Jim Brossy
"Left Behind"
November 6 - 28, 2009 Projects Gallery

For November Projects Gallery will feature Philadelphia artist Jim Brossy’s second solo show “Left Behind”. Known for his wildly expressive figurative mixed media assemblages, Brossy focuses on the frequently overlooked for his subject matter. With his signature use of a sophisticated hodgepodge, Brossy crafts figures from debris, construction material, as well as traditional paint. Modest blue-collar workers, barflies, the homeless, children, and the detritus of society are depicted in material reflective of their social status. Cheeky political references imbue the work with a dual seriousness and humor. Brossy’s work asks the viewer to consider grand social issues but to never take themselves, or the work, too seriously.

The holder of a M.F.A. from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Brossy eschews traditionalism embodied by a personal artistic manifesto known as “Crackpot Realism.” According to the artist, “In Crackpot Realism there is no distinction between living and making art. The painting is not a representation of life, but a real thing, an object in a real space, that can be experienced as a picture.” Featuring stenciled messages, globs of tar and paint, found clothing, reconstructed objects, his material choices echo the subject matter, embedding his figures in a palpable world of excess and refuse. This solo show brings to the forefront those working class who would otherwise be Left Behind. Jim Brossy - Left Behind will be on display November 6 - 28, 2009. There will be an artist reception First Friday November 6th from 6 - 9 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Jim Brossy
"Unentitled"
June 1st - July 29th 2007 Projects Gallery

Projects Gallery proudly presents Philadelphia artist Jim Brossy’s “Unentitled”, in his premier solo exhibition with Projects. This Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts M.F.A. recipient crafts highly textured, mixed media, assemblage paintings using artistic, construction and found material. Tar, latex, cement, wax, string and steel all make appearances in his paintings, in addition to the more traditional acrylic, pastel, pencil and oil. Found objects such as newspaper and old clothes augment the richness and narrative of the work. The mixed media aspects add a literal and figurative gravity to the subjects. His paintings speak to the prevailing social issues and injustices of contemporary society.

There is a strong urban language, a rhythm of signs and buildings that resonate throughout the work. The complex, linear compositions evoke a sense of cityscapes. Bulldozers, clothes lines and tight fences appear as unusual subject matter. The duality in his use of black and white striping evokes imprisonments as varied as the holocaust to ghettoizing socioeconomic disparities. Figures read newspapers bearing headlines manipulated by the artist, satirizing media paranoia and frivolity. A woman hoists a sagging sheet to dry on a clothesline while nearly being enveloped by the chore. Garish machinery plows through old buildings, hinting at urban sprawl and gentrification. Brossy’s paintings focus on the dispossessed, highlighting the inequality in our culture between those who are presumed entitled and those who are not.