Will Boone: The Highway Hex

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) is pleased to present “Will Boone: The Highway Hex,” the first solo museum exhibition of Houston-born and Los Angeles-based artist Will Boone (born 1982). The exhibition explores the space and time between California and Texas, the Los Angeles River, Interstate 10, why people leave Texas and why they come back. “The Highway Hex” features all new works created for this presentation, including a site-specific installation, paintings, and sculptures.

The title of the exhibition refers to a bizarre medical condition called highway hypnosis, or “white line fever,” where a driver enters an altered mental state and can operate a car for great distances in a safe manner with no memory of doing so. Similarly, the exhibition traverses the vast landscape—both physical and psychological—between Texas and California.

Fueled by his years based in Los Angeles, Boone is interested in film props and exploring how an object is imbued with meaning and mythology. Relatedly, “The Highway Hex” includes sculptures the artist has employed as props in the film, such as a homemade jukebox that only plays George Jones, which the artist sees as both an homage to the country singer and an instrument of torture, “depending on who you ask.”

Image credits: Will Boone, The River, 2019. Acrylic on wood, neon, and hardware, 24 x 240 x 5 inches. Image and work courtesy the artist and David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, California, and Karma, New York, New York. Photo: Lee Thompson