Paper City Article

Art Notes

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:03:01 GMT

Painters Progress: How does it get better than this? At Conduit Gallery, it%26rsquo;s a trifecta of Texas%26rsquo; adroit and most original painters. Joe Mancuso motors in from Houston to showcase his continued nuanced obsession with the blossom; this is floral painting like you%26rsquo;ve never seen. On other Conduit walls, Dallas-based Ludwig Schwarz mounts a suite of lush six-by-six-foot paintings that are sure-footed and bold takes on patterned abstraction. Then Austin newcomer Erin Curtis takes over the project room, experimenting with un-stretched canvases that suggest the textiles of today%26rsquo;s India, offering an ode to her 2009 Fulbright Scholarship destination.

A Big Biennial + Texas%26rsquo; Original International Fair: Turn to these pages next month for a preview of spring%26rsquo;s most intriguing art trends and topics, plus insider conversations with the game-changing gallerists of the Dallas Art Fair 2012 (Preview Gala Thursday, April 12; Fair days Friday %26ndash; Sunday, April 13 %26ndash; 15) %26hellip; Meanwhile, photo denizens are encouraged to plan a trip to Houston for March%26rsquo;s major international biennial, FotoFest. Russia is the topic, and power players including Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovich are involved (March 16 %26ndash; April 29) ... Dallas Art Fair co-founder Chris Byrne has been busy in the months leading up to that convergence, curating not only the Fair but also other exciting endeavors. He organized a 2011 solo for abstract painter Charles Andresen at up-and-coming NYC Chelsea gallery Guided by Invoices that garnered a recent Artforum review by international critic Barry Schwabsky, followed by another worthy exhibition: Erik and Martin Demaine%26rsquo;s creased, curved sculptures up now at Guided by Invoices. The MoMA-collected duo (Erik is a MacArthur %26ldquo;Genius%26rdquo; Grant recipient/MIT professor; his dad, Martin, is a glass artist) serve up an absolutely fascinating take on computational origami (through March 3).

Image: Ludwig Schwarz's Untitled, 2007-2008, at Conduit Gallery

Art Notes

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:04:08 GMT

It%26rsquo;s an explosive spring in the Texas art world, so follow these pages closely in the coming months for our insider preview of the Dallas Art Fair and FotoFest. Meanwhile, our top touts for February are Laura Lark%26rsquo;s incredible ink portraits on Tyvek at Devin Borden Gallery (February 11 %26ndash; April 17) and Gallery Sonja Roesch%26rsquo;s exhibition celebrating 21 years in the biz. Best bets at her temple of minimalism? Texans Hills Snyder, Myke Venable and Jonathan Leach, rubbing shoulders with European reductive abstractionists such as Regine Schumann (February 4 %26ndash; 25) %26hellip; There%26rsquo;s also the deep-space surfaces of Jules Olitski, in very important dual exhibitions at Meredith Long %26amp; Company (opening February 9) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, encompassing five decades of the late American master%26rsquo;s pioneering abstraction (February 12 %26ndash; May 6) %26hellip; Ab exer Tony Magar and Fluxus painter Cecil Touchon channel the American West at Laura Rathe Gallery (February 18 %26ndash; March 17) %26hellip; And stay tuned for our big March art issue for news of Taft McWhorter%26rsquo;s coming collaboration with the always surprising, almost mythic David Adickes.

Images:

%26nbsp;Sonja Roesch, at her eponymous gallery. Photo by Ariane Roesch.

Laura Lark%26rsquo;s Janice R, 2011 at Devin Borden Gallery

Art Notes

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:20:10 GMT

From Buddhas to SpongeBob: The New Year ushers in everything from the ridiculous to the sublime. The former is represented by the KAWS exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, with the Brooklyn-based painter showing off his latest odd amalgamation of cartooning, pared down to a beguiling, smooth-surfaced abstraction laced with humor, with characters (think Mickey Mouse and SpongeBob) making PAs (through February 19) ... In extreme contrast, at the Meadows Museum the timeless, contemplative splendor of sixth-century Chinese art is highlighted in %26ldquo;Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan%26rdquo; (through January 8).

Gallery-ama: Another recommended art (F)stop is Texas lensman Jay Rusovich%26rsquo;s show, in collaboration with philanthropic lady Carolyn Farb at Samuel Lynne Galleries. The pair creates a compelling series of photographic vignettes that signal a new, softer direction in Rusovich%26rsquo;s image-making (January 14 %26ndash;%26nbsp;February 18) ... A new-on-our-radar Dragon Street destination: Cohn Drennan Contemporary makes some raucous noise in the Design District. Investigate a fabulous duo of installationists in %26ldquo;Sublimation Simulacrum,%26rdquo; which serves up solos for Angel Fernandez and Kit Reisch. Dallas-born Reisch returns from residencies in Seoul and Prague to challenge us, while Fernandez, a Tarrant County College professor of art, plans to cook up some surprises that involve fabric and sewing (January 14 %26ndash; February 18) ... Speaking of provocateurs, NYC-based it-artist Rob Pruitt come to the Dallas Contemporary to concoct his most ambitious exhibition ever. You%26rsquo;ve gotta love glitter panda painting! Concurrently, check out Dutch master David Jablonowski%26rsquo;s new play on sculpture, which subverts the concept of the traditional museum take on a chunk of bronze or marble plopped on a stand. Then it%26rsquo;s wheatpaste, spray paint and collage in a full-on series of poster imagery by Austin-based street talent Failure (all exhibitions, through March 18).

