Paper City Article

The Russians are Coming

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:53:40 GMT

FotoFest is mere weeks away, and Houston is readying to host the new power players in the international art world. (Hint: Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovich are involved via the Iris Foundation and the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture.) This Russian-themed international Biennial promises to be exciting, revelatory (lifting the veil about under-known schools of Soviet through Perestroika eras and contemporary lensmen) and highly relevant to today%26rsquo;s scene, where the axis of excitement has firmly shifted from China to the Russian Federation. And prepare to acquire images by 70 significant global photographers at the Fotofest International Fine Print Auction. Watch for our go-to Biennial guide next month detailing it all. FotoFest, March 16 %26ndash;%26nbsp;April 29, citywide; auction Tuesday, March 20, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Downtown; info and auction tickets fotofest.org.

Image: Sergey Chilikov%26rsquo;s Untitled from the %26ldquo;Games of Chance%26rdquo; cycle, from the %26ldquo;Freaks%26rdquo; series, 2004, at FotoFest

Drip, Drip, Drip!

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:43:45 GMT

Joseph Cohen headlines tonight at Wade Wilson Art in a tour de force show of his latest paintings influenced by a recent residency in Italia (through January 25).

Cohen's come a long way since his days in an off-the-beaten-path studio building downtown, where he was tucked away down a labyrinthian hallway, laboring in obscurity; the first time we met, he was patiently, obsessively and contemplatively piling oil upon surface, a technique he has continually refined. Cohen's latest, "Fatto in Italia" alludes to early Renaissance altar pieces while also raiding modernist art history. His gravity-defying drips perch along the precipice of the canvas, tempting the onlooker with their lush surfaces, which invite touch and conjure associations from frosting to banks of snow. This is truly painting for the new century.

A New Museum Rises

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:44:04 GMT

It%26rsquo;s the most watched story in the American museum world, and six weeks ago was the big reveal: Retail giant Walmart has given back to its hometown, region and, in a much broader context, all of America. You see, Alice Walton %26mdash; heiress to the discount giant%26rsquo;s fortune %26mdash; is the founder and board chairman of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. When the doors opened on 11-11-11, this venture turned the unprepossessing town of Bentonville, Arkansas (aka Walmart%26rsquo;s corporate HQ), into a Mecca for a bold, expansive and welcoming vision of American art. At a time when the Whitney in New York is tilting towards the contemporary and other bastions of American treasures, such as the Amon Carter in Fort Worth, are ensconced in slow-moving tradition, Crystal Bridges may do for Arkansas what the Guggenheim Bilbao did for the Basque region of Spain. And like the Bilbao with its dramatic Frank Gehry%26ndash;created sculptural edifice, Crystal Bridges did not play it safe: Instead, it erected a curvaceous, folding and dipping structure, artfully sited in rolling nature, designed by Boston-based international firm Safdie Architects and built by Houston%26rsquo;s Linbeck in a joint venture with Nabholz of Conway, Arkansas. And this is no second-rate collection. Its expansive 201,000 square feet are stocked with icons of American art, from the colonial period to today, including one of the most seminal canvases of 19th-century American painting: Asher Durand%26rsquo;s Kindred Spirits of 1849. This six-years-in-the-making new arrival (whose final price tag has been kept under wraps) promises to be %26ldquo;a very different type of museum,%26rdquo; notes director of collections David Houston. The brilliant, democratic Don Bagigalupi, who served as the Blaffer%26rsquo;s director in the 1990s, takes the helm at Crystal Bridges, which has secured a $20 million gift from the Walmart Family Foundation to ensure that admission is free to all. crystalbridges.org.

Images:

Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AK. Photo courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Asher Brown Durand%26rsquo;s Kindred Spirits (detail), 1849, at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Photo courtesy collection Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Museum Times Two

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:39:42 GMT

Big art news this spring swirls around two brick-and-mortar stories %26mdash; or glass and concrete, as it were. The Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston gets a new addition. The original 14,000-square-foot structure, designed by Caudill Rowlett Scott and dedicated on March 13, 1973, was originally intended to hold benefactress Sarah Campbell Blaffer%26rsquo;s Foundation Collection of Renaissance and Baroque masters (many of which are currently on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston), as well as temporary and traveling exhibitions. Flash forward 30 years. After a call for proposals, Blaffer director Claudia Schmuckli, a specially charged Blaffer board subcommittee and the UH facilities team tapped New York City%26ndash;based WORKac to design the museum%26rsquo;s fresh look. Months after the firm began plans for the Blaffer redux, they were awarded another plum: the New Holland commission for Roman Abramovich and Dasha Zhukova%26rsquo;s reported $400 million arts complex on the historic manmade island in St. Petersburg that once served the Russian navy. While the Blaffer%26rsquo;s modest $2.25 million budget is no match for the Russians%26rsquo; deep pockets, this jewel-box commission will be closely watched internationally for evidence of WORKac%26rsquo;s prowess. The Blaffer%26rsquo;s unveiling will be celebrated at its gala on Friday, April 13. Meanwhile, Asia Society Texas Center has scored its own architectural coup, with a grand-opening reveal planned for April 12 through 15. Grand patroness Nancy Allen and fellow board members have coaxed starchitect Yoshio Taniguchi
(of the famed MoMA expansion) to create his first freestanding building in America: a 39,000-square-foot, $48.4 million project in the Houston Museum District. Watch these pages in April for our exclusive preview of both projects, from the gleaming translucency of the Blaffer%26rsquo;s re-imagined facade and interior spaces to the exquisite, contemplative perfection of Asia Society Texas Center%26rsquo;s new home, complete with oh-so-Zen water elements. It%26rsquo;s a whole new chapter in the saga of Texas architecture.

Images:

Rendering of Blaffer Art Museum addition, opening April 2012. Photo courtesy WORKac.

Asia Society Texas Center, opening April 2012. Photo by Paul Hester.

PC Acquire

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:21:13 GMT

We launch 2012%26rsquo;s PaperCity Acquire with a senior Texas master: the obsessive, geometric wizard H.J. Bott, who celebrates the 40th anniversary of his Displacement of Volume principle (aka DoV) this year. What is DoV, you ask? It%26rsquo;s an all-encompassing spatial concept that has birthed some wondrously inventive paintings, sculptures and installations over the ensuing decades. This wild ride through an op-art universe makes Vasarely and Yayoi Kusama look tame %26mdash; and it%26rsquo;s epitomized by this month%26rsquo;s PC Acquire offering. Fresh from the artist%26rsquo;s studio, the never-before-seen Hip Hop Core of 2011 is an illusionary pyramid-evoking canvas on the diagonal that speaks of the pharaohs overlaid with an election-eve palette. And stay tuned: With statewide exhibitions upcoming at Blue Star Contemporary Art Center in San Antonio (April), long-time Houston dealer Anya Tish Gallery (May), Galveston Arts Center (June) and Kirk Hopper Fine Art in Dallas (October), we predict this is the year of Bott. PC Acquire January 2012 offering: H.J.Bott%26rsquo;s Hip Hop Core, 2011, co-polymer acrylic and vinyl on canvas, 42 by 42 inches diagonal; price $15,000; inquiries Seth Vaughan, seth@papercitymag.com.

The Holy Man of the Texas Art World

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:26:17 GMT

What's on our radar on this apocalyptic year? The politically-charged, consciousness-raising creativity of Forrest Prince, coming Spring 2012 to the Station Museum of Contemporary Art.

Stay tuned.

Now, here's a sample of a holiday card from "Brother Forrest," and an image of the Holy Man himself from our volume Texas Artists Today.%26nbsp;

Your Guide to All Things Gaultier

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:26:27 GMT

The month of Jean Paul Gaultier is finally here: Sunday, November 13, marks the official public opening of %26ldquo;The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk%26rdquo; at the Dallas Museum of Art. As for those VIP events leading up to the launch, here%26rsquo;s your inside scoop. On Tuesday, November 8, the DMA Host Committee and A-list guests (by invitation) don their finest Texas-style duds to greet Monsieur Gaultier with tequila sips and long-neck brews, a welcome routine by the Kilgore College Rangerettes and country-western tunes. Next up, on Wednesday, November 9, is a sneak peek of the exhibit and a luxe luncheon with JPG himself. For tickets, click to dm-art.org. Then%26nbsp; Friday, November 11, DMA members at the Sustainer level and above are invited to a preview party sponsored by PaperCity, celebrating the exhibition. The wildly anticipated exhibit runs through February 12, 2010.

Image: The Parisiennes collection, Les Particules %26eacute;l%26eacute;mentaires dress, haute couture fall/winter 2010-2011. Photo by Patrice Stable / Jean Paul Gaultier.

Mod Max: The DMA Gets Its Man

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 01:35:47 GMT

There%26rsquo;s an artful new mover and shaker in town. Most recently, at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, he launched multiple Web-based libraries, including artbabble.com, an international video channel; spearheaded everything from reinstallations to technologically advanced programming tools; and helped the museum become the first to be EPA Energy Star certified. At the Whitney Museum of American Art, he added new media and architecture to the museum%26rsquo;s collections and nearly doubled membership. Come January 2012, the Dallas Museum of Art will toast to its own visual and technological revolutions as it welcomes Maxwell Anderson as its incoming Eugene McDermott Director, following Bonnie Pitman, who retired from the post in June. His first high-profile entr%26eacute;e into the art world here? At the TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art auction gala at The Rachofsky House, surrounded by top-notch, black-tie-clad collectors. (After all, the search for a new director had been led by Cindy Rachofsky, the chair of the Director Search Committee, and Deedie Rose, chair of the DMA%26rsquo;s Board of Trustees.) With Anderson%26rsquo;s visionary pedigree, we can only imagine what he has in store for his directorial debut.

Technically Art

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:29:54 GMT

A fabulous new way to collect art by some of the best contemporary artists in the world is in digital versions uploaded instantly to view on your iPhone, iPad, computer or television screen, through s[edition]. Imagine Damien Hirst%26rsquo;s diamond-studded skull, For Heaven%26rsquo;s Sake, rotating across your screen ($800 with full-screen HD video, high-resolution still image, edition of 2,000); Michael Craig-Martin%26rsquo;s Lighthouse ($80 with full-screen HD video, high-resolution still, edition of 5,000); or Tracey Emin%26rsquo;s I Promise to Love You ($80 with neon full-screen HD video, high-resolution still, edition of 5,000), where the glowing words slowly spell themselves out as if being written by a ghost or an invisible presence. The gentle electric pulsing of the lettering gradually builds into a powerful, potent red. Every work of art is numbered and sold with a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist and is proof of ownership with your name, date of purchase, title of work and edition number. Once the edition is gone, it%26rsquo;s gone. But wait! You can then sell your work of art on the secondary market through s[edition] marketplace (launching soon). All purchased editions are stored in your Vault, from which you can view your art collection in high resolution, download images, check your certificates and send your art to your iPad, Blackberry, TV or any other connected device. At press time, there were nine artists in the stable: Wim Wenders, Mat Collishaw, Isaac Julien, Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Shepard Fairey, Bill Viola and the aforementioned Hirst, Craig-Martin and Emin, with more to come. $8 to $800 per edition, at seditionart.com.

Images:

Tracey Emin%26rsquo;s I Promise to Love You.

Michael Craig-Martin%26rsquo;s Lighthouse.

Art Kaboom

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:05:35 GMT

Redux Quartet, PLUS a Phoenix Rises

Significantly, four in our story signify successful incarnations of spaces that had previously served as other (mostly art) walls; another represents the rebirth of a museum long dormant. We begin with the most important and influential: Devin Borden Gallery, whose arrival along the Isabella Court corridor %26mdash; joining Inman Gallery, Bryan Miller, Art Palace and Kinzelman Art Consulting %26mdash; creates critical mass and generates heat from its historic Spanish-styled storefront that once served as the HQ for design doyenne Evelyn Wilson. After an amicable split with his former business partner, the esteemed Hiram Butler, Borden has rapidly yet astutely established a stable of mid-career Texans and national talents that figure on many collectors%26rsquo; wish lists: Laura Lark, Ted Kincaid, Hilary Wilder, Matthew Sontheimer, Darryl Lauster and Charles Wiese of the mathematical worlds combined with old-master sensibilities (November 5 %26ndash; January 10). Borden also represents up-and-coming Houston painter Geoff Hippenstiel, who excels at impastoed abstractions, while the gallery%26rsquo;s inaugural show raided art history with a jewel-box presentation of the late Texan Ben Culwell, a favorite of Walter Hopps, whose intimate paintings and drawings document first-hand World War II from U.S. Navy battleships in the Pacific. Significantly, this newcomer%26rsquo;s Saturday-afternoon openings have revived the entire Isabella complex.

Two others in repurposed digs are D.M. Allison and Gallery Two1Four. The former is owned and directed by artist/printmaker Dan Mitchell Allison (whose other thriving space is Heights 11th Street nexus Nau-haus Gallery). This homespun gallerist has taken over a Colquitt-Gallery Row ranch-style casa that once was a residence. In place of home furnishings, DMA hangs under-recognized Texans such as Perry House, a seminal player in the history of Houston painting. Allison%26rsquo;s other contribution? Publishing engaging catalogs for shows at both his spaces, thus challenging other gallerists to do the same.

Then there%26rsquo;s new downtown destination Gallery Two1Four, whose moniker does not, contrary to that number, reflect Dallas associations. The name is actually taken from its 214 Travis Street address. Owned by dapper Houston/New York art advisor Beau Mann and directed by creative type Hal Kuehn, Two1Four brings an idiosyncratic vibe to the hallowed walls that were once home to the now-shuttered Doug Lawing Gallery. Its opening act? An exuberant reprisal of Houston designer Kelly Gale Amen%26rsquo;s furniture, complete with a floor carpeted with real grass, dramatically wilting roses and palm fronds sprouting everywhere. The outrageous display did not dim the fact that KGA%26rsquo;s forged-metal tables and benches are fabricated at one of the oldest ironworks in America and wrought with a skill and simplicity that rival the furnishings unearthed at Pompeii (through November 30).

We%26rsquo;re also thankful to have two nonprofit spaces back in action. 14 Pews %26mdash; Aurora Picture Show%26rsquo;s original Sunset Heights church-turned-microcinema revived by new owner/directress photog/filmmaker Cressandra Thibodeaux %26mdash; celebrates its first birthday this season. November screenings range from We Were Here, a cinematic portrait of the AIDS crisis, to Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre%26rsquo;s play, From My Cold Dead Fingers. And New World Museum, Armando Palacios and Cinda Ward%26rsquo;s important venue for cutting-edge art from Mexico, Latin America, Spain and the U.S. Latino community, gets a new director: London-educated, art-smart Michele LaRocco, who arrives to help relaunch its global programming. On view now at New World is Venice Biennale%26ndash;exhibited provocateur Pilar Albarrac%26iacute;n, whose searing videos, curated by Spain-based Elena Sacchetti, serve up a feminist critique of Iberian culture (through December 12).%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

New: Four New Progressives

We%26rsquo;re also mad for sculptress Sharon Engelstein%26rsquo;s charming, prescient space called Front, which is carved from the front room of the Montrose bungalow she shares with husband/painter Aaron Parazette and their daughter, Joy. Front, which raises the bar on artist run spaces, unveiled fortuitously with a highly collected painter: the Whitney Biennial%26ndash;exhibited Californian Kim Dingle. A former classmate of Engelstein, DIngle%26rsquo;s series of kiddies in little white dresses provides an excuse for some extraordinarily beautiful paint handling (Saturdays through November 26).

Also emitting an avant-garde gesture is Yvonamor Palix%26rsquo;s by-appointment two-story gallery nook at Spring Street Studios. The globally exhibited Palix, who previously directed art operations in Paris and Mexico City, signaled her serious re-entry into the scene at this fall%26rsquo;s Houston Fine Art Fair. Stars of her stable? The witty photographic inventive Sandy Skoglund, who comes to town this month for a talk at the MFAH and an opening with Palix (Saturday, November 12, 3 pm); the gallerist stocks Skoglund%26rsquo;s ground-breaking, tongue-in-cheek food series from the 1970s, alongside local Celeste Tammariello, whose deft graphic and pop photos pair food imagery and text.

Additionally, check out Dandee Danao%26rsquo;s studio, the edgy War%26rsquo;Hous, blocks from Lawndale and once a punk-rock club. This cartooner%26rsquo;s crib has become the best place in town for a happening or rave (as witnessed by Hennessy Cognac%26rsquo;s launch last month for its hot new KAWS-designed bottle). Danao%26rsquo;s take on cartooning, from the Simpsons to the Smurfs, is so bad it%26rsquo;s good and has earned him a New York Times mention. Finally, there%26rsquo;s news of an art uprising at Rice. The almost underground Matchbox Gallery is now joined by Emergency Room. Last month ER debuted hometowner Seth Mittag%26rsquo;s latest dioramas, which manifest mayhem and an odd jolt of the fantastic, endearing and strange.

Images:

Celeste Tammariello%26rsquo;s She #7: She Never Said What She Really Felt, 2005, at Yvonamor Palix Fine Arts. Photo courtesy the artist.

Dandee Danao and his creations. Photo by Ryce Yanez.

Yvonamor Palix with a 1970s suite of Sandy Skoglund photographs. Photo by Ashley Wynne.

Perry House grand-opening installation, D.M. Allison Gallery. Photo courtesy D.M. Allison Gallery.

Seth Mittag%26rsquo;s We%26rsquo;re Still Here, 2011, at Emergency Room. Photo courtesy the artist.

Devin Borden with works by Laura Lark, Geoff Hippenstiel and Darryl Lauster. Photo by R.M. Briscoe.

Pilar Albarrac%26iacute;n%26rsquo;s still from Musical Dancing Spanish Dolls, 2001, at New World Museum Museum.

Sharon Engelstein with a suite of Kim Dingle oils on vellum at Front.

14 Pews%26rsquo; Cressandra Thibodeaux. Photo by Mitchell Alexandre.

Moscow Calling

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 06:36:02 GMT

What happens when Houston's most highly decorated photojournalists and the it-couple of the international art world collide? Catherine D. Anspon travels to Moscow to investigate.

Dateline: Moscow

A 1920s bus garage in the capital of Mother Russia seems an unlikely place for the next big story in the art world, but this August it was. I was there to take notes when FotoFest founders Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin %26mdash; those Houston-based globe-trekking, award-winning photojournalists %26mdash; came together with two of the most fascinating power players of the international scene, Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovich. Here%26rsquo;s how it unfolded.

In 2010, a team from Zhukova%26rsquo;s Iris Foundation came to Houston unannounced and under the radar, looking for a possible international partner for their next big project at the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture. This alternative space, supported by Zhukova%26rsquo;s Iris Foundation, is housed in a cavernous and inspiring Constructivist architectural masterpiece:%26nbsp;the Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage, circa 1926 to 1927. It was designed by Konstantin Melnikov, who was also the architect of the Russian pavilion at the Exposition of Decorative Arts and Industry (1925) in Paris and, surprisingly, Lenin%26rsquo;s crystal-shaped sarcophagus in Red Square. Since its opening in 2008, the Garage has become an epicenter for a vibrant dialogue at the heart of the new Russian art scene; Russia now appears poised to take the thunder from the Chinese and the Beijing/Shanghai express.

Deservedly, FotoFest %26mdash; which I%26rsquo;ve personally been covering since I began as an arts writer in 1996 %26mdash; was folding into Zhukova and Abramovich%26rsquo;s global vision. The Garage, in the span of three years, has served up the greatest hits of the Pinault Collection, the respected Moscow-based provocateurs of photography and video AES+F, and now FotoFest%26rsquo;s Meeting Place %26mdash; the first-ever International Portfolio Review for Russian Photographers.%26nbsp;

%26nbsp;

The Bridge Press Conference

The significance of this international endeavor was underscored by a very rare appearance by the it-girl of the moment in the art firmament. Who, you ask? The aforementioned Zhukova, who graced a recent cover of Art + Auction and actually has a Houston connection. The Russian-born daughter of an oligarch and a molecular biologist, she resided here after her parents%26rsquo; divorce while her mother worked at the Medical Center, then majored in Slavic studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, then later explored fashion design. Her beau Abramovich%26rsquo;s fortune in energy holdings mirrors his connections deep within the political scene. Together, they form one of the world%26rsquo;s most interesting and important power couples, shaping the next generation of contemporary art, with bold global projects of an astounding scope. While their lifestyle is heady, their serious intentions and altruistic approach regarding their home country are not yet fully appreciated.

Case in point: Just days after my return from Russia, the biggest buzz was about the couple%26rsquo;s acquisition of the historic New Holland Island in St. Petersburg %26mdash;%26nbsp;estimated cost, $400 million %26mdash; and their plan to turn it into an art complex. (Their architect has a Houston overlap as well: New York%26ndash;based Work AC, which won the commission, is currently designing the Blaffer Art Museum%26rsquo;s innovative redux.) Around the same time, Zhukova%26rsquo;s magazine, Garage, also launched. This publication purports to meld the art and fashion camps, with a debut cover boasting a peel-off-the-model%26rsquo;s-crotch butterfly sticker by Damien Hirst that hearkens back to Warhol. Yet, the Zhukova of our press conference %26mdash;%26nbsp;which was sponsored by Russian news agency RIA Novosti and beamed between Houston and Moscow, with participants on both sides discoursing on the background, meaning and import of the Moscow Meeting Place %26mdash; was far more than the fashion darling of the press dispatches. Decidedly non-flashy and polite, she spoke softly but with conviction. When queried about her Iris Foundation%26rsquo;s involvement in the International Meeting Place, she knew the numbers: %26ldquo;The scale of the Portfolio Review in Russia [is] unprecedented. We had a tremendous response, with 2,396 online applicants. The 188 finalists from all over Russia will be able to meet and show their work to leading curators, publishers, collectors and gallery owners. It will be an amazing opportunity.%26rdquo; She also spoke of wanting %26ldquo;the world to know the depth of the talent of the Russian photographers.%26rdquo;

%26nbsp;

Eight Days in Mother Russia

My trip was hatched in an unlikely spot: Houston Vietnamese eatery Mo Mong where, over spring rolls and Asian brew, Watriss, Baldwin, board member Austin James and I were catching up. The idea was tossed out for PaperCity to cover the Moscow Meeting Place. Weeks later, the thought became a reality when Watriss called to say the trip was a go. Soon I was receiving daily e-mails from Moscow, from the office of Evgeny Berezner, the scholar and project head whose relationship with FotoFest extends over a decade and who masterminded the FotoFest/Iris Foundation connection. Berezner%26rsquo;s collaborator in the endeavor was curator Irina Chmyreva, whose recent contributions include the publication of Russian Reporter, a quarterly journal showcasing her homeland%26rsquo;s photographic talents.

At the end of August, I was on a cushy direct Houston-Moscow Singapore Airlines flight. Upon arrival at Domodedovo Airport, everything had been arranged. I was met by an emerging photographer, Sofia Tatarinova, a fast friend who helped acclimate me to the exotic, booming, Eastern-suffused and onion-spired Moscow, population 12 million, that would be home for the next week. My visit coincided with the city%26rsquo;s 864th birthday.

How to describe the ensuing eight days? Lavish, inspiring, warm, international, fascinating. The Cold War is definitely over. I was one of two international media that were invited guests, the other being the Wall Street Journal%26rsquo;s culture scribe Bill Myers, based in New York. We followed in the footsteps, or often sat side-by-side, with international portfolio reviewers from many continents. A group of 40 strong had been personally invited by Watriss, Baldwin and Berezner. Their daunting task was to review and recommend nearly 200 portfolios, gleaned from photographers in Moscow, St. Petersburg and far-flung, often remote regions of the Russian Federation, who flocked for the opportunity to land exhibitions, publications, articles or gallery representation.

From America the reviewers came, including the MFAH%26rsquo;s photo eye Anne Tucker and Burt Finger of Photographs Do Not Bend in Dallas, to be joined by colleagues from LACMA and museums and institutions in Chicago, San Diego and New York. European culture capitals London, Berlin, Paris and Prague were also represented, as were South America (Buenos Aires), Australia (Sydney) and Korea (Seoul). Who sponsored our trip %26mdash; including all attendees%26rsquo; international airfare, sumptuous meals, citywide transportation and lodgings for a cast of 40 in the lavish Swiss%26ocirc;tel Krasnye Holmy, Moscow? The Russians, of course. Specifically the Iris Foundation, which supports the Garage, directs its programming and publishes its catalogs.

Other co-hosts included Sotheby%26rsquo;s, which tossed a ritzy dinner at the rooftop White Rabbit restaurant brimming with newly moneyed Russians, and RIA Novosti, which contributed another equally impressive dinner at the Artist Gallery restaurant. The finale %26mdash; a vodka-fueled feast at the Petrovich Club %26mdash; brought in distinguished visitors such as international art adviser Sandy Heller, sitting at the table of London-based Anna Zelanova, who graciously acted as one of the co-hosts for the week on behalf of Abramovich (who did make a brief PA, staying long enough during the Portfolio Night to thank Watriss and Baldwin for the international initiative).

%26nbsp;

The Pleasures and Artistic Riches of the Meeting Place

Adding excitement, meaning and context to the entire trip was the Portfolio Review itself %26mdash; a Meeting Place for Moscow modeled after the successful example that takes place every two years in Houston at the epicenter of FotoFest. Nearly 200 talents participated, confabbing with reviewers in 20-minute segments with their bodies of work proudly or nervously in hand, sometimes bearing mountainous stacks of prints, other times armed with CDs, catalogs or up-to-the-minute iPads that flashed portfolios produced throughout the Russian heartland. Some of the work probed political and military topics; other offered subtle, poetic investigations of the landscape. Many movingly captured portraits of fellow Russians, turning their lens upon priests and peasants in modest villages, industrial workers and sophisticated city dwellers. Yet others were so, so contemporary, with videos and personal, idiosyncratic photo journals that awaited an intrepid publisher to scoop up. I sat in on more than a dozen reviews. First I was a fly on the wall, perching quietly as experts such as Baldwin, Watriss and Tucker, assisted by volunteers translators, offered insightful critiques. Later on, more confidently, I sat with the soulful Russian publisher Leonid Gusev, discovering and expressing enthusiasm for the young lensman Oleg Borodin%26rsquo;s journal.

All these talents were celebrated in a closing portfolio exhibition open to members of Moscow%26rsquo;s collecting and artist contingent that thronged the young photographers after mounds of caviar and glasses of vodka. The next night, the caviar and vodka returned for an exhibition of the late Oscar Gustave Rejlander%26rsquo;s masterwork, Two Ways of Life, which dates from the Victorian era and is considered the world%26rsquo;s first photo collage. Two Ways traveled to the Garage specially from the UK, where it%26rsquo;s in the collection of the Royal Photographic Society. Overheard in the darkened gallery, where groups gazed at the 1857 image in tight clusters: %26ldquo;This is the Mona Lisa of the photography world.%26rdquo;

%26nbsp;

AES+F

Another adventure was a trip with New York%26ndash;based FotoFest board member Phuong Tranvan to the distant realms of Moscow (or so it seemed). After a harrowing 45-minute cab ride, we were dropped at a rickety high-rise that%26rsquo;s home to artist studios. I only relaxed when I saw the Otis sign on the tin-can elevator, then reached an upper floor reminiscent of a hallway at Box 13. At the end of the corridor, a plant and stream of sunlight marked the modest studio of art-world giants Tatiana Arzamasova%26nbsp; and Lev Evzovich %26mdash; husband and wife, and half (the AE) of the four-person team that comprises the two-time Venice Biennale%26ndash;exhibited AES+F collective. The ice broke when they produced a Polaroid of an intense-looking man and asked if I knew him. Yes, that was Jim Harithas of Houston, the museum director of the Station, which had given the foursome a major show in 2007.

Thirty minutes later, we were all old friends, and Tranvan and I were each given a mammoth book documenting the group%26rsquo;s extraordinary videos and photographs, which are cast with more care than many films. Their compelling, ad-based imagery probes globalism, employing tropes from a resort in Dubai to a 21st-century airport somewhere in new Asia, with allusions to Hollywood cinematic cycles and Roman poetry %26mdash; utterly brilliant.

%26nbsp;

The Russians are Coming, FotoFest 2012: An Exclusive Preview

The second half of the story unfolds this coming March at FotoFest Vine Street HQ and a dozen other special citywide venues, plus nearly 100 participating museums, nonprofits, galleries and other walls as the 2012 Biennial, themed %26ldquo;Contemporary Russian Photography,%26rdquo; opens in Houston. Gaze upon this page for the first peek at the images and talents that will travel to Texas in the coming months, including our faves: the aforementioned AES+F, Alexander Gronsky of the nuanced post-modern landscapes, the soulful color still-lifes by Vadim Guschin and my pal Sofia Tatarinova%26rsquo;s haunting Russian fairy-tale landscapes. Meanwhile, calendar these dates %26mdash; March 16 though April 29 %26mdash; for the 14th International Biennial for Photography and Photo-Based Art. For the unfolding exhibition schedule, scroll to fotofest.org.

Here's One of Spring's Hottest Tickets:

FotoFest International Fine Print Auction
When: Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 6 to 10 pm
Where: Doubletree Hotel Houston Downtown, 400 Dallas St., Houston 77002
Benefitting: FotoFest
Chairmen: Eloise Frischkorn and Meg McGuire
Tariff: Tickets $300; tables from $3,000
Party Notes: Auctioneer Denise Bethel, director of the Photographs Department, Sotheby%26rsquo;s, NY
Contact: Liz Wickersham, 713.223.5522, ext 14; projects@fotofest.org, fotofest.org

What to Collect Now

Who is the most coveted among contemporary photographers? Who are the trend-setters? The timeless talents? And with Russian photography, above all, who are the truth-sayers? Discern some of the answers and acquire the most significant images in today%26rsquo;s photo swirl at the FotoFest Fine Print Auction, a curated selection of internationals personally invited by Watriss and Baldwin to contribute lots for the nonprofit%26rsquo;s biggest annual fund-raiser. Sotheby%26rsquo;s VP/photo authority Denise Bethel flies in to take bids during this high-profile collecting evening, chaired by new -generation duet Eloise Frischkorn and Meg McGuire.

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Images:

Dasha Zhukova, Houston, 2011. Photo courtesy the artist and FotoFest.

At the studio of AES+F, a creation in progress. Photo courtesy the artist and FotoFest.

Sergey Bratkov%26rsquo;s Souvenirs (II), 2002. Photo courtesy the artist and FotoFest.

Nikita Pirogov%26rsquo;s Natasha, from the series %26ldquo;The Other Shore,%26rdquo; 2011. Photo courtesy the artist and FotoFest.

Alexander Gronsky%26rsquo;s Southern Tuchino, Moscow, from the series %26ldquo;The Edge,%26rdquo; 2009. Photo courtesy the artist and FotoFest.

Sofia Tatarinova%26rsquo;s Russian Fairy Tales, 2011. Photo courtesy the artist and FotoFest.

Vadim Guschin%26rsquo;s Color Envelopes #3 (detail), 2010. Photo courtesy the artist and FotoFest.

Gregori Maiofis%26rsquo; Politics Make Strange Bedfellows, 2006. Photo courtesy the artist and FotoFest.

Sof%26iacute;a Tatarinova and Vadim Guschin. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

Auction co-chairs Meg McGuire, Eloise Frischkorn. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

Elda Harrington, Wendy Watriss. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

Anne Tucker. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

Pavel Banka, Anna Zelanova. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

Catherine Anspon, Tatiana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich (at AES+F studios). Photo courtesy FotoFest.

Phuong Tranvan, Burt Finger Joanne Junga Yang. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

Fred Baldwin. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

At the RIA Novosti dinner. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

Irina Chmyreva. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

Marta Sanchez Philipp, Harry Hardin. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

Evgeny Berezner. Photo courtesy FotoFest.

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Inside the Hill Country Art Nest of a Painter + Scientist

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:20:49 GMT

%26ldquo;It%26rsquo;s the opposite of Never Land. We named it Ever Land after my paintings, and because we want to share it with everyone,%26rdquo; relays artist McKay Otto about the home and rambling 20-acre spread on a wildlife preserve in Wimberley that he shares with his partner, physician/researcher Keith Coffee. The painter and scientist discovered their compound and tract in the heart of the Hill Country in the summer of 2008. The uncompleted house with an ample guest wing, freely flowing spaces and expansive wraparound porch stood vacant; the previous owners had given up during the final stages of building. Otto and Coffee happily %26mdash; and foresightedly %26mdash; purchased the property and made it their own. Flash forward three years, and the couple%26rsquo;s airy, welcoming yet unpretentious and environmentally sensitive retreat (with rainwater-collection system) has an at-the-ready fully stocked larder and an epicurean wine cellar, chef-friendly indoor and outdoor kitchens, a light-drenched studio space for Otto and home office for Coffee, a two-story painting and sculpture gallery, and, most importantly, four guest rooms. These quarters are kept occupied, filled weekends year round with the pair%26rsquo;s friends, who drive or fly in from destinations near and far to soak up hospitality, marvel at the unpolished Central Texas landscape, breathe in fragrant stands of lavender, ogle rare orchids and admire Otto and Coffee%26rsquo;s ever-burgeoning art collection.

IMAGES:

Keith Coffee, McKay Otto and Henry, 2011

Coffee%26rsquo;s gleaming glass-pyramid greenhouse, which he designed and constructed, was completed in the summer of 2010. Its walkway is lined with local Texas limestone. Inside, exotic rare orchids and all manner of tropicals bring an unexpected greenscape to the Hill Country terrain. The pyramid is equal parts ancient Egypt and I.M. Pei%26rsquo;s creation for the Louvre, and features the same directional sightings as the Great Pyramid of Giza.

In the upstairs sleeping loft, Otto%26rsquo;s phosphorescent busts hold court. An early photographer%26rsquo;s images document the construction of the Eiffel Tower. The Model 75015 telescope is put to good use for star sighting off the upstairs deck. Vintage Corbusier chaise longue %26mdash; a find from 19th Street in the Heights, from Otto%26rsquo;s days as a %26ldquo;junker.%26rdquo;

In the upstairs salon are works by Arthur Turner, Michael Macedo Meazell, Susie Rosmarin, Bill Davenport, The Art Guys, Ibsen Espada, Forrest Prince, Dennis Porter, Mary Wilbanks and several early Ottos.

The second-floor study/television room contains the odd and unique. Antique bench and hat-form head from Martin Mercader Antiques in the Heights. Front and center is an Otto canvas, which was exhibited at a breakthrough show at Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston, in 2001. In the corner, an African sculpture of a %26ldquo;Seashell Man%26rdquo; found on 19th Street in the Heights.

In the upstairs study, Henry, a rescued Great Dane. The walls boast plentiful art, including canvases by Brian Portman (left) and Susan Plum (right), both featured in the volume Texas Artists Today. Stacked African leather stools date from Coffee%26rsquo;s two-year stint, post-college and before med school, in the Peace Corps in West Africa. The Texas pine floors are %26ldquo;something local and green,%26rdquo; says Otto.

In the second-floor gallery, a rocker from Coffee%26rsquo;s childhood cozies up to his own untitled portrait.

Kitchen pantry is %26ldquo;Texas-sized and ideal for living in the Hill Country where storage is queen,%26rdquo; notes Otto.

Even the kitchen pantry has its own artwork. Atop an African granite%26ndash;topped linen cabinet is the recent Pheasant Frosting by Texan Franco Mondini-Ruiz, a Whitney Biennial talent who traded a law career for the art world. Above, Flounder by Ken Luce, from Meredith Long %26amp; Company, alludes to the frequent seafood feasts cooked up at Ever Land.

At the entrance, guests are greeted by a vintage grand piano that%26rsquo;s played at gatherings; the next performance is scheduled for Coffee%26rsquo;s upcoming fall Art Party. Atop the piano, Texas Artists Today, which highlights Otto as one of 62 contemporary talents. A pair of busts by Otto, circa 2010, stands beside a crystal ball, a gift from Coffee%26rsquo;s grandmother upon his graduation from medical school. On the wall, Sharon Kopriva%26rsquo;s sculpture Marlo, circa 1997.

In the kitchen, guestbook as blackboard. %26ldquo;Everyone leaves their art mark,%26rdquo; Otto says. %26ldquo;It fills, we photograph it for a future art book, then erase it for more creations. Truly, we are all one.%26rdquo;

In the entry, a Wimberley flea-market hat fashioned from recycled paper.

In a nook in the kitchen, Otto%26rsquo;s Ever Mortars and Pestles Ever, circa 1995 %26ndash; 2008.

The two-story gallery boasts works by inimitable Texans McKay Otto, Celia Eberle, Perry House and Richard Fluhr.

Throughout the property, Otto%26rsquo;s ladder sculptures emerge from the underbrush %26mdash; an installation of eight, circa 2009.

A Buddha head from Star Antiques in Wimberley emits benevolence from the fern-lined floor of Coffee%26rsquo;s greenhouse.

An enclosed porch does duty as a entertainment space with an outdoor grill, fireplace and dining nook. The round steel planters in the foreground hold garden herbs, lavender and Coffee%26rsquo;s rock sculptures.

A clean, well-lighted place: The porch and verandah serve as a beacon in the deep Texas night. The string of lights promises a party.%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

Front-door welcome: Jason Lasco%26rsquo;s Thanks!, circa 2007, acquired during the couple%26rsquo;s time living in Nashville. Lasco is the only Tennessee artist in their collection.

Looking toward the downstairs gallery from the second floor reveals the couple%26rsquo;s commitment to Texas artists. This soaring two-story space also doubles as a dining room or is used for cocktail fund-raisers for causes from breast cancer research to, most recently, The Art Party %26mdash; Coffee%26rsquo;s presentation of offerings by emerging to mid-career talents; the doc serves as curator but takes no fee, instead passing the sales directly to the artists.

Bicycles cast shadows on the west side of the house.

Sailcloth overhangs, visible just outside the windows, keep the studio light soft, even and diffused. In the foreground, Charles and Ray Eames aluminum-frame chair was another mid-century treasure scored decades ago from a now-shuttered dealer in the Heights. The painting on the floor was exhibited in the %26ldquo;Positivism Project%26rdquo; during Art Basel Miami Beach fair week in 2010.

