*Especially for Jimma! Isolation Room is now a zero carbon emissions exhibition
venue. Our one track light is actually hooked up to a solar panel. Special thanks to Home Eco, St. Louis. www.home-eco.com
Jimmy Carter’s poetry book “Always a Reckoning” met with mixed reviews upon its publication. New York Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani called Carter a "mediocre poet" who writes "well-meaning, dutifully wrought poems that plod from Point A to Point B without ever making a leap into emotional hyperspace, poems that lack not only a distinctive authorial voice, but also anything resembling a psychological or historical subtext." Ouch. The literary critique was a bit like the judgment of the electorate in 1980 then. But we feel Jay Lizo’s portrait of President James Carter is very cool. Indeed it is a celestial looking “Jimma”. This work is pulled from a painting series titled “A Song from My Hero Collection”, which grouped together portraits of people real and fictitious that Lizo has admired. This is the Jimmy who is perhaps best loved for his political afterlife. You know, the Jimmy we got to see after he built “habitat for humanity” houses and spoke up for Middle East peace. That’s what a true hero is A BUILDER (not destroyer). It’s almost like he’s at the strobe lit galactic disco for true heroes. Peace out Jimma!
Jay Lizo received his B.F.A. from Ringling School of Art and Design in 1998 and in 2005 he received his M.F.A. from University of California - Santa Barbara. His solo exhibitions include: And The Choir Song On, Box 13 Gallery, Houston, Texas, 2010; Lovely Ladies, Sea and Space Explorations, Los Angeles, 2008.Some of his group exhibitions include an upcoming show at Kristi Engel Gallery, Los Angeles, A Year of Hiroshige, Cypress Community College, CA; 12 Gauge, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA, 2010; Resound, Hunt Gallery, St. Louis, 2010; Portrayal/Betrayal, Gallery of Long Beach City College, 2008; A/V, Blueseats, New York, NY, 2008; High Desert Test Sites 5, Joshua Tree, CA, 2006; Supersonic, Los Angeles, CA, 2005; LA Tap, Melbourne, Australia, 2004. Lizo lives and works in Los Angeles.
Work is courtesy the artist.