Get on the Bus: CADD, aka Contemporary Art Dealers Dallas, enacts two clever events that are artful and insider-y. First, gear up for the Bus Tour of notable member spaces on Saturday, January 14: Plush Gallery, 500X, Photographs Do Not Bend and more (secure your seat at caddallas.net). End the month with a CADD Mystery Dinner. We%26rsquo;re intrigued: Eat Your Art Out, Saturday, January 28 (tickets, also caddallas.net).

Image:

Jay Rusovich%26rsquo;s Engaged, 2011, at Samuel Lynne Galleries. Photo courtesy Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston.

Art Notes

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 02:18:02 GMT

Pick Three: From Barbie and her pals to babes who wear pearls, plus acres of white paint, the New Year yields pleasures aplenty. Here%26rsquo;s our top trio. Thedra Cullar-Ledford takes Colquitt %26mdash; New Gallery/Thom Andriola, to be precise %26mdash; with towering canvases that record America%26rsquo;s obsession with the cult of the doll. Cullar-Ledford%26rsquo;s paintings along the way say a lot about our notions of femininity, cultural constructs and the battle of the sexes (January 14 %26ndash;%26nbsp;February 11) ... Over at 4411 Montrose, Joseph Cohen comes home to reveal the results of a recent Italian residency, with impastoed abstractions that carry a bit of the sublime, at Wade Wilson Art (January 6 %26ndash; 25) ... Then stroll upstairs to see quite possibly the best acolyte of drawing in all of Texas, Neva Mikulicz, whose latest, %26ldquo;They All Wore Pearls,%26rdquo; pairs Prismacolor pencil with video projection, filtered through buoyant evocations of 20th-century America (January 12 %26ndash; February 11).

Newbies: Recent arrivals include a game-changing duo. Glenn Weiss is the new top man at Art League Houston, fresh from a plum position as the founding manager of the public art program for Times Square, NYC. Weiss has Texas artist ties, too, he%26rsquo;s collaborated with Rick Lowe and the Art Guys on seminal projects ... The Texan French Alliance for the Arts welcomes Karine Parker-Lemoyne as new director. Artist and catalyst Parker-Lemoyne most recently organized %26ldquo;Go West,%26rdquo; the international exhibition exchange between French and Texas visualists that traveled from UNESCO, Paris, to Williams Tower Gallery last fall.

Studio Pass: Resolve in 2012 to voyage into studios, investigate galleries and keep the Houston art scene front and center on your radar. We recommend Victoria and Marshal Lightman%26rsquo;s Looking at Art for lively, insider access and an in-depth dialogue with the creative types who make our universe orbit (lookingatart.com). FYI: The Lightmans, whose tin house brims with work by hometown notables, were recently anointed as Texas Patrons of the Year by Art League Houston.

Images:

Thedra Cullar-Ledford%26rsquo;s Annie Get Your Gun, 2011, at New Gallery/Thom Andriola

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Neva Mikulicz%26rsquo;s Hottest, 2011, at Anya Tish Gallery

Art Notes

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:22:54 GMT

The Power of Protest: Among my top pics for exhibition of the year is the extraordinary Donald Moffett show at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, which melds compelling contemporary painting with highly provocative political content. Be sure to investigate the Barbara Jordan piece, which incorporates historical documents with film footage from the Watergate hearings (through January 8) ... While Moffett%26rsquo;s work emits a call to activism, protest is alive and well, especially in our town. Gay marriage, one of the most pressing civil-rights issues of our time, swirls around the work The Art Guys Marry a Plant, produced for the CAMH%26rsquo;s%26nbsp; %26ldquo;No Zoning%26rdquo; show in 2009. We reported on the performance piece at the time, placing it on our cover, perceiving it then as a call against right-wingers and also a paean to Mother Nature. What we assumed had one meaning at the CAMH now takes on another as the oak in question is donated to The Menil Collection, one of our hallowed institutions, and one which stands for justice and human rights. Contributing his voice and an important performance act is Chronicle art critic Douglas Britt, who married a woman at a Montrose strip bar last month in Art Gay Marries a Woman %26mdash; a work (and actual wedding) that drew some of the main members of our art community, including museum directors, gallerists, artists and staff from nonprofits, as well as yours truly. Most affecting were the vows%26rsquo; call to equality, as well as the bouquet: a paper-airplane multiple by Dario Robleto. How do we weigh in? The Art Guys are some of the most beloved beacons of our scene; however, we might propose that their living sculpture take its place temporarily in one of the city parks that lost trees during the drought; then it could be returned to the Menil grounds once marriage rights are granted to all, with a plaque commemorating that occasion. Meanwhile, let curator Toby Kamps convene with The Art Guys to donate another work to the museum %26mdash; one that relates to the duo%26rsquo;s stance as leading contemporary proponents of the fluxus movement ... Speaking of activism, I%26rsquo;m clearing my holiday schedule to catch international Russian artist Andrei Molodkin in %26ldquo;Crude%26rdquo; at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, the show that everyone is buzzing about for its forceful stance on oil and global politics (through February 12).

