Rhythm Changes

About

5-50 Gallery is proud to present RHYTHM CHANGES, a group show including work by Jack Arthur Wood, Michael Hambouz, and Wesley Ware. The show includes Wood’s multimedia paintings, featuring intricate layering of painted and collaged surfaces, Hambouz’s three-dimensional lenticular paintings and Ware’s vibrant but delicate watercolor abstractions. RHYTHM CHANGES will be on view from January the 20th through February the 25th, with an opening reception on Friday, January 26th, from 5 – 8 pm.

Having always explored his world sensorially, Jack Arthur Wood builds spaces of color, light and material through multilayered painted and collaged surfaces. In his work he explores the inseparable anxiety and joy felt while anticipating the nature of things oscillating between two points. For this reason, many of his recent works explores bilateral compositions and the surrealist technique called decalcomania (Rorschach blots). Wood turns paint into an object when he cuts it from the page. Color, mark and shape rearrange freely in a process he likens to divination, an unconscious knowing. Each painting is a record of emotion and hopeful hunger for brighter horizons.

Michael Hambouz creates chromaesthesia-influenced works – experiments in dimension and color made under the guidance of music – to process bouts of loss and reflections on life in the rural Midwest, New York City, and in the cybersphere as a first-generation Palestinian-American. Experimenting freely with mediums, he encourages unexpected results and mutations in compositional form to bloom in the studio, resulting in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional abstract paintings.

In his work, Wesley Ware blends wet-on-wet painting techniques with reactionary mark-making, creating a visual symphony that celebrates the inherent fluidity of the medium. His watercolors are a testament to his commitment to drawing out the natural beauty inherent in his materials, employing fast sweeping strokes alongside deliberate, man-made marks. The exhibition showcases Wesley Ware's vibrant watercolor abstractions, revealing colorful flowing compositions that evoke the essence of natural elements such as leaves and running water. Upon a closer look, ducks are revealed, hidden within the world of the brushstrokes. 

A narrative unfolds — a dialogue between Woods' exploration of emotions, Hambouz's chromaesthesia-infused journey, and Ware's celebration of fluidity in nature. The compulsively wrapped, strapped, and chained edges in Woods' work, the multidimensional experiments in Hambouz's pieces, and the delicate ecosystems within Ware's watercolors create a dynamic interplay between tangible and ephemeral realms. RHYTHM CHANGES invites the viewer to delve into a collective experience where these diverse works converse, creating an immersive encounter, encouraging contemplation of emotional landscapes and envisioning brighter horizons.

Jack Arthur Wood (Queens, NY) received his BA in printmaking from Guilford College in 2012 and received an MFA in printmaking from Texas A&M University—Corpus Christi in 2017. Wood has been a resident at The Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, The Wassiac Project, and The Jentel Foundation, among others. 5-50 Gallery has included his work in group shows twice,  in 2022 in “Beam Me Up”  curated by Lauren Hirshfield and in “Rearview Mirror” in 2023.
Wood has had solo/two person exhibitions at gallery’s such as Rachel Uffner Gallery (New York, NY), My Pet Raum (New York, NY), )Green House Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Conduit Gallery (Ridgewood, NY), and Paradice Palase (Brooklyn, NY), Not Gallery (Austin TX). His work has been included in group shows nationwide; including, but not limited to, Geary Contemporary (Millerton, NY), Soloway Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), Heaven Gallery (Chicago, IL). Wood’s work has been published in magazines as New American painting, PreCog Magazine and Youngspace.com (online).

Michael Hambouz (Brooklyn, NY) holds a B.A. in painting and sculpture with a minor in video from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH. and has been awarded two residencies with Wassaic Project in upstate New York. His solo and two-person exhibitions include the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Brooklyn, NY), Spring/Break Art Show (New York, NY), Future Fair (New York, NY), chashama (New York, NY). Select group exhibitions include The National Arts Club (New York, NY), Club Rhubard (New York, NY), Andrew Edlin Gallery (New York, NY), IPCNY (New York, NY), Growroom//Showroom (Brooklyn, NY), Paradice Palase (Brooklyn, NY), Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY), Standard Space (Sharon, CT), Dominique Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), Northern-Southern (Austin, TX), Eve Leibe Gallery (London, UK). His art and curatorial work have been featured in Artnet News, Artsin Square Magazine, Design Milk, Hyperallergic, Two Coats of Paint, and Vice. His work is included in the collections of Antioch College, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, Niles History Center, and Fidelity Corporate Art Collection.

Wesley Ware is an emerging artist based in Ridgewood, New York. He studied at the Pratt institute in Brooklyn, NY and has showcased his twice at the Pratt Institute (New York, NY) including  a solo show entitled "Wes Ware Solo.” His work has been featured in group shows including “1000 Year Current” at Field of Play Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), "Marketplace of the Future" (New York, NY), and “A Suitcase” at Kunstraum Super (Vienna, Austria).