Jim Hodges, detail, No Betweens, 1996, silk, cotton, polyester and thread, Photo by LollyKnit via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License.
Make the Time: Jim Hodges at the Dallas Museum of Art
If you can, visit the Dallas Museum of Art to see the retrospective of Jim Hodges work before the exhibition closes this Sunday, January 12th. You will be happy you didn’t miss it. If you can’t make it, the show will travel to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
The exhibition, entitled, Jim Hodges: Give More Than You Take, surveys the artist’s 25-year career, presenting 80 works of art in various media including metal chains, paper napkins, silk scarves, denim and mirrors.
Hodges investigates big ideas such as death and rebirth, creation myths, nature and decay. Sometimes, as with his Good Luck (1987), a black ski mask stretched across the top corner of the room, the sentiment unquestionably is about loss with an ominous note. More often, even when sweetly nostalgic, his art is lyrical and uplifting, as with his Here’s Where We Will Stay (1995), a curtain of brightly colored silk scarves that the artist sewed together carefully, over time.
Hodges art builds narratives, begs questions and engages a viewer’s memories. The catalyst for this dialogue – the hook – is the rhythm and the beauty of his work.
Jim Hodges, detail, No Betweens, 1996, silk, cotton, polyester and thread, Photo by LollyKnit via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License.