Ibsen Espada%26rsquo;s Broken Avenue, circa 1992, reigns over the second-floor gallery; Espada is one of Houston%26rsquo;s acclaimed mid-career masters (with a current show at New Gallery/Thom Andriola). To the right, an untitled early -1990s assemblage from Otto%26rsquo;s days at a surrealist.

In the master bedroom, mohair pillows from West Elm and a blanket from San Miguel. The doors face west, for Hill Country sunsets.

Sunlight pours into Otto%26rsquo;s studio, which faces east to receive the morning rays. Left, Ever In This Moment Ever, circa 2010. Along the wall, the vast 120-by-80-inch triptych Ever Within Time Ever, also circa 2010, was just purchased by Wimberley Collectors, the artist reveals, %26ldquo;so it will stay local.%26rdquo;

In the master bedroom, Coffee designed a sculptural chest of drawers that winks at Donald Judd. To the left, Otto%26rsquo;s sculpture of stacked jigsaw-puzzle rings. A series from the late 1990s, it was recently exhibited at an environmental show in L.A.%26nbsp;

The master bedroom opens, via nine-foot doors, onto the porch, which wraps around the front and west side of the house. Catching a beam of afternoon sunlight is Aron Williams%26rsquo; Separation Anxiety, circa 2009. Williams is an MFA candidate at Texas State University in San Marcos.

PC Acquire

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:12:34 GMT

Just in time for the holidays, PaperCity once again highlights PC Acquire %26mdash; a curated opportunity to collect the best and brightest in Texas art today. We%26rsquo;ve inaugurated this online gallery with compelling work by Kimberly Gremillion, a nationally acclaimed, internationally collected artist whose diaphanous prints have graced the pages of the influential Aperture and the cover of Black %26amp; White Magazine. Gremillion%26rsquo;s photographs reside in the permanent collections of 18 museum worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Biblioth%26egrave;que Nationale, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Her book Circus remains a classic example of the power and primacy of black-and-white imagery. For our magazine, Gremillion offers a moving new subject: the sublime and dreamy Metamorphosis, alongside six other series never before presented in color %26mdash; Dance, Flamenco, Fans, Thresholds, Rodeo, Portraits %26mdash;%26nbsp;and signature black-and-white images culled from her Circus and Ballroom portfolios. Fifty total archival prints are offered in unique sizes and in very limited editions of 10, exclusively for PaperCity readers at 40 percent less than the artist%26rsquo;s retail gallery pricing: 9 x 13.5 inches for $550; 14.5 x 21.75 inches for $950, both printed on glossy paper. Each work
is hand-signed and bears the edition number. (Framing and shipping available for an additional charge.) For inquiries, contact Seth Vaughan, seth@papercitymag.com.

The Photobooth on Montrose

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:26:12 GMT

Keys to the Door: Owner/chief lensman Simon Gentry.

What%26rsquo;s the Happening: Talk about urban revival. PaperCity%26rsquo;s contributing photographer, the very hip British-born Simon Gentry, was motoring through Montrose this summer and noticed a %26ldquo;for rent%26rdquo; sign near one of the city%26rsquo;s busiest%26nbsp; intersections: the northwest corner of Westheimer and Montrose, where a circa-1980s dry cleaners had recently shuttered. This vacant strip-center space called to Gentry, who sensed its inherent possibilities. Flash forward five weeks and many man-hours later, and The Photobooth on Montrose has been born, launching with an engaging coming-out party this fall that celebrated the once utilitarian cleaner%26rsquo;s transformation into a glossy white box. Gentry%26rsquo;s novel concept? By day, a photographic studio with affordable portrait bookings against the pristine 927-feet interior; by night, a performance space for some of Houston%26rsquo;s most important nonprofits. The Photobooth%26rsquo;s grand-opening evening foreshadowed the intriguing art action to come, with performances by contemporary troupes Hope Stone Dance and iMEE (Infinite Movement Ever Evolving), with a side of magic courtesy of Mercury Baroque, plus DJ Joe Ross on the turntable. Stay tuned and check Photobooth%26rsquo;s Web site for updates about pop-ups and more at our burg%26rsquo;s most photogenic and compelling satellite space. 2710 Montrose Blvd., 832.661.7363; simongentry.com.

Image: The Photobooth on Montrose. Photo by Simon Gentry.

"The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk"

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 07:12:46 GMT

Front-Row Ticketing

Tickets are on sale now and include general museum admission.

Individual tickets may be purchased on-site at the DMA, by phone at 214.922.1803, or online, DallasMuseumofArt.org (from $16 adults weekdays; $20 adults weekends; special rates for seniors, groups, military and students; children under 12 free).

For group tickets (10 or more, $15 per person), please call 214.922.1222 or e-mail groupsales@DallasMuseumofArt.org.

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Dateline: Jean Paul Gaultier

Catherine D. Anspon previews the Dallas Museum of Art%26rsquo;s big, bold blockbuster whose siren call beckons fashion followers and art seekers to enter the wild and brilliant kingdom of designer Jean Paul Gaultier.

Gaga for Gaultier

His art and life have always been way, way beyond the rules %26mdash;%26nbsp;more than breaking them %26mdash; utterly transcending them to create a novel, idiosyncratic and fearlessly original language that makes the old fashion seem like something from a distant planet. For 35 years, this %26ldquo;enfant terrible,%26rdquo; who is first and foremost terribly brilliant, has inspired, transgressed and provoked the fashion establishment. Now he plunges into the art firmament, taking on a brave new world with a much-buzzed-about internationally touring exhibition conceived, produced and organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, led by Director and Chief Curator Nathalie Bondil, while the MMFA%26rsquo;s Thierry-Maxime Loriot does curatorial honors, with the Dallas Museum of Art%26rsquo;s Kevin W. Tucker, The Margot B. Perot Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, acting as coordinating curator for the DMA presentation.

Dallas will be the first American destination (and one of only two U.S. cities) for the fierce traveling extravaganza of fashion interwoven with a new kind of glamour %26mdash; global, inclusive, gender-defying, streetwise and futuristic at the same time %26mdash; that proposes a provocative new world order, as it dresses and undresses the stars and demi-stars of fashion, film, music and dance to spill over into the cultural consciousness. From the cone corset for Madonna, which reinforced her outre identity, to Catherine Deneuve%26rsquo;s smokingly demure trench coat, Gaultier has kept us all enthralled with a narrative of sexuality and romance woven into his haute couture and ready-to-wear collections, while remaining light years ahead of mere fashion designers. Even Lady Gaga, who sat down for a televised t%26ecirc;te-%26agrave;-t%26ecirc;te with the designer this September, can%26rsquo;t get enough of Gaultier.

Top Notes

Gaultier%26rsquo;s prolific, multiple decades of inventiveness is choreographed into six sections. Approximately 130 ensembles will be on view, spanning 1976 to 2011, from couture collections to his pr%26ecirc;t-%26agrave;-porter line, along with their accompanying accessories, most never before exhibited. His art unfolds via sketches, stage costumes and excerpts from runway shows, concerts, dance performances, films and televised interviews to provide a portrait of the talent and his creations, which are synonymous with the avant-garde, edged in the unexpected, often infused in humor.

%26ldquo;Punk Cancan%26rdquo; %26mdash; From the pavements of Paris including its rough, street-smart Pigalle neighborhood to the rock attitude of London%26rsquo;s Trafalgar Square, Gaultier distills then subverts the stereotypes of these two cultured capitals. The outrageous encounters the elegant, leather and latex cavort with lace and fishnets, and the result is a delicious brew of Parisienne-ness and punk attitude.

"The Boudoir" %26mdash; Need we say more? The designer who as a child put a cone bra on his teddy bear Nana later and most memorably segued into saucy corsets and waist cinchers. Early sketches from the 1960s reveal Gaultier%26rsquo;s longstanding fascination with lingerie as outerwear, which also stemmed from early impressions formed with his paternal grandmother, a beauty consultant and hypnotist, and an infatuation with the film Falbalas (1945), set in a French fashion house in which the leading lady, actress Micheline Presle, dons costumes designed by Rochas. Also check out Madonna%26rsquo;s coned Gaultier corsetry from her Blond Ambition (1990) and Confessions (2008) tours and a 1983 corset dress, the first one Gaultier ever created.

"Skin Deep"%26nbsp; %26mdash; Showcasing Gaultier%26rsquo;s take on clothing as a second skin%26nbsp; %26mdash; from the illusion of nudity %26agrave; la Almod%26oacute;var films to %26ldquo;tattoo%26rdquo; costumes for contemporary choreographer R%26eacute;gine Chopinot %26mdash; this section also presents his defiant statement, the male skirt.

"Metropolis"%26nbsp; %26mdash; It%26rsquo;s always been about the future %26mdash;%26nbsp;sci-fi, new technology, unexpected materials (from vinyl to neoprene plus inflatables) %26mdash; as well as crossing over to film, dance, and pop and rock music with unforgettable artistic collaborations, all mined by Gaultier to conjure magic viahis sorcerer%26rsquo;s soul.

"Urban Jungle"%26nbsp; %26mdash; Sampling and/or translating multi-culturalism to the catwalk long before the term %26ldquo;globalism%26rdquo; was coined, Gaultier is exposed as a champion of ethnic diversity and the richness of the cities of the 21st century. The Arabs of Paris%26rsquo; Barb%26egrave;s neighborhood, hip rabbis, Flamenco dancers morphed from Chinese women, Russian icons, African masks and Bollywood maharajahs all percolate and populate the rich fashion stew of Gaultier%26rsquo;s ever-changing world order. Leather, python, crocodile and feathers also glide across the runway here.%26nbsp;

%26ldquo;The Odyssey of Jean Paul Gaultier%26rdquo;%26nbsp; %26mdash; The sailor motif, mermaids and virgins star in this section. Watch for Gaultier%26rsquo;s first-ever dress, which makes a never-before-seen cameo, while this section%26rsquo;s setting evokes the look of his couture salon.%26nbsp;

%26ldquo;Jean Paul Gaultier%26rsquo;s unflinchingly bold designs resonate with his affection for cultural variety and vitality. He has effectively combined couture, art and popular culture into his own distinctive aesthetic, which is at once personal and yet reflective of the world around us.%26rdquo; %26mdash; Kevin W. Tucker, The Margot B. PerotCurator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Dallas Museum of Art and coordinating curator of the Dallas presentation

%26ldquo;I wanted to create an exhibition on Jean Paul Gaultier more than any other couturier because of his great humanity.%26rdquo; %26mdash; Nathalie Bondil, Director and Chief Curator, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Your Go-To Guide to%26nbsp; The Fashion World%26nbsp; of Jean Paul Gaultier:%26nbsp; From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

Decoding Gaultier %26mdash; A Primer on 10 Ways He Transformed Fashion Forever

1. Let%26rsquo;s set sail. He did more for the humble blue-and-white horizontal stripe; every designer that followed is merely quoting the cheeky nautical vibe of Gaultier.

2. Celebrity as muse. No other designer before or since has collaborated with so many sublime talents, across cross-disciplines %26mdash; including a bit of cross-dressing. The list is impressive and endless, as alluded to in the must-have exhibition catalog: from the music realm (most famously Madonna, as well as Kylie Minogue and French performers Yvette Horner and Myl%26egrave;ne Farmer) to film (Pedro Almod%26oacute;var, Peter Greenaway, Luc Besson, Marc Caro and Jean‐Pierre Jeunet) and contemporary dance (Maurice B%26eacute;jart, R%26eacute;gine Chopinot and Angelin Preljocaj).

3. Gender-bending. Androgyny, anyone? From his introduction of the man skirt from the And God Created Man collection in 1985 to relentless infusions of the trench and camouflage wear including an opulent camouflage ball gown, Gaultier%26rsquo;s always questioned %26mdash; and transgressed %26mdash;%26nbsp;the prescribed gender roles.

4. Wild invention. From a Les Surr%26eacute;alistes collection (haute couture, fall/winter 2006 %26ndash; 2007) starring a coatdress with rooster-ornamented sleeve that would be at home in The Menil Collection%26rsquo;s surrealist galleries to the beguiling blossom-adorned Belles des Champs collection (Countryside Babes, Women%26rsquo;s pr%26ecirc;t-%26agrave;-porter, spring/summer 2006) to the %26ldquo;Calligraphie%26rdquo; dress (haute couture, fall/winter 2008 %26ndash; 2009) reminiscent of a late-period de Kooning canvas, Gaultier has been like a sponge, soaking up inspiration amidst sidewalks, studios and concert halls.

5. Boundary-bursting. Art, music, fashion, film, dance, sci-fi, real life %26mdash; all are theaters for potential Gaultier inspiration and sources of sampling.

6. Dancing to the tune of diversity. From populating the runway with plus-size models to placing non-Nordic, non-WASPs on the catwalk, Gaultier%26rsquo;s world mirrors the world we all inhabit, throwing a big, big party where inclusivity is the calling card.

7. Stepping off the runway to the furniture store, beauty
bar and now %26mdash; museum. From perfume packaged in a tin can with now-iconic, alluring sculpted figural bottles to home-furnishing collections (from 1992 to the present collaboration for Roche Bobois), Gaultier%26rsquo;s view of fashion has been multitudinous. Now with this exhibition, he triumphantly takes on the art world.

8. Democratic rule. From designing a bottle for Evian (2008) to creating a capsule collection for Target, the high-low vibe of Gaultier rules.

9. Time traveler. Moving across time and space, Gaultier%26rsquo;s oeuvre encompasses futuristic fantasies as well as those of the past, quoting World War II-era pinups, the 1960s Jane Fonda film Barbarella, the cult of Frida Kahlo and more.

10. Gone global. Ultimately Gaultier%26rsquo;s contribution is towards a global definition and understanding of fashion and art. From the Riviera to the Hussars, African masks to turbaned Orientalism, Tibetan mandalas to the cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe, every continent and culture is ripe for the designer%26rsquo;s intervention.

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Illustrious Lensmen

Exhibition-goers are also rewarded by encounters with images by masterful artists who cross-pollinate the fashion and art firmaments, ranging from Cindy Sherman to Mario Testino, Andy Warhol, Pierre et Gilles, Steven Meisel and Richard Avedon %26mdash; including many never-before-seen prints.%26nbsp;

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Amazing Mannequins, Compelling Mise-en-Sc%26egrave;ne
Actual talking heads %26mdash; 30 animated, show-stopping mannequins, including one of Gaultier himself %26mdash; hold court throughout the galleries, providing an added bit of high-tech wizardry wondrously produced, designed and staged by Montreal-based Denis Marleau and St%26eacute;phanie Jasmin of UBU theater company. Museum visitors will also
be entranced by other state-of-the-art audio-visual happenings %26mdash; sound, video, concert clips, television excerpts and runway footage, all melding to make their exhibition experience exciting, memorable and thrillingly avant-garde.

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Opening This Month %26mdash; A New American Painter: Mark Bradford

Appropriately enough, the stage for Gaultier is paved by an extraordinary opening act: the national touring exhibition Mark Bradford, which unfurls October 16, 2011, through January 15, 2012, in the soaring DMA Barrel Vault and surrounding Hanley, Lamont, Rachofsky and Stoffel Galleries. While Gaultier drew inspiration from the sidewalks of Paris and London, American painter Mark Bradford also mines his own turf: the Leimert neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles where he was raised and got his start, working as a hairdresser at his mother%26rsquo;s salon before enrolling in CalArts in 1991. Inclusion in the 2006 Whitney Biennial and a 2009 MacArthur %26ldquo;genius%26rdquo; grant followed in recognition of Bradford%26rsquo;s forging of a new way of painting, specifically his creation of large-scale canvases whose surfaces bear a skin of impastoed paint loaded with a dense layer of collage materials, often taken from found objects, including sources literally from the streets (signage, construction boards), as well as permanent-wave end papers from the beauty biz, carbon paper, newsprint and other vernacular odds and end. Bradford is perhaps most famous, though, for his interaction in the neighborhood of the Ninth Ward, New Orleans: Tapped for the 2008 public art endeavor %26ldquo;Prospect 1%26rdquo; in NOLA, he conceived the ambitious Mithra, a 70-foot-long ark-like sculpture installed amidst the hurricane ravaged community.

This first major survey of Bradford%26rsquo;s opus is organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus, curated by the Wexner%26rsquo;s Christopher Bedford, in collaboration with the artist. The exhibition%26rsquo;s Dallas presentation is coordinated by the DMA%26rsquo;s Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Jeffrey Grove. The touring showcase for the best of contemporary painting is freighted with a topical message about race, culture, class and gender in American society. It also presents new offerings by Bradford, including a suite of paintings and a quartet of recent graphite drawings. In other new works, the artist pushes beyond the canvas: an environmental installation with sound, Pinocchio Is on Fire; a significant newsculpture, Detail, taking as its departure elements from Mithra; and the film Across Canal, which probes the making and impact of Mithra for the Crescent City.

Mark Bradford is presented in Dallas by Texas Instruments Foundation. Additional support is provided by TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art, the Contemporary Art Initiative and the Donor Circle membership program. Air transportation is provided by American Airlines.%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

Images:

Mark Bradford in his studio, fall 2009. Photo Fredrik Nilsen.

Mark Bradford%26rsquo;s Strawberry, 2002. Photo Collection of Barbara and Bruce Berger, %26copy; Mark Bradford.

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"The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk"

Shop Gaultier

Visit the DMA Museum Store for chic exclusives that capture the genius of Gaultier. Canvas tote bags, offered in two styles, offer an ode to Gaultier%26rsquo;s nautical striping, while a Gaultier-designed tee emblazoned with tabloid headlines is a must for a day taking in the sights of the Dallas Art Fair, all at democratic prices (totes $35 to $135, members $31.50 to $121.50; limited-edition tee $65, members $58.50).

Collectible Catalog

Talk about heavy lifting. The accompanying exhibition catalog, published by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and edited by exhibition curator Thierry-Maxime Loriot, in French and English editions, boasts 424 pages brimming with 550 sumptuous illustrations and photographs; more than 50 exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with insiders/culturati including Madonna, Pedro Almod%26oacute;var, Tom Ford, Pierre Cardin, Catherine Deneuve, Helen Mirren, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and Dita Von Teese, as well as many previously unpublished images (thanks to the collaborations of fashion photographers and the Maison Jean Paul Gaultier); and the definitive timeline of Gaultier%26rsquo;s life and career. All in all, the artfully curated volume %26mdash; the first-ever monograph on Gaultier %26mdash; serves up a lavish romp through 35 years of one of the most inventive and influential designers on the planet. Also weighing in about the incomparable Gaultier are Suzy Menkes, fashion editor at The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune, and Valerie Steele, fashion historian and director of New York%26rsquo;s The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. (The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in association with Abrams, $125; members $112.50.)

Members See Gaultier Free!

DMA members do not have to pre-purchase or reserve tickets in advance.%26nbsp;Members will be fast-tracked into the exhibition in the VIP/Member line.%26nbsp;Not a member? Join now and see Gaultier for free! Memberships, from $75 annually, include enticing perks. Why wait for Gaultier to open? Call 214.922.1247 or e-mail membership@DallasMuseumofArt.org today.

Well-Connected Host Committee

The Host Committee for Jean Paul Gaultier is the official group from the DMA that will welcome the designer on his first visit to Dallas. Membership in the group includes an invitation to a private reception with the designer on Tuesday, November 8,as well as recognition on the printed invitations for the special events associated with the exhibition and invitations to those gatherings. For information about joining the Gaultier Host Committee, please contact the Museum at 214.922.1242.

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The Official Calendar:

Gaultier Hits Dallas

Tuesday evening, November 8: Welcome reception for Gaultier with members of the Host Committee (by invitation only) on what will be his first visit to Dallas.

Wednesday day, November 9: Luncheon at the DMA with the designer. Limited to just 250 people, this day includes a sneak peek at the exhibition. (Tickets required; contact the DMA for more information.)

Wednesday evening, November 9: Donor Circle opening reception (by invitation only). Upper-level supporters of the Museum preview the exhibition while clinking cocktails with the designer.

Friday evening, November 11: General Member opening reception (by invitation only).

Thursday %26ndash; Saturday, November 10 %26ndash; 12: Member-only preview days. (Contact DMA membership to join.)

Sunday, November 13, 2011 %26ndash; Sunday, February 12, 2012: "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" on view at the DMA.

"The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" is organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with the Maison Jean Paul Gaultier. The exhibition in Dallas is presented by Cadillac. Additional support is provided by the DMA%26rsquo;s Junior Associates Circle with funds raised through An Affair of the Art 2011: Maison de la Mode: House of Fashion; NorthPark Center; and Forty Five Ten.%26nbsp;Air transportation in Dallas is provided by American Airlines. Promotional support provided by Catwalk by TIGI.

Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 North Harwood Street, Dallas, TX 75201, 214-922-1200; DallasMuseumofArt.org

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Images:

Les Vierges [Virgins] collection, %26ldquo;Apparitions%26rdquo; dress, haute couture spring/summer 2007. Photo %26copy; P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

Jean Paul Gaultier, 2009. Photo %26copy; Sofia Sanchez and Mauro Mongiello.

French Cancan collection, Women%26rsquo;s pr%26ecirc;t-%26agrave;-porter fall/winter 1991%26ndash;1992; photo %26copy; P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

Barb%26egrave;s collection, Women%26rsquo;s pr%26ecirc;t-%26agrave;-porter fall/winter 1984%26ndash;1985. Photo %26copy; P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

Les Hussardes [Hussars] collection, %26ldquo;Incognito%26rdquo; ensemble, haute couture fall/winter 2002%26ndash;2003. Photo %26copy; P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

Hommage %26agrave; l%26rsquo;Afrique [Tribute to Africa] collection, %26ldquo;La Mari%26eacute;e%26rdquo; dress, haute couture spring/summer 2005. Photo %26copy; P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

Les Indes galantes [Romantic India] collection, %26ldquo;Lascar%26rdquo; dress, haute couture spring/summer 2000. Photo %26copy; P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

Les Cages [Cages] collection, %26ldquo;Calligraphie%26rdquo; dress, haute couture, fall/winter 2008-2009. Photo %26copy; P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

L%26rsquo;Homme-objet [Boy Toy] collection, Men%26rsquo;s pr%26ecirc;t-%26agrave;-porter spring/summer 1984. Photo %26copy; P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

Les Actrices [Movie Stars] collection, %26ldquo;%26Eacute;toiles et toiles%26rdquo; dress, haute couture fall/winter 2009-2010. Photo %26copy; P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

Gaultier limited-edition tee at the DMA Museum Store.

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Destination: Venice Biennale

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 11:50:50 GMT

The every-other-year meta global art convergence known as the Venice Biennale sends a siren call beckoning one to the Grand Canal. And I succumbed. Directed by Zurich-based curator Bice Curiger, the 2011 Biennale (on view though November 27) is titled %26ldquo;ILLUMInations%26rdquo; %26mdash; a perfect moniker, as I discovered. The theme emphasizes intuitive insight and the illumination of thought that is fostered by an encounter with art and its ability to sharpen the tools of perception, as underlined by Curiger in the splendid, often inspiring exhibitions that accompanied this Biennale.

Spread between two locations %26mdash;The Giardini and The Arsenale %26mdash; %26ldquo;ILLUMInations%26rdquo; included Urs Fischer%26rsquo;s large wax sculptures that slowly melt like candles; Christian Marclay%26rsquo;s Golden Lion winner, the hypnotic cinematic installation The Clock, which samples film history via close-up footage of clock faces and timepieces; and Rashid Johnson%26rsquo;s reflective, mirrored geometric panels. I also loved irreverent contemporary genius Maurizio Cattelan%26rsquo;s installation of stuffed pigeons in a 16th-century salon boasting Tintoretto paintings %26mdash; spectacular. Also attesting to the return of a fascination for old masters were Pipilotti Rist%26rsquo;s Canaletto-inspired videos and Cindy Sherman%26rsquo;s large figures in a pastoral landscape.

Venice itself, however, was the most illuminating: The most unique city in the world came to life during the opening week of the world%26rsquo;s most important international art show. The early summer sun shining on the marble palazzos was invigorating during the day, while chandeliers cast fabulous shadows onto stucco ceilings of the interiors at night. The party began as soon as Roman Abramovich%26rsquo;s huge yacht, Luna, docked on the Riva degli Schiavoni, and the Bauer Palazzo set up a late-night bar overlooking the Grand Canal. There was also lunch at the Cipriani with Elton John carrying his baby boy, Zachary, followed by dancing all night on the Brandolini roof terrace.

Now, on to the individual countries%26rsquo; contributions. The German Pavilion won the international jury%26rsquo;s prize with a profound installation dedicated to Christoph Schlingensief, which openly exhibited the late artist%26rsquo;s struggle with cancer and faith, music and visual arts. The American contribution, represented by collaborative Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, parked an upside-down tank with a running machine installed on top in front of the U.S. Pavilion, drawing the attention of the crowd with a commentary on the futility of war and the importance of %26ldquo;all-American%26rdquo; principles. The Austrian Pavilion was one of the most elegant and impressive: Markus Schinwald played with the architecture of the building to create an unsettling space, its deconstructed maze infused by dizzying spatial elements. Christian Boltanski was sublime, representing France, and the %26ldquo;Black Arch%26rdquo; installation was exquisite for Saudi Arabia.

Many other national pavilions were extremely pungent with commentaries on their respective political situations. Outside the Chinese Pavilion, demonstrators chanted %26ldquo;Free Ai Weiwei,%26rdquo; while Egypt poignantly showcased a series of videos by Ahmed Basiony, including his final one filmed on January 28, 2011, before the%26nbsp; 32-year-old artist was killed in Tahrir Square. Diohandi wrapped the Greek Pavilion in plywood, hiding its grand facade; his installation inside, Beyond Reform, featured dramatic expanses of flooded floors that poetically evoked the sense of loss his country is experiencing. Turkey%26rsquo;s installation also involved water: a series of water-purification%26nbsp; systems in constant operation %26mdash; a metaphor for the body as well as for the city of Venice. The Iraqi Pavilion presented%26nbsp; two generations of artists, both of whom have experienced political instability and war.

Sadly, once again the prize for worst installation %26mdash; if there was one %26mdash; would have to go to the Italian Pavilion. Controversial art critic and TV personality Vittorio Sgarbi
(who, at one point, was even nominated for Minister of Culture) curated. But instead of curating a show with a basic intelligible idea, Sgarbi asked a series of intellectuals to each nominate one artist of his or her liking to be included. The result was a jumble of bad, secondhand works. The real message that this pavilion sends is how contemporary Italian culture is sadly and profoundly permeated by nepotism, as typified by this very confused show of the friends of the friends of Sgarbi.

As expected, some of the most interesting events took place outside the Biennale, in the many private and public spaces scattered around the city. The most sublime and
elegant of these was curated by Axel Vervoordt at Palazzo

Fortuny. Entitled %26ldquo;TRA%26rdquo; (in %26ldquo;Edge of Becoming%26rdquo;), it presented works in a fascinating dialogue: a Giacometti sculpture from 1934 next to an 8th-century statue from Angkor; totem-like works by Ettore Spalletti not far from a poetic video by Shirin Neshat; a shadowy Zurbaran painting by a vibrant canvas by Rothko.

Impressive indeed were the two shows coming from Fran%26ccedil;ois Pinault%26rsquo;s collection, the one at his Palazzo Grassi and the wonderful installations inside the Punta della Dogana refurbished by Tadao Ando, where large sculptures by Donald Judd found a perfect resting place in the austere old red-brick and concrete architecture.

Magical, spiritual and fascinating was the ambitious installation by Anish Kapoor inside the Basilica of San Giorgio. After some technical difficulties on opening night, we were
able to experience the turbine of smoke that rose from the floor, twisting into the dome, to give the impression that finally somebody has been able to capture and represent
the Holy Spirit.

As with any Venice Biennale, the verdict is still out. You%26rsquo;ll have to cross the pond and traverse the canal to draw your own conclusions. 54th International Venice Biennale, through November 27; labiennale.org/en/home.html.

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James Turrell%26rsquo;s Ganzfeld APANI, 2011

%26ldquo;TRA: The Edge of Becoming%26rdquo; exhibition, Palazzo Fortuny, 2011

Thomas Houseago%26rsquo;s L%26rsquo;Homme Press%26eacute;, 2011, Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection

Gold Lion winner: Christian Marclay%26rsquo;s The Clock (detail), 2010

%26ldquo;TRA: The Edge of Becoming%26rdquo; exhibition, Palazzo Fortuny, 2011

Punta della Dogana, 54th International Venice Biennale

Maurizio Cattelan%26rsquo;s 2,000 taxidermy pigeons (The Others, detail, 2011) take over Palazzo delle Esposizioni, 2011

Diohandi%26rsquo;s Beyond Reform, 2011, Greek Pavilion

La Biennale, Venezia, 2011

Fair Play, Take Two

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 10:33:27 GMT

Thursday through Sunday, October 20 through 23, at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Takashi Yasumura%26rsquo;s Tile and Shutter, 2000, at Misako %26amp; Rosen

Why We're Going to the Fair

In the beginning, controversy was the name of the game. After fair one was announced a year ago, fair two popped onto the horizon %26mdash; an upstart produced by two former executives from the first fair.

Many articles and blog posts added fuel to the fire, but now that October has rolled around %26mdash; and the Houston Fine Art Fair wrapped up with hefty sales and incredible energy at the George R. Brown %26mdash; the stage is prepared for the second player. Enter the Texas Contemporary fair, co-directed by a dynamic, ambitious duo: art expert Max Fishko (of the Forum Gallery family; he%26rsquo;s curating the booths) and Jeffrey Wainhause (who%26rsquo;s handling marketing and logistics). The pair, supported by highly respected Houston galleries (and fair exhibitors) Texas and Inman, has surprised many, curating a convergence that has swelled to nearly 60 dealers at press time, including a slew of internationals. Along the way, they%26rsquo;ve tapped statewide nonprofits %26mdash; from Blue Star in San Antonio and Ballroom Marfa to Houston%26rsquo;s Project Row Houses %26mdash; and produced a truly enticing array of sideline programming.

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What%26rsquo;s the same? We hope for a similar streamlined, open and airy layout sans carpeting, with spacious aisles (as in the case of their competitor/predecessor) that let art do the talking. What%26rsquo;s different? This fair proposes three unique components: 1) An emphasis on fresh-from-the-studio, never-before-exhibited offerings. 2) The concept of sustainability as a sub-theme, including exhibition-goers%26rsquo; carbon footprint being offset by sponsor Belgrave Trust. 3) An innovative component, MRKTworks, where your acquisition of an online and live-auction collectible treasure (donated by participating dealers) benefits Community Artists%26rsquo; Collective, Galveston Arts Center, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, and Women and Their Work.

Our prediction? Astute collectors and the curious will again que up in the thousands, as well as artists, media and our top museum and nonprofit folk. genuinely interested in the art and contributing to the dialogue, attending for more than the party (opening night benefits Contemporary Arts Museum Houston). Will it be a scene? Yes %26mdash; but also something more. We can%26rsquo;t get enough of the fair experience in our hometown, and based on last month%26rsquo;s buying frenzy and high-voltage experience at the Houston Fine Art Fair, Texas Contemporary should continue the conversation and carry it forward in an intelligent, positive, energetic way. What will make this fair great? As much as the roster of dealers, it will be our community.

Quentin Shih%26rsquo;s The Stranger In The Glass Box No. 3, 2008, at PX Photography

%26ldquo;It%26rsquo;s about putting the art world first and business second. We never want to overshadow the brave, beautiful and creative people who make this whole process happen.%26rdquo; %26mdash; Max Fishko, Texas Contemporary co-director

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David McGee%26rsquo;s Puzzle Painting for Pregnant Girls, 2011, at Texas Gallery

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Check Out This Provocative Programming

%26bull; Plus Sign, a large-scale Andy Coolquitt installation mounted by the Blaffer Art Museum

%26bull; %26ldquo;Solar Nothing,%26rdquo; a solo exhibition by Mexico City%26ndash;based artist Edgar Orlaineta, curated by the Steve Turner Contemporary

%26bull; Tracey Snelling%26rsquo;s%26nbsp;show-stopping El Diablo Inn sculpture from Rena Bransten Gallery

%26bull; Jason Willaford%26rsquo;s decidedly unsubtle Out of Site, featuring six chromed, 55-gallon oil barrels, presented by%26nbsp; Boltax Gallery

%26bull; A newly commissioned installation by Bill Davenport %26mdash; we%26rsquo;re betting it%26rsquo;s odd and endearing %26mdash; hosted by Glasstire

%26bull; Outre art cars Splinter and Lil%26rsquo; Splinter by Isaac Cohen organized by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art

%26bull; A walk-in artwork:%26nbsp;a site-specific installation by Ariane Roesch repurposing a shipping container via the artful employment of electroluminescent lights

Reuben Negron%26rsquo;s Jsun, 2011, at Like the Spice Gallery

The Essentials: Texas Contemporary Fair

Where: George R. Brown Convention Center

When: Thursday %26ndash; Sunday, October 20 %26ndash;%26nbsp;23

Times:

Thursday, October 20, CAMH Benefit Party 6 to 7:30 pm; VIP Preview 7:30 to 10:30 pm

Friday, October 21, 11 am to 7:30 pm

Saturday, October 22, 11 am to 7 pm

Sunday, October 23, 11 am to 6 pm

Tariff: CAMH Benefit Party $100, $110 at door (includes all weekend access); fair-day tickets $20 online, $25 at the door;
three-day pass $40 online, $45 at the door

Info/Ticketing: txcontemporary.com

Marjolein van Pagee%26rsquo;s Yellow Flower-%26shy;Mr. Bom, 2010, at PX Photography

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William Wegman%26rsquo;s Suggestive, 1989, at Texas Gallery

Oliver Boberg%26rsquo;s Gartenecke/Corner of a Garden, 2011, at DCKT Contemporary, Inc.

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Demetrius Oliver%26rsquo;s Apsis, 2011, at Inman Gallery

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An Artful Night for the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:49:24 GMT

If you haven%26rsquo;t yet secured your tickets for the fifth annual Art + Advocacy Auction benefitting the Dallas Children%26rsquo;s Advocacy Center, you may want to snag a set post haste. (Click to dcac.org for deets.) The artful evening, held at Fashion Industry Gallery on November 3, will feature plenty of Southern-style bites, sweets courtesy of Pecan Lodge Catering, danceable beats from DJ Jennifer Miller and Paul Paredes and, of course, a live and silent auction brimming with works from more than 120 emerging and established artists. We had the chance to chat with three of those showcased artists %26mdash; Shane Pennington, Brian Gibb and Pamela Nelson. Just what did we find out? Hint: At age five, one of them wanted to work on a dump truck.

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Shane Pennington

Describe your style. What medium do you prefer to work in?

My style is conceptual and contemporary. I work in steel, stone, copper wire, video, cardboard %26mdash; basically any materials that I can get my hands on.
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What did you want to be at age five?

At age five I wanted to work on a dump truck. At age ten, my grandmother lived with my family and she was an artist. One afternoon I painted a landscape with her in our garage and she gave me a very expensive gold-leaf fame to put around the piece. I decided to walk my neighborhood and knock on all the doors to sell the painting for eight dollars. An elderly couple purchased it from me. My family still laughs about the experience because the gold-leaf frame was worth about $100. I guess you can say I started early as an artist. And that elderly couple got a deal.

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What or who inspires you?

A great piece of classical music.%26nbsp;Yves Klein's Monotone Symphony sends chills down my back. %26nbsp;

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Name three things that are always in your studio.

Incense, tons of paint and great music.

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%26nbsp;How did you choose what piece to donate to Art + Advocacy? What is it about the piece that you thought would be perfect to showcase at this event?

In selecting my piece for Art + Advocacy, I chose one that reflects my position and mood as an artist today. %26nbsp;I feel it%26rsquo;s important as artists to allow viewers to see the world around them through a different set of eyes or through our own personal experiences.

Artist Shane Pennington

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Name three things in your travel bag.

Twelve-inch black boots, twelve-inch black tennis shoes, twelve-inch black dress shoes. Of course now I have very little room for clothing. Another option is a second bag.

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%26nbsp;What%26rsquo;s the best advice you%26rsquo;ve ever received?

"To find your way, just enjoy making your art."%26nbsp;

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The worst?

%26ldquo;Walk behind that horse."%26nbsp;

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Brian Gibb

%26nbsp;Describe your style. What medium do you prefer to work in?

The prints that I make tend to have a very flat graphic sensibility to them, which is influenced by the immediacy that screen-printing affords. This is also prevalent in my paintings, but there is much more evidence of the human hand in them and a lot more narrative. In short, the prints are concise observations while the paintings are more layered in meaning.

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How would you describe your creative process?

It generally starts with some phrase or event, which conjures up imagery, preliminary drawings and then the painting or printmaking starts.

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What did you want to be at age five?

I don't think I had figured out yet, but I was super bummed on anyone who did not color within the lines.

%26nbsp;

What or who inspires you?

My wife Misty Keasler is an amazing photographer, and inspires me constantly. We recently had our first daughter Sydney, who is inspires me in ways that no one ever has.

%26nbsp;

%26nbsp;Name three things that are always in your studio?

Dixon Ticonderoga (pencil), paper, all things Apple.

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%26nbsp;How did you choose what piece to donate to Art + Advocacy? What is it about the piece that you thought would be perfect to showcase at this event?

Caroline Belanger asked me to create a print for the event. Hope and the DCAC go hand in hand so it came together pretty quickly. The biggest upside is that it is at an accessible price point. So this will be something that everyone attending the event can afford, and in turn support the cause. [Editor%26rsquo;s Note: Gibb will print live at the event and will offer a small run of signed and numbered prints on a first come, first serve basis.]

Brian Gibb's print for the Art + Advocacy Auction

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%26nbsp;Name three things in your travel bag?

Dixon Ticonderoga (pencil), sketchbook, mustache wax.%26nbsp;

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What's the best advice you have ever received?

"Always try and put a bit of yourself in everything you do."

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The worst?

"Don't print books in China."

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One thing that no one knows about me is...

I am a huge sports fan with football being at the top of the list. I know as much about it as I do about art.

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Pamela Nelson

Artist Pamela Nelson
Photo courtesy of Allison V. Smith

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Tell us what piece you will have featured at Art + Advocacy?

I collaborated with children at the Dallas Children%26rsquo;s Advocacy Center to create a special piece inspired by the American quilt. Each child chose his or her own paint to work with and helped to mix his or her own special individual color. The children then used the colors in harmony and patched them together in a painting.

