You Don't Have to Shout

Overtly political visual art can be dangerous — not because it risks inciting revolt, but just the opposite. Take something with a title like “BUSH WAS A WARLORD!” Well, okay. Um, move along. Next in line, please. We believe effective artists make people think, and if they have a political leaning, they don't have to scream its name. Jesse Hazelip is one such artist. In “The Belle of the Brawl,” he makes statements about the U.S. wars in the Middle East without applying the frying pan of hyperbole to the viewer's head. He uses various two-dimensional media to render lumbering, noble hybrids of animals and U.S. weaponry. In Blackwater, the head of a heron is a mounted anti-aircraft gun, the barrel its beak. In Sons of Fury, the head of a sleeping buffalo is the cockpit and nose section of a World War II bomber. And these are no approximations. His treatment is remarkably realistic as well as accurate (we happen to know a thing or two about military aircraft). In choosing the surreal over the graphic, he simultaneously conveys detachment, destruction, and the human potential for beauty and innovation. Hazelip adds depth by borrowing geometric and textual conventions from Islamic art for some of his backgrounds. Whether you agree or disagree with the work's premise, it isn't easily dismissed.

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• Jesse Hazelip
• Visual Arts
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

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The opening reception for “The Belle of the Brawl” starts at 6 p.m. Jan. 15.
Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: Jan. 15. Continues through Feb. 26, 2011