make room for the emptiness

If you like secret puzzles, folk art, plants, and hexes, you should probably check out Jim Houser's solid gold hit now on view at the Jonathan Levine Gallery in Chelsea. This was my first Jim Houser experience, and I couldn't be more impressed!  I've always been an admirer of his unwavering color pallete: rich terra cotta reds, sea glass blues and greens, and warm browns.  "Totally captivating" comes to mind.  He traditionally carries his drawings into the exhibition space, but I was happy to find new objects incorporated.  I love love love the electric speakers, which he handpainted to fit his color story.  Nearby the speakers, there is a small scale version of the same idea, kind of like a still life! 

The twine paintings he crafted, weaving colored string around canvas, create super tactile grids of hues that are hard to look away from.  The best thing about Houser's work is that you feel like little secrets are being shared.  You have to connect the objects to the drawings to the words and back again.  It's like a puzzle that you know you will never solve and that's okay, because the attempt is so entertaining!  The shelf installations were so quiet, like little museum diaramas.  One held a painting of a severed hand, whith the word "HEXES" spelled out at the ends of each fingertip.  A jar of small pebbles sat next to it along with a larger rock person sleeping.  Your brain makes thoughtful yet incomplete connections, but in the best way.  Like watching a dream playout. These are the little magical stories of Jim Houser.

One of his great talents is building a playful library of words and phrases in his drawings.  One of my favorite groups of words were "force field, swords, gardens, machines."  It's way better than looking at a scrabble board at the end of a long game!  When you see these words alone or groups, they are taken out of there usual context, and it's just nice to see things like "GONERS," "orbits," "MYTH," "mmmmmiracles," or "rumor" just standing as words. 
There is a wonderful blend going on for sure,  and you barely notice the overcast of gloom beacause the drawings and installations are so beautiful.  His characters face some tough breaks...severed heads, drowning, and being shot with arrows.  Truly a stellar show, "Make Room for the Emptiness" is currently on view through November 21st.  Also on view at the Jonathan Levine Gallery is an amazing show called "TRUE SELF," curated by Gary Baseman.
http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com/