The Houston artist Jesse Lott is primarily known for his expressive found-object sculptures made from scraps reclaimed from his Fifth Ward urban landscape. These sculptures consist of various materials such as found wood, stripped wire, broken glass, newspaper, jewelry, broken taillights, old furniture pieces, bottle caps, and so much more. This cyclical magic—a transformation from trash into treasure—is an art practice that exemplifies a larger philosophy of purposeful resistance and transformation. The technique is also an eco-necessary belief that continued life on this planet relies on sustainable practices.

The construction O La Loo (1999) is assembled primarily from found furniture and other wooden parts. While Lott studied under his mentor Dr. John Biggers, a Houston muralist and follower of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s, he learned the strength found in an art practice based in social engagement. While euro-centric art practices sought perfection as an aesthetic ideal, those classical European requirements left no room for Black lived experience or expression—something that Lott seeks to resuscitate in all his works. The intuitive surprise of the subtly inexact feels more akin to jazz music with its improvised, unexpected rhythms. Perhaps O La Loo is inspired by a traditional African mask or shield; perhaps it slyly represents a woman entertainer; or perhaps it is an insect. Lott’s works are a Rorschach test open to countless interpretations, leaving room for the viewer to freely participate in the work.

Lott has a solid foundation in the formally studied visual arts, however, he considers himself of the lineage of folk art and prefers his own term of “urban frontier art.” Not being able to afford expensive art materials, Lott realized that a bounty of materials simply lied in the remnants of our vast commodity-culture. These leftover objects are, through the eyes of Lott, not simply discarded remnants, but rich with their own histories which the artist allows to shine within the works. Lott’s artwork forces us to ask where value is found. How do we give art value?