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Why a quilt?

Quilts remind us of warmth, comfort and security. They are an American tradition for generations.

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Walk This Way

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 01:21:16 GMT

Only once in every generation does the Boy King of ancient Egypt hit town. This month is one of those rare occasions when zealots of all things gilded and pharaonic will get up-close and personal with the fabled Tutankhamun. Not since 1962 %26mdash;%26nbsp;when 34 artifacts were showcased at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, for a short 30-day run %26mdash; have hometown audiences encountered Tut. Now the 50-year wait is over. %26ldquo;Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs%26rdquo; rises from the tombs of the ancients, installed in the grand expanse of the Upper Brown Pavilion, with its 25,000 sweeping square feet showcasing King Tut, as well as his fellow pharaohs. Expect gold, gold everywhere%26nbsp; %26mdash; it equated kings and queens with the gods. Frances Marzio curates this Houston presentation of the internationally traveling blockbuster, in cooperation with Egypt%26rsquo;s Supreme Council of Antiquities. A portrait of life for the privileged monarchs emerges that is filled with humanity, including peeks into the pharaohs%26rsquo; pets, games, attire, baubles and household decor, all part of the Egyptians%26rsquo; elaborate preparations for a very munificent afterlife. Want to know more? Save the Special Section in this issue, brought to you by Cadillac. October 16, 2011 %26ndash; April 15, 2012; 713.639.7300; mfah.org; King Tut Ticket Hotline 888.931.4888.

Image: Pair of Sandals Found on Tutankhamun's Mummy, 18th Dynasty. Photo %26copy; Sandro Vannini.

We’re Two x Two Excited

Thu, 22 Sep 2011 05:29:02 GMT

After hearing all about Monday night%26rsquo;s TWO x TWO Highlights Exhibition party hosted at Sotheby%26rsquo;s NYC headquarters, we are seriously regretting not having booked a flight to La Guardia in a New York minute. We%26rsquo;ve just caught up with Melissa Meeks, the director of TWO x TWO for Aids and Art benefitting amfAR and the Dallas Museum of Art and she couldn%26rsquo;t stop raving about the event. Gala co-chairs John Benjamin Hickey, Joyce Goss, and Gary Tigges jetted to New York, too, joining longtime TWO x TWO hosts Cindy and Howard Rachofsky and the art world%26rsquo;s cr%26egrave;me de la cr%26egrave;me %26mdash; think top-notch gallerists, artists and collectors. The talk of the town? Everyone was aflutter about the auction preview and its 37 masterpieces from artists including Hernan Bas, Andro Wekua, Florian Maier-Aichen, Robert Heinecken, Liza Lou, Jim Hodges and Ervin Wurm. But it was a painting by 2011 honoree Mark Grotjahn that garnered top stares. We can only imagine the bidding war that will take place when the piece, valued at $675,000, goes on the auction block %26mdash; Grotjahn%26rsquo;s work is the highest valued donation in TWO x TWO history. Among the gallery gawkers? Fashion darling Thakoon, Cond%26eacute; Nast owners Victoria and Si Newhouse, Sotheby%26rsquo;s chairman Jamie Niven and Simon Preston of Simon Preston Gallery in NYC. Fret not if you missed the Big Apple sneak-peek%26nbsp;%26mdash; it%26rsquo;s just one month till the already-sold-out event at The Rachofsky House on Saturday, October 22. We wouldn%26rsquo;t miss that f%26ecirc;te for the world. For more TWO x TWO scoop, click 2x2online.org.

Otherworldly Heads

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 11:58:00 GMT

We were feeling particularly animalia this month. One look at our October cover and fashion pages and you%26rsquo;ll recall your grade-school days of kingdoms, phyla, genuses and all things animal-like %26mdash; only in much more rarefied environs, %26agrave; la a PaperCity drawing-room romp. Flip to page 18, where you%26rsquo;ll find our fall-fashion creature feature, resplendent with a curious dame and dandy donning horns, hooves and wickedly whimsical critter heads as they co-habitate amongst oil paintings, dusty trestle tables and threadbare velvet chairs. The woman behind those masks? Artist, photo stylist and Dallas native Marisa Dukowitz, pictured, who co-owns Stash Design, a firm dedicated to hotel and restaurant design with a focus on local and reclaimed materials. For the PaperCity heads, Dukowitz pulled everyday materials from her home: chicken wire, tape, Styrofoam, sponges, dryer lint, gourds, you name it. She even tapped seamstress Neely Coker for the surreal hooves. %26ldquo;Because it%26rsquo;s the October issue,%26rdquo; Dukowitz says, %26ldquo;I imagined the animals to be folkloric and sophisticated.%26rdquo; We wouldn%26rsquo;t have it any other way. To see the masks for yourself, check in with the Ross-Akard Gallery at 1717 North Akard Street in Dallas where, come October 25, Dukowitz will be showing them during her solo exhibit %26ldquo;Creatures by Marisa Dukowitz.%26rdquo; It%26rsquo;s all wildly humorous, isn%26rsquo;t it?

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Image: Photo by Maxine Helfman.

Houston Fine Arts Fair Takes Off

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 05:42:35 GMT

%26ldquo;Our goal for the city%26rsquo;s first fine art fair is to create a terrific event that is representative of the diverse collecting practices in Houston. There are truly great contemporary, classic and Latin American collections here, and we sought to include galleries that present a clear point of view and a fantastic roster of artists in each of those areas.%26rdquo; %26mdash; Fran Kaufman, fair director

It%26rsquo;s About Time
You could say it will be the event of the fall, and that would not be hyperbole. When 80 dealers from 12 countries roll into town, the antennae of collectors,
gallerists, museum directors and curators, coast-to-coast and overseas media, and the merely curious go into high alert. Miami Beach has one, Dallas has one, even San
Diego does. Now%26nbsp; %26mdash; after years and years of waiting, and a full decade following Art Basel Miami Beach%26rsquo;s launch %26mdash; our burg gets its first international art fair when the Houston Fine Art Fair sets up shop at George R. Brown, September 16 through 18, with a Preview Party benefitting the MFAH%26rsquo;s Glassell School of Art Core Program on Thursday, September 15. We%26rsquo;ll be covering the aisles and aisles of art and reporting on the Fair%26rsquo;s must-sees, with a blog of the day, beginning opening night.

Joseph Cornell%26rsquo;s Object, 1944, at Schroeder Romero %26amp; Shredder.

Background Dish
How did the Houston Fair come to pass? Who had the guts and pockets to make it happen? Produced by the New York-based Hamptons Expo Group (HEG), the outfit is owned by Rick Friedman, a mogul and collector who professes a passion for abstract expressionism and who made his money as a publisher at the dawn of the computer age. Friedman has been coming here for the past year to garner support, participating in events from cocktails for the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) %26mdash; one of its staunchest supporters %26mdash;%26nbsp;to buying tickets to major MFAH events, including the Latin American Experience Gala. (Late MFAH director Peter Marzio was a fan of Friedman
and his Aspen fair, and reportedly suggested Houston as an important, yet undiscovered fair locale.) To head the Fair VIP Committee, Friedman smartly invited the well-connected Marshal Lightman (part of an astute art power couple, with wife Victoria), who%26rsquo;s currently chairman of the board and committee chair for civic art and design with the HAA.

Williem de Kooning's The Birds, 1972, at Vincent Vallarino Fine Art.

What MakesThis Fair Different?
Director Fran Kaufman and crew have coaxed exhibitors whose programs are both adventuresome and cutting-edge, joining those who present canonical art history. In keeping with Houston%26rsquo;s position as a hotbed and epicenter of Latin American collecting, thanks to the MFAH%26rsquo;s 10-year-old Latin American department, the art and art history of the Southern continent is the strongest aspect of this fair, with an intriguing sub-theme bubbling up from Cuban contenders as well as participating dealers from Mexico City. Read On.

Marjorie Strider%26rsquo;s Green Triptych (detail), 1963, at Hollis Taggert Galleries.

Donald Sultan%26rsquo;s Aqua Lantern Flowers, 2010, at Meredith Long %26amp; Company. Photo by Thomas R. Dubrock.

Booth Buzz
Who and What We%26rsquo;ll Be Checking Out: Among the out-of-towners (and/or internationals), we%26rsquo;re most excited about Oscar Cruz Galeria (Sao Paulo); Document-Art (Buenos Aires); Arevalo Gallery (Miami) for its stellar Latin American; Ginocchio Galeria and Yam Gallery (both from Mexico City); Havana pair La Casona and Servando Galeria;
print haven ULAE (New York); Schuebbe Projects (Dusseldorf); Christies-owned and remarkably named Haunch of Venison (New York); Frey Norris Gallery (San Francisco), which emphasizes Asian, Islamic and even unexpected finds such as the corset of Frida Kahlo; MasArt Galeria (Barcelona); Amstel Gallery (Amsterdam); Pavel Zoubok Gallery (New York) for its commitment to collage; and cool contemporary Margaret Thatcher Projects (New York). Also, see some of our top picks on this page, including a
fabulous Marjorie Strider babe in a bikini at Hollis Taggart Galleries (New York) %26mdash; a genuine treasure from the early days of Pop art.%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

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David Kretschmer%26rsquo;s Mirrors %26mdash; Self-Portrait, 2011, at Amstel Gallery.

The Hometown Players
And which Houston galleries are stepping up to exhibit? Eight power player plus one up-and-comer are making a commitment, comprising a nicely balanced approximate 10 percent of the Fair. The first to sign up, McClain Gallery, is joined by Meredith Long %26amp; Company (representing the Fair%26rsquo;s Lifetime Achievement honoree Donald Sultan), Anya Tish Gallery, Barbara Davis Gallery, Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery, Darke Gallery, Hiram Butler Gallery, Moody Gallery and Sicardi Gallery.

Let%26rsquo;s Go to the Fair
The Stats: 80 exhibitors, 12 countries, 36 cities, 25 cultural and media partners (from FotoFest to the MFAH, and just in the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston), a (predicted)
10,000 visitors.%26nbsp;
Show Time: Preview Party Thursday, September 15, 6 pm, benefitting the MFAH Glassell School of Art Core Program. Fair Days Friday and Saturday, September 16 and 17, 11 am to 7 pm; Sunday, September 18, 11 am to 6 pm.
Where: George R. Brown Convention Center.
Note: After you%26rsquo;ve perused the Houston Fine Art Fair, head next door to check out the treasures at the HADA Fall Antiques Show %26amp; Sale.%26nbsp;
Tariff: From $17; Preview Party $100, includes three-day admission.
Contact: info@houstonfineartfair.com; houstonfineartfair.com.
See you there! We%26rsquo;ll meet you by the Mie Olise.

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Images:

William Steiger%26rsquo;s Aerial Survey, #2, 2011, at Margaret Thatcher Projects.

William Eggleston%26rsquo;s Tallahatchie County, Mississippi (from William Eggleston%26rsquo;s Guide), circa 1972, at David Lusk Gallery, Memphis.

Lights, Camera, Action at AT%26T PAC

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:47:10 GMT

The AT%26amp;T Performing Arts Center and the Dallas Film Society have paired to present the perfect Saturday night date spot in the Dallas Arts District. All you need is a fellow movie buff, a blanket and a bottle of wine. The third Saturday of every month, a gratis outdoor movie is debuted at Strauss Square %26mdash; showing everything from love stories such as Moulin Rouge to Indie faves including Exit Through the Gift Shop. Next in line? Mark your calendar for Waiting for Guffman this Saturday at 7:30 pm; Almost Famous (our top pick) on October 15 at 7:30 pm; and for the grand finale, the story of everyone%26rsquo;s favorite country couple, Walk the Line on November 19 at 7 pm. This under-the-stars screening certainly gives red-carpet premieres a run for their money. %26nbsp;

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Click, Click: 2x2catalogue.org

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 05:02:13 GMT

Online art gurus, bookmark 2x2catalogue.org, ASAP. Today, the annual TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art auction catalogue went live %26mdash; meaning you can place absentee bids on art and design objets before the sold-out Gala and art auction on Saturday, October 22. You%26rsquo;ll want to start taking art notes: Hosts Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, along with TWO x TWO director Melissa Meeks, have assembled quite the impressive collection of contemporary art for this year%26rsquo;s black-tie affair benefitting amfAR and the Dallas Museum of Art.

We%26rsquo;ve just perused the online catalogue and are mad for Mark Grotjahn%26rsquo;s colorful oil-on-cardboard masterpiece, Tony Cragg%26rsquo;s rusty-steel Mixed Feelings sculpture and a moody oil-on-linen piece by Nigel Cooke.

Something else we spied while clicking our way through 2x2online.org? Howard%26rsquo;s twist on his famous %26ldquo;Howard%26rsquo;s Picks%26rdquo; %26mdash; the popular own-it-now collection of auction items. This year, the mega-collector asked his friends %26mdash; Jeffrey Grove of the Dallas Museum of Art and the internationally known art advisor Allan Schwartzman %26mdash; to select their favorite art picks, too. To own one of their selections, click to 2x2online.org/own-it-now on Monday, October 17, at 12 pm CST, and be the first person to bid at or above the full estimated retail value of any given piece. Our advice? We%26rsquo;ve always heard the early bird gets the worm.

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Gothic a Gogo

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:44:28 GMT

Talk about endearing and unsettling. Indiana native, now Quebec resident Kevin Titzer%26rsquo;s aesthetic recalls the distorted figures of the Northern Gothic epoch more than a 21st-century take on the torso. After his 2010 ArtHouston debut, the sculptor/carver returns to Goldesberry with more odd twists on the human condition, including The Bees, a visage crawling with bees that echoes the famed Avedon Beekeeper image from the volume In the American West. The exhibition also celebrates the 20th anniversary of the founding of this Colquitt/Gallery Row crafts destination. %26ldquo;Kevin Titzer: Secret Handshakes and Bird Calls,%26rdquo; September 17 %26ndash; October 15, at Goldesberry Gallery; goldesberrygallery.com.

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Image: Kevin Titzer%26rsquo;s The Bees, 2011, at Goldeberry Gallery

Telling a Yarn

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 03:45:17 GMT

We%26rsquo;re enthralled by the ethereal environments realized by Mexico City%26ndash;born Gabriel Dawe, a newly minted MFA from the University of Texas at Dallas and recent CentralTrak (Dallas) resident, whose installations formed from thread and textiles redefine notions of craft and women%26rsquo;s work and shake up the constructs of minimalism. Dawe%26rsquo;s diaphanous %26ldquo;rooms%26rdquo; come to town this month, highlighted as fall%26rsquo;s opening act at 4411 Montrose%26rsquo;s innovative nexus of art and design %26mdash; Peel Gallery. %26ldquo;Gabriel Dawe: Plexus 9,%26rdquo; at Peel Gallery, September 9 %26ndash;%26nbsp;October 9; peelgallery.org.

Image: Gabriel Dawe%26rsquo;s Plexus No. 5, 2011, at Peel Gallery.

What We Love Now: Soup's On

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 03:28:51 GMT

During your Houston Fine Art Fair shopping perambulations, watch for Anthony Thompson Shumate%26rsquo;s carnival-barker-style performance, with a side of art multiples. What%26rsquo;s Shumate hawking? Campbell%26rsquo;s Soup cans %26mdash; how very Warholian %26mdash; emblazoned with not-so-subtle messages about capitalism, welfare and liberty, in his latest series, %26ldquo;Capitalist%26rsquo;s Soup.%26rdquo; Acquire a trio of the sculptor%26rsquo;s Capitalist cans for a mere $150, while supporting a Texas artist and showing off your own awareness of global economics. Through Barbara Davis Gallery at Houston Fine Art Fair; houstonfineartfair.com.

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Image: Anthony Thompson Shumate%26rsquo;s Capitalist%26rsquo;s Soup, 2011, through Barbara Davis Gallery, at the Houston Fine Art Fair.

Oak Cliff Cultural Center

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 07:04:10 GMT

Keys to the Door: Director Maria Mu%26ntilde;oz-Blanco, cultural programs coordinator Gerald Gonzales Jr.
What%26rsquo;s Hanging: One of the scene%26rsquo;s most welcome community endeavors is the City of Dallas%26rsquo; recently minted Oak Cliff Cultural Center, aka OC3, which has stepped up the art action since unveiling a sprawling 5,000-square-foot arts complex last summer. One of its brightest presentations to date was this spring%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;XXI: Conflicts in a New Century,%26rdquo; co-curated by writer Charles Dee Mitchell and gallerist Cynthia Mulcahy, which probed conflicts in our time through the photojournalists who cover them, including Tim Hetherington, who tragically died days after the opening while documenting the Libyan conflict. This month, the space looks closer to home with %26ldquo;Influence,%26rdquo; which brings together a trio from the University of Texas at Arlington painting faculty whose media, zeitgeist and cultural milieu couldn%26rsquo;t be more diverse. Check out engaging offerings by Sedrick Huckaby, Carlos Donjuan and Marilyn Jolly, respectively inspired by textiles/quilt-making, the graffiti movement and nature/gardening (through September 9). 223 W. Jefferson Blvd., 214.670.3777;
dallasculture.org/occc.

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Image: Carlos Donjuan%26rsquo;s Nothing Is What It Seems Anymore, 2010, at Oak Cliff Cultural Center. Photo courtesy the artist.

Kristy Stubbs Gallery Pop-Up

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 07:35:03 GMT

Keys to the Door: Owner/director/curator Kristy Stubbs.
What%26rsquo;s Hanging: Talk about the ultimate pop-up. Dealer/doyenne Kristy Stubbs has newly launched an eponymous gallery in Highland Park Village %26mdash; her third Dallas location, joining a West Highland Park destination and an Uptown sculpture garden %26mdash; for an extended six-month stay. Across from Herm%26egrave;s, in a smart 2,300-square-foot space, Stubbs struts the best of her stable in a polished interior that feels more like a modernist living room (complete with a well-stocked art library) than a sterile, white-walled art box. We marveled over Pop-tabloid encaustic canvases by Spaniard Jos%26eacute;-Mar%26iacute;a Cano (super topical after the collapse of the Murdoch News of the World empire), a striking 1981 Robert Rauschenberg silkscreen starring the artist as a skater with parachute trailing behind, canvases by well-regarded Texans Melissa Miller and David Bates, and photographs by Laura Wilson from her Laredo debutante series. Also coming to Stubbs at Highland Park Village, recalling a recent Park Avenue installation, is sculptor Will Ryman%26rsquo;s gargantuan metallic rose blossoms, six-by-four-by-four-foot versions made just for Dallas, which Stubbs curates this fall, on view throughout the historic shopping center. 25 Highland Park Village, Suite 106, 214.871.9311; stubbsgallery.com.

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Image: Kristy Stubbs models the %26rsquo;60s-era Souper Dress, at Kristy Stubbs Gallery Pop-Up. Photo by Fernando Rojas.

Dallas Art Fair Top Ten List

Fri, 27 May 2011 03:59:38 GMT

Who was the fairest of the Fair? Visual Arts Editor Catherine D. Anspon selects her top picks.

1. Moody Gallery%26rsquo;s booth was incontestably the most sublime and amounted to an important exhibition, rather than just an offering of individual market treasures. Moody%26rsquo;s presentation shone with real magic and a sense of art history, while conveying a depth and authentic affection for the artists it showcased: from an early Ed and Nancy Kienholz TV multiple (modestly priced at less than $5,000) to works on paper by Jay DeFeo and the inimitable Jess, plus an exquisite painting by Austin up-and-comer Ellen Tanner (this student of Melissa Miller produced one of the finds of the Fair, her realist gem The Fox and the Crow %26mdash; a steal at $2,500).

2. Love at First Sight: Kristy Stubbs Gallery, tucked into an expansive alcove to the left of the stairs and adjoining the main entrance, was a dealer I had never met before. I mostly knew of her trove of Damien Hirsts. I was impressed by second-generation Spanish Pop painter Jos%26eacute;-Mar%26iacute;a Cano%26rsquo;s masterful encaustic on canvases that replicated daily headlines, from the tabloids to the Wall Street Journal, and a trio of Laura Wilson photographs depicting a pinnacle in the Laredo social scene: the debutantes attired as Martha Washington (a fabulous buy at $3,500 each, admired by former First Lady Laura Bush, who always attends the Fair). Other wows were two articles of high fashion: the vintage, late-1960s Warholian Souper Dress, a perfect Pop find for $8,500 (is it a size 8?), accessorized by a droll little soup can bag ($12,000) that once belonged to a Campbell%26rsquo;s executive%26rsquo;s wife.

3. A Factory Super Star and Mr. Love: I confess, I%26rsquo;m a Warhol groupie, so the chance to catch the national premiere of Full Circle: Before They Were Famous, complete with a PA by Warhol muse and important contemporary artist Ultra Violet could not be passed up. So I took the film in twice at dual screenings in the Beck Imaginarium, then rushed to Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery to see the photographs from early 1960s by now-Miami-based William John Kennedy, whose reunion with those he photographed from that time and place can only be described as extraordinary %26mdash; a window into the art history of the wildly exciting, yet hauntingly idealistic 1960s. Kennedy%26rsquo;s recently reprinted series presented poignant, insider images of Ultra and Robert Indiana, creator of the unforgettable Love and most recently Hope sculpture, the latter a showstopper at the C%26amp;F booth.

Image: Chuck Ramirez%26rsquo;s "Buddha" from the %26ldquo;Lost and Found Series,%26rdquo; 2008 at Ruiz-Healy Art

4. Democracy Plus Pop Art: In keeping with the concept of democracy, the Fair leveled the playing field so that a Chelsea gallery with a small, inconspicuous space, Dean Project, could be booth to booth with established types such as moniquemeoloche and Zach Feuer and attract collectors like Poppi Massey, in from Houston, or Dallas-based James Barrow. Massey and Barrow each acquired an eye-catching Pop sculpture by Tim Berg and Rebekah Myers that commented on global warming and the embattled environment via a six-foot-tall fiberglass popsicle %26mdash; one part fully intact, the other nothing but a pair of sticks sans frozen treat.

5. A Confectionary King, Big Shiny Rings: The Fair has grown up into a meaty promenade of intriguing art and dealers with a genuine passion and unmistakable vision. Among the kingpins and queens of dealers with the eye, we%26rsquo;d like to single out: Palm Beach%26ndash;based Gavlak Gallery of the shiny Marilyn Minters; Galleria Lorcan O%26rsquo;Neill Roma, where Madonna reportedly shops for art; returning Londoner Stuart Shave/Modern Art, stocked with YBAs; Thomas Solomon%26rsquo;s booth packed with rising L.A. talents; Fred Stonehouse%26rsquo;s disturbing surrealism at Howard Scott; and Marc Selwyn Fine Art, with its 1979 Chris Burden assemblage, Radio Sculpture, scooped by a prominent collector whose name we cannot reveal. Two more offerings that caught our eye were Michael Kohn%26rsquo;s display of the latest Will Cotton canvas, Croquembouche, 2010 (a beguiling creation with drama and shadow play redolent of George de La Tour that featured a mysterious femme with a pile of pastry on her head like a fascinator), and hot, hot Callicoon Fine Arts with its smart video of heirloom engagement rings by Glen Fogel, which married new technology with familial memories.
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6. The Past, Present and Future of Texas Art: The Fair bowed deep to the Texas scene, from those terrific Fort Worth painters, The Brothers Blagg, at Artspace 111 to neon lady Adela Andea at Cris Worley Fine Art, Dunn and Brown%26rsquo;s remarkable array of museum-class Texans (Vernon Fisher to Liz Ward), plus solid displays at Holly Johnson, Galleri Urbane, Valley House, Barry Whistler, Inman (where the gallery%26rsquo;s greatest discovery, Dario Robleto, shone on one wall), William Campbell, Lora Reynolds and Conduit. Personal finds were the nuanced, haunting graphites (pencil whispers on white paper) by Dallas-based Nancy Brown at Russell Tether Fine Art %26mdash; a nice contrast with revived Texas modernists Seymour Fogel, Robert Preusser and Ben Culwell, who thankfully now are having their day. And I was happy to see scholar and dealer Patricia Ruiz-Healy, who has made a commitment to represent the estate of San Antonio photographer Chuck Ramirez, one of the leaders of the Alamo City%26rsquo;s visual community and a favorite of the late Linda Pace; Ramirez%26rsquo;s signature objects snapped against white backgrounds, from ethereal translucent plastic bags to a Buddha in a suitcase, were one of the most impactful images of the 2011 Fair.

Image: Will Cotton%26rsquo;s "Croquembouche," 2010, at Michael Kohn Gallery

7. American, All the Way. For devotees of American art history, nothing beat the treasures of Hirschl and Adler%26rsquo;s booth, steeped in time and genuine greatness. New to the Fair this year, they went all out; Tom Parker presided over the H%26amp;A booth, he the scion of Harry Parker, the visionary Dallas Museum of Art director who helped birth the Dallas Arts District. H%26amp;A highlights: the vaporous recent still lifes of Amy Weiskopf to contempo L.A. photorealist Marc Trujillo, alongside canonical works like a late 1960s Kenneth Noland stripe and an Edward Hopper sketch of a solitary house by a railroad station, circa 1944.

8. Prescient %26mdash; and Provocative %26mdash; Panels: The Fair panels were rich with meaty information plus a side on controversy. The biggest buzz swirled around the topics of collecting, and not surprisingly the relevance of art faris. The former panel was packed with heavy-hitting collectors %26mdash;%26nbsp;including Howard Rachofsky and Kenny Goss %26mdash; who shared tips for those in the mega stratosphere (absolutely tantalizing). However, the one that was most relevant to everyone was the Art Dealers Association of America%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;Art Fair Power: How Art Fairs Influence a Market and a Region%26rdquo; at Nasher Sculpture Center, which started off Saturday%26rsquo;s Fair activities. Weighing in were ADAA members Anthony Meier, James Cohan, and Talley Dunn (all except Cohan were exhibiting in the Fair), alongside Chris Byrne and The Modern%26rsquo;s incisive curator, Michael Auping, who provided the best sound-byte of the day when he compared Art Basel Miami Beach to an enormous Tupperware party. Another programming coup, and for me, the grand finale of Sunday%26rsquo;s final day, was our book pals Ed Marquand (who published Texas Artists Today) and UT Press friend Allison Faust; the pair dished about the future of the art book, while a projected slide show of their publishing house%26rsquo;s most notable volumes screened, including our recent tome about contemporary Texas talents.

9. Community. The fostered sense of an art family and a Texas-connected nexus, dialoguing with creative types such as Selven O%26rsquo;Keef Jarmon, McKay Otto, George Tobolowsky, and internationals Angelbert Metoyer and wife Charlie Koolhaas, who have just returned to Texas after stints living in England and China; fashion designers Finley Moll and Zo%26euml; Jackson-Jarra; consultant Jana Cothren, who travels between Texas and Manhattan to place art; Glasstire founder Rainey Knudson; Houston jeweler Janice Thomas, with beau Dallas astronomical lensman Kent Kirkley, whose previous career was capturing cover girls; gracious collector and Dallas contemporary board member Karla McKinley; and photog Stewart Cohen, who just sent me his splendid tome, Identity, in which he captures everyone from Dominick Dunne to Kinky Friedman (thank you!).

Image: Warhol-inspired "The Souper Dress," circa 1966-1967, produced by the Campbell Soup Company; Warhol-inspired "Campell%26rsquo;s Soup Purse," circa 1980s, produced by the Campbell Soup Company; Damien Hirst%26rsquo;s "Clomiphene Citrate," 2007, at Kristy Stubbs Gallery

10. Aesthetics. We loved the look of the Fair in its handsome Fashion Industry Gallery space, an adroitly updated modernist architectural gem, something no convention center can ever replicate; its convenience and proximity to museums (footsteps from the DMA, Nasher and Crow in heart of the Arts District) and next-door status to Stephan Pyles, where dealers plied collectors with dish and drink and groups like the Rice Design Alliance held court and lunched before ambling next door to the Fair. And like a femme donning a beautiful designer gown, or a well-dressed room, FIG was a welcoming, elegant, and intimate backdrop for the discovery of stimulating, important modern and contemporary art and the fostering of new relationships (dealer to collector, artist to dealer, collector to collector, etc.) and an initiating an ongoing dialogue. Bring on year four.

Inman Gallery

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:11:44 GMT

3901 Main St., 713.526.7800;inmangallery.com%26nbsp;

Keys to the Door: Owner Kerry Inman; director Patrick Reynolds.

What%26rsquo;s Hanging: Inman Gallery was founded in 1990 as a microscopic project space %26mdash; an arrival that coincided with the burgeoning Core Program. The rest is history. Since 2004, owner Kerry Inman and director Patrick Reynolds have held court in Isabella Court Building, blocks from the Museum District, forging a new gallery row that includes gallerists Art Palace and Bryan Miller, Kinzelman Art Consulting and, come fall, Devin Borden. The gallery%26rsquo;s latest endeavor, assisted by architect John Blackmon (who devised their original Isabella space), is a confident expansion that adds 1,000 square feet to create five exhibition spaces. Amping the gallery%26rsquo;s white cube up to 4,000 square feet, the redux completes just in time for ArtHouston, when they present former Core Fellow/painter of neo-baroque, romantic canvases Angela Fraleigh, who currently shares the stage with Marc Swanson in his Inman debut. Swanson%26rsquo;s work, typified by his now iconic crystal-encrusted deer head, suggests an affinity with both Joseph Cornell and Bruce Conner (through August 20).

Image: Kerry Inman, Patrick Reynolds, with Shaun O%26rsquo;Dell%26rsquo;s Feeling Easy Feelings, 2011. Photo by Jenny Antill.

Take a Plunge

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:56:40 GMT

August continues the tradition of PaperCity tapping important contemporary artists to share, collaborate and/or create artwork for our cover. This month, internationally exhibited, museum-collected Texas photographer Kenda North lends an image from her %26ldquo;Urban Pools%26rdquo; series. Perfect, we say: North%26rsquo;s nymph-like underwater models conjure a dream state, part mermaids/part alluring high-fashion cover girls. This work plunges us into our subconscious while inviting comparisons with Dal%26iacute;%26rsquo;s underwater tableau for the New York World%26rsquo;s Fair of 1939, as well as painter David Hockney%26rsquo;s obsession with poolside culture. We also sense a subliminal nod to Slim Aarons%26rsquo; palmy poolscapes. What does North herself say? The Dallas-based professor %26mdash; who heads the photography department at UT Arlington %26mdash; discloses that her images are also inspired by the hue of the deep: %26ldquo;Blue is a recurring color in my work. The nuances of being blue, thinking blue, speaking about blue are more subtle themes. Blue is the color associated with solitary, with mood, with sex. Blue movies, the Texas blue laws. The various inhabitants of %26ldquo;Urban Pools%26rdquo; respond to the blue; it is the place where they exist and must, indeed, rise above.%26rdquo; Limited-edition photographs, $800 to $2,800; through Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas (craigheadgreengallery.com), and kendanorth.com.

Image: Kenda North%26rsquo;s Greek Art (detail), from the %26ldquo;Urban Pools%26rdquo; series, 2005

Taking It to the Streets — What We Love Now

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 04:17:50 GMT

Taggers, graffiti-ists, stencilers and other manner of street artists %26mdash; George Hixson has his lens on you. The Houston-based man with the camera, showcased as the cover artist for Toby Kamps%26rsquo; brilliant 2009 %26ldquo;No Zoning%26rdquo; exhibition at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, is onto his latest urban series. Instead of Art Cars and portraits of our town%26rsquo;s creative class, he%26rsquo;s zooming in on underground crusaders, those armed with stickers, aerosol paint cans or stencils, who go about their business where rough, slowly gentrifying neighborhoods collide with strip centers or even venturing into upscale locales where they%26rsquo;ll spray an alley in the River Oaks Shopping Center. (We%26rsquo;ve fallen for Coolidge, who stencils adroit animals, then signs his unauthorized creations.) Follow Hixson%26rsquo;s blog, hixsonhouston.com/artist-unknown.

Image: George Hixson%26rsquo;s Taylor at Shearn Street (street art by Coolidge), 2011.

My Guide to the Biennale

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:38:37 GMT

Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance splendors, gondola rides through the grand canal, music in St. Mark%26rsquo;s Square and stolen kisses under the Bridge of Sighs. These are but a few of the features that have captivated world travelers for generations and are but some of the things that drew my family to visit there mere weeks ago.%26nbsp;

Little did we know, our long-awaited trip to Italy coincided with the highly revered Biannale %26mdash; an occurrence that takes place every two years, when Venice houses the latest and greatest in global Contemporary art. This world-renowned fair breathes nonstop energy and life into Venice for a stunning five months. During our trip, we devoted half of our time in Venice to this highly talked about exhibition %26mdash; it's safe to say my appreciation for art has never been greater.%26nbsp;

My Biannale journey begins at the Giardini (home base to the pavilions boasting works of art from the 89 participating countries) and continues into the Arsenale, known for its sprawling Italian pavilion. But wait, there's more to stumble upon: Many collateral Biannale events are tucked away into beautifully ornate spaces throughout the city. There is abounding contemporary art %26mdash; some so abstract that I'm still pondering the hidden messages and others so profound it becomes hard to talk about them. Herewith, I hit my Biannale highlights:%26nbsp;

%26bull; The Stage is Set at the Grand Pavilion: This year, art historian and critic Bice Curiger %26mdash; co-founder of the prestigious art magazine, Parkett %26mdash; added director of La Biennale to her endless list of artful accomplishments. Inspired by Renaissance artist Tintoretto%26rsquo;s use of dramatic lighting, Curiger themed the 54th art extravaganza ILLUMinations. She handpicked three of Tintoretto%26rsquo;s canvases %26mdash; The Last Supper, The Stealing Body of St. Mark and The Creation of the Animals %26mdash; to show in the main room of the Giardini's Central Pavilion. Perched above the Renaissance masterpieces, the ceiling was lined with birds so real looking it took me 30 minutes to realize they were, in fact, sculptures. The Tintorettos were in stark contrast to the Contemporary art lining the clean, white walls of the rest of the building. Take, for example, the award-winning room devoted to German painter and photographer, Sigmar Polke. Polke's imaginative style leaves indelible marks on the human mind. His awe-inspiring prints are perfectly crafted, three-dimensional hybrids melding digital and paint mediums. His best? Unquestionably, the giant wall-sized modern print with a historical twist%26nbsp;%26mdash; an army general sitting adjacent his pig, who is cleverly donning the general%26rsquo;s hat.%26nbsp;

%26bull; Giardini's Dazzling Duo: After admiring the curator%26rsquo;s den, we made our way to two of the most interesting pavilions at the Giardini. First stop: Israel, whose main message, %26ldquo;One Man%26rsquo;s Floor is Another Man%26rsquo;s Feelings,%26rdquo; says it all. The two-story pavilion stars an instillation made of water, soil and salt %26mdash; symbolic metaphors for interdependence among human beings, bringing to light a dialogue regarding the controversial relationship between Israel and its bordering countries. Second stop: The United States, which showed a political collaboration at the hand of curators Jennifer Allora, Guillermo Calzadilla and the USA Olympic Gymnastics and Track %26amp; Field teams. The main attraction, Track and Field, featured Olympic decathlon gold-medalist Dan O%26rsquo;Brien running on a treadmill atop an upside down military tank. Inside the press-garnering spectacle, the curators mixed various artistic practices such as sculpture, performance, video and sound by way of a gymnastics performance taking place on an airplane-inspired sculpture, recalling the familiar experience of being on an American Airlines flight. The critically acclaimed collaboration questioned notions of national identity, democracy, militarism and international commerce.

%26bull; Italian Spectacle: One vaporetto stop over %26mdash; think Venice's version of a New York City subway on water %26mdash; we arrived at the Arsenale. The main attraction here? The popular Italian pavilion, of course. The Italian hub explores the state of the arts within Italy by an ironic message that reads loud and clear via a lit-up neon sign: %26ldquo;L%26rsquo;Arte non e cosa nostra%26rdquo; or, "art is not our thing.%26rdquo; Despite its somewhat overwhelming nature %26mdash; here, more than 200 participating artists represent their host country%26nbsp;%26mdash;%26nbsp;the jam-packed space tells a story beyond art itself, one focused on the nation of Italy.

%26bull; Best in Show, Ukraine: As I rode along the canal on the vaporetto, I spotted what I thought was a huge digital screen in front of San Stae. It wasn%26rsquo;t until I took a closer look that I realized the screen-like walls were actually huge installations, consisting of thousands of palm sized, colorfully painted wooden eggs. In an attempt to reclaim the sphere as a geometric shape Ukranian artist Oksana Mas re-created small sections of the Van Eyck brothers%26rsquo; The Ghent Altarpiece. Mas' awe-inspiring, architectural structure pieced together the wooden eggs into a colorful mosaic making up one, recognizable image. To top it all off, Mas entrusted thousands of volunteers to paint these bright eggs with details of familiar figures, symbols, brand names and images representing each person's perceptions of sin and transgression. The creation was, without question, the highlight of the Biennale, winning top prize in my book. It is a testament to the practice of art, an establishment that evokes jaw-dropping, indescribable reactions from all who come across it.%26nbsp;

This grand celebration of art brings an already timeless city to life unlike any other. The Biennale made my trip to Venice unforgettable, one that I will remember for many years to come. Whether you're a fervent art expert, a passionate contemporary art lover, or simply, a curious traveler stumbling upon new experiences, the Biennale is nothing short of an artistic journey that challenges and captivates the mind and satisfies the soul.

Ready to book a flight to Italy, yet?%26nbsp;

The deets: Venice, Italy. June 4, 2011, through November 27, 2011, 10 am to 6 pm; labiennale.org.

Photography by Katie Broder

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PC Acquire

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 05:58:06 GMT

To browse the complete 50 Gremillion offerings for PC Acquire, please click "launch slideshow" tab above.

