To experience Jim Houser's work is manifold.
1. It is in the vein a graphic, "skater" style along the lines of Barry McGee, Phil Frost and Shepard Fairey. But it departs from these harder works into something more intimate, sweet and uncertain.
2. The honesty and candor in Houser's works is almost unsettling: completely unfussy, with strange simple language.
3. The medium is the message. In Houser's work, one comes to understand that the way of making and what is made are one and the same. The work is about life and life is about work in a manner more seamless and clear than with other artists. Houser's work is his own way of talking; constantly, restlessly, honestly, without theory or facade. There is no "other", the art and self are one...More of Houser's work HERE. and HERE.
In speaking about Jim Houser and the fusion of his interaction with life, and the art that records that interface, he asks us to know him. Some of you may already know Jim Houser and his work, and you may know that a huge part of his life has been his wife Rebecca Westcott, whose death in 2004 was a truly terrible tragedy. More on Rebecca Westcott HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.
From the Jonathan Levine Gallery, NYC: "Jim Houser's paintings are the system by which he actively catalogs the images and noises which command his attention. His installations act to create a map of the contents of his head over the course of a particular period in time. His interests include: listening to the cadence of speech. science and science fiction. sickness and disease. plants and animals. sport. time travel. ghosts. the art of children. secrets. radio. codes and code breaking. words that sound beautiful and mean something terrible, words that sound horrible but mean something wonderful. codes and code breaking.
Jim resides in Philadelphia, with his best friend Brian, his dogs Stuckley and Ella, and his cat Birdy. He is a founding member of Space 1026, a Philadelphia-based artist colelctive. First organized in 1997, the artist-run collective focuses in silk-screening, printmaking, painting, audio/video production, graphic design and schedules month rating exhibitions. He has done graphic design work for toy machine, Designarium, and Nike. A book cataloging his life in the arts, called BABEL, was published in 2005 by Gingko Press. "
