James Oliver Gallery presents In Tune, a 4-person exhibition featuring the works of Jim Houser, Martin Mazorra, Timothy Prettyman, and Josh Stover.
Viewers step into each artist’s shoes, finding personalized artifacts of daily rituals and mantras, home settings, memories of the past, and everyday encounters. The works serve as keyholes, allowing access into one’s observations, interpretations, and connections to earthly objects and scenery. Through color, pattern, symbolism, and typography, In Tune brings a harmonious selection of paintings and prints on view through May 24th, 2025.
Jim Houser is a self-taught artist, musician, and an original member of the artist collective Space 1026 in Philadelphia. His work focuses on personal exploration and an associative theme of interconnectedness, presented in paintings, collage, sculpture and music. Houser’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and The Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art.
Left: Jim Houser, SWISH, Acrylic on Panel, 6 x 6”, 2025. Right: Jim Houser, OH NO, Acrylic and collage on panel, 18 x 18”
“I have been increasingly focused on the way in which I approach art-making, and examining my practice. For me, art-making, music, skateboarding all involve these similar repetitive routines which allow for some form of meditation to occur. Much of the work in this show is an examination of how intertwined these three things have become for me.”
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“I’ve known Jim Houser since the mid-90’s . At the time, his unique drawings began to evolve into complex compositions of
characters and typography within a mosaic of color blocks. This approach to his work has only evolved to become more
sophisticated and beautiful over the years. Jim’s pieces straddle several aesthetic zones harmoniously, allowing them to be playful, mesmerizing, and profound all at once. Because Jim’s pieces work as entire compositions, with so many compelling elements at different scales, they must be seen in person.” – Shepard Fairey
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Martin Mazorra, Beach Rose, Color Woodcut and Letterpress
Print on Cranes Lettra 22” x 28”, 2019, Edition of 20.
Martin Mazorra, Escape Hole
Color Woodcut and Letterpress Print on Cranes Lettra 18” x 24”, 2025
Martin Mazorra is a Brooklyn-based artist originally from West Virginia. He works chiefly in woodcut and letterpress, from small books, prints on paper, and large prints on fabric, to site-specific installations. Pictorial narratives, often with humor, draw from his upbringing in the American South as the son of a Cuban exile. In Mazorra’s community and family, humor was a way to share stories, cope with personal hardships, and navigate social identity. His imagery examines inner conflicts, class dynamics, nostalgia, and desire. From twists on the Victorian language of flowers to invented hypnotherapy scripts, his work reimagines familiar concepts with a satirical edge.
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Since forming Cannonball Press in 1999, Mazorra has traveled extensively from South Africa to Hong Kong, exhibiting his prints and print-based installations. Martin has received a NYFA Fellowship in Printmaking, is a United States Artists Ford Foundation Fellow, and a recipient of a Marie Walsh Sharpe Studio Grant. His work is in the collections of The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Taubman Museum, The Block Museum, Yale University, The Art Museum of West Virginia University, and the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.
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Chicago born painter, Timothy Prettyman, has been creating artwork ever since he was old enough to hold a pencil. He creates bright and vibrant works that focus on color, shape, and composition. As an abstract painter, Prettyman uses unique patterns and compositions in eye-catching colors that draw the viewer in and make them want to spend more time with the work. He puts extensive consideration into every line, shape and brush stroke so that the piece reflects an orderly harmony that at the same time communicates conceptual depth and breadth.
Timothy Prettyman, Paradise, Acrylic paint on canvas, 48” x 108”, 2023
Josh Stover (He/Him) is an artist and sign painter based in Richmond, Virginia. Stover grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida and completed his BFA at the University of Florida with an emphasis on ceramics. He lived in Oregon for many years before recently relocating to Virginia. Josh and his wife Rachael run Variety Shop, a sign painting and design studio where they work on client projects. In his art practice, Stover primarily works in acrylic paint on panel, and colored pencil on paper. He likes depicting objects and still life scenes and is drawn to bold colors, graphic shapes and vintage design. He draws a lot of inspiration from his home environment where he collects antique and vintage objects that often appear in his work.
Josh Stover, Window Seat, 20.5 x 20.5”, Acrylic on panel, 2025.
Josh Stover, Sunset View, 9.5”x12.5”, Acrylic on panel, 2025
Enjoy these works and more selected for In Tune this Spring at James Oliver Gallery. Join us for the Closing Reception on Saturday, May 24th, 2025.
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