PaperCity unveils PC Acquire this month, a curated collecting opportunity to present the best and brightest in Texas art today. We inaugurate this online gallery with compelling work by Kimberly Gremillion, a nationally acclaimed, internationally collected artist whose diaphanous prints have graced the pages of the influential Aperture and the cover of Black %26amp; White Magazine. Gremillion%26rsquo;s photographs reside in the permanent collections of 18 museum worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Biblioth%26egrave;que Nationale, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Her book Circus remains a classic example of the power and primacy of black-and-white imagery, while its 26-city tour included stops at the prestigious International Center for Photography and the Howard Greenberg Gallery, both in New York. For our magazine, Gremillion debuts a moving new subject: the sublime and dreamy Metamorphosis, alongside six other series never before presented in color %26mdash; Dance, Flamenco, Fans, Thresholds, Rodeo, Portraits %26mdash;%26nbsp; and signature images culled from her Circus and Ballroom portfolios, produced in handsome black-and-white prints. Fifty total archival prints are offered in unique sizes and limited editions of 10, exclusively priced for PaperCity collectors: 9 x 13.5 inches for $550; 14.5 x 21.75 inches for $950, both printed on glossy paper. Each work is hand-signed by the artist and bears the edition number. (Framing and shipping available for an additional charge.) For the complete portfolio, visit papercitymag.com.%26nbsp;

Please see the examples below from the nine series available. 50 total images offered at special prices 40% less than retail, in a very limited edition of 10, exclusively for PaperCity readers!

For inquiries, contact Seth Vaughan, seth@papercitymag.com.

To browse the complete 50 Gremillion offerings for PC Acquire, please click "launch slideshow" tab above.

Dance 19, 2010, from "The Dance Series"

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Flamenco 1, 2009, from "The Flamenco Series"

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Fan 1, 2008, from "The Fan Series"

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Threshold 50, 2005, from "The Threshold Series"

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Rodeo 11, 2005, from "The Rodeo Series"

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Shadow 25, 1999, from "The Circus Series"

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Ballroom 15, 2003, from "The Ballroom Series"

Portrait 16, 2010, from "The Portrait Series"

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Metamorphosis 16, 2006 from "The Metamorphosis Series"

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Portrait of the Artist

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To browse the complete 50 Gremillion offerings for PC Acquire, please click "launch slideshow" tab above.

Heroic Helmut

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 05:09:00 GMT

Come July 3, all eyes in the photography and fashion firmament will be on the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which unfurls the first-ever, large-scale American exhibition of the 20th century%26rsquo;s most ground-breaking, controversial, transgressive and brilliant photographer of fashion and femmes. None other than the mighty, inimitable Helmut Newton (1920 %26ndash; 2004) is in our viewfinder, celebrated in a pioneering exhibition whose works, 30 to 40 years after their creation, still manage to shock and surprise us. The entire contents of the photographer%26rsquo;s first three books %26mdash;%26nbsp;a trio of volumes that rocked the fashion and photo worlds %26mdash;%26nbsp;are showcased, now in the permanent collection of the MFAH: White Women (1976), Sleepless Nights (1978) and Big Nudes (1982). Presented in the prime galleries of the MFAH%26rsquo;s Beck Building are 205 life-size, large-scale prints, a special edition made exclusively for this show, mounted sans glass, which confront, engage and gaze at the viewer, at sizes approaching 8 by 8 feet.

Newtonian History
The fearless lensman%26rsquo;s life paralleled the tumultuous events of his century, mirroring a world where the shadow of Nazism darkened the landscape. Newton was born in Berlin to a comfortable family, introduced to photography at the age of 12 (as an apprentice to the theatrical photographer Yva, who would later die at Auschwitz), then fled after Kristallnacht at the age of 18, traveling alone to Singapore while his parents immigrated to Chile. After living as a nomadic teen, he was seized by the British in 1940, was interned in a camp in Australia from 1940 to 1942, later served in the Australian army, then gained Australian citizenship in 1945, when he changed his name to Newton (from Neust%26auml;dler). Setting up a photography studio in post-war Melbourne, he met his wife and future collaborator, June Browne, an actress who modeled for him and would go on to curate his exhibitions, edit his numerous and influential books (including the three showcased here) and conceive this exhibition.

Voguing It
During the 1950s, the couple globe-hopped while Newton photographed for British and Australian Vogue before landing in Paris, where he began his extraordinary image-making for French Vogue. Illustrious honors and international renown followed %26mdash;%26nbsp;from the French accolades Grand Prix National de la Ville de Paris and Commander in the Order of Arts and Letters to his 80th birthday retrospective organized by the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, which traveled to culture capitals London, New York, Tokyo, Moscow and Prague. Newton and June later divided their time between Monte Carlo and L.A., where they wintered at the Chateau Marmont, the site where Newton passed away in 2004 in a car crash outside the hotel %26mdash; a cinematic ending to an extraordinary career, that was outlined and underscored in edge.

Bondage, Gender-Bending Elegance
As we discover in these prints,%26nbsp;Newton never played it safe. He took risque themes %26mdash;%26nbsp;luxury, decadence, cross-dressing, bondage, role playing, mise en sc%26egrave;nes of prowling sexual adventuresses %26mdash; front and center, from book pages to magazine spreads. Nudity was a given, as were the indulgent trappings of wealth, plus exotic locales. His Amazonian women, many wearing nothing but a pair of designer heels, march confidently to their own beat. Often androgynous, never passive, they starred in their own narrative to forge a modern concept of femininity that was as nonconformist as it was radical. In place of the 1950s and 1960s white-gloved, prim-and-proper vision of American womanhood, Newton proposed a saddle-wearing, whip-wielding woman forged by the European civilizationwhere he was raised. This sexually provocative blockbuster is organized by Amsterdam collector Manfred Heiting (also a friend of the Newtons and curator of his Berlin retrospective), whose comprehensive and impressive 4,000-piece collection the MFAH acquired in 2002 and 2004, bringing one of the world%26rsquo;s top 10 troves of photography to Texas. MFAH Gus and Lyndall Wortham curator of photography Anne Wilkes Tucker is co-curator.

The Definitive Newton
Required for your library is the exhibition catalog (Gerhard Steidl, $65), starring contributions by a Who%26rsquo;s Who of photography, fashion and theater including Tucker and Heiting, Karl Lagerfeld, Anna Wintour and Pierre Berge of YSL, as well as writer/producer Josephine Hart. Also, shop the MFAH Bookstore for a curated collection of Newton volumes including the out of print Helmut Newton: Work ($65), Helmut Newton: Sex and Landscapes ($65), Helmut Newton: A Gun for Hire ($65), and Autobiography by Helmut Newton ($35) alongside nearly a dozen other must-haves including Helmut Newton: White Women ($49.95), Helmut Newton: Big Nudes%26nbsp; ($39.95) and the Taschen 10th anniversary edition of Helmut Newton: SUMO, revised by June Newton ($150), as well as the very newest Taschen release, Helmut Newton: Polaroids ($59.99), which the MFAH will be one of the first in the country to stock.%26nbsp;

%26ldquo;Helmut Newton: White Women %26bull; Sleepless Nights %26bull; Big Nudes,%26rdquo; July 3 %26ndash; September 25, 2011, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; mfah.org.%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

Images:

Helmut Newton%26rsquo;s Saddle I from the series Sleepless Nights, 1975 - 1978, at MFAH. Collection of the Estate of Helmut Newton, %26copy; Helmut Newton / Maconochie Photography.

Helmut Newton%26rsquo;s Rue Aubriot, Paris Collections, from the series White Women, 1975, at MFAH. Collection of the Estate of Helmut Newton, %26copy; Helmut Newton / Maconochie Photography.

Helmut Newton%26rsquo;s Villa d%26rsquo;Este, Lake Como, Italy, from the series White Women, April 1975, at MFAH. Collection of the Estate of Helmut Newton, %26copy; Helmut Newton / Maconochie Photography.

No White Walls Allowed

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 02:03:55 GMT

Catherine D. Anspon forecasts the best of this month%26rsquo;s sizzling, gallery-wide summer open house %26mdash; photographs of American metropolises rendered in Jell-O, anyone? %26mdash; then reflects upon the Whitney Biennial discoveries that began their ascent in ArtHouston many Julys ago, including a painter whose canvases now command seven figures. (Can you name her?) Read On.

Then and Now
Art collectors and canvas-gazers, save this date: Saturday, July 9. It%26rsquo;s not an art fair, but something homegrown and more organic: ArtHouston, an open house that showcases hometown galleries and touts their hottest talent. Conceived 32 years ago as Introductions to inject life into the slumbering summer art scene, ArtHouston%26rsquo;s exhibitions have taken on greater import through the decades with the increasing global prominence of the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston%26rsquo;s Glassell School of Art. Some of the most important debuts of the Core crop during ArtHouston have been: Shahzia Sikander at Barbara Davis Gallery, 1996 (including the artist%26rsquo;s first-ever wall drawing); Julie Mehretu at Barbara Davis Gallery, 1998 (Mehretu%26rsquo;s paintings based on dizzying global maps and urban centers have meteorically risen from $1,000-some then to the million-dollar range now and have earned her a $500,000 MacArthur Award); and Leandro Erlich, whose 1999 %26ldquo;Rain%26rdquo; installation at Moody Gallery went directly to the Whitney Biennial 2000 eight months later. More than Core Fellows have had their day. Beijing-born Yun-Fei Ji soloed in Introductions 1990 at Meredith Long %26amp; Company to go on to the Whitney Biennial in 2004. And in 1999, Inman Gallery showed an obscure San Antonio talent, Dario Robleto, whose arcane conceptual sculptures employed strange materials such as stolen dime-store lipsticks and a cosmetic holder cast from melted LPs; Robleto also hopped the Whitney Biennial train (2004) and earned increasing national renown, all achieved while remaining in Texas.

The Bets Are On

%26ldquo;Dream Skipper%26rdquo; at Barbara Davis Gallery: Though we%26rsquo;re not always a fan of group shows for ArtHouston, any exhibition that combines international painter Mie Olise (who mines magic from modern fairy tales), with notable hometowners Joe Mancuso, Daniel McFarlane and Anthony Shumate is a must (July 9 %26ndash;%26nbsp;September 2).

Aboriginal Offerings at Booker-Lowe Gallery: Billed as %26ldquo;Affordable Australian Aboriginal Art,%26rdquo; this exhibition presents an enticing collecting opportunity to enter the
aboriginal realm, with all work between $250 and $2,500 (July 9 %26ndash;%26nbsp;September 14).

Paul Horn Selects at Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery: The wild man, aka provocateur Paul Horn, returns to curate a group view. Watch for Matt Messinger%26rsquo;s surreal paintings and sculpture tinged with graffiti, as well as Whitney Biennial%26ndash;exhibited Daniel Johnston of the cartoon-inflected drawings (July 9 %26ndash; August 20).%26nbsp;

Liz Hickok%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;Jiggling Geography%26rdquo; at De Santos Gallery: Any photographer who recreates American cityscapes in Jell-O has our attention. This West Coast artist was one of the %26ldquo;Discoveries of the Meeting Place%26rdquo; at FotoFest 2010 (through July 31).

Fashion Fusion at 4411 Montrose: Check out a full-on fashion convergence and pop-up boutique curated by Zo%26euml; Jackson-Jarra at 4411 Montrose%26rsquo;s new project space, The Venue, with daytime shopping (benefitting Yellowstone Academy) capped by an evening runway show (Saturday, July 9).

%26ldquo;A Pixelated Bunch%26rdquo; at G Gallery: Recent Row Houses exhibitor Sapphire Williams selects her faves in an edgy group view incorporating painting, sculpture and performance by some under-known up-and-comers (July 9 %26ndash; 25).

Prescient Portraiture at Hiram Butler Gallery: %26ldquo;Faces%26rdquo; pairs unforgettable visages on paper by Chuck Close, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Sherrie Levine, Vik Muniz and Elizabeth Peyton with a quartet of new diaphanous abstractions by Terrell James (through July 23).

Taking It to the Streets at PG Contemporary: Aerosol Warfare, which propels Houston%26rsquo;s graffiti movement, is paired with West Coaster John Stuart Berger to concoct a simmering lowbrow stew in %26ldquo;Street/Science%26rdquo; (July 8 %26ndash;%26nbsp;August 6).

%26ldquo;Art for Japan%26rdquo; at McClain Gallery: Four important Japanese masters contribute to this fund-raising effort for Red Cross Disaster Relief in Japan, including poetic painter Katsumi Hayakawa and lensman Nobuyoshi Araki of the transgressive bondage photography (July 9 %26ndash; August 6).
%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;
Lawrence Lee at Moody Gallery: Idiosyncratic drawings peopled with odd characters are the hallmark of this Texas A%26amp;M Commerce grad, who perhaps not coincidentally comes from the same school where Trenton Doyle Hancock and Robyn O%26rsquo;Neill attended (July 9 %26ndash; August 6).

Images:

Elizabeth Peyton%26rsquo;s RM, 2007, at Hiram Butler Gallery

John Stuart Berger%26rsquo;s Fabglamzilla, 2010, at PG Contemporary

Irene Namok%26rsquo;s Slow Coming in Tide (detail), 2010, at Booker-Lowe Gallery

Liz Hickok%26rsquo;s Coit Tower, 2009, at De Santos Gallery

Mie Olise%26rsquo;s Light House, 2011, at Barbara Davis Gallery

Dario Robleto%26rsquo;s I%26rsquo;ve Kissed Your Mother Twice and Now I%26rsquo;m Working On Your Dad, 1998. Collection Gregory Higgins, Dallas; courtesy Inman Gallery

Go Now!

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 04:37:15 GMT

While you%26rsquo;re at%26nbsp; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, for the majestic %26ldquo;Titian and the Golden Age of Italian Painting%26rdquo; (through August 14), check out something non-heroic and of this century. We%26rsquo;re in love with the miniature marvels of Charles LeDray, holding court in the Law Building%26rsquo;s Cullinan Hall. LeDray%26rsquo;s tiny treasures transcend isms and trends to mine the magic of the mundane and the everyday. Meticulously and lovingly hand-sewn and hand-cast into thousands of fragile works of art %26mdash; little clothing ensembles laid out on a street vendor%26rsquo;s blanket, an array of miniscule ties, a model-sized dry-cleaning operation out of the 1950s complete with specks of dust in the light fixtures, and hundreds upon hundreds of thimble-sized porcelain whatnots%26nbsp; %26mdash; the artist%26rsquo;s convincing amalgamation of a bygone, Lilliputian America is heart-stopping, poignant and filled with a wry dose of humor, served neat on the side (through September 11).

Image: Charles LeDray's Untitled (Men%26rsquo;s Suits), 2009, at MFAH. Gift of Nina and Michael Zilkha in honor of Joseph Havel, photo courtesy Sperone Westwater Gallery, NYC.

Burning Bones Press

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 04:51:03 GMT

Keys to the Door: Carlos Hernandez and Patrick Masterson.
What%26rsquo;s on Press: One of 2011%26rsquo;s most intriguing arrivals is this summer%26rsquo;s unfurling of Burning Bones Press, which timed its opening to coincide with the first-ever PrintHouston (a month-long celebration of all aspects of the avant-garde and traditional in the newly rediscovered, now oh-so-hip media of printmaking). Located in a prime spot along one of the Heights%26rsquo; main thoroughfares, Burning Bones is the brainchild of Carlos Hernandez and Patrick Masterson, a match made in graphic heaven. The former possesses street and concert cred aplenty and manifests a rock %26rsquo;n%26rsquo; roll persona; his limited-edition screen-printed gig posters, produced for Live Nation (and others) for performers from Arcade Fire and B.B. King to Wanda Jackson and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, are collectible and tour de forces of silk screening (and one of the best art bargains we%26rsquo;ve seen, beginning at just $25). In contrast, the cool and cerebral Masterson emits academic expertise, teaching the intricacies of printmaking at the University of Houston and the Glassell School of Art; Masterson (no relation to the first family of Rienzi) previously worked in both New York and Austin, most famously as master printer for Flatbed Press, where his legendary projects for James Surls and Trenton Doyle Hancock are museum-collected. With more than a half-dozen presses, including some 1970s-era models that have been dusted off and refurbished, the duo can handle any challenge %26mdash; etchings, lithographs, woodcuts, screen prints and monoprints %26mdash; and are poised to collaborate with artists, institutions, publishers and dealers. Sited on the spacious ground floor of a former furniture store in a building adjoining the historic Parsley photography studio, the pair plans rotating shows as well as silk-screening classes for the public, all geared to the demystification and flowering of ink pressed upon paper. 1518 Yale, 713.412.4374 burningbonespress.com.

Image: Patrick Masterson and Carlos Hernandez. Photo by Jenny Antill.

Crouching Tiger

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 04:42:16 GMT

While 2012 may be the year of the dragon, for Houston, 11 other zodiac animals will also weigh in. Beginning next March, the Houston Arts Alliance %26mdash; in conjunction with Hermann Park Conservancy, Manhattan private art initiative AW Asia and the Houston Parks %26amp; Recreation Department %26mdash; will present a 12-part suite of towering bronze beasts created by one of most controversial artists of our time. Beijing-based activist/sculptor Ai Weiwei %26mdash; who was still jailed by the Chinese government as of press time %26mdash; crafted Circle of Animals / Zodiac Heads in an ode to the creatures of the Chinese zodiac, but more specifically as a response to the 19th-century looting of bronze heads from the Old Summer Palace of the Qianlong Emperor in Beijing. Originally part of an ornate water clock fountain, those historic treasures were seized by British and French troops in 1860 when they ransacked the once splendid residence. Now Weiwei%26rsquo;s redux, a send-up of history and colonialism, comes to Houston with one of two worldwide sets, arriving for a four-month reign in Hermann Park. The dramatic 800-pound, 10-foot-tall artworks will make a stand next to the Pioneer Memorial obelisk on the shores of McGovern Lake. The project, estimated to cost $180,000 for its Houston presentation (fund-raising is currently underway), will make our burg one of three American venues (confirmed to date) to debut Weiwei%26rsquo;s bold vision, which critiques the past and confronts the future. Stay tuned.

Image: Ai Weiwei%26rsquo;s Tiger, 2010, coming 2012 to Hermann Park.

Dallas Art Fair — The Experts Weigh In

Fri, 27 May 2011 04:00:55 GMT

Patrick Collins, collector and board president, Dallas Contemporary: %26ldquo;I thought the group of galleries we had this year was great, with good diversity both in terms of work presented and geographic location of the galleries.%26nbsp;I particularly liked D%26rsquo;Amelio Terras (the Matt Keegan was really cool, as was Tamar Halpern%26rsquo;s piece), Anthony Meier and Lora Reynolds (with some fantastic Colby Bird pieces). It was also nice to see Valerie Cueto there, a young New York gallery with a very strong program. David Kordansky also had a great booth, with wonderful pieces by Rashid Johnson and Anthony Pearson.%26nbsp;Other highlights were CRG from New York, also with cool Colby Bird sculptures, and moniquemeloche from Chicago with some fantastic Jason Middlebrook pieces.%26rdquo;

Chris D%26rsquo;Amelio, exhibiting gallerist, D%26rsquo;Amelio Terras Gallery: %26ldquo;We brought major new works by a number of the gallery%26rsquo;s stars, emerging artists such as Matt Keegan and Tamar Halpern, and our goal was to place those works in Texas collections. We succeeded at those goals and more! As always, the Dallas community shines as one of the fastest growing and most sincere art cities in the U.S.%26rdquo;

Peter Doroshenko, director, Dallas Contemporary: %26ldquo;It was exciting to see the energy and magnetism that the Dallas Art Fair brought to Dallas in April. The opening benefit was a Who%26rsquo;s Wo from the Texas art world, but it was fun and relaxed. The emerging and seasoned collector had many art options at the fair, and this all made for a successful event.%26rdquo;

Image: William John Kennedy%26rsquo;s "Warhol Flowers I, Flushing, Queens," photographed 1964, printed 2010, at Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery

Talley Dunn, exhibiting gallerist, Dunn and Brown Contemporary: %26ldquo;This was an exciting year for us at the Dallas Art Fair.%26nbsp;We thoroughly enjoyed exhibiting alongside our colleagues from across the country and having the opportunity to exhibit important works by artists whom we represent.%26nbsp;Collectors purchased significant works by Vernon Fisher, Joseph Havel, Tony Feher, Liz Ward and David Bates.%26rdquo;

Frank Herzog, collector and representative, AXA Art Insurance: %26ldquo;Seventy-plus good galleries and lots of art to choose from ... the booths looked good, and the symposiums were excellent.%26rdquo;

Betty Moody, exhibiting gallerist, Moody Gallery: %26ldquo;It was a very rewarding experience for us on many levels. It is a mature fair %26mdash; a wide range of galleries geographically and galleries with quality material ... The attendance was wonderful. We never had a slow time, and there were people from east to west to south coasts who had come specifically for the Dallas Art Fair. I saw a lot of old friends and collectors and met a lot of new ones. And I sold a lot of artwork, to old friends as well as new ones, from Dallas, New York, Los Angeles and Houston ... I%26rsquo;m already looking forward to next year!%26rdquo;

Image: Tim Berg and Rebekah Myers%26rsquo; "Here today, gone tomorrow," 2010, at Dean Project

Cindy Schwartz, Cynthia C. Schwartz Fine Arts: %26ldquo;The galleries brought their important artists: Matt Connors at Canada, Rashid Johnson at David Kordansky, a gorgeous Leonardo Drew at Tony Meier, fresh new talent like Ben Berlow at Callicoon. And the community was happy to pick these up and make sure they stayed in Dallas.%26rdquo;

Thomas Solomon, exhibiting gallerist, Thomas Solomon Gallery: %26ldquo;The Dallas Art Fair was a great opportunity to expose new artists in the gallery to an inquisitive and intelligent audience. I sold a number of artworks to new clients based in Dallas and throughout Texas. I look forward to returning next year to an even stronger art fair%26nbsp;and expanded interest in my program.%26rdquo;

Jeremy Strick, director, Nasher Sculpture Center: %26ldquo;The Dallas Art Fair is becoming a centerpiece of the Dallas cultural calendar. This year, we saw a number of outstanding new exhibitors participate and several institutions, notably the Nasher Sculpture Center, the Dallas Contemporary and the Goss-Michael Foundation, collaborate to open exhibitions in conjunction with the Fair.%26rdquo;

Image: Ellen Tanner%26rsquo;s "The Fox and the Crow," 2008, at Moody Gallery

Eavesdropped:

%26ldquo;We%26rsquo;ve taken over every part of FIG!%26rdquo; %26mdash; John Sughrue

%26ldquo;Last year, I came back on Sunday and spent the whole day looking.%26rdquo; %26mdash; Shelby Wagner

%26ldquo;This is so good! Like, so good! Did you see the one piece I need?%26rdquo; %26mdash; Ceron

%26ldquo;He was in short-shorts earlier!%26rdquo; %26mdash; Niven Morgan, on photographer Juergen Teller%26rsquo;s outfit worn that day at a private preview at the Dallas Contemporary

%26ldquo;Art being such an important part of my inspiration, I thought it was really amazing.%26rdquo; %26mdash; fashion designer Jason Wu, who toured the Fair with Neiman Marcus%26rsquo; Jim Gold

%26ldquo;Juergen is a legend. This is a great time to be in Dallas. It%26rsquo;s huge that this is here.%26rdquo; %26mdash; photographer Jonathan Zizzo

%26ldquo;You have to go to the [Jim Lambie] opening tomorrow. It%26rsquo;s brilliant.%26rdquo; %26mdash; James Cope on the Goss-Michael Foundation opening

%26ldquo;He said, %26lsquo;Whose purse is that? I love that purse!%26rsquo;%26rdquo;%26mdash; Capera Ryan on Ezra Petronio taking her portrait,and admiring her handbag

%26ldquo;This is such a smart installation. What they are doing [at Goss-Michael] is really important.%26rdquo; %26mdash; Houston gallerist Barbara Davis

Underwater Swoon

Thu, 26 May 2011 01:22:02 GMT

We%26rsquo;re mad for the aquatic craft creations of the aptly monikered international talent Arline Fisch, who replicates a vivid underwater kingdom by obsessively weaving coated copper wire into oceanic motifs. Coral reefs to numerous species of jellyfish get her special treatment. Catch her %26ldquo;Creatures from the Deep%26rdquo; at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, June 4 through July 30.

Image: Arline Fisch%26rsquo;s Corals (detail), 2009, at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

Morton Kuehnert Heads South

Fri, 20 May 2011 08:09:38 GMT

With our humidity, one might assume we%26rsquo;re South of the Border, come 1 pm Sunday, May 22, at Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers%26rsquo; sale of Latin American Art. Up for acquisition are an array of offerings that include lithographs, engravings, gouaches, pastels and oils, channeling the spirit of the foreign lands and the people who inhabit them. One of our favorites: Lot 33, a charming oil on canvas by Mexican artist Horacio Renteria Rocha portrays two young girls in a cocina. In addition to Latin American art, the sale will include the estate of discerning collector Edwin Dunim. Among the gentleman%26rsquo;s artifacts are fine French furniture and decorative objets. The most unique offering of the auction, in our opinion, is a small silk flag with a family crest articulated in crewel, a purchase that would make a commoner feel ducal any day. Morton Kuehnert, 4901 Richmond Ave., 713.827.7835; mortonkuehnert.com.

House Painters

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:22:37 GMT

Whether it%26rsquo;s the house where you spent your childhood or where one day your progeny will spend theirs, a rendering of your home%26rsquo;s interiors marks a moment in time that can be both sentimental and historically important. From a stately two-dimensional replica of the exterior to an intimate corner of a favorite room re-created in opaque gouache, a house painting takes on a significance often more compelling than a photograph. Here are some of our favorite artists whose marvelous m%26eacute;tiers are set in the place we call home.

Jeremiah Goodman

With access to the most stunning inner sanctums of the late 20th century (including those of decorators Tony Duquette, Billy Baldwin and Rose Cumming, as well as members of the fashion set), gentleman painter Jeremiah Goodman documented the gilded lives seldom seen outside the rarified social strata of the well-to-do. Commissioned by high-profile house residents such as the Duchess of Windsor, Baroness Pauline de Rothschild, Cecil Beaton and Betsy Bloomingdale, not to mention style cognoscenti including the famed Alexey Brodovitch, art director of Harper%26rsquo;s Bazaar, Goodman, now 88, still creates rich, painterly watercolor and gouache depictions with a depth of color that saturates the paper and boards like pigment-rich oils. His painted rooms appear both vivid and multidimensional; peer into them, and it feels as if you could walk in and take a seat upon the silk-velvet sofa, as every soft fabric fold and enveloping nuance is subtly revealed. Upon studying his work, it%26rsquo;s no surprise that Goodman initially toyed
with the idea of becoming an interior designer himself.

Christina Girard

Living amidst the jet set, Christina Girard of Houston has rubbed elbows with everyone from Spanish royalty to Mexican industrialists. She uncovered a talent for drawing at an early age, first collaborating with her father, ophthalmologist Louis Girard, to create medical illustrations. Honing her skill with a paintbrush, she became quite adept at detail work %26mdash; so much so that for a period of time, she accepted commissions from Porthault and Herm%26egrave;s to paint their precious porcelain. Along the way, the elegant Girard discovered a passion for painting larger-scaled pieces, too, initially oils and then watercolors. She was a chum of the late great decorator Mark Hampton (in fact, he was the godfather of her daughter, Wilhelmina), who was famed for the portraits he created of every room his firm designed %26mdash; see page 45. This was the very man who inspired and schooled Girard on the art of interior renderings. Working from photographs, her style feels as feminine yet exotic as she is, embodying a technique of deftly applying layer upon layer of translucent, watered-down pigments atop cold-press papers to achieve a depth of color and unique perspective on the gorgeous rooms that others inhabit.

Jimmie Henslee

Born in Dallas and raised in a small town just outside the city, Jimmie Henslee grew up touring historic houses all across America. His mother%26rsquo;s fascination with interior design sparked the flame, and Henslee became enchanted by old houses and learned to paint by his grandmother%26rsquo;s side. Inspired by the work of early-20th-century illustrators Cecil Beaton and Christian Berard, Henslee%26rsquo;s lighthearted, whimsical studies are quick, spontaneous pieces created with a combination of watercolor paint, pen and ink, and, in some cases, colored pencils. Although Henslee can capture a room from photographs, he prefers to actually walk through a house to get a sense of the space, to see how the light changes and determine what details to play up and what to perhaps eliminate completely. Many times Henslee puts the focus on personal mementos, even beloved four-legged friends who inhabit the home, all to assemble a collage of sorts that brings together disparate elements of one%26rsquo;s environs. When he%26rsquo;s not painting and drawing for his own enjoyment and that of his friends (a few of whom are fortunate enough to receive a card or small painting he%26rsquo;s done to celebrate a special occasion), Henslee%26rsquo;s full-time craft is commissions from magazines and retailers to style a space or completely create a set for a photography shoot.

Sally Chandler

Although Houston artist Sally Chandler has dealt with subjects as disparate as butterflies, beetles and circus performers, her otherworldly interiors are what capture our imaginations and take us into domains conjured in the recesses of her brilliant mind. Executed with a frenzied brushwork in an array of bright, clear, jewel-tone hues, her whimsical work feels like a fairy tale: Like the stories you were read as a child, they contain a depth not apparent at first glance. This marvelous world of her own invention, rendered with a childlike sense of perspective, is created from water-soluble oils and pastels that, coupled with a loose hand, lend a sense of fragility to her pieces; it%26rsquo;s as if they could crumble under your touch. While Chandler%26rsquo;s art possesses an aura of naivet%26eacute;, one can%26rsquo;t ignore the weighty historical allusions she makes pictorially through the furnishings and architecture woven throughout her work.

In Perpetuity: Mark Hampton

Fashioning the rooms he articulated in breathtakingly detailed watercolor paintings, the late designer Mark Hampton was famous for designing some of the most memorable interiors of the 20th century. A skilled artist, he was known first as an interior designer %26mdash; his honed eye is credited with creating the traditional, classic environs of houses as varied as President George Bush%26rsquo;s White House to the homes of Henry Kissinger, Est%26eacute;e Lauder and Saul Steinberg. As a special bonus for his clients, Hampton often captured their domain in all its glory in a stunning, two-dimensional house rendering. Drawing and painting came naturally to this Indiana-born Quaker, who frequently multitasked his skills, sketching elaborate rooms while he was on a business conference call, taking care of his young daughters after school or traveling to see his clients. He happily idled away hours engrossed in his hobby, all while managing to decorate house upon house. When he passed away, his wife Duane Hampton was left with a trove of his interior mise en sc%26egrave;nes, birthday cards, notes and sketches %26mdash; enough to compile several posthumous gallery shows and create a volume of previously unpublished artwork. His first, Mark Hampton on Decorating, was written like a wonderful personal journal where he muses on everything from the delights of chinoiserie to his adoration for passementerie, all punctuated by his perfect perspectives rendered in washes of watercolors.

Yearning for a house rendering of your own? These profiled artists accept commissions:

Sally Chandler, sallychandler.net
Jimmie Henslee, jimmiehenslee@yahoo.com
Christina Girard, cristinagirard@gmail.com
Jeremiah Goodman, froelickgallery.com; Jeremiah: A Romantic Vision by Jeremiah Goodman, Edward Albee; PowerHouse Books, reprinted 2011, $85
Legendary Decorators of the Twentieth Century, illustrated and written by Mark Hampton, Doubleday, 1992

Inside the Art Nest of Kirk + David

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 02:21:27 GMT

%26ldquo;We don%26rsquo;t really want to be known as collectors,%26rdquo; Kirk Baxter says%26nbsp; about his stuffed-to-the-gills Montrose bungalow %26mdash; a residence that is part Wunderkammer, part ever-changing, continually expanding installation and always a madcap work in progress. (Horror vacui is a vast understatement.) Baxter wants visitors to understand that his and David Waller%26rsquo;s casa %26mdash;%26nbsp;which they share with a rabbit named Pepper %26mdash; is an ode more to rescuing wayward objects than to purchasing pristine finds in an antiques shop or blue-chip art from a white-box gallery. Waller shares that dealer/art doyenne Barbara Davis pronounced upon her first encounter, %26ldquo;There%26rsquo;s real magic here.%26rdquo; Peruse these pages to voyage inside a wondrous cabinet of curiosities crafted within the interior of a once unassuming domicile.

A 1930s Woodstock typewriter produced in Baxter%26rsquo;s hometown outside of Chicago. The vintage piece of office equipment, which also references the designer%26rsquo;s first summer job in that same typewriter factory, is now installed in his office in a separate space at the edge of the garden. (Woodstock%26rsquo;s most famous user was Alger Hiss; a Woodstock typewriter was at the center of the government%26rsquo;s case against Hiss.)

In the living room, a potty chair holds court with the art. Clockwise from top: acclaimed Austin talent Lance Letscher%26rsquo;s work on paper; a canvas by Marie Chagall (perhaps the sister of Marc, muses Baxter), acquired during a trip led by Houston gallerist Gus Kopriva to Lima, Peru; and a figurative painting by Navasota visionary artist Leon Collins.

In Baxter%26rsquo;s office, a sign acquired from a street artist in Manhattan signed Bokov, dated 1998. Below, a folk art find, circa 1940s. Hanging from the picture rail is the Enron sign, which Baxter designed for the corporation%26rsquo;s downtown Houston headquarters.

A found sign from the Poe Elementary School garage sale. (%26ldquo;Please don%26rsquo;t give away all our sources,%26rdquo; implores Waller.)

A vignette in the sunroom stars a 1980s canvas of a femme fatale by Tony Locastro, discovered curbside at Texas Junk. A sculpture by New York glass artist Hank Adams rests upon a Philip Johnson%26ndash;designed pedestal, circa 1950s.

Gary Retherford sculpture, circa 1990s. Retherford showed with his wife, Kathleen James, one of Houston%26rsquo;s major dealers in the 1980s and 1990s. The gallery shuttered when the couple moved to Arizona.

In a bedroom, art dominates. Front and center, one panel of a two-panel masterwork by outsider artist Robert Glover depicts a blacksmith.

Waller describes this, ahem, unique item as %26ldquo;a primitive potty chair with a vintage Mexican ceramic figure, gift of a friend.%26rdquo;

In the living room, an Alain Clement sculptural photograph (middle left) stands over a collection of art volumes. To its right, War of the Worlds puppet, 1937, once in the Enron art collection. Above, Jesus on the Cross by blind potter of Beaumont M.P.G.; below, Lance Letscher%26rsquo;s Crown of Thorns, circa 1980s; village of carved buildings depicting the town of Round Top, Texas.

In the bedroom, Haeger Potteries%26rsquo; figural bookends (foreground) contrast with mid-century abstract bronze bookends by Ben Seibel and a cardboard sculpture by Houston talent Charles Collette. On the back wall, a work on paper by international artist John Alexander predominates. (Alexander, a former UH professor, was the patriarch of %26ldquo;Fresh Paint: The Houston School.%26rdquo;)

Bedroom as gallery. From left: expansive canvas by Lance Letscher, 1990s; sculpture by Wes Hicks above a Richard Fluhr painting; lamp by a Brazilian designer; James Magee work on paper above a John Alexander creation.%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

In the bath, a vintage mannequin once modeled hosiery at downtown Foley%26rsquo;s. Wooden birds were scored at the Guild Shop.

A rare Alexander Calder manual on Animal Sketching for art students tops the stack of vintage titles.

An estate-sale discovery, Houston%26rsquo;s Neuhaus family, circa 1913.

Pepper, a rescued Holland rabbit, came from the SPCA.

Baxter%26rsquo;s mania for vintage Polaroids, late 1960s, is in evidence in the bedroom. %26ldquo;It was my first big purchase in life, $21 in 1967,%26rdquo; he recalls.

In the sunroom, a Howard Finster sculpture reigns over mid-century glass.

In the sunroom, Lubbock artist William Cannings%26rsquo; inflated metal sculpture offers homage to Andy Warhol; and a carnival toss from the 1940s.

A truly important find was the Thomas Glassford psycho-sexual sculpture employing gourds. Also in the bedroom: a Robert Motherwell lithograph to the left, and above, a Donald Roller Wilson work on paper.

Curated walls in the studio exhibit works by mostly Texas artists. From top: a geometric canvas by Scott Carothers, 1980s; Sleep by Max Standley; a Michael Collins work on paper.

The living room as art installation, featuring Lance Letscher%26rsquo;s pre-collage masterwork in lead Washing Jesus%26rsquo; Feet, 1980s; Eames Eiffel Tower chair; Houston artist%26rsquo;s Jeff DeLude%26rsquo;s The Visitors, 1981.%26nbsp;

In Baxter%26rsquo;s Dsignage office, a maquette for the Enron sign, which he designed (another artist designed the actual logo). Next to the infamous sign, a box holds a miniature Seattle Space Needle, one treasure from the graphic designer%26rsquo;s collection of little buildings.

Waller%26rsquo;s trove of antique potty chairs takes over a bathtub.

A table in the living room holds, from left: a glass sculpture by Hank Adams, Norwegian glass vase, 1930s photo on Masonite and a Murano glass flower.

The dining room%26rsquo;s display of mid-century Italian and Scandinavian glass is counterpoised by late Houston artist Frank Martin%26rsquo;s dramatic, large-scale skyline image of downtown Houston, circa 1980.

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Mysterious Skin

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 05:09:41 GMT

Michael Dupree chats with the somewhat minimal, palpable painter Martin Kline.

Imagine a mandala that, rather than leading you to inner peace through its shimmering colors and spiritual images, reaches out to touch you physically. Or a dense tangle of polychrome smudges that seems to radiate pure energy as your focus grows ever more concentrated.

Such might be your experience when Hudson Valley%26ndash;based painter Martin Kline delivers his seductive, incomparably fluent works for a second show that recently opened at Meredith Long %26amp; Company (through this month).

Kline, whose studio is set amidst 400 acres of bucolic farmland, has studied and been influenced by European modernism but is resolutely in the new American art camp, producing wall-size images and sculpture that obliquely reference nature, force and even politics. The initial impression that Kline is a minimalist turns out to be, at best, a quarter right. Though his pieces reflect the sensibility that art should be considered only on its own terms, interpretations are not only welcomed, but encouraged. A dazzling swirl of azure in a painting barely contained by its linear frame could allude to flowers, the cosmos or the nucleus of a single cell (maybe lichen in a Tim Burton movie?). The tussle between the center and periphery is another optical subject to explore. Kline%26rsquo;s preferred media is encaustic (pigmented wax), and this gives his work a palpable, sculptural presence. Gridded and swirling works might suggest Josef Albers%26rsquo; multi-hued abstractions married to the jazzed energy of Pollock, but they invite us in past the more obvious patterns, just as the White Rabbit beckoned Alice. And his sculptures are biomorphic yet primitive %26mdash; chthonic even.

