M!SA Perspectives: Rex Hausmann on an Empire State of Mind and Good Cigars

Our MiSA Perspectives series highlights the experiences and thought leadership of creative professionals based in San Antonio, Texas. Read on as contemporary artist, Rex Hausmann, shares his thoughts from his recent trip to New York City.

I woke up in an Empire State of mind at 2:00 am remembering Portes Q. Cigars in Washington Heights and being on a roof on Park Avenue … with a hand-rolled Dominican cigar from Portes Q. Cigar Shop. I visited Portes first in 2006, now 2025, 19 years later.
 
I hope the memory that visits you at 2:00 a.m. is a good one. This one is. Then I went back to sleep, remembering that after a glass of water, it is after all 2:00 a.m. I need to go to bed. I need sleep for tomorrow’s meetings.
 
I’m in NYC, and the Empire Building is bright red. A red square. I love red squares, they are in all my paintings. 

Today I am having a cigar in NYC on Park Avenue from Martinez Cigars Co. on the rooftop and talking to and old friend Lessie Bryce on the phone after calling my mom and dad with the day's business. I am 18 stories up. The view of Park Ave is breathtaking. I see the Chrysler Building, Rock Center, the Freedom Tower, one of the main bridges, and the Empire State Building. Lessie has been a friend of many years, 20 + years at this point. We had a great chat. 

Earlier, I was in lower Manhattan, having bought a sampler of cigars at Martinez Handmade Cigar Co. on 7th & West 29th as a gift for my friends Gonzo, Dr. Kasi and Deetz. Gonzo is a cigar aficionado who works at the Ford dealership in Boerne and he services my truck. He also services vehicles for Dr. Kasi and Deetz. They have a baby due soon. She & Deetz can celebrate le bebe with a hand-rolled Dominican cigar. Gonzo, Kasi, and her husband Deetz like good cigars, and so do I.

My memory takes me, at 2:00 am, back to Washington Heights in 2006. There was this place, Portes Q. Cigars. As I was in the cab a smile wrapped ear to ear. It was a memory of John and I enjoying a cigar at his & Venessa’s place on 182nd and Broadway. John knew I liked cigars and he and Venessa would smoke a cigarette on the fire escape while I had my cigar. We’d chat after a day's work. At the time Venessa was going to Columbia University for an undergrad in medicine and John was working other jobs, temp jobs mostly, and making art. 

John made the best grilled cheese sandwiches at that apartment. 

John and I would make art and go to museums, usually The Met as it was a dollar for artists or New York residents, Venessa would go to school. We’d hang out on the evenings on the fire escape dreaming of being famous artists like Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. I loved those days. I remembered it with a smile. I wondered if Portes was still around, as things change so fast in Manhattan so I asked. 

I was surprised to find Portes Q. Cigars is still there, ”Is there still that old cigar shop in Washington Heights?” I asked the man at the front counter. “It was a small spot, there was a cabinet and a gentleman hand-rolling cigars with a box of fresh cigars … one side of the box had light colored cigars … on the other dark cigars, that was it. Still one of the best cigars I’d ever had.” I said, “My faves right now are Room 101, the Johnny Tobacconaut, Tabernacle The Goliath & David, and LFD (La Flor de Dominicana) the Double Claro & Limited Edition Reserve Especial.” Another guy smiled and said “Foundation … that’s good stuff!” I also said, “I like Olmec too.” He also smiled and said, “That’s good stuff too, my man.”
 
The man at the counter said with a smile, “Portes… it’s still there. Yeah, that place has been around a long while. A good place!” Now … after almost 20 years in the art world, I’m still in it.
 
The cigar world reminds me of the art world. A world that doesn’t really change much because it doesn’t need to. Now I’m on a rooftop enjoying a small apartment on Park Avenue and have for some time, thanks to Monique & John. So much so that I have a small circle. Museum, gallery, phone calls (lots of phone calls), lunches and dinners. It is all the time I have just to keep pace.

