Kitchens are good rooms to cry in

This major presentation marked the artist's fourth exhibition with the gallery and the first in New York, and included new paintings, sculptures, and installation across two floors of the Beaux-Arts townhouse at 19 East 64th Street. With Kitchens are good rooms to cry in, Mesler examines and shares his personal journey from his youth in Los Angeles to the present day—achieved through an installation in three vignettes, each relating to childhood, adulthood, and midlife. Through a dazzling display of work across media, Mesler expounds on the insights of his earned experience, as well as the questions yet to be answered, in a presentation that is at once intimate and exuberant, reflective and bold.

In the new paintings, Mesler leaves the traces of the dye stains and the support exposed, echoing his own vulnerability. His words, which take the form of gold metallic balloons, express concepts meaningful to his maturation such as "Courage," "Vessel," "Feelings," and "Prayer." However, unlike the taut mylar Mesler depicts elsewhere, these balloons are slack—it is uncertain whether they are in the midst of inflating or deflating. Mesler's partially collapsed balloons represent a point of transition between rising and falling. Their mystery composes a poignant image and message—to find solace in the making and presence in the moment.