July 3 – 28, 2019 First Friday Reception: July 5, 2019 | 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

BOSTON, MA – Beginning July 3rd, Fountain Street Gallery will exhibit the work of Jim Banks and Leslie Zelamsky in “Natural Habit”. In this wide-ranging show of painting, sculpture, and installation, Banks and Zelamsky explore growth, decay, and renewal. The work ranges from Banks’ meticulously painted “footscapes” to Zelamsky’s sculptural strata made from common building materials. The artists give expression to nature’s elements and cycles by variously planting, painting, scraping, dripping, arranging, gluing, and layering.

Viewers will see in each of their multi-faceted work both found and created beauty, reflected and constructed form. It is the pursuit of an idea that excites Jim Banks. For this exhibit, he chooses an improbable subject—weeds. Over the past few years, Banks has been studying weeds, otherwise known as “wild urban plants”. He grows them. He paints them in remarkable detail. He photographs them. His exploration covers a lot of ground, so to speak. In bringing our attention to weeds through various materials, techniques, and imagery, Banks challenges us to look at, rather than look past, this ubiquitous and underappreciated element of our landscape. Banks studied math and psychology at UCLA, then transferred to Bard College. There he discovered art and was home. He has shown in Honolulu, San Antonio, Memphis, and cities in the Boston area, including Cambridge, Lynn, and Provincetown. Awards include Best 3D Award at the Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show 2015 and 2nd in Show at the Boston Biennial, Atlantic Works Gallery in Boston, MA.