Kline, an Ohio native, is also warm, engaging and witty. Though many artists find it difficult to discuss their oeuvre, he is more than approachable. I can think of no better activity on a warm May night than to chat up a talent whose works are among the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fogg Museum at Harvard and our own Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Images:

Top: Martin Kline%26rsquo;s Yellow Rose, encaustic on panel, 68x48

Below: Martin Kline%26rsquo;s Istanbul, encaustic on panel, 96x48

Wild, Wondrous Wheels

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 05:37:11 GMT

It%26rsquo;s our absolute favorite event of the year %26mdash; Art Car Day, and now it moves to a new date, Sunday, May 22, to greet thousands of international museum types who come to town for the American Association of Museums convention. Secure your place now for prime seating (complete with adult beverages, endless bites, and fare for the tykes) at the VIPit Party, chaired by the inimitable Don Mafrige Jr. and yours truly, with Grand Marshal the gracious Lynn Wyatt, on the grounds of the Heritage Society. Get ready to celebrate the 24th year of the world%26rsquo;s most extraordinary convergence of art cars, while benefitting its organizer, the renowned Orange Show Center for Visionary Art. We%26rsquo;ll see you parade-side. And watch out for Antti Rahko%26rsquo;s monstrous Finnjet (above), a majestic, ongoing chrome creation that reportedly was once a pair of Mercedes station wagons (VIPit tickets from $125 per person, 713.926.6368; orangeshow.org). For complete weekend lineup, including the return of the Art Car Ball at the Orange Show on Friday, May 20, and the Sneak Peek Party the following evening at Discovery Green, navigate to orangeshow.org.

Image: Antti Rahko%26rsquo;s Finn Jet, 2000 %26ndash; ongoing

Bounteous Bouquet

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 05:26:39 GMT

As May Day and Mother%26rsquo;s Day arrive, the best blooms in town are at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where early-20th-century Viennese lensman Heinrich K%26uuml;hn (1866 %26ndash; 1944) is on view in his first international retrospective. Included are rare color still lifes, family vignettes, landscapes and portraits produced by the autochrome process, which push the photographic medium into a lush, painterly direction redolent of Klimt, fellow members of the Vienna and Munich Successionists, and also bearing Impressionist overtones. %26ldquo;Heinrich K%26uuml;hn: The Perfect Photograph,%26rdquo; Beck Building, MFAH, through May 30.

Image: Heinrich K%26uuml;hn%26rsquo;s Violets, circa 1908, at MFAH.%26nbsp; Courtesy Albertina, Vienna.

%26nbsp;

Dallas Art Fair Insider: David Bates

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 05:17:20 GMT

The reaction to our April cover has been much like the eyes of the man on it: riveting. The story that the cover %26ldquo;belongs%26rdquo; to is about the house of Mersina Stubbs, a Dallas decorator who opened the door to her own mixed-up manse (she combines anything with anything, to great effect) and let us poke around. But the man on the cover is well worth knowing about, too. He is one of many Gulf Coast natives upended by Hurricane Katrina, and documented by Dallas artist David Bates. Bates has been capturing Gulf Coast and Arkansas characters %26mdash; fisherman, lake guides, swamp folk %26mdash; long before the infamous hurricane of 2005, but it%26rsquo;s those emotionally charged Katrina portraits that take one%26rsquo;s breath away. (Exhibit A being our April cover.) Bates himself personifies an important part of the contemporary arts scene here: %26ldquo;internationally acclaimed,%26rdquo; wrote SMU when it awarded him a Distinguished Alumni honor in 2005, yet %26ldquo;true to his Texas roots.%26rdquo; Indeed, Bates%26rsquo; work springs from a certain Dallas regionalism of the 1930s and %26rsquo;40s, but it pulls that era firmly into the now. Another Dallas art icon %26mdash; the powerhouse gallery Dunn and Brown Contemporary %26mdash; has been the nexus of all things Bates for nearly two decades and counting. His Katrina series was first exhibited there, and Dunn and Brown was the first to publish a catalogue of it. But more than that, the D%26amp;B + Bates relationship is that of an influential Dallas gallery representing a significant Dallas artist %26mdash; a synthesis that is good for all. At the gallery at 5020 Tracy Street and at Dunn and Brown%26rsquo;s space at the Dallas Art Fair, April 8 to 10, you can get much closer to much more from the Dallas native, who so richly narrates everything from irises to owls in such humble materials as oil and canvas.

Click on 'launch slideshow' at top of story to explore some of Bates' work at Dunn and Brown Contemporary.

Lead image and PaperCity cover: Stephen Karlisch, April 2011

All other images: Courtesy of Dunn and Brown Contemporary

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Your Guide to the 2011 Dallas Art Fair

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 03:52:13 GMT

Year Three%26rsquo;s Exceptional Curated Convergence %26bull; Why We%26rsquo;re Going %26bull; What to Acquire, Who to See %26bull; Three Full Days, One Thrilling (Preview) Night of Art Hopping, in the Heart of the Arts District %26bull; More Than 70 Celebrated Gallerists %26bull; Peruse Top Booths Stocked with Important Paintings, Sculpture, Photography, Works on Paper and More %26bull; Plus, Check Out the Cameos by Art Stars, Panels, Lectures, Private Tours and those High-Wattage Parties %26bull; Save This Section for Your Insider Access to Texas%26rsquo; First and Foremost Art Fair

Tickets:

Single-Day Pass: $20 per person
Three-Day Pass: $40 per person
Students*, Seniors (62 or over) or Groups of 10 or more: $15 per person
Three-Day Pass for Students*, Seniors (62 or over) or Groups of 10 or more: $30 per person
*Valid student ID must be shown at entry.

Image: Mark Dennis%26rsquo; "The Happy Life," 2010, at Hirschl %26amp; Adler%26nbsp;

Ready, Set, Collect!

The Canvas: f.i.g. (Fashion Industry Gallery), 1807 Ross Avenue, in the heart of the Dallas Arts District

Save These Dates:
Preview Gala Thursday, April 7, 7 to 10 pm, benefits Dallas Contemporary and Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts;
tickets $200 per person; contact Ellen Fryer, 214.219.9191, ext. 2, or e-mail daf@buzzellco.com

Fair Days and Times
Please note extended evening hours on Friday and Saturday.
Friday, April 8, 2011, 11 am to 7 pm
Saturday, April 9, 2011, 11 am to 7 pm
Sunday, April 10, 2011, 11 am to 5 pm

Image: Francesca Gabbiani%26rsquo;s "Venus%26rsquo; Boudoir," 2010, at Lora Reynolds Gallery%26nbsp;

Best Way to Navigate the Fair? Acquire a Patron Pass

The clock is ticking on securing a Patron package for year three of this boutique art fair presented by storied champagne house Ruinart in the Fashion Industry Gallery. Offered in a limited number, the Patron Pass provides privileged access to the must-attend Preview Gala on Thursday, April 7 %26mdash; your first chance to peruse 70-plus American and European dealers %26mdash; and admission to all three days of the Fair. Additional perks include private exhibition openings and receptions for major internationals at the Nasher Sculpture Center, the Dallas Contemporary, and The Goss-Michael Foundation; the ADAA (Art Dealers Association of America) Collectors%26rsquo; Forum; the opportunity to join a personally guided Fair tour led by art-world insiders; a tantalizing film premiere featuring a genuine Warhol Factory superstar; lively, insightful panel discussions; and more. Patron Pass $300 per person, contact Tracy Moberley, 214.220.1278 or dallasartfair.com.

"The opportunity to involve our most valued clients in the compelling conversation fostered by the Dallas Art Fair is both a privilege and a pleasure,%26rdquo; says Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC, Managing Director-Market Manager, Trip Bomar. %26ldquo;Whether they are established collectors or inquisitive observers, they can appreciate experiencing the incredible modern and contemporary art from the most prominent national and international art dealers and galleries exhibiting right in their backyard. We are also proud to be involved in supporting both Dallas Contemporary and Booker T. Washington High School as the beneficiaries of the Preview Gala. These are Dallas treasures truly worth celebrating.%26rdquo;

Dallas Art Fair 2011%26nbsp; %26bull;%26nbsp; Fashion Industry Gallery (f.i.g.)%26nbsp; %26bull;%26nbsp; 1807 Ross Avenue (in the Dallas Arts District)%26nbsp; %26bull;%26nbsp; Dallas, TX 75201%26nbsp; %26bull;%26nbsp; 214.220.1278%26nbsp; %26bull;%26nbsp; dallasartfair.com

Image: Marilyn Minter%26rsquo;s "Blue Shower," 2004, at Gavlak Gallery; Mai-Thu Perret's "It surpasses even lotus leaves glistening with autumn dew," 2011, at David Kordansky Gallery

Top Fare at the 2011 Dallas Art Fair

Catherine D. Anspon surveys the sizzling scene (the booths, the buzz), previews the must-watch artists, forecasts the hottest gallerists and predicts that year three signals the Dallas Art Fair%26rsquo;s entree as a significant player among the international fair circuit.

Home Grown and All Grown Up

Since 2009, we%26rsquo;ve reported on the Dallas Art Fair. The first year, as observers circling through 30 booths arrayed in the Fashion Industry Gallery, we were impressed and occasionally awed by the offerings. Last year, PaperCity became the Fair%26rsquo;s media sponsor, which meant access to (and friendship with) the Dallas-based Fair co-founders, private art dealer and independent curator Chris Byrne and real estate developer and civic leader John Sughrue. Along the way, we%26rsquo;ve worked closely with the Dallas Art Fair team, especially Katie Richter, who artfully coordinates the essential communication between exhibiting galleries, working internally with Chris to facilitate smooth Fair operations, and Lauren Christensen, who brilliantly produces the marketing, design, sponsorships and community outreach.

We%26rsquo;ve watched proudly as year two blossomed to 50-plus dealers, bringing arrivals such as the pioneering D%26rsquo;Amelio Terras, London gallerists Stuart Shave/Modern Art and a fresh contingent of Texas dealers. Along the way, the Fair has done a lot to link the Houston and Dallas art communities, hosting kickoff receptions %26mdash; in 2009 at The Menil Collection, sponsored by PaperCity magazine, and most recently at Dorene and Frank Herzog%26rsquo;s home, a veritable paradise of Pop art %26mdash; to introduce Houston collectors, gallerists and museum denizens to the Fair.

Year three strikes us as the most intriguing of all because of the exhibitors %26mdash; dealers who possess a fresh, important vision that is reflected in the artwork starring front and center in their booths. (We%26rsquo;re dashing to Gavlak Gallery to check out Marilyn Minter.) For the past few months, this scribe has been receiving exciting updates from Byrne almost weekly with the news of some of the contemporary arena%26rsquo;s most stimulating gallerists %26mdash; Zach Feuer, Canada, Gavlak, CRG, Lorcan O%26rsquo;Neill Roma, Converso and more. And now, topping the roster at more than 70 exhibitors (as of press time), Dallas Art Fair has succeeded in getting prime-time players to Texas while still giving the state%26rsquo;s key dealers a voice.

While 70-plus galleries promise an immersive, thrilling viewing and collecting experience, the Dallas Art Fair is considered boutique size. Its elegant presentation in f.i.g. (Fashion Industry Gallery) is the antithesis of the cavernous Miami Beach Convention Center with its more than 200 exhibitors during Art Basel fair week, or the dizzying piers and frenetic pace of the Armory Show. So meet you at the (Dallas Art) Fair!

Image: Carsten Nicolai%26rsquo;s "unitxt still 03," 2011, at Galleria Lorcan O%26rsquo;Neill Roma

New Arrivals

We are excited about this year%26rsquo;s fresh flock of gallerists, including West Coast arrivals Michael Kohn, Thomas Solomon, Marc Selwyn and David Kordansky, who bring a dose of L.A. cool and remind us that the important Texas-California axis needs to be nurtured. (Walter Hopps would approve.) From the Midwest, Chicago%26rsquo;s moniquemeloche provides a fresh prospective with a provocative stable including Joel Ross%26rsquo; tantalizing field experiments that meld land art, photography and the America roadside. Then there%26rsquo;s mega-European Galleria Lorcan O%26rsquo;Neill Roma, whose stable includes Francesco Clemente, Kiki Smith, Tracey Emin and Sam Taylor-Wood. And let%26rsquo;s not forget the aforementioned new Manhattan wave: Zach Feuer, who promises to display canvases by Mark Flood (our original Texas bad boy), and the cool collective eye of gallery Canada, whose booth will be stocked with Matt Connors canvases to coincide with his show at the Dallas Museum of Art. We also plan to stop by CRG Gallery for Austin-born, Brooklyn-based Colby Bird of the strange and compelling objects (he%26rsquo;s white-hot in the art firmament), the timeless and classic Hirschl %26amp; Adler, and Gasser Grunert Gallery, home to lyrical landscapes and still lifes by Ellen Phelan, which are smart and mystical at the same time. Also not to be overlooked is Cueto Project, home of the compelling Bruce High Quality Foundation. Craving beautiful, shiny objects? A breath of Palm Beach air arrives with Gavlak Gallery, one of our favorite stops at Art Basel Miami Beach and the home of Jose Alvarez of the neo-Baroque-patterned paintings and Rob Wynne, a wordsmith with his sexy poured and mirrored glass. And now, just in: Callicoon Fine Arts, Callicoon, New York, lands at the Fair, featuring Glen Fogel%26rsquo;s towering videos of heirloom engagement and wedding rings.

Images: Alec Soth%26rsquo;s "Misty," 2005, at Weinstein Gallery; Yoshitomo Nara%26rsquo;s "Poindexter," 2010, at Pace Prints

Welcome Back

Dallas Art Fair welcomes back notable returning exhibitors Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, representing extraordinary visionary talents beginning with the weird albeit covetable narratives of Henry Darger; D%26rsquo;Amelio Terras, New York, manifesting a knack for spotting and mentoring rising, or underknown, talents such as their rediscovery of Yayoi Kusama; Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, which almost stole the show last year with their booth devoted to Donald Moffett; the tantalizing Manhattan-based Pace Prints, an authoritative source for important, museum-worthy multiples; William Shearburn Gallery, St. Louis, with its extensive stable loaded with masters from James Turrell to Bill Traylor; from across the pond, Stuart Shave / Modern Art, home base for adroit painter Barnaby Furnas and dizzying installationist David Altmejd; and many more!

Image: Sam Samore%26rsquo;s "Allegories of Beauty (Incomplete) #150," 1990s, at D%26rsquo;Amelio Terras

ADAA Action

The Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA) is the arbiter of the nation%26rsquo;s most venerated and respected gallerists. For the 2011 Dallas Art Fair, 14 ADAA member galleries are among the exhibitors, making up nearly 20 percent of the Fair: Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco; Babcock Galleries, New York; CRG Gallery, New York; Crown Point Press, San Francisco; D%26rsquo;Amelio Terras, New York; Hirschl %26amp; Adler, New York; Inman Gallery, Houston; James Kelly Contemporary, Santa Fe; Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York; Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles; Nancy Hoffman Gallery, New York; Pace Prints, New York; Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis; and Dallas duo Dunn and Brown Contemporary and Valley House Gallery %26amp; Sculpture Garden.

Images: Mel Bochner%26rsquo;s "Ridicule," 2009, at Marc Selwyn Fine Art; John Sonsini%26rsquo;s "Pedro Climico," 2009, at James Kelly Contemporary

ADAA Collectors%26rsquo; Forum

Art Fair Power: How Art Fairs Influence a Market and a Region%26nbsp;

11 Am: Nasher Sculpture Center, 2001 Flora Street, Dallas
The ADAA (Art Dealers Association of America) Collectors Forum panel discussion, made possible by AXA Art will feature Anthony Meier, owner, Anthony Meier Fine Arts; James Cohan, owner, James Cohan Gallery; co-founder, VIP Art Fair; Chris Byrne, co-founder, Dallas Art Fair; Michael Auping, chief curator at the Modern Art Museum; Talley Dunn, co-owner, Dunn and Brown Contemporary, and is moderated by Jeremy Strick, director of the Nasher Sculpture Center. Please contact Dallas Art Fair at 214.220.1278 for reservations.

%26nbsp;
Images: Selven O%26rsquo;Keef Jarmon%26rsquo;s Dallas Art Fair tee; Edward Ruscha%26rsquo;s "Bliss Bucket," 2010, at William Shearburn Gallery

Window Gazing

In the grand tradition of artist-designed store windows (think Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol), Fair sponsor Neiman Marcus has dedicated seven windows at its downtown flagship. Think artists, non-profit directors, gallerists and a book publisher. The project originated with Dallas Art Fair co-founder Chris Byrne and international painter and sculptor Richard Patterson, who lives and works in Dallas. They asked art community leaders to nominate artists and individuals to create window installations for the downtown Neiman Marcus store, coordinating with Neiman Marcus corporate art curator Julie Kronick. Come Fair time (through Sunday, April 10), here%26rsquo;s your guide to the more than a half-dozen tableaux appearing in Neiman Marcus%26rsquo; store windows turned exhibition spaces, brilliantly transforming pedestrian window gazers into gallery-goers in the blink
of a Tony Oursler video eye.
%26bull; Texas Artists Today%26ndash;featured talent Bill Davenport reprises his Houston Heights shop Bill%26rsquo;s Junk, which in turn was among the highlights of Contemporary Arts Museum Houston%26rsquo;s 2009 exhibition %26ldquo;No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston,%26rdquo; curated by Toby Kamps.
%26bull; The Menil Collection and curator Toby Kamps present another Texas master, Selven O%26rsquo;Keef Jarmon (also appearing in the volume Texas Artists Today); Jarmon takes as inspiration his limited-edition tee shirt designed for the Fair and asks viewers to consider the issues of repetition and the tradition of the handmade versus machine fabricated.
%26bull; Nasher Sculpture Center%26lsquo;s Stephen Ross proposes L.A.-based Jeremy Mora, who%26rsquo;s known for his miniature worlds. He will veil his installation, requiring sidewalk bystanders to peer through viewer areas to discover his convincing little kingdoms.
%26bull; Seattle-based publisher Ed Marquand of Marquand Books %26mdash; the undisputed king of niche art books, with recent volumes for Texas clients from the Kimbell Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, to the team that produced Texas Artists Today %26mdash; themes his window %26ldquo;Books Make Art.%26rdquo;
%26bull; Dallas Contemporary director Peter Doroshenko adds a street component via Dallas urban artists/aerosol warriors Sour Grapes.
%26bull; Waxahachie, Texas outsider art gallerists Julie and Bruce Webb of Webb Gallery take their point of departure from the tradition of the wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities, installing a m%26eacute;lange of magical items, from circa-1800s beaded Indian suits to paintings by William S. Burroughs.
%26bull; International talent Richard Patterson taps Edward Setina, UNT grad and former Centraltrak resident, who promises multimedia psychological surprises.

Image: Susie Rosmarin%26rsquo;s "Red Violet Yellow #2," 2010, at Dunn and Brown Contemporary

Stellar Sponsors

Once again, an impressive array of sponsors has stepped forward to support the 2011 Dallas Art Fair in intrinsic and important ways. Presenting sponsor Ruinart, the world%26rsquo;s first and most historic champagne house (established 1729), promises to make the Preview Gala and the entire three-day Fair convergence a flute-raising occasion. Patron sponsors include: Rosewood Hotels %26amp; Resorts, offering special packages to Fair guests at both of its posh Dallas properties, the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek and Rosewood Crescent Hotel (the preferred destinations for all the Fair%26rsquo;s visiting museum groups); Wells Fargo Advisors, which welcomes its top investors to a pre-opening cocktail bash and buys tickets for several hundred guests to the Preview Gala, supporting two worthy Dallas arts nonprofits; Neiman Marcus, host of the fabulous kickoff party weeks before the Fair and those extraordinary art windows that grace Neiman%26rsquo;s downtown flagship through the Fair dates; Cadillac, the official car of the Fair (not only do Metroplex Cadillac dealer-owners attend the Fair, but they organize a well-attended tour for 20-plus Cadillac lovers; Dallas Contemporary, one of the beneficiaries of the opening-night Preview Gala on Thursday, April 7; f.i.g. (Fashion Industry Gallery), the gleaming 55,000-square-feet modernist masterpiece building that%26rsquo;s home to the Fair; PaperCity magazine, which for the past six months has covered the buildup to the Fair with its Collector%26rsquo;s Conversation series as well as last month%26rsquo;s Fairest of the Fair gallerist profiles (which you can peruse online) and this Dallas Art Fair Special Section.
%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp; Additional 2011 Fair sponsors include: Arcodoro %26amp; Pomodoro, host to the pre-opening night welcome dinner for the exhibitors; Dave Perry-Miller %26amp; Associates, hosting 100 guests for a champagne reception and private screening of Before They Were Famous; The Goss-Michael Foundation, whose Saturday-night private opening and reception is among the most treasured perks of a Patron Fair ticket; Heritage Auction Galleries; Liland%26rsquo;s Special Events; Museum Tower; Scott + Cooner, which provides the sleek modernist furniture throughout the common spaces; and Bel Fleur, of the exquisite floral arrangements, which create an understated backdrop of blooms staged throughout the Fair.

Images: Matt Connors%26rsquo; "Correspondences (yellow)," 2010, at Canada; Gael Stack%26rsquo;s "Untitled," 2008, at Moody Gallery

Texas' Best

Side by side with influential national and international gallerists are booths by 16 stellar Texas-based exhibitors, culled from art nexuses Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Marfa and Austin. Highlights among the Texas offerings include: Hope, a recent polished-aluminum sculpture by celebrated Pop master Robert Indiana that%26rsquo;s debuting at the Fair at Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery; Moody Gallery%26rsquo;s offerings for Texas notables from Gael Stack (whose career is saluted by an upcoming volume from the University of Texas Press) to Venice Biennale%26ndash;exhibited James Drake; Inman Gallery, with a booth that includes a focus on Dario Robleto, whose career Inman has fostered since he started as a young conceptual talent in San Antonio; and Fort Worth%26rsquo;s Artspace 111 %26mdash; a personal discovery from the 2010 Fair %26mdash; displaying brilliant photorealist Daniel Blagg, one-half of the talented Blagg Brothers (brother Dennis is a mean landscape painter).%26nbsp; And make sure your Fair itinerary includes important Dallas dealers Barry Whistler Gallery, Conduit Gallery, Holly Johnson Gallery and Cris Worley Fine Arts; Fort Worth patriarch William Campbell%26rsquo;s William Campbell Contemporary Art; and the pioneering Austin force Lora Reynolds Gallery. As Chris Byrne underscored: %26ldquo;With renowned national gallerists exhibiting alongside longtime Texas galleries, we hope to create an unexpected and lively exchange.%26rdquo; We say kudos to Byrne and Sughrue for stepping away from the mere market and the lure of monstrous convention-center productions and making the Dallas Art Fair unique and authentic %26mdash; reflective of the international, national and Texas currents that simultaneously enrich and inform our state as a significant, world-class art-making and collecting place.

Image: Glen Fogel%26rsquo;s "With Me ... You (Sister)," 2011, at Callicoon Fine Arts

The Curated Roster of 2011 Exhibitors

Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York
Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco
Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans
Artspace 111, Fort Worth
Babcock Galleries, New York
Barry Whistler Gallery, Dallas
Bill Hodges Gallery, New York
Birnam Wood Galleries, East Hampton
Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia
C. Grimaldis Gallery, Baltimore
Callicoon Fine Arts, Callicoon, New York
Canada, New York
Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago
Collage 20th Century Classics, Dallas
Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery, Houston
Conduit Gallery, Dallas
Converso, Chicago
CRG Gallery, New York
Cris Worley Fine Arts, Dallas
Crown Point Press, San Francisco
Cueto Project, New York
D%26rsquo;Amelio Terras, New York
David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles
David Richard Contemporary, Santa Fe
Dean Project, New York
Dunn and Brown Contemporary, Dallas
Durham Press, Durham
Franklin Parrasch Gallery, New York
Galleri Urbane, Marfa and Dallas
Galleria Lorcan O%26rsquo;Neill Roma, Italy
Gallery Henoch, New York
Gasser Grunert, New York
Gavlak Gallery, Palm Beach
Gebert Contemporary, Santa Fe
Glass Past, New York
Hedge, San Francisco
Hirschl %26amp; Adler, New York
Holly Johnson Gallery, Dallas
Howard Scott Gallery, New York
Inman Gallery, Houston
James Kelly Contemporary, Santa Fe
Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte
Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York
Kristy Stubbs Gallery, Dallas
Lennon, Weinberg, Inc., New York
Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin
Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles
Michael Borghi Fine Art, Englewood
Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles
Mindy Solomon Gallery, St. Petersburg
moniquemeloche, Chicago
Moody Gallery, Houston
Nancy Hoffman Gallery, New York
Newzones, Calgary
Pace Prints, New York
Peter Fetterman Gallery, Los Angeles
Ruiz-Healy Art, San Antonio
Russell Tether Fine Arts Associates, Dallas
Shaheen Modern and Contemporary Art, Cleveland
Stewart Gallery, Boise
Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London
TAI Gallery, Santa Fe
Tanner Hill Gallery, Chattanooga
Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles
Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe
Valley House Gallery %26amp; Sculpture Garden, Dallas
Verve Gallery, Ft. Lauderdale
Weinstein Gallery, Minneapolis
William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth
William Shearburn Gallery, St. Louis
Winston Wachter Fine Art, New York
Zach Feuer Gallery, New York
Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, Santa Fe

Image: Anton Henning%26rsquo;s "Blumenstilleben No. 423," 2010, at Zach Feuer Gallery

The Official Calendar of the Dallas Art Fair

Who to see and where to be when the Fair unfurls Friday through Sunday, April 8 through 10, 2011
%26ldquo;By invitation only%26rdquo; events are reserved for Dallas Art Fair Patron ticket holders. To purchase your Patron pass, visit dallasartfair.com. For more information, call 214.220.1278.

Wednesday, April 6%26nbsp;

6 pm: Richard Lonsdale-Hands (1913 %26ndash; 1969) Preview at the Crow Collection honoring the late artist on the 50th anniversary of his New York exhibition. By invitation only. %26nbsp;

7 pm: Turner Carroll/Hung Lui Opening Reception at Stay ZaZa Art House and Social Gallery (2400 McKinney Avenue), including resin and oil paintings, video works and tapestries. By invitation only.%26nbsp;

8 pm: Patron %26amp; Exhibitor Welcome Dinner at sponsor Arcodoro %26amp; Pomodoro (100 Crescent Court, Suite 140) featuring Sardinian fare complemented by cocktails from Mo%26euml;t Hennessy USA. By invitation only.

Thursday, April 7 %26nbsp;

1 pm: Private Patron and Exhibitor Luncheon at Dallas Museum of Art.  By invitation only.

6 to 7 pm: Wells Fargo Advisors Dallas Art Fair VIP Viewing. By invitation only.

7 to 10 pm: Dallas Art Fair Preview Gala benefitting Dallas Contemporary and Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts.
Tickets $200 per person; call Ellen Fryer, 214.219.9191, ext. 2, or e-mail daf@buzzellco.com.

Image: John Chamberlain%26rsquo;s "Mobeetieaugratin," 2010, at Anthony Meier Fine Arts

Friday, April 8

11 am: Top Houston-based collector Frank Herzog conducts a not-to-be-missed private tour, %26ldquo;Art 101: From abstract expressionism to color field to Pop to video to Fun,%26rdquo; all in 60 minutes. Being an informed collector and ardent follower of what was happening in America during the pivotal %26lsquo;60s and %26lsquo;70s, Frank Herzog will focus his Dallas Art Fair tour on this influential generation as well as their successors making art today. Free with Fair ticket, reservations required, limited to just 20 guests; please call Katie Richter, 214.220.1278; e-mail katie.richter@dallasartfair.com.%26nbsp;

5 pm: National Film Premiere of Full Circle: Before They Were Famous. This just-released film by Brian Bayerl, presented by exhibiting gallerist Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery, features a screening following by panel discussion starring artist Ultra Violet and photographer William John Kennedy, who are among the main subjects starring in this riveting new documentary. Can%26rsquo;t make it Friday? Catch an encore showing on Saturday at 5 pm. Free with Fair ticket.

6 to 9 pm: Statuesque Exhibition Opening at Nasher Sculpture Center. By invitation only. For info about this international exhibition of contemporary sculptors who focus on the figure, nashersculpturecenter.org.

8 pm to midnight: Exhibition Opening at Dallas Contemporary featuring internationals Juergen Teller and Ezra Petronio and Le Pavillon Fellows from the Palais de Tokyo in Paris. Free; dallascontemporary.org.

Image: Eva Rothschild%26rsquo;s "Legend," 2009, at Stuart Shave / Modern Art

Saturday, April 9

10 to 11 am: Nasher Avant Garde Panel Discussion on %26ldquo;Past, Present, Future: The Foundations of Art Collecting.%26rdquo; Moderated by Nasher Curator of Education Stephen Ross, this panel discussion features Dallas Art Fair exhibiting gallerists. Open to Avant-Garde Society Members of the Nasher Sculpture Center. For info, contact the Nasher Sculpture Center, 214.242.5151.

11 am: Art Dealers Association of America Collectors%26rsquo; Forum on %26ldquo;Art Fair Power: How Art Fairs Influence a Market and a Region.%26rdquo; Please note special venue at Nasher Sculpture Center. Moderated by Nasher Sculpture Center director Jeremy Strick, this topical panel includes ADAA gallerists Anthony Meier (Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco), James Cohan (James Cohan Gallery, New York), Talley Dunn (Dunn and Brown Contemporary, Dallas) and Michael Auping, chief curator of the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. RSVP to katie.richter@dallasartfair.com. Free with Fair ticket.

1 pm: Panel Discussion on %26ldquo;Collectors and Their Private Spaces for Contemporary Art.%26rdquo; Dallas Contemporary director Peter Doroshenko, author of the recent volume Private Spaces for Contemporary Art (Rispoli, 2010), moderates this lively and frank insider peek into the dynamics of contemporary collecting. Don%26rsquo;t miss the insights of Kenny Goss, Howard Rachofsky and Mark Vanmoerkerke. Free with Fair ticket.

3 pm: Panel Discussion on %26ldquo;Le Pavillon: Laboratory for Creation and International Post-Graduate Program.%26rdquo; Moderated by independent Paris-based curator Estelle Nabeyrat, this insightful discussion delves into the international dynamics of influential Paris art space Palais de Tokyo%26rsquo;s program for emerging artists (highlighted concurrently at the Dallas Contemporary) and includes three artists from the acclaimed fellowship. Free with Fair ticket.

6:30 to 8:30 pm: Exhibition Opening at The Goss-Michael Foundation, featuring a personal appearance by Glasgow-based op art architectural installationist Jim Lambie, a 2005 Tate Britain Turner Prize finalist. By invitation only.

6:30 to 8 pm: Dallas Art Fair%26rsquo;s Music in the Park on the Fashion Industry Gallery lawn. Free, open to the public.

Image: Joel Ross%26rsquo; "Heaven or Hell," 2010, at moniquemeloche

Sunday, April 10

11 am: Panel Discussion on %26ldquo;How Do Books Make Art %26lsquo;Art%26rsquo;%26rdquo;? Among the hottest panels for devotees of art books, this discourse features two of the most influential people in Texas art publishing, Seattle-based Ed Marquand of Marquand Books and University of Texas Press editor Allison Faust. These authorities dish about books%26rsquo; relationships to artists and artworks %26mdash;%26nbsp;how art volumes elevate the stature and visibility of their subjects. Free with Fair ticket.

1 pm: Dallas Architecture Forum with featured panelists Fair exhibiting gallerists Antonio Ametrano (Hedge, San Francisco), Lawrence Converso (Converso, Chicago) and Abby and Wlodek Malowanczyk (Collage 20th Century Classics, Dallas). Free with Fair ticket.

Images: Frank Herzog; photo by Jenny Antill. Ultra Violet and William John Kennedy. Peter Doroshenko. Ed Marquand; photo by Fulton Davenport

Editor%26rsquo;s Pics

Five stops where we%26rsquo;ll be during the Dallas Art Fair. See the Fair calendar on this page for all the details.%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

Take a Tour: Our friends Dorene and Frank Herzog have a tip-top Pop collection, so we%26rsquo;re hoping to nab a place on Frank%26rsquo;s private tour Friday, April 8, 11 am, when %26ldquo;Mr. Pop%26rdquo; takes a twirl through his fave booths Fairside.%26nbsp;

Converse with Ultra Violet: We%26rsquo;re also dashing to the film premiere of Full Circle: Before They Were Famous on Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9, 5 pm. We want to dish with international artist Ultra Violet, a Warhol Factory superstar and au currant creative type, and meet lensman William John Kennedy, whose lost photo archive is detailed by this tantalizing documentary.%26nbsp;

Mr. Dallas Contemporary Weighs In: We%26rsquo;re also lining up when collecting heavyweights Kenny Goss, Howard Rachofsky and Mark Vanmoerkerke take questions from Dallas Contemporary director Peter Doroshenko on Saturday, April 9, at 1 pm.

Meet the Book Forecasters: Celebrated art book niche publisher Ed Marquand dialogues with UT Press editor Allison Faust on Sunday, April 11, at 11 am. Marquand published our team%26rsquo;s Texas Artists Today, and Faust introduced him to us, so we%26rsquo;re definitely securing a space in the front row.%26nbsp;

Fair Game: Why are art fairs important? How and why is the Dallas Art Fair pivotal to the Texas scene? Attend the ADAA Collectors%26rsquo; Forum sponsored by AXA Art for the answers on Saturday, April 9, 11 am, at the Nasher Sculpture Center.
CREDIT: All images in this Dallas Art Fair Special Section courtesy the artists and galleries indicated, unless noted otherwise.%26nbsp;

Fair Time

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:24:22 GMT

Ready, set, acquire! Year three of the Dallas Art Fair unfurls in a mere days, and this year%26rsquo;s roster of national, international and Texas exhibiting gallerists is approaching 75 at press time. That%26rsquo;s almost 50 percent more dealers than the 2010 Fair %26mdash; proving that the art world hungers to exhibit here and connect with Texas collectors. The power gallerists coming to the Dallas Arts District are authentic and exciting, boasting eagle eyes and intriguing stables %26mdash; CRG, Canada, Zach Feuer, Stuart Shave, Lorcan O%26rsquo;Neill, Thomas Solomon, David Kordansky, Michael Kohn, D%26rsquo;Amelio Terras, Callicoon Fine Arts, just to name a few. They were coaxed here by the vision of Fair co-founders Chris Byrne and John Sughrue, who have nurtured and grown the Dallas Art Fair into a respected and truly important destination. For your insider guide to the 2011 Dallas Art Fair convergence, save our Special Section in this issue %26mdash; and prepare to attend, peruse and collect! Dallas Art Fair Preview Gala Thursday, April 7; Dallas Art Fair 2011, Friday through Sunday, April 8 through 10, at Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas Arts District; information and tickets 214.220.1278; dallasartfair.com.

Images:

Krysten Cunningham%26rsquo;s RGB Bottoms, 2010, at Thomas Solomon Gallery. Photo courtesy the artist and Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles; photo Joshua White/jwpictures.com.

Robert Indiana%26rsquo;s Hope, 2009, at Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery. Photo courtesy the artist and Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery, Houston.

Fair Time

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:56:48 GMT

Ready, set, acquire! Year three of the Dallas Art Fair unfurls in mere days, and this year%26rsquo;s roster of national, international and Texas exhibiting gallerists is approaching 75 at press time. That%26rsquo;s almost 50 percent more dealers than the 2010 Fair %26mdash; proving that the art world hungers to exhibit here and connect with Texas collectors. The power gallerists coming to the Dallas Arts District are authentic and exciting, boasting eagle eyes and intriguing stables %26mdash; CRG, Canada, Zach Feuer, Stuart Shave, Lorcan O%26rsquo;Neill, Thomas Solomon, David Kordansky, Michael Kohn, D%26rsquo;Amelio Terras, Callicoon Fine Arts, just to name a few. They were coaxed here by the vision of Fair co-founders Chris Byrne and John Sughrue, who have nurtured and grown the Dallas Art Fair into a respected and truly important destination. For your insider guide to the 2011 Dallas Art Fair convergence, save our special section in this issue %26mdash; and prepare to peruse and collect! Dallas Art Fair Preview Gala Thursday, April 7; Dallas Art Fair 2011, Friday through Sunday, April 8 through 10, at Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas Arts District; information and tickets 214.220.1278; dallasartfair.com.

Images:

Krysten Cunningham%26rsquo;s RGB Bottoms, 2010, at Thomas Solomon Gallery. Photo courtesy the artist and Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles; photo Joshua White/jwpictures.com.

Robert Indiana%26rsquo;s Hope, 2009, at Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery. Photo courtesy the artist and Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery, Houston.

Juergen Teller at Dallas Contemporary

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:08:10 GMT

Put this equation into your calendar: Friday, April 8 + Juergen Teller + Dallas Contemporary. That%26rsquo;s when the internationally renowned photographer will be in town to attend a members-only preview of his %26ldquo;Juergen Teller: Man with Banana%26rdquo; exhibition of large-scale works, many never before seen, at the Dallas Contemporary through August 21. We can%26rsquo;t wait: Teller%26rsquo;s edgy oeuvre has included fashion stories for W magazine, stunning nude portraits of designer Vivienne Westwood and those unforgettable Marc Jacobs ad-campaign images %26mdash;%26nbsp;11 years%26rsquo; worth and counting. We can%26rsquo;t imagine a more photogenic coup for the Dallas Contemporary. 161 Glass St., 214.821.2522; dallascontemporary.org.

Image: Juergen Teller%26rsquo;s Teenager, 2010. Photo courtesy the artist and the Dallas Contemporary.