 I still remember the old days, when we had no expectations, no money and only a dream. We lived off of nothing then, grilled cheese before we left too see a museum, dreams and subway passes. Most certainly not taking cabs and museum shows. It was the subway and grilled cheese at home before we go. I still remember those days with a big smile! How did we do it? I ask myself. We had nothing but a dream.
 
I had this memory and conversation before I went to dinner with a studio of Hausmann Millworks, Rene Reyna, who is at SVA currently (School of Visual Arts). Rene and I went to The Grand Sechuan another old spot I love, the new one. The old one in Chelsea had closed down, it didn’t survive COVID, like many places. The old one I went to with so many friends … but like all things, things aren’t forever. The new Grand Sechuan was just fine. The salt and pepper shrimp, wonderful. I could stay on my diet and still enjoy Sechuan. 

About the art world not changing. The artist Carle Rice Embery said to me once “Rex, the art world makes no sense from the outside looking in … but from the inside looking out it makes all the sense in the world and in the world.” Carle passed some years ago and is one of the only people I know who had a room to himself at a major museum, The McNay Museum of Art, unmoved for 30 years. He was my friend and mentor for a long time. Gail Smith was my teacher & he was her teacher. He’d stop by the class to say hi. We had no idea he was a famous artist. He’s been compared to the artist Andrew Wyeth of Texas. Carle only painted views of his home town of Hamilton, Texas and the home he grew up in. 

He liked it that way.

I finished my dinner with Rene at The Grand Sechuan and sent him home with a dinner to go. Passing forward something Tom and Lessie Bryce did for me when I was a college student. In college in Savannah, as I went to Savannah College of Art and Design, Tom and Lessie Bryce would always pay for our lunches and dinners. To college students with not much money (because we were spending all our money on art supplies) it was like a life raft in a sea of needing good, cooked food… not the 10th BPJ in 4 days or lentils. I still can’t handle the taste of lentils to this day. 

Three days later after this wake-up, I’d be back in Washington Heights not in a memory but in reality. Walking in a museum for study and talks and meetings trying to plan an exhibition that I’ve been working towards for 12 years. 

At the end of the day, I found myself with Dr. Marcus Burke where I started, Washington Heights. Driving up Broadway to 202nd and Broadway. There Portes Q. Cigar Co. was. Established sometime in the 70’s. Still there. A bank of men sat enjoying time together, talking, having a cigar … an environment much like that of Martinez Cigar Co., a guy’s club full of old worn-out jokes, a lot of laughs, and of course cigar smoke … and yes, the Portes Q. cigars. The leather chairs well worn with time said it all. A cabinet FULL of cigars stood, beautifully presented. 

I asked the gentleman behind the counter “I was here in 2006, there was a man rolling cigars … and a little back room …” The man cut me off with a smile, “That’s my Dad! Portes! You met my dad, he’s Portes. Now I’m here every day.” I smiled. The place hasn’t changed at all! I walked in with Dr. Burke and bought a pack of cigars for my uncle, the sampler, a little of this and a little of that. I got them for Uncle Rex. My uncle whom I’m named after.
 
Uncle Rex and myself. We have cigars on Fridays and I draw a picture of him and his Friday cigar. This Friday won’t change that routine. We go to Club Humidor on Huebner in San Antonio, Texas. Same corner, every Friday.

 
Now in New York post meeting, Zack and I enjoyed a Portes Q. cigar on a rooftop. I met Zack, or “Zack Attack” as I said in grad school. He’s still an artist in NYC. We talked about transformers (as my nephews are 6 & 7 and are into robots) and art school. We talked about family and life. We talked about lasting in the “art world” and studios. Much like the fire escape in Washington Heights with John and Venessa. Not much changes, only the context. It doesn’t need to.

Just keep at your daily. Pass it forward. 

Notes from New York. Empire State of mind.

Rex Hausmann is an international contemporary artist based in San Antonio, Texas. He is represented by Waterfall Art Gallery in New York City, New York, and owns/operates Hausmann Millworks: A Creative Community in San Antonio with his father and mother Gene and Renee Hausmann. Hausmann is a frequent contributing writer for Modern and San Antonio and was formerly on the M!SA Advisory Panel.