In Practice Gallery, for the month of February, artist Jesse Potts is going through the motions… but not in the mundane sort of way. The two-part installation which makes up his solo show “Wayward Burn” is heavily reliant on movement, although it takes more than a glance to realize it.

Ropes rending the gallery wall apart at Practice for “Wayward Burn” by Jesse Potts.

Upon entering the space, the left-hand wall is very apparently altered. Scores of blue rope jut out from the white surface, affixed across the way to a metal component high up on the opposing wall. The divergent threads emerge from this fixture and fan out over the length of the gallery, digging into the flat, white material on the other side.

The winch machine pulling the strands through the opposing wall.

Bits of wallpaper tear apart and peel up under the force of these taut tendons, and it becomes clear that they are actively tearing the wall apart. Potts has connected these ropes at their focal point to a series of pulleys which slowly but surely wind up and pull at these strings. This ultimately results in their plodding journey through the solid face of the wall, leading to a rending, ripping motion that disassembles the structure in an undeniably destructive, yet strangely calm manner. If one examines the burrowing strands very intently, their movement is barely noticeable, and we are struck by ideas of erosion, decay, rust, and other similarly lethargic means of change or deconstruction.

What is not so clear (at least initially) is that these cables are actually revealing a pattern in the apparent chaos. Potts already created an image beneath the crumbling façade that, when the calculated movement comes to an end, will be visible along the expanse. The outline is supposedly that of two parachutes billowing open, which is more than a little entertaining when one considers that this action would, in reality, take only a split second… or one would hope so for the skydiver’s sake.

Pixels in the form of rectangular printouts form the image of a burning house.

The second part of the installation consists of a floor littered with backings from stickers that have found their way onto the wall with a little help from the artist and attendees. An image of a house on fire is the violently unmistakable representation here, composed of these rectangular, printed pixels. Once again, it takes a bit of patience to see exactly how the process works.

High up on the wall, adjacent to the winch device that tugs at the blue strands, is what appears to be a typical heating vent. After a few minutes, however, one of the stickers begins to emerge, and eventually flutters down to the ground, spewed out by the vent. Behind the wall there is a printer hard at work printing the burning building block by block, and spitting its individual parts out into the gallery for visitors to attach at their leisure.

This ‘heating vent’ occasionally spits out an additional sticker for the wall.

As the picture appears, it does so in a crowdsourced manner that, unlike a jigsaw puzzle, is not dependent on fitting together neatly. Like a house transforming to carbon through the chemical reaction of fire, the final format is broken down and twisted, although in this case not quite beyond recognition. While the mechanical parts diligently print out the giant pixels, it is up to humans to fit them back together, as faulty, artistic, and flamboyant as we are. There is practically no way the picture could be assembled accurately or in full, presenting what amounts to an obsessive compulsive nightmare. Through its inconsistencies, this piece accurately represents both our inherent imperfections as well as the universal tendency toward entropy.

Jesse Potts envisions transformation and destruction in the most calm and agreeable of ways, simultaneously praising the contrarian and subversive in all of us, as well as encouraging us all to be more patient and observant. These two seemingly contrasting standpoints merge through “Wayward Burn” as it both assembles and disassembles our perceptions. The exhibition will be in flux through March 1.

Practice is located at 319 North 11th St., 2nd floor, Philadelphia; [email protected]; practicegallery.org.