Kirk Hopper Fine Art

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:11:28 GMT

Who%26rsquo;s Curating: Owner/director Kirk Hopper.
What%26rsquo;s inside the White Cube: Maverick gallerist Kirk Hopper has done it again, stepping away from the established to carve out independent territory. Weeks ago, he completed his move from his previous Design District digs, which also involved rebranding. Gone is HCG Gallery; in its place is Kirk Hopper Fine Art, and a new home %26mdash; a sleek, 2,000-square-foot space in a renovated Deep Ellum warehouse. (Hopper served as designer and contractor.) The new gallery has soaring industrial ceilings and an open concept for displaying ambitious offerings such as the monumental sculpture of Texan Mac Whitney, whose bold metal abstractions inaugurate the space. Hopper has been buying and selling art%26nbsp; for two decades; works from his acclaimed collection of American modernism will be on view in upcoming exhibitions at the Amon Carter Museum and The Menil Collection. He%26rsquo;s always been an artist%26rsquo;s dealer, known for searching out up-and-comers (such as graffiti artist Carlos Donjuan, new-generation Baroque painter Alex Diaz and Rosane Volchan O%26rsquo;Conor; watch for her show opening April 23) and old-school talents (Texas masters Jesse Lott, set for a solo this summer, and the internationally exhibited, Rome Prize%26shy;%26ndash;winning Bert Long Jr.). %26ldquo;Bert Long had a lot to do with me wanting to open a high-caliber gallery that could show his work,%26rdquo; Hopper says. Above all, this new Deep Ellum art destination promises a welcome window on diversity, as well as a bridge to underrepresented but major Texas players. As such, it%26rsquo;s one of the most exciting galleries to open in Dallas in years. 3008 Commerce St., 214.760.9230; kirkhopperfineart.com.

Image: Mac Whitney%26rsquo;s Berino, 2006, at Kirk Hopper Fine Art. Photo courtesy Kirk Hopper Fine Art.

Inside the Nest of Heights Visionary Artist Erma Lee …

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:41:06 GMT

A once unadorned two-story Victorian structure became a repository for Miz Lee%26rsquo;s sculpture, installations and far-out folk environments. As shown here, Lee%26rsquo;s bold, outsider vision originally stopped traffic at 1134 Yale. Six months after our photo shoot and one miraculous move later, it sprouts anew, reprised in an industrial area of Independence Heights at 3802 Yale.

5 Minutes With Erma Lee

By providence, a peddler showed up one day with 19th-century beds for sale. The salvaged metal frames became the material for an ongoing series, %26ldquo;If Beds Could Talk, the Stories They Would Tell,%26rdquo; which now boasts more than 35 wall sculptures with droll titles often bearing religious references, such as "Cart Wheels for Jesus, Peace, Joy and Harmony."

Favorite flower for the garden that%26rsquo;s not glass or metal?
Angel bells or angel trumpets.

Other bed-frame creations %26mdash; "Couture," "Miss LaTeDa," "Michelle O" (named for the First Lady), "Sassy" and "Miss America" %26mdash; offer homage to %26ldquo;a few beautifully statuesque divas with their own story to tell,%26rdquo; Erma Lee explains.

Favorite design book?
Vogue and Essence magazines.

The interior of the house is home to a curated curio shop brimming with Victoriana, gazing balls, glass globes, costume jewelry, lamps, dollar-store finds and other intriguing tchotchkes, all for sale.

Houston shop you love?
Houston Area Women%26rsquo;s Center.

Lee relays she was tapped by the Holy Spirit to begin her wondrous installation in the spring of 2005. On a subsequent Mother%26rsquo;s Day, during worship at Lakewood Church, she was inspired to add text fragments to the art garden. She hopes these %26ldquo;many words of encouragement and enlightenment give you a feeling of serenity ... [and that] after touring the garden, you will leave with a fresh zeal and be inspired to look at life in a new creative light.%26rdquo;

Restaurants you love?
McCormick %26amp; Schmick%26rsquo;s Seafood Uptown, Brennan%26rsquo;s of Houston and Kim Son, downtown.

Bottle trees galore festoon the Inspirational Art Garden, making a veritable forest.

Two Houston art spaces you love?
MOCAH [Museum of Cultural Arts, Houston] and Black Heritage Gallery.

God (and Home Depot) are in the details. Salved metal, a wood fence and house paint are Lee%26rsquo;s materials of choice.

Favorite artist, living or historic?
John Biggers, Edwin Lester, Pablo Picasso and Van Gogh.

The artist%26rsquo;s wall sculptures flourish inside, too, also emitting messages for the onlooker.

Favorite museum in the world?
Mus%26eacute;e du Louvre in Paris.

Wall art incorporates a salvaged thrift-store clock. A tribute to royalty lines the perimeter of the yard.

Unlimited funds. Devise your perfect outfit, naming designers.
Dress by Ralph Lauren, Herm%26egrave;s Himalayan crocodile handbag, shoes by Christian Louboutin or Manolo Blahnik.

If it%26rsquo;s a bottle or decanter, Lee collects it.

Junking in Houston: where to find treasures?
Garage sales, charity resale shops and estate sales.

Guard dog Kaylo sits still as a statue between a bead curtain and a bed-frame sculpture. An antique Bell telephone is part of the shop%26rsquo;s inventory.

Favorite treasure you have ever unearthed?
My artworks.

An alfresco sculpture conjoins a doll head with a green glass cruet.

Erma Lee's Garden

%26ldquo;This garden is for all. We are all here to create and inspire.%26rdquo; Inspirational Art Garden and Gallery, 3802 Yale St., 713.869.1993; Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 7 pm; inspirationalartgarden@gmail.com; inspirationalartgarden.com.

Flower Power on Park Avenue

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 06:53:58 GMT

If the Armory Show (March 3 %26ndash;%26nbsp;6) isn%26rsquo;t enough incentive, hop a flight to NYC this month to take in Park Avenue%26rsquo;s promenade of public art. Years past have seen protagonists from James Surls to Tom Otterness tapped by the Fund for Park Avenue for its annual display of outsized sculpture that lines the urbanscape from 57th to 67th Streets. Now hot NYC-based Will Ryman %26mdash; the son of artists Robert Ryman (known for his whispery white-on-white canvases) and Merrill Wagner %26mdash; takes on Uptown Manhattan, with blooms as tall as 25 feet high, forged from stainless steel and fiberglass, and populated by a family of sculpted insects, beetles to ladybugs. Roll over, Oldenburg. There%26rsquo;s a new giant in town. %26ldquo;The Roses, through May 31; fundforparkavenue.org.

Image: Will Ryman%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;The Roses,%26rdquo; 2011. Photo by Iwan Baan, courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York.

Fair Finds

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:09:40 GMT

My favorite sign from Art Basel Miami Beach%26rsquo;s frenetic, fabulous fair week was %26ldquo;Cash for Your Warhol,%26rdquo; spotted on a billboard in the rapidly gentrifying Wynwood Art District, home to fabled private collections such as the Margulies and Rubell, increasingly important galleries and a swarm of aerosol artists who seem to spray graffiti at every turn and fill the air with the aroma of propellant. After the plethora of Picassos, Rosenquists, Alex Katzes and omnipresent Andy Warhols at the polished main action at the Miami Beach Convention Center, it was invigorating to step into a grittier environment. Here, my colleague Jenny Antill and I encountered the micro fair Seven, a loose arrangement of seven New York gallerists whose booths amiably meandered throughout a cavernous space in a pleasing and organic manner. Top find at Seven? The idiosyncratic duo Chadwick Family Papers (Jimbo Blachly and Lytle Shaw), whose 19th-century-style diorama recreating Dutch landscape painters melded history, weirdness and genuine magic. We also loved the playful inflatables by Miami collective FriendsWithYou %26mdash; gargantuan hot-air creatures that fashioned a cheerful Rainbow City within a green space in the nearby Design District. Speaking of design, Design Miami, steps from Art Basel, scored points for being well edited and compelling; it was described by Houston collector Poppi Massey as %26ldquo;furniture porn.%26rdquo; Massey succumbed and came home with a circa-1960s Phillip Lloyd Powell sculpted walnut and travertine sofa, scored from exhibitor Todd Merrill Antiques.

Images:

Chadwick Family Papers%26rsquo; (Jimbo Blachly and Lytle Shaw) The Genretron, 2008, at Winkleman Gallery, Seven Art Fair.

FriendsWithYou%26rsquo;s Rainbow City, 2010, Miami Design District.

Poppi Massey perches on her find. Photo by Jenny Antill.

The Impressionists are Coming

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:36:33 GMT

It%26rsquo;s a blockbuster spring at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which rolls out the riches of the French Impressionists and post-Impressionists as 50 treasured canvases travel from Washington, D.C., to Texas, with the MFAH the only stop of the tour. The exhibition from the hallowed National Gallery of Art builds on the MFAH%26rsquo;s tradition of presenting in-depth views into collections %26mdash; MoMA (2003), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2007) %26mdash; while their galleries undergo renovations. When the National Gallery announced its redux, late MFAH director Peter Marzio approached NG director Earl A. Powell III in 2009, and a plan was born. The result was organized by National Gallery curator Kimberly A. Jones, an expert in 19th-century French painting and the primary author of the exhibition catalog, with the MFAH%26rsquo;s Helga Kessler Aurisch (whose expertise is European art) coordinating the installation. The exhibition offers a roll call of perhaps the greatest names ever in painting and two of the most storied art historical movements of all time. Jones cites the Gallery%26rsquo;s deep holdings of Claude Monet, Paul C%26eacute;zanne, Paul Gauguin and Edgar Degas, as well as their ownership of %26ldquo;a number of truly iconic images of 19th-century art, several of which will be on display in Houston.%26rdquo; (Think Manet%26rsquo;s The Railway, Monet%26rsquo;s Woman with a Parasol %26mdash; Madame Monet and her Son, Van Gogh%26rsquo;s Self-Portrait and Gauguin%26rsquo;s Breton Girls Dancing). Also watch for expatriate Mary Cassatt%26rsquo;s trio of quintessential images of childhood; van Gogh%26rsquo;s glorious Roses from 1890; Toulouse-Lautrec%26rsquo;s steamy redhead Carmen Gaudin; confectionary Renoir femmes; luminous sisters captured by Berthe Morisot; and three rare canvases by the under-known Fr%26eacute;d%26eacute;ric Bazille, who died at the age of 28 in the Franco-Prussian War. %26ldquo;Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art,%26rdquo; Beck Building, MFAH, February 20 %26ndash; May 23; tickets 713.639.7300; mfah.org.

Image: Fr%26eacute;d%26eacute;ric Bazille%26rsquo;s Young Woman with Peonies, 1870, at MFAH. Collection National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Back to the Future

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:30:53 GMT

As a bookend to the glorious Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings in the National Gallery blockbuster at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, visitors can stroll from the Beck Building (where the Monets, Manets and van Goghs temporarily reside) to the Law Building%26rsquo;s Upper Brown Pavilion to catch another set of masterworks all about light and color. %26ldquo;Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time%26rdquo; (through July 4) is one of those rare exhibitions that%26rsquo;s as good as it gets %26mdash; anywhere. The breakthrough show coincides with the 10th anniversary of the founding of both the MFAH%26rsquo;s world-class Latin American Department and the museum%26rsquo;s International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), as well as the arrival of the energy who, working in tandem with late director Peter Marzio, started it all: Mari Carmen Ram%26iacute;rez, the Wortham curator of Latin American art and ICAA director, who organized this retrospective. Seventy years of Cruz-Diez%26rsquo;s works are presented in conjunction with the artist%26rsquo;s Houston-based foundation and assisted by ateliers in Paris, Caracas and Panama, as well as by the maestro%26rsquo;s extended family, including his grandchildren, who are intrinsically involved in details that range from serving as the octogenarian%26rsquo;s translator to assisting in the production of work and its documentation. The exhibition begins with an unassuming still life dated 1940. But it%26rsquo;s when it hits 1959 that everything becomes very interesting. That%26rsquo;s the year Cruz-Diez %26mdash; after many investigations into variations of abstract painting made increasingly with sculptural elements %26mdash; arrived at an %26ldquo;Aha%26rdquo; moment with his painting Physichromie 1, which combines a simplified palette of green, red, black and white with 3-D strips of cardboard and casein upon masonite inserted into wood. %26ldquo;The viewer%26rsquo;s perception of color in the Physichromies changes according to their movement or through the intensity of the light,%26rdquo; says Cruz-Diez. Don%26rsquo;t miss two immersive environments (one, a light-bathed series of chambers; the other, a disco-like circular space) designed in the early 1960s and pre-dating James Turrell. These works feel light years ahead of anything we saw at last year%26rsquo;s Art Basel Miami Beach. Also take in (via 3-D glasses) a re-creation of the Venezuelan-Franco master%26rsquo;s Paris workshop and a film projection displaying public projects, from heroic grain elevators in the Dominican Republic to our own crosswalks along Bissonnet that front the MFAH. Finally, the rich and insightful catalog, which includes Cruz-Diez%26ndash;designed interventions, is a work of art unto itself (MFAH and The Cruz-Diez Foundation, Houston, 2011, $75, at MFAH Shop). Information 713.639.7300; mfah.org.

Image: Carlos Cruz-Diez in his Ambiente cromointerf%26eacute;rente [Chromo-interference Environment], 2011, at the MFAH. Photo by Jenny Antill.

Time Traveling, Art Ball Style

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:50:33 GMT

Word is out that Art Ball 2011, set for Saturday, April 30, may be the most modern Dallas Museum of Art fund-raiser to date%26nbsp;%26mdash;%26nbsp;from its thoroughly chic chairman Lisa Runyon to its all-encompassing theme, %26ldquo;Past Present Future.%26rdquo; (Note: Lisa is the %26uuml;ber-cool art collector known for her impeccable taste and the collection of contemporary works she shares with art-adviser husband John. In fact, it was a stunning portrait of the couple that opened a July 2010 article in W magazine spotlighting those responsible for fostering Dallas%26rsquo; booming arts scene.) Read on for a few of the Art Ball deets that we%26rsquo;re already dreaming about.

%26bull; Todd Fiscus of Todd Event Design Creative Services is back on hand to produce the ball decor. Per the theme, the pre-dinner cocktail will evoke memories of the DMA%26rsquo;s past, the seated dinner will focus on the present and the high-voltage after-party will be a blast into the future.

%26bull; An illustrious mix of creative types has signed on to curate the evening%26rsquo;s silent auction. Look for hot must-bids from Art Ball%26rsquo;s Trendspotters: Lucrecia Waggoner, Jan Showers, Elizabeth Showers, Gonzalo Bueno, Amy Ware, Jenny Kirtland, Kristina Wrenn, Lisa Moore, Ann Hobson and more.

%26bull; On the live-auction bill? Trips to couture fashion weekin Paris to meet Jean Paul Gaultier and to The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, The Netherlands, with DMA curator Olivier B. Meslay. Information 214.922.1200; artball@dallasmuseumofart.org; dallasmuseumofart.org.

Image: Art Ball chairman Lisa Runyon %26amp; John Runyon. Photo by Dana Driensky.

Fair Set

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:26:38 GMT

Ready, set, collect! Year three of the Dallas Art Fair is only weeks away, and this year%26rsquo;s roster of important national, international and Texas gallerists tops the charts at more than 60. And for the first time, this crisply curated art convergence boasts a design component, with intriguing dealers such as TAI Gallery (Santa Fe) and Hedge Gallery (San Francisco) and au courant and vintage examples of covetable design classics, from sculptural bamboo wizardry to the memorable stuffed-animal-encrusted Cake Stool by the Brazilian Campana Brothers. Lectures, tours and book signings bring even more depth to the 2011 Fair. Its manageable boutique size, however, fosters a meaningful dialogue between dealers and collectors %26mdash; and, above all, gives the art a chance to shine, rather than being lost in miles of booths like at Art Basel Miami Beach and other gargantuan fair experiences. What%26rsquo;s the best way to see the 2011 Dallas Art Fair? Nab a VIP Patron Pass for insider access to such perks as the Opening Night Preview Gala benefitting Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and the Dallas Contemporary; the official Neiman Marcus Fair kickoff f%26ecirc;te with its big reveal of artist-designed store windows; private exhibition openings at the Nasher Sculpture Center and Dallas Contemporary; the ADAA Collectors%26rsquo; Forum; three-day Fair admission and more. Dallas Art Fair Preview Gala Thursday, April 7; Dallas Art Fair 2011, April 8 through 10, at Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas Arts District; Patron Pass $300 per person, contact Tracy Moberley, 214.220.1278 or dallasartfair.com.

Image: Matt Connors%26rsquo; Correspondences (yellow), 2010, at Canada. Photo Courtesy Canada, New York.

This Just In: Gaultier’s Gang

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:46:41 GMT

Wherever Jean Paul Gaultier goes, a flock of forward-thinking tastemakers is sure to follow. This rings true for the designer%26rsquo;s blockbuster exhibition,
"The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk," as it marches into the Dallas Museum of Art on Sunday, November 13. To welcome Monsieur Gaultier in the warmest of fashions, art-savvy power players among the DMA Leadership Trustees (John Eagle, Deedie Rose, Cindy Rachofsky, Catherine Rose, Sharon Young, Melissa Fetter and Marguerite Hoffman) have begun assembling a host committee to build buzz for the exhibit. It all launches at Rose%26rsquo;s house during a lunch on Wednesday, March 23. This, dear reader, is sure to be the epitome of In-crowds. To join? Ring the DMA at 214.922.1242.

Image: The Barbarella body corset, from the Les Actrices collection, haute couture fall/winter 2009%26ndash;2010. Photo %26copy; P. Stable/Jean Paul Gaultier.

Orange Show Goes Green

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:18:55 GMT

Just in: Watch for the ground-breaking of an engaging, grass-roots (literally) addition to the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, that beloved landmark to
industrious outsider Jeff McKissack%26rsquo;s favorite fruit. Smither Park, adjacent to the center, will be completed in the next 24 months on a half-acre in vibrant southeast Houston. Designed by internationally recognized, Huntsville-based architect Dan Phillips (celebrated for his unorthodox bone house), the new green space is named in honor of late Orange Show board member, folk art collector and arts patron extraordinaire John H. Smither. Houston architect Ed Eubanks and builder Steve Goodchild are contributing time and talent to the space, while everyone is welcome to donate non-biodegradable goodies (dishes, seashells, marbles, buttons and keys) to adorn Smither Park%26rsquo;s droll architectural elements, which include walkways, a serpentine tunnel, an amphitheater, arches, a 12-foot tower and a meditation garden. Info 713.926.6368; orangeshow.org.

Image: Smither Park. Photo %26copy; Pat Lopez.

All About Audley

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:15:19 GMT

One of my favorite new discoveries this spring is the Audley Society, hidden within plain sight blocks from PaperCity%26rsquo;s Houston headquarters. The home/gallery/project arena of entrepreneur Linda Marroquin, this three-story, gleaming 7,000-square-foot contemporary, designed by Michael X. Flynn, also boasts a 4,000-square-foot garage; together, both have been host during the last four years to happenings, raucous musical performances, avant-garde programming and exhibitions that rival the importance and intelligence of established art spaces such as Lawndale Art Center, DiverseWorks and Art League. Marroquin often curates or invites in a guest to do so, with memorable results as in the now-on-view show, (through March), which features prescient statements by Amita Bhatt of the dreamlike cosmology, Gabriel Delgado (exquisite pen-and-inks that pack a political punch), crayon king Keith Hollingsworth, and Maria Cristina Jadick, whose opening-night performance piece involved baking an American pie. Audley Society, 3231 Audley, 713.529.4447; audleysociety@gmail.com, and follow on Facebook.

Image: Linda Marroquin. Photo by Jenny Antill.

Heroic Hogue

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:13:45 GMT

Once in a while, a volume comes along that resuscitates an artist%26rsquo;s career and rewrites art history. For 2011, we%26rsquo;re betting that tome is Alexandre Hogue: An American Visionary, a two-decades-in-the-making masterwork by Houston-based art writer Susie Kalil, a former Glassell Core Fellow in Critical Studies, author of the 1995 Venice Biennale catalog for Bill Viola and, above all, co-curator of the celebrated mid-1980s exhibition %26ldquo;Fresh Paint: The Houston School.%26rdquo; The prodigious undertaking grew from a friendship with the late Texas painter (1898-1994) that began after Kalil included him in %26ldquo;The Texas Landscape: 1900-1986.%26rdquo; Kalil draws on these nine years of interviews and conversations to firmly place Hogue in a pantheon of American painters whose work deserves the visionary label. Best of all, this book accompanies a traveling show curated by the author and organized by the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, where it opened six weeks ago, which culls Hogue%26rsquo;s spiritually suffused landscapes, precisionist nonobjective offerings and a lifetime of canvases that tout the primacy of nature. Although the artist was included in the 1936 Whitney Biennial, then collected by the Jeu de Paume (a branch of the Louvre) and featured in a 1937 spread in Life magazine, he had been relegated to a regionalist label and identified with Dust Bowl%26ndash;era America. Kalil%26rsquo;s survey should correct this and lead to a rediscovery (and possible a Whitney retrospective) along the lines of Charles Burchfield%26rsquo;s revitalization. %26ldquo;Hogue was truly attuned to the vibrations of the universe,%26rdquo; Kalil writes. %26ldquo;He was never a casual %26lsquo;tourist%26rsquo; of the Southwest landscape ... he walked it, knew it in his bones and spiritual being.%26rdquo; Alexandre Hogue: An American Visionary %26mdash;%26nbsp;Paintings and Works on Paper by Susie Kalil (2011, Texas A%26amp; M University Press, $35) and exhibition, Art Museum of South Texas, through April 3; stia.org; traveling to Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, opening September 16; fwmuseum.org.%26nbsp;

Image: Alexandre Hogue%26rsquo;s Pulliam Bluffs, Chisos Mountains, 1984. Collection Ellen and John McStay.

Banquet City

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:07:47 GMT

%26nbsp;Judy Chicago completed one of the 20th century%26rsquo;s most iconic pieces of feminist art, The Dinner Party, in 1980, after she and hundreds of volunteers labored for six years over the elaborate needlework table runners and hand-painted place settings that celebrated the lives of often marginalized female historical figures. Considered a rallying cry for the women%26rsquo;s movement, it is now ensconced in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum at its Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. More than an art piece, it was an event, which toured to three American art spaces. Now studies, maquettes and test plates return to one of the original venues, the University of Houston in Clear Lake. Thirty years later, %26ldquo;Setting the Table,%26rdquo; installed in UH-Clear Lake%26rsquo;s Alfred R. Neumann Library, relays the fascinating story of The Dinner Party%26rsquo;s creation. Through April 30, at the Alfred R. Neumann Library, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., University of Houston-Clear Lake; hsh.uhcl.edu/judychicago.

Image: Right: Judy Chicago%26rsquo;s test plate for The Dinner Party, circa 1979, at Alfred R. Neumann Library, UH-Clear Lake.

Cover Girl

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:10:26 GMT

Our January cover was captured by Dallas-based lenswoman Maxine Helfman, a photographic talent whose commercial work juts up again the fine art world, %26agrave; la Warhol. Helfman, whose career segued from art direction and styling to stepping behind the camera, admits to being a late bloomer. Now she%26rsquo;s hit her stride, with startling imagery %26mdash;%26nbsp;which has been exhibited at Fresh Fairs, Santa Monica and Vermont%26rsquo;s PhotoPlace Gallery %26mdash; that exists between fantasy and fashion while begging to be freed from the editorial page, framed and collected. maxinehelfman.com.

Cover Girl

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:08:47 GMT

Our January cover (as well as our December cover, shown) was captured by Dallas-based lenswoman Maxine Helfman, a photographic talent whose commercial work juts up again the fine art world, %26agrave; la Warhol. Helfman, whose career segued from art direction and styling to stepping behind the camera, admits to being a late bloomer. Now she%26rsquo;s hit her stride, with startling imagery %26mdash;%26nbsp;which has been exhibited at Fresh Fairs, Santa Monica and Vermont%26rsquo;s PhotoPlace Gallery %26mdash; that exists between fantasy and fashion while begging to be freed from the editorial page, framed and collected. maxinehelfman.com.

Remembering Peter Marzio

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:32:11 GMT

No mere words could ever pay tribute to Peter Marzio, who passed away in December. The dashing, dynamic director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, changed our art scene forever from his helm at the MFAH during a distinguished and extraordinary 28-year tenure, transforming the institution from a prominent regional museum serving the elite, white and wealthy to an important museum with an international reputation that truly is a place for all people. Patrician in bearing and an adept fund-raiser, Marzio was also at heart a populist who noted the shifting demographics of Houston and saw to it that the diverse communities of the city were reflected in the MFAH%26rsquo;s collections. In this aspect, he was an authentic visionary, carving out a world-class department of Latin American Art and new galleries for the Arts of Asia and the Arts of the Islamic World; manifesting a commitment to African-American art by giving a yes to bold shows such as %26ldquo;The Quilts of Gee%26rsquo;s Bend%26rdquo;; recognizing the importance of photography as one of the 20th and 21st centuries%26rsquo; most significant and seminal collecting fields; and establishing the Glassell School%26rsquo;s Core Program, which made Houston a breeding ground for international talents. He made it look easy, too, working seemingly effortlessly with trustees to erect the $100 million Beck Building, inspiring Caroline Wiess Law%26rsquo;s munificent $500 million bequest and laying the groundwork for a third building to house contemporary collections. And he only got better at his job, with some of his most exciting achievements coming this past year, with the opening of the Kilroy Center at Bayou Bend, which put a welcome face on the great American decorative arts collection; green-lighting the ignition of the dramatic gunpowder drawing by Cai Guo-Qiang for the new Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Arts of China Gallery; and showcasing stellar Latin American Art in Houston private collections sparked by the MFAH%26rsquo;s commitment to this field. He and wife Frances Marzio %26mdash; the MFAH%26rsquo;s Glassell Gold curator who has a passion and connoisseurship for the ancients and lost civilizations such as the Ife Kingdom of Nigeria %26mdash; were a graceful, golden couple. I consider it a privilege %26mdash; an often thrilling one %26mdash; to have covered art history as it unfolded at the MFAH. And as many curators shared on more than one occasion, no one ever wanted to leave his or her post, because working with Peter was a dream job. His understanding and grasp of art history was vast, and his ability to take a risk and say yes to acquisitions, exhibitions and big ideas was legendary. It is hoped that his example will continue to inspire the MFAH, its curators, a future director and our community.

Image: Peter C. Marzio, 1943 %26ndash; 2010

The Art of Collage

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:30:29 GMT

One of the most exciting legacies of modern art is the concept of the collage/assemblage, which is central to the practice of masters from Robert Rauschenberg to Jasper Johns. Yet their original inspiration, as well as the pioneer whose work they collected, is an almost obscure figure little known outside the art world: Kurt Schwitters. Thanks to The Menil Collection, Schwitters%26rsquo; renown explodes as the museum mounts a traveling survey for the German-born master (1887 %26ndash;%26nbsp;1947). Schwitters %26mdash; who is deservedly known as the king of collage %26mdash; served in the army during World War I, then burst onto the scene in the late 1910s Dadaist swirl, first as a writer. By 1918, he began his innovative Merz series, which would occupy him for the next 30 years, its title taken from a made-up moniker. The endless perambulation of Merz extended into works that elevated the flotsam of everyday life (from train tickets to candy wrappers) into eloquent compositions that loosely took synthetic cubism as a point of departure, intersected Dadaism, constructivism and surrealism, and even prefigured Pop and performance art. The Menil exhibition is guest-curated by Isabel Schultz, co-editor of the artist%26rsquo;s catalogue raisonn%26eacute; and director of the Kurt and Ernst Schwitters Stiftung at the Sprengel Museum Hannover (the archive from which many of the exhibition%26rsquo;s works are drawn). Menil director Josef Helfenstein also collaborated on the show, which marks the first time in 25 years that American audiences will have a chance to explore the genius of Schwitters. One highlight is incontestably the immersive sculptural Merzbau environment Schwitters concocted over a 15-year period in his Hannover home, which was destroyed by the Nazi in 1937, but is captivatingly recreated here as part of the Menil%26rsquo;s retrospective. %26rdquo;Kurt Schwitters: Color and Collage,%26rdquo; at The Menil Collection through January 30.

Image: Kurt Schwitters%26rsquo; Hanover Merzbau, %26ldquo;Blue Window,%26rdquo; 1933, (destroyed 1943). Kurt Schwitters Archive, photo by Willhelm Redemann.%26nbsp;

New Gallery

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 02:13:39 GMT

Keys to the Door: Co-owners Donna Schneider and Emily Corrigan, gallery director Whitney Schneider.
Who%26rsquo;s Showing: A multitude of canvases espousing the canon of contemporary realism reign in New Gallery%26rsquo;s handsome, 1,000-square-foot space on the second floor of the Pavilion Shopping Center on West Lovers Lane. Co-owners Donna Schneider and Emily Corrigan are both working artists. Schneider, an adroit painter of still lifes, landscapes, portraits and interiors, also serving as the main teacher at the studio that shares space with the gallery; Corrigan, accomplished in still life and landscape, is one of the featured talents among the studio painters. Schneider%26rsquo;s daughter, Whitney Schneider, brings her background in advertising, fund-raising and politics to her post as gallery director. In their stable is a Texas-to-international contingent of artists who exemplify the au courant art-world concept that a return to realism is valued and important. 5600 W. Lovers Lane, 214.366.0600; newgallerydallas.com.

Image: Donna Schneider%26rsquo;s Little House in Novgorod, 2007

Plush Gallery

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 02:07:23 GMT

Keys to the Door: Owner/director/provocateur Randall Garrett.
Who%26rsquo;s Showing: He%26rsquo;s back: After an 18-month hiatus in New Mexico, Randall Garrett returns to the Texas scene to shake up the status quo. This time he%26rsquo;s taken up residence in the Design District, infiltrating collector and pal Gary Cunningham%26rsquo;s architectural practice on Dragon with an 800-square-foot outpost (open Thursday through Saturday, noon to 5 pm) for the edgy and destined to be important. This artist-turned-dealer, whose original, ungentrified near-downtown Plush incarnation was the most avant-garde space in town in the early 2000s, has a risk-taking eagle eye; he%26rsquo;s a savvy veteran of innumerable national art fairs and serves as a fearless incubator for Texas and domestic talent (Teresa O%26rsquo;Connor and Donna Huanca were both Plush discoveries). %26ldquo;I like art that makes good use of the traditional media, but goes beyond it to be fresh, and keep on giving back to you,%26rdquo; Garrett says of his curatorial practice. This aesthetic is clearly evidenced in this month%26rsquo;s showing of a trio %26mdash; Kat Ryals, C.J. Davis and Brian Ryden %26mdash; who emit new energy in the media of, respectively, photography, sculpture and painting (January 22 %26ndash; February 19). Collectors, take notice. 918 Dragon St. (in the studio of Cunningham Architects), 214.915.0925; plushgallery.com.

Image: Plush Gallery%26rsquo;s Randall Garrett. Photo by Michael Wynne.

Fair Play

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 01:34:21 GMT

Houston Fine Art Fair rushes from the start gate Friday through Sunday, September 16 through 18, 2011, with an Opening Preview Party on Thursday evening, September 15; all the acquisition action happens at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The momentum, speculation and excitement are building as international, national and Texas dealers vie for space among the 80 available booths. Details are still in the works, but word%26rsquo;s out that the fair will also feature a Latin American Pavilion and reflect current trends in modern and contemporary art via varied media, from painting, sculpture and drawing to photography, drawing, prints, art glass and avant-garde digital art. Stay tuned for the gallery roster as it unfolds, and the latest on the opening-night beneficiary. Also expect Houston museums, galleries and nonprofits to line up in support, beginning with top collectors Victoria and Marshal Lightman (he, Houston Arts Alliance board chairman), who hosted a welcome bash at their home. Kudos to the organizer, charismatic software tycoon and ab ex collector Rick Friedman %26mdash; whose fairs to date include ArtHamptons, ArtAspen and the SF (San Francisco) Art Fair %26mdash;%26nbsp;for identifying our town as a 21st century collecting nexus. houstonfineartfair.com.

Enid Street Gallery

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 02:54:33 GMT

Keys to the Door: Owner, director, curator and lensman Felix Sanchez.

What%26rsquo;s Hanging: The latest entry into the weekend-only gallery scene is Enid Street, an art space open Saturdays (1 to 5 pm) and by appointment, brought to you by Houston photog Felix Sanchez, who combines living and curatorial space in his gleaming Gavalume structure. Enid Street holds court in a gentrifying hood minutes from mainstream Heights art corridors. Planned as a venue for his photography, as well as works by other hometown talents, Sanchez%26rsquo;s inaugural view showcases portraits of four highly regarded Texas artists, alongside examples of their work: sculptor/furniture designer Tara Conley (famed for her droll Bronze Bunny, currently installed as part of Sculpture for New Orleans, maquette shown left); anime painter/video mistress/toy maker Wendy Wagner; Omar Perez of the towering shoe sculptures; and Thedra Cullar-Ledford, whose current series of oversized paintings of dolls are compelling, albeit disturbing (Saturdays, December 4, 11, and 18.) 1504 Enid St., 713.774.1890. info@felixsanchez.com.

Image: Felix Sanchez%26rsquo;s Portrait of Tara Conley, 2009

Beauty in Black %26 White

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 06:36:44 GMT

Conflicted about the power of beauty as well as its burdens, Houston-raised artist Rachel Hovnanian created the narrative photographic vignettes that appear on this month%26#8217;s cover and on these pages. She has become one of the most chattered-about talents working in New York today. Her newest series, %26#8220;Too Good to Be True,%26#8221; forces the viewer to define beauty and the price we%26#8217;ll pay for it.

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Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s "Suburbia," 2010

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Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s%26nbsp; work ranges from sculpture to drawing, narrative photographic studies to massive oils on canvas that focus on false ideals, coupled with our societal aspirations to attain a flawless fa%26#231;ade. Her %26#8220;Too Good to Be True%26#8221; series of 33 black-and-white photographs, shown here and on the cover, juxtaposes stiff trophy figurines %26#8212; beauties with satin sashes and bouquets dipped in ghostly white plaster %26#8212; with Lilliputian scenes of dollhouse furniture starkly painted flat white. Each vignette, theatrically confined in a suppressive space, is paired with a cheeky title that perfectly punctuates the thought expressed in the frame. For instance, No Prenup depicts a pretty young trophy wife poised atop her four-poster bed, surrounded by high-end shopping bags, while her balding, older husband stands at the foot. Casting doubts, aspersions? You be the judge.%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

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Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s "Dining Table," 2010

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Dining Table illustrates the space that%26#8217;s grown between the trophy wife and her mate, with each seated at opposite ends of a table that must seat 24. In Beauty and the Doughnuts, a more voluptuous version of the perfect size-0 beauty queen, her hips and bottom engorged from her weakness for sweets, gazes longingly at a glass case filled with doughnuts, cookies and pastries.%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

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Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s "Chaos to Bliss in One Day," 2010

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Asked what inspired her newest series of photographs, Hovnanian replies, %26#8220;It speaks directly to how I feel about a variety of self-worth issues women face. Beauty plus status equals celebrity. Celebrity is coveted and is no longer an American export; it%26#8217;s a global issue. In my work, I prefer to refrain from judgment. Some might be amused, some might be incensed, and hopefully everyone feels something.%26#8221;%26nbsp;%26nbsp; %26nbsp;Take a look past the public persona, the pretty faces and ask, as Hovnanian has: Is it perfection attained or too good to be true?

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Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s "Beauty and the Doughnuts," 2010

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Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s works are available through Collette Blanchard Gallery, New York City. In December, this exhibition of narrative studies printed on watercolor paper will be on view at Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago. Hovnanian%26#8217;s previous works have been exhibited with Meredith Long %26amp; Company, Houston, and were represented by Jason McCoy, Inc., at the Dallas Art Fair. Information rachelhovnanian.com.

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Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s "No Prenup," 2010

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Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s "Close Shave," 2010

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Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s "Blood Stain Remover," 2010

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Image at top: Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s "I%26#8217;ll Just Do It Myself," 2010

Image below: Rachel Hovnanian%26#8217;s "White Dress and Matching Appliances," 2010

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Mr. Light-and-Space

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:39:53 GMT

Few contemporary artists can conjure a sleight of hand as well as Tom Orr. This Dallas-based, internationally exhibited sculptor is also adept at achieving maximum effects with an economy of means. In his material arsenal? Surprisingly prosaic, often industrial media: metal, wood, mirrors, abandoned chairs, sheets of plastic and even greenhouse glazing. His work was seen last fall in "Performance/Art" alongside frequent collaborator/wife Frances Bagley at the Dallas Museum of Art, and he%26#8217;s among the talents highlighted in this month's release of the lavish volume Texas Artists Today. Now Orr stars front and center in Marty Walker Gallery's autumn lineup, where his evocatively titled exhibit "Ghost Stories" rolls out new takes on time, illusion, light, space and architecture (through November 13). Information martywalkergallery.com.

An Art Tome as Big as Texas

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 03:30:58 GMT

A volume as oversized as the 268,601-square-mile state it encompasses %26#8230; Houston to the High Plains of Lubbock %26#8230; Dallas to deep East Texas %26#8230; Sixty-two living artists %26#8230; 11 years in the making%26nbsp;%26#8230; 268 pages %26#8230; 24,000 words %26#8230; 460 color plates %26#8230; Handcrafted %26#8230; One author %26#8212; PaperCity%26#8217;s visual arts editor Catherine D. Anspon %26#8230; with a Preface by James Surls and a Foreword by Lester Marks %26#8230; Seven photographers led by PaperCity%26#8217;s photo editor Jenny Antill %26#8230; 100-plus studio visits %26#8230; 12,000 images gathered, edited then composed into 62 final collage portraits by creative director Tatiana Massey %26#8230; Project managers Craig Massey and Karla McKinley %26#8230; Design director Michelle Avi%26#241;a with Poppi Massey %26#8230; Published by fine art press Marquand Books of Seattle in a collectible, limited edition of 3,000 hand-numbered copies %26#8230; The first survey in a decade to showcase the major players upon the rich canvas of the Texas contemporary art scene.%26nbsp;

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Texas Artists Today: Available November 2010 from Marquand Books. Stocked at the Dallas Contemporary and museum bookshops. First edition $95. To reserve your signed copy, call 214.821.2522; Erin Cluley, erin.cluley@dallascontemporary.org.

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For more images and details, click on 'launch slideshow' at top of story.

Hot Shots: Christie’s Avedon Sale

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:07:58 GMT

Meet you under the Arc de Triomphe on November 20: Christie%26#8217;s in Paris will be offering the largest grouping of Richard Avedon photographs ever to come to market. More than 60 modern masterpieces %26#8212; Jean Shrimpton, Twiggy, the Dalai Lama, Picasso, Marilyn, the Beatles and, yes, Dovima holding back her elephants %26#8212; go on the block precisely at 5 pm at Christie%26#8217;s Paris saleroom. Shall we celebrate our winnings at Maxim%26#8217;s, afterward? Avedon: Photographs from The Richard Avedon Foundation; pre-sale viewing 20 Rockefeller Plaza, 212.636.2000; christies.com.

