Galleria Patricia Armocida presented The Tip of the Sword, the first solo exhibition in Italy by the artist Jim Houser, that opened on Wednesday July 1st, 2009.
Born in Philadelphia, founding member of Space 1026 gallery and art collective, Jim Houser is fascinated by word associations chosen for their visual or aural properties paired with a world inhabited by curious figures. The artist creates narrative microcosms where the viewer activates a dialogue and participates in a seemingly complex narrative.
For this exhibit, Jim Houser presented 45 new works: paintings on canvas and wood, four site-specific mural and sculptural installations.
Each of his works is related through theme, color, and text, forming structured compositions of controlled lines, flat colors, and harmonious color palettes that reveal a deeply poetic, meticulous, and refined nature. In his intricate wall installations, the physical space becomes a receptacle for codified images of thoughts and symbols which Jim Houser transfers onto various mediums including painted sculptures on wood, clay, and cast stone. These are recognizable objects which are removed from their everyday use and reworked into a playful narrative, adopting new meaning.
For The Tip of the Sword, Houser translates an acute awareness of words and sensitivity to his surroundings through his art. The result is a body of work that is extremely personal and accessible, rich with iconography of words, phrases, and symbols fused seamlessly together to illustrate the human condition.
Jim Houser lives and works in Philadelphia.
Recent solo exhibits include: The Beating Heart Acts as a Time, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA; We’ll Make A Lover of You, ArtCenter of South Florida, Miami, FL; Awful Mountain, White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Systemsanderrors, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York, NY. Houser's work is in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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