proceeds from this exhibition will go to NAESM - National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities on behalf of the artist and his wife, Kathy. The artist will be in attendence for the opening reception. NAESM - (the) National AIDS Education & Services for Minorities was created in 1990 as a non-profit community based organization created to counteract the ever increasing spread of HIV/AIDS in communities of color. Since opening its doors, NAESM has taken pride in serving Atlanta's minority community as a beacon of hope for those in need of love and understanding. The mission of NAESM is to educate communities of color on the facts about HIV/AIDS (Education and Prevention) and to make health care and social services available to people of color with early or advanced stages of HIV/AIDS regardless of their sexual orientation. The exhibition will be on display until October 22, 2006