Image:%26nbsp; Photograph by Richard Avedon. %26#169; The Richard Avedon Foundation

Goss-Michael Foundation

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 02:18:55 GMT

Keys to the Door: Founders Kenny Goss and George Michael, executive director Joyce Goss.
Oh My Goss: If things have seemed quiet in the Goss-Michael Foundation%26#8217;s world lately, it isn%26#8217;t for lack of new projects %26#8212; or for scope. For six months, executive director Joyce Goss and her intrepid team of curators have been busy directing construction crews and packing and unpacking gargantuan-sized pieces of contemporary art, all in preparation for their new and equally gargantuan Design District location. Now measuring more than four times the size of its former Cedar Springs Road location, the new GMF %26#8212; whose focus is the edgiest British art %26#8212;%26nbsp;is set to make its grand debut November 19, with an %26#252;ber-exclusive party to celebrate it the night before. We%26#8217;ve had our sneak peek, and we were amazed at what we saw. Envision the industrial interior of a 12,000-square-foot brick warehouse: In the front, there is a gallery and a special-projects room for rotating exhibitions, plus a sleek bookshop to be stocked with limited-edition art tomes and one-of-a-kind items designed by GMF%26#8217;s visiting artists. An even larger gallery space resides in the back, where the foundation houses its astonishing %26#8212;%26nbsp;and always growing, hence the new space %26#8212;%26nbsp;permanent collection of works by Damien Hirst, Marc Quinn, Tracey Emin and more. (FYI, the Goss-Michael Foundation can now be reserved for private parties and events: There%26#8217;s a full-sized catering kitchen and a conference room, which can double as an elegant dining room for said soir%26#233;es.) With these big new digs comes even more expansion: New shows, new educational programs, a lecture series, an artist-in-residence program with a live-in studio at GMF and a new focus on young Dallas and Texas artists. %26#8220;Art should have no cultural or sexual boundaries,%26#8221; says Kenny Goss. %26#8220;There are no boundaries to our collection.%26#8221; Now, it seems, they have even more space to explore that notion. 1405 Turtle Creek Blvd.; 214.696.0555; gossmichaelfoundation.org.

Image: Damien Hirst%26#8217;s Saint Sebastian, Exquisite Pain, 2007. Photo courtesy of the Goss-Michael Collection.

An Art Tome as Big as Texas

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 01:34:37 GMT

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Texas Artists Today: Available November 2010 from Marquand Books. Stocked at Brazos Bookstore and museum bookshops. First edition $95. To reserve your signed copy, call 713.523.0701; Margaret Bott mdbtoday@gmail.com.%26nbsp;

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For more images and details, click on 'launch slideshow' at top of story.

What’s New at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s Grand Old House?

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 02:57:37 GMT

Your Exclusive First Look at the Gleaming, %26#8220;Green%26#8221; Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center

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%26#8226; Plus a Behind-the-Scenes Peek at Seven Museum Rooms Reborn

%26#8226; What%26#8217;s Been Restored at One of America%26#8217;s Greatest Decorative Arts Museums

%26#8226; Texas%26#8217; Premier Organic Garden

%26#8226; What Trees Tower and What Blooms Blossom at One of the Most Beautiful Historical Gardens in the Country

%26#8226; What Are the Very Top Treasures Collected by the Discerning Miss Hogg

%26#8226; How Bayou Bend Began and What Else You Need to Know

%26#8226; Why Now is the Time to Go

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Image: Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center, east facade at night

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Just Opened: The Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens 6003 Memorial Drive at Westcott Street Houston, Texas 77007 713.639.7750; mfah.org/BayouBend

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Image: Clio Garden %26nbsp;

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Bayou Bend is open six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday, year round. For information on hours, admission and tours, please visit mfah.org/BayouBend.

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Image: The Chillman Parlor, 1810 %26#8211; 1840

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What%26#8217;s New at Houston%26#8217;s%26nbsp;Houston%26#8217;s Home for America%26#8217;s Treasures?%26nbsp;

At Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, a gleaming18,000-square-foot %26#8220;green%26#8221; building rises as the contemporary Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center opens its doors.

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Image: Tulips and azaleas in Bayou Bend Gardens; Photo Rob Muir%26nbsp;

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In the Beginning

Houston, Texas, 1920. It was before the age of air conditioning and three years after the first Great War. The automobile of choice was a Model T. The daughter of a former Texas governor made an acquisition that would shape the course of American decorative art collecting by a single purchase: a Queen Anne armchair. And thus the foundation for a grand house museum was born by this singular philanthropist whose family impacted their hometown and state in ways large and small, expansive and intrinsic %26#8212; from civic endeavors such as facilitating the acquisition of the land that became Memorial Park to helping found the Houston Symphony, as well as involvement in progressive causes including mental health and education.

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Enter the doyenne Miss Ima Hogg (1882 %26#8211; 1975). After spying an 18th-century American chair in the Manhattan studio of portraitist Wayman Adams, she was inspired to begin a lifetime pursuit of fine and decorative art that would culminate in the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, which she gifted to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 1957. Emphasizing interpretation and education, the first docent class was trained in 1961; the house opened to the public in 1966 when its founder moved to a high-rise for the final decade of her life. After she left her beloved home, Bayou Bend continued front and center in her consciousness, evidenced in acquisitions of objects as well as land %26#8212; including a choice adjoining parcel that she sagely purchased in 1969, with the intention of eventually creating a visitor center. This fall, her long-deferred dream becomes a reality.%26nbsp;

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Image: Kilroy Visitor and Education Center, south view; Photo Robb Williamson%26nbsp;

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A 21st-Century Gateway to America%26#8217;s History

%26#8220;It%26#8217;s like a machine in the garden,%26#8221; notes director Peter Marzio about the 21st-century steel structure that rises along Memorial Drive near Westcott as a beacon to greet contemporary guests. The new building, which opened to the public on Saturday, September 25, is christened the Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center after lead benefactor, philanthropist and avid collector Jeanie Kilroy, who also endowed an accessions fund for Bayou Bend. The Center caps a $25 million campaign that began in 2007 to celebrate the house museum%26#8217;s half-century.

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Striking yet not overblown, the 18,000-square-foot building makes a nuanced nod to the area%26#8217;s natural surroundings. %26#8220;We want visitors to begin in the 21st century, then walk over the suspension bridge to Houston of 1928, then enter Bayou Bend and step into 18th-century Philadelphia,%26#8221; reveals Marzio, who tapped hometown architect Leslie K. Elkins for the commission. %26#8220;We looked at her other projects, such as the Quaker Live Oak Friends Meeting, and she was the perfect choice. Also, Leslie is a Houstonian, which was important.%26#8221;

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The handsome, Silver-LEED-certified two-story structure emits an environmental statement, beginning with its %26#8220;cool%26#8221; roof, which reflects more than 90 percent of the sun%26#8217;s radiation, and the detention pond that becomes a beguiling water element. Kendall/Heaton Associates served as the production architect, with the MFAH%26#8217;s associate director of administration, Willard Holmes, overseeing all construction details as project manager. McDugald-Steele Landscape Architects tweaked the neighboring Hogg Bird Sanctuary, creating a %26#8220;green link from the Visitor Center to Bayou Bend, while presenting a more urban face to the historic presence of the house museum,%26#8221; says McDugald-Steele principal Erik Hanson. The project represented an innovative collaboration between the Parks Department and the MFAH, impacting an impressive 18 inner-city acres, including a new oak all%26#233;e that rims the Kilroy building.

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Besides exponentially raising the visibility of Bayou Bend and turning a beckoning exterior to the visitor, the shining contemporary building %26#8220;makes a segue from today into history,%26#8221; Marzio says. %26#8220;We found, for example, that visitors needed a bit more information before they entered the collection.%26#8221; So the Kilroy Center prepares them by presenting an orientation and information lobby, an orientation gallery, a Hogg Family Legacy Room, a retail shop, a (nonlending) research library and a study center dedicated to American decorative arts history, plus volumes about architecture, painting, works on paper and social history, including many rare architectural and furniture design books, as well as the Hogg family%26#8217;s books on Texas history. Also offered are classroom spaces for meetings and social functions, and an outdoor veranda for receptions.

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About the motivation behind the gift for her namesake structure, lifetime MFAH trustee Kilroy confides: %26#8220;American history will come to life for the children of Houston in new and exciting ways. This matters to me even more as I watch my granddaughter and her friends growing up. I realize that they are our next generation of leaders, and it is important that they have a firm grounding in American history and ideals.%26#8221;

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Image: Robert C. Joy%26#8217;s "Miss Ima Hogg," 1971; Photo Thomas R. DuBrock%26nbsp;

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Who was Miss Hogg?

Born six years after the American Centennial, Miss Hogg grew up in an affluent, high-profile family as the only daughter of a popular Texas governor, Jim Hogg, and his wife, Sallie, who passed away of tuberculosis when Miss Hogg was a young girl. After an Austin and East Texas childhood, she and siblings Will, Mike and Tom ended up in Houston, where they ran Hogg Brothers%26#8217; booming and numerous enterprises encompassing oil, agriculture, real estate, coal, interests in the port of Houston and even shoe manufacturing and gold mining. Their destined-to-be-vast fortunes were jump-started by the discovery of oil on their West Columbia, Texas, property in 1918, which led to the founding of the Texas Company, the forerunner of Texaco.

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Miss Ima%26#8217;s avocation was music %26#8212; she was a classically trained pianist who studied in New York, Berlin and Vienna. An activist for mental health and education, she later served on the Houston School Board. But her greatest civic and cultural legacy is incontestably the promotion of the then-burgeoning field of American antiques, as well as forming important collections of 20th-century works on paper and Southwest Indian art. Bayou Bend%26#8217;s Michael K. Brown, who has been its keen and knowledgeable collection curator since 1980, tells the story of Miss Hogg%26#8217;s first acquisition in his definitive 2007 book, America%26#8217;s Treasures at Bayou Bend: Celebrating 50 Years, published to commemorate the museum%26#8217;s half-century (and stocked at the new Kilroy Center%26#8217;s Shop). %26#8220;She noticed and was engaged by an 18th-century New England armchair. When she learned it was the product of a colonial American craftsman, her interest heightened. She perceived, in what otherwise seemed to be an unassuming object, a tangible link to the American past. It prompted her to query if, through a piece of furniture, one could explore and interpret the nation%26#8217;s history and culture.%26#8221;

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This devotion and connoisseurship toward American antiques, which Miss Hogg developed and honed throughout her life, placed her at the forefront of pioneering collectors and institutions that made a commitment to a then-novel field, decorative art of America %26#8212; versus, say, the more respected and fashionable 18th-century French or English furniture and objects. Towards the end of her life, her well-regarded, discerning eye earned praise from First Lady Jackie Kennedy, who tapped Miss Hogg for advice on the White House Collection.

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Image: Bayou Bend Collection, south facade; Photo Rick Gardner %26nbsp;

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A Storied%26nbsp; House%26nbsp;

What came first? The antiques or the house? While we know that Miss Hogg began her 55-year collecting odyssey in 1920, having a repository for her passion for Americana was important %26#8212; and connected to the booming Houston of the 1920s. She commissioned the then youngish and not yet overly well-known John F. Staub to design a %26#8220;Southern colonial with a Latin flavor,%26#8221; as noted in founding director emeritus David Warrren%26#8217;s Bayou Bend Gardens: A Southern Oasis (also stocked in the new Kilroy Center).

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Poignantly, the home took on a special place in Hogg family history, as outlined again in Bayou Bend Gardens: %26#8220;By 1876, the original land of Mountain Home [in Rusk, Texas] had been reduced to five hundred acres. At that point, with no means of raising cash to meet their obligations, the Hogg children were forced to sell their beloved family plantation ... The pain of losing the family plantation and its land, the most essential southern possession ... remained at the heart of the Hogg family over two successive generations and impacted the conception of Bayou Bend half a century later.%26#8221;

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Bayou Bend was completed in 1928, providing a home for Miss Hogg and her brothers, Will and Mike, as well as a platform (albeit a grand one) for meetings and entertaining to promote the siblings%26#8217; various causes and a center for her increasing focus on building a collection that provided a link to America%26#8217;s past. The estate was originally called Bayou Banks, but the name evolved to its present moniker in 1929. The property%26#8217;s dense, tropical underbrush was resolutely tamed over the ensuing decades to become a showplace for azaleas, camellias and other luxuriant plantings.

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Bayou Bend%26#8217;s Splendid%26nbsp; Museum Rooms Reborn

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Bold Second-Story Redux

Besides the greatly anticipated opening of the Kilroy Center, Bayou Bend itself gets a handsome makeover. The Center provides administrative offices and spaces for the museum%26#8217;s staff, thus freeing up additional rooms on the second floor of the historic home to showcase its stellar collection. This extensive redux marks only the first time in nearly two decades the house has undergone a significant interior redo and restoration. Here%26#8217;s your first peek into a new take on American history via seven reborn Bayou Bend interiors, set to be unveiled this fall:

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Image: McIntire Bedroom; Photo Robb Williamson

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McIntire Bedroom: One of the most serene spaces of the house despite its nonstop patterned wallpaper, carpet and bed coverings, this room reflects its original function as a guest suite. Its name is an ode to the graceful, sophisticated early-19th-century style popularized by Salem, Massachusetts%26#8211;based architect and wood carver Samuel McIntire (1757 %26#8211; 1811). The bedroom is also home to a rare and recent acquisition:%26nbsp;a Rhode Island Sampler from 1793, worked by the young Joanna Maxwell (1782 %26#8211;%26nbsp;1847), with the first letters of her name acronystically spelling out verses. Due to conservation issues, this fragile textile, a gift from the Houston Junior Woman%26#8217;s Club, will only remain on view for a few months at a time.

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Image: Music Room; Photo Phil Grant%26nbsp;

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Music Room: Carriage-class Manhattan circa 1805 %26#8211; 1820 comes alive in this setting, which marries the sublime attitude of the early Grecian style with a piano from the New York shops of Gibson %26amp; Davis, set off by exotic French reproduction panoramic wallpaper in the Hindustan pattern. A pair of just-conserved painted chairs from the Northeast is exhibited for the first time, and touches of the Orient (a China trade bamboo armchair and Chinese export porcelain) complete this intimate room.

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Image: Federal Parlor; Photo Phil Grant

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Federal Parlor: Designed by Miss Hogg in collaboration with architect John F. Staub in 1961, the Federal Parlor is one of the restoration%26#8217;s most lavishly refurbished rooms; it received both new carpet and wallpaper (complete with frieze and border) from, respectively, Grosvenor Wilton of Kidderminster, England, and Adelphi of New York. The biggest surprise of this redux? The discovery of a signature on the neoclassical, circa-1800 mantel, which is now confirmed to be by Philadelphia artisan Robert Wellford. Above Wellford%26#8217;s creation hangs another treasure: a rare circa-1818 landscape painted by Philadelphian Charles Willson Peale, who was best known for his portraits; he also founded the first natural history museum in America, and his progeny were all named after artists. Also, don%26#8217;t miss a delicate 1785 %26#8211;%26nbsp;1815 gilded and painted armchair thought to have been owned by Philadelphia merchant Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and one of the financial backers of the American Revolution.%26nbsp;

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Image: Folk Art Room; Photo Robb Williamson

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Folk Art Room: A new space entirely, the Folk Art Room was carved out of the former Hogg Memorial Room display. While Miss Hogg assiduously collected this art form, the objects were not individually highlighted. Now folk art receives its due, with the leitmotif sounded by a beguiling 2009 addition to the collection: a pair of mid-19th-century doors surmised to have been made by painters Patrick Finney and John Serey, which come from an Odd Fellows%26#8217; Lodge in upstate New York. Other must-sees: an exuberant Berks County, Pennsylvania, painted cupboard that mirrors the affluent rural German culture that created it, and an extraordinary Edward Hicks canvas, Penn%26#8217;s Treaty with the Indians, circa 1830 %26#8211;1840, acquired by Will Hogg in 1922.

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Image: Compote, circa 1850 %26#8211; 1870, attributed to Boston %26amp; Sandwich Glass Co., Sandwich, Massachusetts; Photo Thomas R. DuBrock

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Washington Hall: While always part of the Bayou Bend Collection, glass has usually been exhibited within a room setting. Now a newly minted hallway niche dramatically surveys the glassmakers that furnished tony 18th- and 19th-century American homes. On view in casework compartments to emphasize the unique beauty and brilliance of early American glass, this setting serves up riches including a recently acquired compote, circa 1850 %26#8211;%26nbsp;1870, attributed to Boston %26amp; Sandwich Glass Company of Sandwich, Massachusetts.

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Image: Tankard, 1695 %26#8211; 1711, shop of John Coney, Boston; Photo Thomas R. DuBrock

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Metals Study Room: Spanning three centuries of elegant, innovative endeavors in metal, particularly silver, this new exhibition space provides an opportunity to gaze upon rare objects up close and in perfect lighting. Recommended: an extraordinary set of 70 spoons (tea, table and dessert) associated with the patriot Paul Revere and a robust, late-17th-century/early-18th-century tankard from the workshop of Boston silversmith John Coney.%26nbsp;

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Image: William Boch and Brothers%26#8217; Pitcher, circa 1854 %26#8211; 1857, Greenpoint, Long Island, New York; Photo Thomas R. DuBrock%26nbsp;

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Ceramics Study Room: The final showcase of Colonial-to-Centennial objects is dedicated to ceramics. Originally the exercise area for the Hogg brothers, this space now boasts the most extensive exhibition of Texas pottery in the country %26#8212; including a loan of early masterpieces from the collection of Houstonian William J. Hill %26#8212;%26nbsp;augmented by other intriguing offerings such as a recently acquired ornate porcelain pitcher from the acclaimed mid-19th-century William Boch and Brothers factory in Brooklyn.

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Image: Arabesque Pigeons (detail) from Adelphi in the Federal Parlor; Photo Phil Gran

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A Wall-to-Wall Redo

When selecting wallpapers and carpets for your Georgian-styled manse, where do you begin? If you%26#8217;re a historical residence that boasts a fabled collection of American paintings and decorative arts, the choices become even scarcer. For its historically correct carpets, Bayou Bend turned to storied English firm Grosvenor Wilton. Founded in 1790, the company has an archive of 10,000 patterns, from which two were adroitly chosen by Bayou Bend curator Michael K. Brown. In the Federal Parlor, a genteel brown carpet with a rust Scroll and Leaf motif makes a bold statement, and the revamped Music Room is now home to heraldic Point-of-Honor Medallion. The Gfroerer Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio, meticulously installed both carpets by hand. Among its other clients: the White House. The newly added Folk Art Room%26#8217;s rug is sourced from Cherry Valley, New York%26#8211;based Rabbit Goody of Thistle Hill Weavers. Still crafting historical rugs and carpets by hand, she wove a charming Venetian carpet from worsted wool in a pattern known as The Hartford Figure.

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Nineteenth-century-inspired wall coverings were then commissioned from Adelphi Paper Hangings in Sharon Springs, New York, which continues to hand-block all its papers on cotton fiber. The McIntire Bedroom received a refined Laurel Trellis wallpaper, reproduced from a 19th-century Parisian trousseau package that is bordered by the dignified Otis Federal Chain, which references the landmark Otis House in Boston, circa 1796. A graceful Arabesque Pigeons design ensconces the revamped Federal Parlor, accented by its historic LeBaron border and Garland and Tassel frieze, replicating the combinations of the renowned Lazarus LeBaron House in Sutton, Massachusetts, of 1794.%26nbsp;

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While these sumptuous wall coverings and dazzling (and often dizzying) carpets may appear heady in today%26#8217;s light, they speak to the maximalist reality of yesteryear. Seth Vaughan

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What%26#8217;s Timeless at Bayou Bend?

A Fabled Collection of American Decorative Arts Plus a Lush, 14-Acre Southern Garden %26nbsp;

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Image: Dining Room; Photo Rick Gardner%26nbsp;

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Rooms to Treasure and Top Treasures %26#8212; That Revel in%26nbsp; and Reveal %26#8212; American History

Three centuries of American antiques relay the story of a nation, its people and their art, design and life, 1620 to 1870. More than 20 period rooms and 5,322 objects. Late Renaissance to Rococo Revival styles. A showcase for furniture makers from John Townsend to John Henry Belter and painters from John Singleton Copley to Charles Willson Peale. A project of the great Houston architect John F. Staub. Among the top 10 collections of its importance and scope in America. Not static %26#8212; acquisitions and bequests continue to expand upon the legacy of its founder, the remarkable Miss Ima Hogg.

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Images: Desk-and-Bookcase, 1755 %26#8211; 1800, Newport, Rhode Island; Photo Miguel Flores-Vianna. Great Chair, 1640 %26#8211; 1685, Essex County, Massachusetts; Photo Thomas R. DuBrock.

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A grand southern colonial house in a sublime setting. Fourteen lush acres adorned with heirloom plantings and staffed by a full-time horticultural curator, five assistants and legions of volunteers. Formal organic gardens alternating with wooded paths and ample stands of azaleas, camellias (including the highly rare Duchesse de Caze pink, no longer available in commercial nurseries), gardenias, magnolias and antique roses. One singular vision.%26nbsp; %26nbsp;

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Image: James Peale%26#8217;s "Still Life with Vegetables," 1826; Photo Thomas R. DuBrock

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What are the must sees? An over-the-top desk-and-bookcase, circa 1755 %26#8211; 1800, that is considered one of the finest surviving examples of Newport furniture with its ornately carved shell motif that serves as inspiration for the house museum%26#8217;s logo; canvases by brothers Charles Willson Peale and James Peale depicting, respectively, a self-portrait with family members and a luminous still life of vegetables; the famed dining room with its golden, hand-painted, naturalistic wall covering and cache of late-18th- and early-19th-century furniture; unique Texana including an extensive collection of ceramics by Wilson Potters; Pilgrim-era furniture highlighted by a great chair, circa 1640 %26#8211; 1685; elegant painted furniture including a pair of side chairs, from 1808, designed by the architect Benjamin Latrobe in the Grecian style; the lavish rococo revival Belter Parlor, circa 1855; a gift in her late aunt%26#8217;s honor by Alice C. Simkins, a 1918 pottery vase from Sophie Newcomb College (on exhibit in the Hogg Family Legacy Room at the Kilroy Center) that is indicative of Miss Hogg%26#8217;s desire to extend the collection into the 20th century; and impeccable, inviting formal gardens that form rooms in nature contrasted with less-manicured landscape trails and sublime outdoor features.

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Bayou Bend%26#8217;s%26nbsp; Experts Weigh In

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Image: Woodland Ravine, Bayou Bend Gardens; Photo Rick Gardner%26nbsp;

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Michael K. Brown

Curator, Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

Please place Bayou Bend in the context of great American decorative arts collections. What are other collections of its caliber?

It is among the top 10. The great collections are Winterthur (H. F. du Pont), the Met and the MFA Boston, in that order.%26nbsp;Others: Yale University Art Gallery (Garvan Collection), Philadelphia Museum of Art, Colonial Williamsburg (Rockefeller), Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (Horton Collection) [in Winston-Salem, North Carolina] ... She [Ima Hogg] recognized the importance of American antiques as early as 1920 ... There are very few opportunities to experience collections of this caliber, and most of them are on the East Coast.%26nbsp;

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Image: East Garden; Photo Rick Gardner

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Bart Brechter

Curator, the Gardens at Bayou Bend

When did you implement the organic initiative at Bayou Bend? How long did it take to make this happen?

2001. When implementing an organic garden, it is all or nothing, so the transition was immediate.

Was Miss Hogg the guiding vision behind the original plantings of the gardens?

Yes, most definitely. Nothing was done without Miss Hogg%26#8217;s vision and approval. The museum has her notes in their archives. When I have a question regarding the historical aspect of something, I will refer to them.

Which landscape gardeners did Miss Hogg work with?

Pat Fleming, Albert Shepherd, Ruth London.

We understand you are an azalea and camellia expert. How many species of each are represented at Bayou Bend?%26nbsp;

There are three species of camellias and only one species of azalea. But there are about 50-plus cultivars of camellias and 45-plus cultivars of azaleas.

Besides your Champion Dogwood, what other top trees are represented in the collection?

White oak, American sycamore, two-winged silver bell, ginkgo, loblolly pine, box elder, sugar maple and Southern magnolia.

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Image: Belter Parlor; Photo Rick Gardner

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Bonnie Campbell

Director, Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

What are you stocking in the gift shop?

The Shop at Bayou Bend will be a great place for Houstonians to stop in for a special treasure for themselves or a friend.%26nbsp;We will highlight many unique, custom, limited-edition and one-of-a-kind objects that reflect the quality of craftsmanship and elegance found throughout Bayou Bend.%26nbsp;In many cases, the Shop will be the only place these treasures can be found.%26nbsp;Bowls and vases made from trees at Bayou Bend, a signature scent candle (%26#8220;Butterfly%26#8221;), a limited-edition Limoges reproduction of our fabulous green Empire sofa, a chiffon scarf featuring the Dining Room%26#8217;s%26nbsp;beautiful gold wall-covering%26nbsp;pattern, and on and on!%26nbsp;

How will the new Center change Bayou Bend?%26nbsp;

It will make it easier for us to let the public know what has been true for many years but has been hidden down and across the bayou: that Bayou Bend is a major cultural resource and is Houston%26#8217;s home for America%26#8217;s treasures.%26nbsp;

What message can Bayou Bend share with the public?%26nbsp;

That these objects are a tangible link to America%26#8217;s past %26#8212; to the people who made them, used them or admired them, and to the time in which they were made, used and admired.%26nbsp;

What are you excited about in terms of the Kilroy building and the restoration?%26nbsp;

One: That we will be able to share our educational mission in new and increased ways. Two: That wonderful period rooms will once again be open for public touring %26#8230; Three: That we have realized the one dream Ima Hogg had for Bayou Bend she was unable to complete in her lifetime: the addition of a visitor and education center.

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Houston%26#8217;s Home for America%26#8217;s Treasures

Bayou Bend is open six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday, year round. For information on hours, admission and tours, please visit mfah.org/BayouBend. %26nbsp;%26nbsp; %26nbsp;%26nbsp;

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The Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens

6003 Memorial Drive at Westcott Street Houston, Texas 77007713.639.7750;%26nbsp;mfah.org/BayouBend

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The Tome We’ve Been Waiting For

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:20:45 GMT

We%26#8217;ve been waiting with bated breath for our talented colleague, PaperCity visual arts editor Catherine D. Anspon, to complete her contemporary-art compendium, Texas Artists Today (Marquand Books, November 2010, $95). The numbered, limited-edition monograph %26#8212; only 3,000 will be printed %26#8212; has been 11 years in the making and finally hits the shelves November 15, coming in at more than 260 pages stunningly fronted by an oversized, silvered cover with suede cutout title. PaperCity photo editor Jenny Antill, international lenswoman Sueraya Shaheen and Dallas photographer Adam Graves are the three main photographic contributors; Tatiana Massey has metamorphosed their inside-the-studio artists%26#8217; portraits and workplace details into compelling collages to accompany the text. Anspon herself curated the artists from her vast knowledge and experience culled during her 12 years as PaperCity%26#8217;s arts editor. She traversed the state, trekking from small dusty towns to big cities, to tap the 62 most significant mid-career artists, plus a few up-and-comers. Texas Artists Today takes you vicariously into the studios of these Texas creative visualists, from Whitney Biennial talents (Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Robyn O%26#8217;Neil and Dario Robleto) to mythic self-taught figures (Forrest Prince) and Dallas%26#8217; own first art couple Frances Bagley and Tom Moore. With our state perceived around the world as a mythic art-making capital, this handcrafted volume %26#8212; the first book in a decade to survey the Texas contemporary art world %26#8212; is destined to be a cornerstone of any collector%26#8217;s library. Best of all, proceeds after publication expenses benefit four nonprofits with an arts or medical mission: Lawndale Art Center, Dallas Contemporary, Menninger Clinic Foundation, and Beyond Batten Disease Foundation. At the Dallas Contemporary and museums November 15.

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Image: Photo by Jenny Antill.

Cris Worley Fine Arts

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:29:43 GMT

While last year%26#8217;s buzz brimmed with news of gallery closures, this season is off to a promising start with the debut of Cris Worley Fine Arts, the eagerly awaited arrival that melds consulting and curatorial functions with a commitment to contemporary Texas artists. Owner/director Cris Worley has deep ties to the community, having served as director of Pan American Art Projects for nearly seven years. After Pan American shuttered its Dallas location last December, Worley branched out onto her own as a private consultant but found she missed life as a gallerist. Enter dealer Ree Willaford of Galleri Urbane Marfa/Dallas, who offered to carve up her 3,000-square-foot digs so the two could be suite mates. Located minutes from Dragon Street, Worley%26#8217;s new white cube shares a door with Galleri Urbane %26#8212;%26nbsp;take a left to Worley%26#8217;s space; turn right, and you%26#8217;re in Willaford%26#8217;s. The %26#8217;60s-era former office building on Monitor Street has the lines of classic modernism, with 13-feet-high ceilings, polished concrete floors and a garage door that opens to reveal a porch overlooking the Trinity Creek runoff %26#8212; it just begs for an after-party. Best of all, the new gallery stocks a stable of Texas greats and up-and-comers, evidenced in the inaugural exhibition, %26#8220;Epic | Epoch,%26#8221; which is packed with notables including William Cannings of the inflated metallic objects, photo-obsessive Rusty Scruby and our lady of the riotous dotted canvases, Charlotte Smith (now through October 16). %26nbsp;2277 Monitor St., 214.641.9266; crisworley.com.

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Image:%26nbsp;Cris Worley installs a Rusty Scruby work; photo by%26nbsp;Rusty Scruby.

2.5 Decades With DADA

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 10:14:00 GMT

To celebrate 25 years of inspiring the growth of our local art scene, Dallas Art Dealers Association is rounding up gallerists, artists, socials and collectors for an artful jubilee. PaperCity is sponsoring the multi-day extravaganza.

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%26#8226; Friday, September 24: An opening reception at the Irving Arts Center featuring the works of the seven chosen artist candidates for the Edith Baker Art Scholarship %26#8212; think a $4,000 prize and a mentorship/internship with a DADA member of the winner%26#8217;s choice.

%26nbsp;%26#8226; Saturday, September 25: Seek new acquisitions at 37 participating art spaces during the Fall Gallery Walk, then be enlightened at the Bath House Cultural Center panel discussions, where talking points include %26#8220;How to Start an Art Collection%26#8221; and %26#8220;How to Photograph Your Art.%26#8221; Of course, it wouldn%26#8217;t be a proper anniversary without champagne and revelry, so after the gallery romp, all will convene at the new Dallas Contemporary for a multi-disciplinary cocktail party inspired by the Dada art movement. Visual art, fashion, theater, dance and music are all to be incorporated, meaning never a dull moment for partygoing Marcel Duchamps and Man Rays.

%26#8226; Sunday, October 10: The festivities spill into October, with DADA premiering the documentary 25 Years of Dallas Visual Art at the Dallas Museum of Art%26#8217;s Horchow Auditorium. For tickets and details for all of the 25th anniversary happenings, click to dallasartdealers.org.

The Tome We’ve Been Waiting For

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:18:02 GMT

We%26#8217;ve been waiting with bated breath for our talented colleague, PaperCity visual arts editor Catherine D. Anspon, to complete her contemporary art compendium, Texas Artists Today (Marquand Books, November 2010, $95). The numbered, limited-edition %26#8212; only 3,000 will be printed %26#8212; monograph has been 11 years in the making but finally hits the shelves November 1, weighing in at more than 260 pages and stunningly fronted by an oversized, silvered cover with suede cutout title. PaperCity photo editor Jenny Antill, international lenswoman Sueraya Shaheen and Dallas photog Adam Graves are the three main photographic contributors; Tatiana Massey has metamorphosed their inside-the-studio artists%26#8217; portraits and workplace details into compelling collages to accompany the text. Anspon herself curated the artists from her vast knowledge and experience culled during her 12 years as PaperCity%26#8217;s arts editor. She traversed the state, trekking from small dusty towns to big cities, to tap the 62 most significant mid-career artists, plus a few up-and-comers. Texas Artists Today takes you vicariously into the studios of these Texas creative visualists, from Whitney Biennial talents to mythic self-taught figures (Franco Mondini-Ruiz, Robyn O%26#8217;Neil, William Cannings and Dario Robleto) and past Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Glassell Core Fellows (Aaron Parazette and Sharon Engelstein). With our state perceived around the world as a mythic art-making capital, this handcrafted volume %26#8212; the first book in a decade to survey the Texas contemporary art world %26#8212; is destined to be a cornerstone of any collector%26#8217;s library. Best of all, proceeds after publication expenses benefit four nonprofits with an arts or medical mission: Lawndale Art Center, Dallas Contemporary, Menninger Clinic Foundation and Beyond Batten Disease Foundation. Pre-Order Party and Art Auction, Wednesday, September 15, chaired by Deborah Colton and Carolyn Farb at Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery. For information or to reserve your numbered copy, e-mail Margaret Bott, mdbtoday@gmail.com. Book available at Brazos Bookstore and museums November 1.

Image: Photo by Jenny Antill.

Art Notes

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:19:17 GMT

Maya, Masks and Madrid: %26#8220;Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea%26#8221; arrives at the Kimbell Art Museum. This mystical reinterpretation of the grand Mayan culture is an intriguing archaeological blockbuster that pushes beyond the scholarly realm into the broader consciousness. Based on new excavations plus breakthroughs in deciphering the Mayan glyphs, %26#8220;Fiery Pool%26#8221; looks at the role of the sea in the fabled civilization that, at its height, extended throughout Mexico and Central America. The bold revisionist exhibition serves up riches from stoic carved stone monuments to a droll ceramic crocodile effigy %26#8212; once-in-a-lifetime loans that the traveling show, organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, coaxed from important institutions in Mexico City, Guatemala and Belize (through January 2) ... At the Dallas Museum of Art, curator Roslyn A. Walker raids the DMA%26#8217;s troves and taps local collectors for the jewel-like %26#8220;African Masks: The Art of Disguise.%26#8221; Costumes place these carved creations in context, while performance footage literally makes the masks come alive (through February 13) ... The Meadows Museum rolls out its historic international partnership with one of the world%26#8217;s great museums, the Prado, by bringing El Greco%26#8217;s circa-1600 masterpiece Pentecost to town (September 12 %26#8211;%26nbsp;February 6). It%26#8217;s%26nbsp;just one of the top treasures that will travel here over the next three years.

Luminous Legend: Joan Davidow, the lady whose legacy to the Texas scene is gigantic, is touted as the Dallas Contemporary%26#8217;s 2010 Legend. (No other Legends need apply.) For her DC swan song %26#8212; %26#8220;Here. There. %26amp; Beyond.%26#8221; %26#8212; the visionary departing director curates six artists who reflect the Contemporary%26#8217;s emphasis on the local, national and global (September 19 %26#8211;%26nbsp;October 31).

In Texas We Trust:%26nbsp;At the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Michael Auping curates grand master Vernon Fisher in a must-see, decades-spanning retrospective pithily titled %26#8220;K-Mart Conceptualism,%26#8221; which stars Fisher%26#8217;s pop-powered blackboard series (September 25 %26#8211; January 2). The accompanying UT Press volume was penned by the artist himself and features an interview with Auping and contributions by TCU art history chair Frances Colpitt and Blanton Museum of Art director Ned Rifkin ... At Conduit Gallery, abstract canvases by UNT professor Vincent Falsetta pulsate with geologic/cosmic energy (September 10 %26#8211; October 9) ... With two Whitney Biennials plus biennales in Istanbul and Lyon under his belt, Trenton Doyle Hancock is one of the international art stars making his home in Texas. Collectors aplenty will be lining up for his fall solo at Dunn and Brown Contemporary, %26#8220;Work While It Is Day For When Night Cometh No Man Can Work%26#8221; (September 10 %26#8211;%26nbsp;October 23), which includes ambitious installations throughout D and B%26#8217;s spaces. After Dallas, you%26#8217;ll have to head to London to catch TDH in another site-specific creation for The Drawing Room, opening this November, followed by a touring museum exhibition organized by USF Contemporary Art Museum (Tampa, Florida) that unfurls in January, traveling through 2012.

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Oh So Urbane: Craig Cully%26#8217;s mini canvases %26#8212; measuring just 2.5 x 2.5 inches %26#8212; still pack a punch. The intimate, compelling still lifes by the New Mexico/Pennsylvania talent are part of autumn%26#8217;s inaugural view at Galleri Urbane (opening September 11) ... Next door, Cris Worley Fine Art (2277 Monitor St.; crisworley.com) makes an impressive debut as the former Pan American director curates %26#8220;Epic | Epoch%26#8221; (September 9 %26#8211; October 16). The exhibit, Worley reveals, features %26#8220;many of the artists I have represented over the last decade, but there will be some new faces and a recent MFA grad as well.%26#8221; Watch for Texas trio Charlotte Smith, Rusty Scruby and William Cannings, among others.

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Images:

Panel with a seated ruler in a watery cave (Cancuen Panel 3), A.D. 795, Cancuen, Guatemala, at the Kimbell Art Museum. Photo courtesy of Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes%26#8212;Museo Nacional de Arqueolog%26#237;a y Etnolog%26#237;a, Guatemala City. Courtesy Peabody Essex Museum, photograph %26#169; 2009 Jorge P%26#233;rez de Lara.

Michael Miller%26#8217;s I Feel Full of Vitality and Strength, 2010, at Barry Whistler Gallery. Photo Courtesy of the artist and Barry Whistler Gallery.

