Dustin Hodges presents a new body of work across two exhibitions, "Barley Patch" at 15 Orient in New York and "Barley Patch 2" at Sebastian Gladstone in Los Angeles. The artist utilizes thin layers of pigment, color glazing, and distemper on linen to create compositions that superimpose cartoon motifs, such as black crows and characters from the "Arthur" series, over complex grids. His process involves a cyclical layering that drives a wedge between the logic of the image and the materiality of painting, resulting in works that feel both choreographed and visceral.
Drawing parallels to the existential trauma of the television series The Leftovers, Hodges’s work explores a specific millennial melancholia rooted in the transition from the analog to the digital era. By invoking childhood nostalgia through Saturday morning cartoon aesthetics, he captures a sense of temporal dislocation and unresolved mourning. The paintings function as a site of research where the artist investigates the tension between what is visible and what is withheld, reflecting an era where the future remains opaque and the past is a source of both comfort and unease.