Art is powerful, but rarely is it so powerful that it actually saves lives, yet such is the case with the Mexican-born artist, Jesus Polanco. After graduating from Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design, he co-founded Tribeca Artist-Run Space Matrix Art Project, an artist cooperative in NYC, and his life took off as a dedicated and talented young artist. Unfortunately, life is not always so straight-forward, as Jesus fell victim to his drug and alcohol addictions, descending into chaos, homelessness, and abject poverty. Miraculously – because of their belief in him – he maintained contact with his friends and partners, and eventually they helped him find a bit of stability through the Tiny Houses program. Tappeto Volante Projects (TVP), which also believes in Jesus as an artist, is generously providing an exhibition whose proceeds will go directly into supporting Jesus’ living needs and the requirements of Tiny Houses. Jesus’ artwork is an interesting blend of outsider and insider art. With clear understanding of form and color, and suggestive references to his homeland’s Aztec mythology and concepts of ecology, we get a sense of Jesus’ educational background. But visually, his is an art more rooted in the outsider world, where a sense of urgency to create permeates complex interrelationships between his language of personal symbols, intricate patterns, lines of interconnections, transformational rejuvenations, conscious and unconscious dreams, a generous warmth, and overwhelming belief in the power of life’s energies. That belief has helped Jesus create an art that has sustained him spiritually throughout his mishaps, and now physically as well, for it is financially supporting his survival needs. The show remains hanging at TVP in Brooklyn until Aug. 6