Elaine Bradford’s Wild Kingdom

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:29:39 GMT

It all started with condiment koozies. Houston artist Elaine Bradford, who supplied the ethereal creatures for our fashion feature this month, began crocheting covers %26#8220;for things in the fridge,%26#8221; she says. %26#8220;Then I moved on to logs and branches,%26#8221; even truck bumpers. But it wasn%26#8217;t until she saw two inveterate hunters %26#8212; her father and brother %26#8212; unloading some taxidermy that %26#8220;it just hit me to put it all together.%26#8221; Now, Bradford%26#8217;s sweater-wearing wild things (%26#8220;cute, yet unnerving crocheted taxidermic critters, which suggest paradoxical feelings of comfort and warmth alongside suffocation and restriction,%26#8221; says the art e-journal Might Be Good) are putting her on the art world%26#8217;s radar. Her most recent endeavors? A 2010 residency at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and an ambitious site-specific public commission, funded through the Houston Arts Alliance, set to unveil this fall at the Vinson Neighborhood Library. Bradford hand-crochets the sweaters %26#8212; masks, really %26#8212;%26nbsp;in sections, eyeballing the contours and proportions as she goes along then carefully stitching the crocheted sections onto the bodies. A few of Bradford%26#8217;s menagerie get some rather, well, unorthodox modifications: impossibly stretched necks and mile-long legs, which she achieves by lopping off heads and feet, then making the prosthetic parts with wire rod and Fiberfil. Indeed, says the dry-witted Bradford, %26#8220;I%26#8217;ve gotten more familiar with taxidermy than I ever thought I%26#8217;d be.%26#8221; Elaine Bradford is represented by Art Palace 3913 Main St., 281.501.2964; artpalacegallery.com.

Image: Artist Elaine Bradford prepares her flying Sweatered Duck for our September fashion shoot. Photo by Rob Brinkley.

Art Notes

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:40:13 GMT

North to South: A beguiling, groundbreaking exhibition that expands our knowledge of one of the ripest areas of art history revisionism arrives at the Amon Carter Museum this summer with %26#8220;Constructive Spirit: Abstract Art in South and North America, 1920s %26#8211; 1950s%26#8221; (through September 5). The traveling show, organized by the Newark Museum, covers a pivotal period when geometric abstraction was cross-pollinating across the Americas. Watch for major players such as Stuart Davis, Louise Nevelson and Joaqu%26#237;n Torres-Garc%26#237;a (whose arrival in New York is covered in detail, down to his costume evoking New York itself, which the artist donned for a masked Manhattan ball). Under-known figures such as Geraldo de Barros, Lidy Prati and John Ferren are also resuscitated.

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Wow for the Wheelers: After visiting the Carter, get a dose of some contemporary Western-plains attitude via The Wheeler Brothers, showcased at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center in %26#8220;High Tech Innovations Done at a Leisurely Pace, (No. 2)%26#8221; (through August 21). The Brothers, Jeff F. and Bryan Wheeler, continue their investigation of life in Lubbock and%26nbsp; the Panhandle, rendering icons of pop culture and art history with aplomb and a prankster%26#8217;s dose of weirdness ... Back in Dallas, Deep Ellum denizen Brian Gibb%26#8217;s The Public Trust mounts solos for a provocative pair of hometown up-and-comers: cartoonist Jeremy Smith and painter Billy Zinser (through September 4). Smith, the recipient of a 2010 Dallas Museum of Art Dozier Travel Grant, plans a trek to study with East Coast cartoon maestro Al Columbia. Zinser%26#8217;s impastoed abstractions also reference cartoons while presenting the next installment in his hand-cast plastic mini monsters, Macrodons, which were hits in the gallery%26#8217;s booth at this spring%26#8217;s Dallas Art Fair ...

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Over at the Design District, gain perspective on %26#8220;New Texas Talent XVI%26#8221; at Craighead Green Gallery as Rachofsky House educational programming director/artist Thomas Feulmer juries a lively presentation that prognosticates the future top guns of Texas art; 28 artists are presented (through September 4) ... Also, fresh-faced, new arrival The Wit Gallery brings emerging energy to the Exposition Park %26#8216;hood, showcasing part two of its %26#8220;Salon Summer%26#8221; series, with Studio 19%26#8217;s %26#8220;The Yellow Definitive%26#8221; (through August 21).

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Piano Forte: The verdict is in. A recent poll of architectural professionals conducted by Vanity Fair %26#8212; and published to great ballyhoo in the August 2010 issue %26#8212; anointed the top buildings in the world since 1980. While Frank Gehry%26#8217;s twisted titanium abstraction, aka the Guggenheim Bilbao, scored number one, Renzo Piano%26#8217;s sublime and understated structure for The Menil Collection landed the number-two spot. Therefore, the expectation and excitement for the Italian master%26#8217;s Kimbell Art Museum expansion has increased. Breaking ground this summer, the $125 million project is on track to open 2013, with Piano subtly mirroring Louis Kahn%26#8217;s classical 1972 structure while reorienting the entrance so visitors no longer arrive through what Kahn originally had designed as the back of the museum. To preview Piano%26#8217;s plans, visit kimbellart.org.

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Arrivals: Two of the most eagerly awaited appointments of the year in the Texas art arena were announced within days of each other. The Dallas Contemporary%26#8217;s new executive director, Peter Doroshenko, arrives this October from Kiev, where he recently served as the president and artistic director of the Pinchuk Art Centre. Doroshenko also has Texas ties, most recently as a visiting lecturer for the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston%26#8217;s Glassell School of Art. Meanwhile, retiring Contemporary director Joan Davidow, whose ambitious leadership resulted in DC%26#8217;s new industrial-scaled digs at 161 Glass Street, is being honored this fall with a Legend Award ... And Contemporary Arts Museum Houston%26#8217;s curator Toby Kamps leaves his CAMH position to join The Menil Collection as its new curator of modern and contemporary art, filling the post vacated by Franklin Sirmans when he joined Los Angeles County Museum of Art earlier this year.

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That%26#8217;s Some Bull: Head to Galleria Dallas for some very avant-garde art crafted and/or inspired by Red Bull cans. University of North Texas curator Myra Walker joined five other judges %26#8212; Michael Cain, Brad Oldham, Gail Sachson, Tammy Theis and Bob Wade %26#8212;%26nbsp;in selecting the 50-some finalists, with the grand-prize winner receiving a trip to Art Basel, Switzerland (through August 22).

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Images:
Above: Arshile Gorky%26#8217;s Aerial Map (panel from mural cycle Aviation: Evolution of Forms under Aerodynamic Limitations), 1936%26#8211;37, at Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth. Photo%26nbsp; %26#169; 2009 Estate of Arshile Gorky, New York/ARS, New York; Collection Newark Museum, on extended loan from the collection of The Port Authority of NY %26amp; NJ
Below: Jeff F. Wheeler%26#8217;s For Farrah ... , 2010, at Fort Worth Community Arts Center

Dallas Contemporary’s Curatorial New Catch

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:32:42 GMT

The art scene is abuzz with news of the Dallas Contemporary%26#8217;s latest acquisition %26#8212; and it has little to do with pieces by James Gilbert or Nathaniel Glaspie. Instead, it%26#8217;s the announcement of the Contemporary%26#8217;s new executive director Peter Doroshenko, who will no doubt amp up the city%26#8217;s cultural energy. The internationally renowned curator, director and writer returns stateside this October after several European turns: The native Chicagoan is currently the president and artistic director of the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kiev; before that, he held prominent positions at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, England, and at the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst-Smak in Ghent, Belgium. A worldly addition to our art world? To say the least.

Image: Dallas Contemporary%26#8217;s new executive director Peter Doroshenko. Photo by Day, Kyiv.

Your Favorite Shade in the Box?

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:05:52 GMT

Vietnamese-born, Seattle-based rising talent Diem Chau%26#8217;s work bridges art and design, combining such unlikely materials as porcelain, organza, thread and toothpicks to create sculptural vignettes that suggest poignant domestic moments. Chau%26#8217;s latest material can be traced back to childhood:%26nbsp; the good ole, prosaic box of Crayolas. In 2006, she began hand-carving basic crayons, creating miniature figurative portraits of specific sitters and even accepting commissions, such as a limited edition of 66 crayons for Nike%26#8217;s 2010 World Cup promotion. Resembling totem poles crafted in wax, these tiny creations are better than a trip to Madame Tussaud%26#8217;s. From $400 per figure, through Peel Gallery, 4411 Montrose Blvd., 713.520.8122; peelgallery.org.

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Image:%26nbsp; Diem Chau%26#8217;s "Zodiac," 2009, at Peel Gallery. Photo by Howard House.

Through a New Lens

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:59:53 GMT

One of the masters of postwar photography, Ishimoto Yasuhiro (born 1921), gets a new look when the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston%26#8217;s assistant curator of photography, Yasufumi Nakamori, mounts %26#8220;Katsura: Picturing Modernism in Japanese Architecture, Photographs by Ishimoto Yasuhiro.%26#8221; The exhibition will be a revelation for those unfamiliar with Ishimoto%26#8217;s work and life. The American-born photographer grew up in Japan, then returned to the United States before World War II, only to be imprisoned in an internment camp. After the war, he studied photography and graduated from Chicago%26#8217;s acclaimed Institute of Design, aka the %26#8220;New Bauhaus.%26#8221; The MFAH%26#8217;s exhibition reveals the story behind Yasuhiro%26#8217;s most pivotal body of work: black-and-white images taken between 1953 and 1954 of Ishimoto%26#8217;s exquisite 17th-century Katsura Imperial Villa. Fifty years ago, Yale University Press first published a seminal volume of these works, penned by architect Tange Kenzo %26#8212; a version that eliminated many intimate views of nature and closely cropped photographs to emphasize a modernist agenda. The MFAH%26#8217;s show highlights 70 works, now re-released in a new volume by Yale that finally restores the lensman%26#8217;s original perspective. Through September 12; mfah.org.

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Image:%26nbsp; Ishimoto Yasuhiro%26#8217;s Untitled from the series %26#8220;Katsura,%26#8221; 1953 %26#8211; 1954, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Photo collection MFAH %26#169; Ishimoto Yasuhiro

Crafts Crazy, Plus Performance

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:58:22 GMT

Crafts have now infiltrated the mainstream museum world, sparked by the guerrilla tactics of performance. One of summer%26#8217;s must-see exhibitions in this direction is %26#8220;Hand+Made: The Performative Impulse in Art and Craft,%26#8221; a topical view at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, curated by Valerie Cassel Oliver. The lively, even raucous group show encompasses insouciant attitudes and avant-garde approaches, from Cat Chow%26#8217;s dollar-bill ball gown (submit an anonymous offering, and your bill will be woven into the completed frock formed from $1,000 worth of donated ones) to Lauren Kalman%26#8217;s provocative digital print of a gilded tongue. We yearn to play dress up as one of Saya Woolfalk%26#8217;s flower people, then wear this blooming garb to November%26#8217;s Orange Show Gala. Through July 25; for a schedule of the intriguing public interventions citywide that accompany %26#8220;Hand+Made,%26#8221; visit camh.org/calendar.

Image:%26nbsp; Saya Woolfalk%26#8217;s No Place (pre)Constructed: Self and Landscape, 2008/10, at CAMH. Photo courtesy the artist, %26#169; Rick Gardner Photography

Space, Light, Architecture

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:54:09 GMT

Among the ArtHouston offerings, one standout show by a promising Texan melds minimalist metal with a little shadow play. %26#8220;Jay Shinn: Refuge%26#8221; opens Saturday, July 10, at Barbara Davis Gallery, marking the artist%26#8217;s Houston debut. Keep Shinn on your radar: His projected beams of light are redolent of early James Turrell, while his eloquent steel rods recall the precise attitude of late Marfa master Donald Judd. The resulting shadows are all about the future %26#8212; moving beyond mere sculpture to evoke architecture. Shinn%26#8217;s next stop? The Dallas-based sculptor heads to Berlin for a prestigious Takt Kunstprojektraum Residency this fall. July 10 through%26nbsp;August 21; barbaradavisgallery.com.

Image: Jay Shinn%26#8217;s Side by Side, 2009, at Barbara Davis Gallery.

A Prophet with Paper

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:52:21 GMT

Among the droll creations of the season: Transylvanian-born, NYC-based Parsons professor Andrea Dezs%26#246; is continuing Rice University Art Gallery%26#8217;s tradition, the Summer Window series. Director Kimberly Davenport tapped Dezs%26#246; to take over the space, which is officially closed until the fall except for the voyeuristic experience of peering into its windows filled with multilayered tunnel vignettes by this international talent. And Dezs%26#246; decidedly has a way with cut paper. As the title %26#8220;Sometimes in My Dreams I Fly%26#8221; suggests, the silhouettes %26#8212; placed against colorful backgrounds along the gallery%26#8217;s glass facade and on the exterior windows of Sewall Hall just outside %26#8212; summon a fantasy land, specifically an oceanic lair populated by gigantic squid, alien-like beings in scuba suits, some sensational winged creatures and towering equipment that resembles (disturbingly enough) oil wells, underscoring this artist as prophet. Was it a coincidence that the exhibition opened 12 days before the BP Deepwater Horizon spill? Through August 8; ricegallery.org.

Image: Andrea Dezs%26#246;%26#8217;s "Sometimes in My Dreams I Fly," 2010, at Rice University Art Gallery. Photo by Nash Baker %26#169; nashbaker.com.

About the Cover: Shadow Play

Wed, 26 May 2010 03:43:02 GMT

PaperCity%26#8217;s June cover is a marriage between image and text, art and fashion by Dallas-based Susan kae Grant, who exemplifies the best of the contemporary Texas art world. Grant %26#8212;%26nbsp;who has shown from the contemporary biennale in Florence to FotoFest in Houston %26#8212;%26nbsp;heads the photography and book-arts area at Texas Woman%26#8217;s University in Denton. Her photography has earned great renown; PaperCity photo editor Jenny Antill sighted her %26#8220;Night Journey%26#8221; series at Houston%26#8217;s%26nbsp; 2010 FotoFest. Part fantasy, part archetype, it%26#8217;s based on clinical sleep research conducted at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, where the artist cast herself as a subject awakened from REM sleep, then questioned and recorded. From these dream diaries, she conjured narratives by enlisting models and props en studio to realize her vision. We think Grant%26#8217;s hypnotic shadow portraits would make a wonderful, alternative wedding portrait. Shown: Susan kae Grant%26#8217;s There Is an Understanding, from the %26#8220;Night Journey%26#8221; series, 2006, archival pigment print photograph; $1,200 to $4,500 (based upon image size and edition), through Conduit Gallery, Dallas; conduitgallery.com. Catherine D. Anspon

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Image: %26#169; Susan kae Grant

What We Love Now

Wed, 26 May 2010 04:23:02 GMT

PaperCity magazines have been employed in an installation (by Icelandic artist Magnus Sigurdarson, who used 7,000 copies for a 2008 sculptural piece) and as inspiration (by Houston-based Thedra Cullar-Ledford, whose ball gown bore images of socialites taken straight from the pages of PaperCity). Now hometown artisan Marguerite Belkin creates a crafty wearable collar formed from our May 2010 edition, which this scribe will model during opening night of %26#8220;The Paper Runway%26#8221; (through September 4) at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft on Friday, June 4. Natch, PaperCity is the media sponsor. Belkin%26#8217;s origami and PC magazine necklace, priced at $250, through the Asher Gallery at HCCC.

Image: Marguerite Belkin's Paper Collar, 2010, at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Photo by Jenny Antill.

Saving Galveston Arts Center

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:59:34 GMT

Fifty minutes south of Houston, cutting-edge contemporary art and extraordinary 19th-century architecture come together at the Galveston Arts Center. This unlikely yet exciting marriage of today%26#8217;s art with an architecturally significant, century-old building has produced some of the most important and intriguing exhibitions ever mounted in our region. Since 1990, curator Clint Willour has touted Texas artists, from organizing traveling shows that begin at GAC (often accompanied by insightful catalogs) surveying mid-career notables such as The Art Guys, Whitney Biennial-exhibited Amy Blakemore and Al Souza, David Aylsworth, Mary McCleary, the late Robin Utterback and cover artist Ann Stautberg to scouting and forecasting destined-to-be-major visualists including Lance Letscher, McKay Otto, Tierney Malone and Whitney Biennial%26#8211;exhibited Glassell School of Art director Joe Havel at the infancy of their careers.

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What%26#8217;s unique about Galveston Arts Center as a venue %26#8212; versus sleek, less soulful, white-walled modern and contemporary museums, nonprofits and gallery spaces %26#8212; is GAC%26#8217;s handsome palimpsest of the past: its landmark location, the 1878 First National Bank Building at 2127 Strand (Strand and 22nd Street). Long afforded National Register of Historic Places status, the structure rocketed to national fame as the poster child for cast-iron architecture in Galveston when the city was named one of the top 11 endangered places in America in April 2009. A New York Times article followed, extolling the significance and beauty of the late 19th-century cast-iron structures of Galveston, storefronts distinguished by their ornate Greek Revival and Italianate detailing %26#8212; as evidenced by GAC%26#8217;s exuberant, Corinthian-patterned ironwork.

This imprint of history inspires many artists tapped by Willour to create site-specific works that are the best of their careers. Witness Houston-based Joe Mancuso and Lisa Ludwig, who crafted, respectively, %26#8220;Mandela/Field/Still Life%26#8221; in 2002 and %26#8220;White Deer Run%26#8221; in 2001 for GAC %26#8212;%26nbsp;two standout exhibitions of the decade in Texas. Painter/sculptor Mancuso filled both floors of the high-ceilinged, two-story Center with 30,000 cast-porcelain flowers that formed the installation Field. Ludwig%26#8217;s project was equally ambitious, applying her obsession with frost and frosting to sculpted flora and fauna, which she installed throughout the vast, 19th-century first-floor interior.

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The astute Willour %26#8212;%26nbsp;approaching 500 exhibitions and 20-plus years with GAC %26#8212; has visited more artist studios than all the critics in the state combined and garnered a Legend Award and Texas Art Patron of the Year honors for his efforts. Ever resolute, he%26nbsp; refuses to let a natural disaster like Hurricane Ike impede his avant-garde programming.

Fortuitously, it is GAC%26#8217;s connection with history that saved it from being swept away by Ike: When the storm hit, the nonprofit was undergoing a restoration funded by a $250,000 grant from the Federal Save America%26#8217;s Treasures Program, alongside $678,000 from area foundations, and thus was shored up by structural scaffolding. Ironically, the 2008 hurricane strike highlighted previously undiagnosed weaknesses in the 120-year-old building, facilitating its salvation. Turn to page 39 for the update on the Center%26#8217;s $3.2 million preservation project, spearheaded by Willour and executive director, Alexandra Irvine. And see what hot Houston painter is now on view at Galveston Arts Center in Exile 2 (2501 Market Street) downtown, in the former Maceo%26#8217;s Spice %26amp; Import Company, which offers another connection with storied island history (the Maceo family was synonymous with the city%26#8217;s raucous between-the-wars liquor and gambling empire).

Dallas Art Fair 2010: The Official Wrap-Up

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:37:11 GMT

Posh Previewing

Museum-worthy works by Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Bridget Riley, Joan Mitchell, Wayne Thiebaud and Henry Darger were just some of the coveted collectors%26#8217; fare on view when the Dallas Art Fair 2010 unveiled year two at the Fashion Industry Gallery. The eagerly anticipated Preview Gala, which benefitted the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, drew several hundred cognoscenti, including a significant art posse from Houston such as top%26nbsp; collectors Penelope and Lester Marks, Leigh and Reggie Smith, Jereann Chaney, Judy Nyquist, and Lea Weingarten, as well as Jonathon Glus, who directs all public art projects as CEO of Houston Arts Alliance. The museum contingent was packed with heavy-hitters such as the DMA%26#8217;s Bonnie Pitman; Nasher Sculpture Center director Jeremy Strick with wife Wendy; Artpace director Matthew Drutt, in from San Antonio with wife Claudia Schmuckli, director of the Blaffer in Houston; and curators Barry Walker of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (honored at the dealer pre-Fair party), and Valerie Cassel Oliver of Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, who was there to see Donald Moffett%26#8217;s installation at Anthony Meier%26#8217;s booth in preparation for co-organizing the artist%26#8217;s retrospective in 2011. The Fair%26#8217;s gallerists %26#8212; more than 55 notables from as far away as London, in the case of British power brokers Stuart Shave and Timothy Taylor %26#8212;%26nbsp;mixed with socials and international and Texas artists, who all turned out to mingle and, above all, peruse and buy art.

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Image left: Sharon Core%26#8217;s "Early American, Still Life with Cake," 2009, at James Kelly Contemporary

Image right: John Sughrue, Marlene Sughrue

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%26#8220;This is usually 20,000 square feet of empty space. Now it looks like a permanent installation,%26#8221; said Marlene Sughrue, wife of Fair co-founder John Sughrue, of the industrial warehouse turned posh white-cubed artspace. Preview chairman Eve Reid (who directs Sotheby%26#8217;s Dallas office; the auction house was among the Fair%26#8217;s patron sponsors) and Fair co-founders Chris Byrne and John Sughrue hosted the atypical affair, which they curated with artworks such as the monumental mid-1980s canvas by Ed Ruscha at the top of the stairs leading to the second-floor galleries, courtesy of exhibitor John Berggruen Gallery. (Founder John Berggruen and his wife Gretchen, in from San Francisco, hobnobbed with their many Dallas clients.) Chaise longues, sofas and armchairs from Philippe Starck%26#8217;s Priv%26#233; collection for Cassina provided a sleek design motif. A photographic mural by Venice Biennale%26#8211;exhibited Italian Angelo Musco (represented by Chicago gallerist Carrie Secrist) stopped traffic near the first-floor entrance as gala-goers ogled the thousands of nudes that comprised its ocean-wave image.

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Image left: Steve Christensen, Lauren Christensen, Chris Byrne

Image right: Wayne Thiebaud%26#8217;s "Three Cupcakes," 2009, at John Berggruen Gallery

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As with any extensive art collection, seeing the Fair in its entirety required more than one evening. But with a glass of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin champagne in one hand and beautiful bites from Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek in the other (the Fair%26#8217;s presenting and patron sponsors, respectively), we sighted avid art-followers including chair-husband%26nbsp; Warren Weitman, chairman of Sotheby%26#8217;s North and South America; developer Marty Collins; Muffin Lemak; Karla McKinley, who threw her own party the next evening to welcome out-of-town collectors to her casa and toast artist James Gilbert; and curator/gallerist-on-hiatus Christina Rees. Rees%26#8217; husband, artist Richard Patterson, garnered raves at Timothy Taylor Gallery for his expressionistic canvas of a cat, which was shown under glass because it was still wet and unfinished.

Image left: Anish Kapoor%26#8217;s "Untitled," 1997, at James Kelly Contemporary

Image right: Warren Weitman, Preview Gala chair Eve Reid, Ken Downing

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Private dealer Kristy Stubbs%26#8217; booth drew a crowd with its arsenal of Hirsts, as did The Public Trust%26#8217;s clever %26#8220;Fresh Cuts%26#8221; installation of must-have works on paper. The latter were exhibited like prime cuts of meat, in display cases and on hooks to suggest racks of beef or lamb. Proprietor-gallerist Brian Gibb even wore a butcher%26#8217;s smock to further the carnivore theme. A loft-style party raged upstairs, with a rock %26#8217;n%26#8217; roll band and still more major art. First stop was the Santa Fe gallery James Kelly Contemporary, where we spied Neiman Marcus%26#8217; Ken Downing and Sam Saladino looking themselves over (and straightening their dapper suits) in a shiny Anish Kapoor sculpture %26#8212; the piece%26#8217;s rumored seven-figure price tag created quite the conversational buzz. Nearby, David Yurman%26#8217;s Chris Kimbrough, along with Joanne and Charles Teichman, adored a gargantuan earring-shaped sculpture by Timothy Horn, while Betty Blake, Nancy O%26#8217;Boyle, and Mary Beth Masterson toured the transatlantic Timothy Taylor Gallery. Some took respite in the makeshift Sanani coffee lounge, including trend-spotting gallerist David Quadrini, back from L.A. for the Fair; Ana and Sherrill Pettus; art advisor Cindy Schwartz with star lensman/Yale professor Gregory Crewdson, who lectured at the DMA earlier in the day; LeeLee Gioia; exhibiting Dallas gallerists Marty Walker, Lisa Brown, and Talley Dunn; collector types Lindsey and Patrick Collins, who shopped D%26#8217;Amelio Terras%26#8217; booth; Colton %26amp; Farb duo Deborah Colton and Carolyn Farb; Jan and Jim Showers; Laura and Bob Wilson; Sally Rosen; Mike Mullins; Katherine Perot; and Jennifer and John Eagle, whose modernist house and well-edited collection were toured that weekend as a perk for Fair VIP ticket holders; and Wells Fargo honchos Steve Christensen with wife Lauren, Clayton Fisher, Charles Dix, Trip Bomar, and Mark Boom, who hosted a preview reception for their VIP clients an hour before the grand gala opening. Art Fair sponsors fulfilled their duties, such as presenting sponsors Christophe Charrier, Bianca Benavides Anderson, and Cyndi Mendez of Mo%26#235;t Hennessy, whose Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin bubbly helped fuel the artistic buzz.

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Image left: Michael Craig-Martin, Kenny Goss

Image right: Michael Craig-Martin%26#8217;s "Commissioned Portrait," 2007, at The Goss-Michael Foundation

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The Next Night: Goss-Michael Foundation%26#8217;s Chromatic Celebration

When it came to the parties that followed the big opening night, the action was nonstop. One of the hottest tickets during the busy weekend was The Goss-Michael Foundation%26#8217;s Friday-evening VIP view of its Michael Craig-Martin exhibit and toast to the Dallas Art Fair%26#8217;s commencement. More than 200 art A-listers and a spectrum of socials walked the red carpet during Kenny Goss and Joyce Goss%26#8217; flashbulb-worthy evening. Admiring the extraordinary chromatic career of Londoner Craig-Martin (who%26#8217;s also celebrated as Damien Hirst%26#8217;s professor) were Chantal Salomon-Lee; the DMA%26#8217;s Charlie Wylie; New York dealer Chris D%26#8217;Amelio, with gallerist colleague-Dallas native Trina Gordon; Aphrodite Gonou, art advisor to Kenny Goss and George Michael, in from London; Jeffrey Grove; Frank Bernarducci; Houston-based Pop collectors Dorene and Frank Herzog, he, Texas rep for AXA Art insurance; Stuart Glass; Dallas Contemporary director Joan Davidow, who hosted her own happening the next night, welcoming 1,000 to christen the nonprofit%26#8217;s new Design District space; Christen Wilson; Brian Bolke; Faisal Halum; makeup maven Susan Posnick, who told us she was contemplating a work by Rachel Hovnanian from Jason McCoy%26#8217;s booth; Shanon Schwimmer; Robin and Steve Ladik; and Houston gallerists Wade Wilson, representing McKay Otto, and Barbara Davis with exhibiting sculptor Paul Fleming (whose installation from hydrocal and juicy-hued resin earned him attention and post-Fair commissions).

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Image left: Todd Eberle

Image right: Dario Robleto%26#8217;s "The Citizen-Doctor," 2009, at D%26#8217;Amelio Terras

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Also taking it in %26#8212; and snapping away madly %26#8212; was Vanity Fair lensman Todd Eberle, in from NYC to cover the new Cowboys Stadium. We spied Dallas Museum of Art director Bonnie Pitman, who came early and viewed Craig-Martin%26#8217;s colorful collection of paintings, wall drawings and computer portraits with Goss-Michael associate curator James Cope. The men of the hour, Goss and Craig-Martin, arrived together and were immediately greeted by the DMA%26#8217;s leading lady. %26#8220;Now we can really see the art and talk,%26#8221; said Craig-Martin to Pitman as he led her through his conceptual show. Nearby, GMF curator Filippo Tattoni-Marcozzi and Mike Masters lounged on a sofa beneath Craig-Martin%26#8217;s animated LED-screen portraits of Kenny Goss and George Michael. The vivid depictions changed hues without ever repeating the same combination twice. %26#8220;The Duchess of Devonshire %26#8212; you know, the best duchess there is %26#8212; she is going to have one made,%26#8221; Goss whispered to us of the famously futuristic commissioned portraits.

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Image left: Deborah Colton, Carolyn Farb

Image middle: Joan Bankemper%26#8217;s "Dion," 2009/2010 at Nancy Hoffman Gallery

Image right: Leigh Smith, Jereann Chaney

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Behind the Canvases, Inside the Booths%26nbsp; %26#8212; Catherine D. Anspon reports.

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%26#8226; David Graeve%26#8217;s stack-of-eyeglasses sculpture was acquired by Luxury Marketing Council%26#8217;s Pamela Martin-Duarte and husband Ignacio from gallerists Deborah Colton and Carolyn Farb. But the hottest artist at Colton %26amp; Farb was Nathaniel Donnett, whose paintings on simple brown paper bags detailing the African-American experience not only sold out but resulted in an offer for a New York solo. At least one museum also expressed interest in the emerging Texan. Also at C%26amp;F, Houston- and New York%26#8211;based artist Molly Gochman caught the eye of Sotheby%26#8217;s power couple Eve Reid and Warren Weitman, who took home a large-format photograph.

%26#8226; Brian Gibb of The Public Trust rushed up to us on Sunday, whispering that Laura Bush had stopped by to purchase a Charley Harper nature-themed work on paper. But my favorite find at Gibb%26#8217;s booth %26#8212; and surely the most affordable offering of the Fair %26#8212; was Dallas artist Billy Zinser%26#8217;s Macrodoons sculptures, a real deal at just $40 per portable masterpiece. I now have one on my desk.

%26#8226; Seen shopping at Peter Fetterman Gallery were Marlene and John Sughrue. The pair decided upon a black-and-white photograph by Brazilian talent Sebasti%26#227;o Salgado %26#8212; a dramatic image showing an ice flow in Antarctica.

%26#8226; Dallas dealer Dunn and Brown Contemporary%26#8217;s booth was hopping, garnering attention for its strong mix of Texans such as David Bates, Aaron Parazette and Erick Swenson, as well as international it-girl Tara Donovan, who mines everyday materials such as Mylar into sculptures tinged with magic; D and B reported sales of artworks by Kiki Smith (a bronze editioned piece), Helen Frankenthaler (a pair of 2003 woodcuts) and Susie Rosmarin (a recent canvas).

Image left: Timothy Taylor, Richard Patterson, Jennifer %26amp; John Eagle

Image right: Amanda M. Smith%26#8217;s "Hummer," 2008, at Andrew Edlin Gallery

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%26#8226; At Marty Walker Gallery, an abstract, architectural wall sculpture by Dallas artist Jay Shinn caught the attention of exhibiting Houston dealer Barbara Davis. After a studio visit the next day, she offered Shinn a prime spot in her 2010 lineup, where he will be the featured artist in the Introductions show this summer.

%26#8226; Major excitement swirled around the booth of San Francisco gallerist Anthony Meier, whose single-person show for Donald Moffett completely sold out. Moffett will be the subject of a 20-year retrospective next year co-organized by the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. The Moffetts deserved their success. They were the stars of the Fair.

%26#8226; Jason McCoy%26#8217;s monographic installation of New York artist (and former Texan) Rachel Hovnanian was another high-traffic destination. Hovnanian%26#8217;s work was available in an extensive range of media and price ranges %26#8212; from $1,000 to five-figures for a Carrera marble totem, a version of which stood guard in the dining room at Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek. The artist was on hand throughout the weekend to discuss her provocative take on female beauty.

%26#8226; Outsider dealer Andrew Edlin Gallery%26#8217;s Blair Brooks reported:%26nbsp; %26#8220;The fair went well. Among the works sold was a major Tom Duncan piece, The Women of the New Amsterdam Insurance Company Get Dressed for Work (2009), as well as a Chris Doyle lightbox work, Apocalypse Management Panorama (2009) ... there was a lot of very positive, very thorough interest in the booth. The large work by Henry Darger got a lot of attention; being able to view such a piece in any venue is truly special.%26#8221;

Image left: Rachel Hovnanian, Ara Hovnanian

Image right: Large Mask of Dignitary, Olmec Culture %26#8212; Gulf Coast of Mexico, 1200 - 600 BC, at William Siegal Gallery

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Top Picks from the Fair

Meet Miz Ab Ex. At Lennon, Weinberg, a cache of beguiling, classic Joan Mitchells including a never-before-exhibited early canvas circa 1958 led to a memorable dialogue about owner Jill Weinberg%26#8217;s friendship with Mitchell; she met the late ab ex mistress when she was a fledgling gallerist and became a confidant, even traveling with Mitchell and visiting her in France. Weinberg%26#8217;s openness and genuineness about her friendship with Mitchell was a personal highlight of the Fair, transcending sales and the marketplace.

Outrageous Basketry. Towering Asian basketry at Tai Gallery stopped us in our tracks: The skill and microscopic attention to detail by these Japanese artisans were belied by a wild Baroque attitude. An art form both surreal and serene at the same time, Tai%26#8217;s basketry would energize even the most minimal artspace.

Time Travel. Another New Mexico denizen, William Siegal Gallery, seamlessly combined the ancient with the contemporary, with pre-Columbian masks, 600-year-old Incan textiles and other hypnotic and rare artifacts cozying up to au currant painting and sculpture. (But the artifacts are the works that we remember best.)

Abstraction Junction. Texas Gallery scored points for the most understated booth in the Fair, presenting small masterworks spanning multiple generations by abstract painters including Andrew Masullo and Stephen Mueller.

Photorealists Rise. Artspace 111%26#8217;s booth could rival even photorealist kingmaker dealer Louis K. Meisel, starring paintings by Fort Worth denizen Daniel Blagg, who captured Vegas in all its glitz and tawdry glory.%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

Dazzling Dunn and Brown. See our sales report, above. The most artfully curated booth in the Fair. Period. Once again, D and B proved Texas art is the equal of any international.

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Image left: Cyndi Mendez, Bianca Benavides Anderson

Image right: Angelo Musco%26#8217;s installation at Carrie Secrist%26#8217;s booth

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Press Time. Not shy with their print-making, the hallowed University of Wisconsin imprint Tandem Press rolled out riotous, limited-edition, woodblock collages by Judy Pfaff.

Hello, 19th Century. At James Kelly, we fell for New York photographer Sharon Core%26#8217;s redux of 19th-century American still life painters, extraordinary homages to pre-Civil War masters such as Raphaelle Peale.%26nbsp;

We Love Dario. Another time traveler is Dario Robleto, represented at both Inman and D%26#8217;Amelio Terras galleries %26#8212; the former, one of Robleto%26#8217;s original supporters; the latter, boasting a showstopping work with patriot overtones titled The Citizen-Doctor (2009.

Luscious Cakes. It was also hard to beat the sensuous, sweet paint handling of West Coast Pop painter Wayne Thiebaud. The octogenarian was represented by three masterworks at long-time Bay Area dealer John Berggruen.

Surface of the Moon. Was there really anything better than Anthony Meier%26#8217;s one-person exhibit featuring Donald Moffett%26#8217;s tactile, otherworldly three-dimensional paintings that suggested the moon%26#8217;s surface punctuated by strange footprints?

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Image left: Alex Katz%26#8217;s "Marina," 2009, at Timothy Taylor Gallery

Image right: Barry Whistler, Allison V. Smith

Femme Revolution. Rachel Hovnanian enlisted sculpture, photography and video with great aplomb to convey her %26#8220;Burden of Beauty%26#8221; theme at Jason McCoy.

Way-Out Ceramics. At the conjunction of art and craft, an almost kitsch sculpture by internationally exhibited Joan Bankemper %26#8212; a hard-to-miss highlight of Nancy Hoffman%26#8217;s booth %26#8212; combined porcelain tchotchkes with antique china plates, producing exuberant Rococo confectionary towers.%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

Ritualistic and Sublime. An ambassador from the East, Sundaram Tagore presented immersive color-field paintings by Indian master Natvar Bhavsar. His canvases bear powdered pigments that reference his native country%26#8217;s folk festivals of Holi and Rangoli.

Musco Was a Must. Kudos to Chicago dealer Carrie Secrist, whose booth combined Angelo Musco%26#8217;s obsessive photographs based on nature (a wave, a web) formed from thousands of nudes alongside Carolyn Ottmers%26#8217; stainless-steel branches that surreally dangled from the ceiling to subvert reality.

Hoorah for the Outsiders. See our sales report, above. Finally, we were won over by Andrew Edlin Gallery%26#8217;s display of acclaimed outsiders such as Henry Darger and Tom Duncan, alongside contemporary Amanda M. Smith, the queen of the ceramic vignette.

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Awkward Moments?

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:18:20 GMT

%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp; Marina Abramović may be best known to the general public as the inspiration behind the performance art Carrie Bradshaw views in a "Sex and the City" episode, in which an artist lives in three boxes: sleeping, sitting, and showering while consuming nothing but water for twelve days. This original performance piece, The House With the Ocean View, is part of "The Artist Is Present," a retrospective of Abramović's work currently on view at New York's MoMA (through May 31).

The show encapsulates four decades of her work, and is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, MoMA's chief curator at large and director of P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, and already has, and will most surely continue to be, lauded, if for nothing else, than attracting masses of people to the museum.

But then again who wouldn't be drawn to a blockbuster that boasts the artist herself seated at a table in the middle of the museum's atrium for the duration of the exhibition's 700 hours, while viewers are invited to sit opposite her and stare into her eyes. Even more provocative is Imponderabilia (1997/2010), a piece comprised of two naked people facing each other at the show's threshold (which is not all that large).

Among the other works in the show are: Nude with Skeleton (2002 %26#8211;%26#8211; 2005/2010), featuring a person lying sans clothes on a wall shelf while a skeleton rests upon their body; Relations in Time (1977/2010), with two clothed figures standing back to back with their hair braided together in a display case; and Points of Contact (1980/2010), starring a pair dressed in black who point and stare at one another (to see images of these click "launch slideshow") . Also recreated for the show is her 1997 work Luminosity in which a naked women sits legs spread apart on a bicycle seat that is mounted to a wall. Are you blushing yet?

All this may appear hokey, melodramatic and a bit narcissistic, but it is without question shockingly noteworthy. Not every artist has the gall to attempt such feats, which seek to reproduce the metaphysical interchange existing between artist and viewer, then explore its meaning. The effects of the examination are such that the viewer becomes more aware of the broader concept of "gaze," and the power it holds over its object, which is nothing short of exceptional. I almost forgot %26#8211;%26#8211; mind the nudes!

"Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present," through May 31; moma.org. Shown, detail: Marina Abramović Nude With Skeleton, 2002 %26#8211;%26#8211; 2005, re-performed continually in shifts for the duration of "Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present," through May 31 at MoMA.