I will not lie, Jim Hodges is one of my favorite artists, and the reasons why are innumerable. Like the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote, allow me to “count the ways.” His recent retrospective at the Hammer Museum, entitled “Give More Than You Take” represents a strange, fabled land of enchantment, and yet no verifiable spell has been cast, only the luminous poeticism that is the essence of Jim Hodges. The ineffable beauty of all things small and forgettable breathes at the center of this work as though part of Hodges intention as an artist is to create the perfect palliative for those of us who are too sensitive, finding it difficult to function in the world today, and continually, obsessibly seeking solace in objects. 

Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Jim Hodges 
“Give More Than You Take” on view through Jan. 18, 2015