Jayson Musson made his name as Hennessy Youngman, YouTube’s straight-talking art pundit of the popular “Art Thoughtz,” about the power and prejudices that govern the art world. Now he goes into the belly of the beast, with his New York gallery debut at the Postmasters gallery in Chelsea [opens March 31].

In the show we’ll see Musson as on YouTube, decked out in gold chains, musing on Joseph Beuys and Jay-Z, why poststructuralism compensates for mediocre art (“If you can’t make it, fake it—by over-explaining”), and how relational aesthetics are a ruse for awkward artists to make friends.

Accompanying the videos are selections from Musson’s “Black Like Me” poster series, large text-based works that give focus to his personal writings on his personal politics, relationships and intoxication.

Interview caught up with the Brooklyn-based artist to discuss his new show, his beginnings, and his thoughtz on the art world today.

ALEXANDER CAVALUZZO: Going back two years, what was the impetus to begin the “Art Thoughtz” series and create this character of Hennesy Youngman? What void are you filling with his voice?

JAYSSON MUSSON: It started as a character in my first semester of grad school [at the University of Pennsylvania]. I began to acquire knowledge of a history, a certain language of discussing art, and I thought it would be funny for a Def Comedy Jam [1992 HBO series] comedian to discuss these topics. I didn’t have a name or a platform, and I didn’t do performance, either, I was mostly a writer and a drawer.

In the second semester I began filming the videos, kind of in secret. The first one was shot live at the Laughway House [Hennesy Youngman! Live at the Laughway House, May 2010], and I was working on the stand-up format. I didn’t really like it because it was more about stand-up than about the writing? I re-did that material on a webcam and it worked. It was more about the writing and not recreating this fake comedy-club, brick-wall environment. I realized after the first video that this character was going to be a talking head, this rap art pundit, and I guess it was also a way of coping being in school, dealing with a history of ideas that I didn’t feel a part of. While having fun. All my work uses humor.