Art and the Streets: You read it here first %26mdash; James Surls, the founder of Lawndale Art Center, who launched our modern scene as we know it, has been tapped to create a monumental sculpture for the Upper Kirby Drive cityscape. To be placed on the esplanade facing West Ave and 2727 Kirby, the epic steel and bronze is considered by Surls to be his magnum opus. Stay tuned: Completion date for the high-six-figure, public and privately funded permanent commission %26mdash; which at 20-some feet tall makes a towering exclamation point%26nbsp; %26mdash; will be late 2012 (or early 2013).%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

Shop the Art: Turn to our Gift Guide for some of our hot art picks, page 33. Here are some more suggestions: Goldesberry Gallery%26rsquo;s jewelry and metal arts invitational (December 3 %26ndash; January 7); Richard Moiel and Kathy Poeppel%26rsquo;s Houston Studio Glass Open House December 3 and 4 (houstonstudioglass.com); and Carolyn Farb%26rsquo;s charming children%26rsquo;s volume, Lucas Comes to America (carolynfarb.com) ... We%26rsquo;re also utterly mad for Houston painter Daniel McFarlane%26rsquo;s way with pigment, glitter and wood %26mdash;fresh, exciting, original (Barbara Davis Gallery, December 9 %26ndash; January 6).

Show Up: Be there for Michael Bise, one of the most gifted guys with graphite, whose autobiographical drawings say much about America. Bise, an adjunct painting professor at the University of Houston and one of the rising stars of Moody Gallery%26rsquo;s stable, is on the waiting list for a heart transplant at Methodist Hospital, so family and friends have pitched in for a series of fund-raisers to help pay for the procedure and his recovery. The first takes place Sunday, December 11, at Boom Boom Room, with a benefit concert headlined by The Cleaners (info michaelwbisejr.org). Please show your support and donate! See you in 2012, and may your holidays be artful.

Images: James Surls%26rsquo; Tree and Three Flowers, coming 2012 %26ndash; 2013 to Kirby Drive. Photo courtesy Ken Frederick and Jimmy Hemphill.

Art Notes

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 05:04:16 GMT

Wild, Weird and Wonderful: One of our pet obsessions is the concept of the Wunderkammer, or cabinet of curiosities, which dates back to the Renaissance, maybe earlier. A contemporary version %26mdash; one tinged with mystery and surrealism %26mdash; is beautifully realized at Conduit Gallery%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;Wunderkammer%26rdquo; exhibition, adroitly curated by Kentuckian Phillip M. Jones, who pairs 11 talents from Lexington, Kentucky, with seven from our hometown. This strange brew veers enticingly into some uncharted territory (through August 31).

Name Game: Dunn and Brown Contemporary becomes Talley Dunn Gallery, as co-owners Lisa Brown and Talley Dunn have amicably split after more than a decade in the biz. Brown continues on as a private consultant, while gallerist Dunn stays in the Tracy Street digs, working on championing Texas (and national) artists and building careers. On view now at her rebranded space is Fort Worth%26ndash;based Helen Altman, who solos in %26ldquo;Firewalls,%26rdquo; crafting a site-specific installation composed of more than 100 of her signature torch drawings devoted to the animal kingdom (through August 27) ... Also making noise is recent arrival Ro2 Art, which curates an accomplished Dallas-based trio, all freshly landed here %26mdash; Eric Eley, John Frost and Ryder Richards%26nbsp; %26mdash; in %26ldquo;Import,%26rdquo; showcasing works that share a sensitivity to refined abstraction. We%26rsquo;re mad for Richards%26rsquo; gunpowder drawings (is fire a theme this month?), while Frost%26rsquo;s installations comment on domesticity dueling with nature. Eley%26rsquo;s mixed media on paper and lopsided sculpture evoke grand utopian metropolises (August 16 %26ndash; 28) ...

Just In: Celeb-/TV-touted Pop painter Michael Godard brings his rock %26rsquo;n%26rsquo; roll vibe to canvases on view at Wisby-Smith Fine Art at The Crescent and at Milan Gallery in Fort Worth (both shows, August 6 %26ndash; 20), including rare PAs at Wisby-Smith on Friday and Saturday, August 19 and 20, and Milan Gallery on Saturday night, August 20 .... Watch these pages in September for a preview of a big, artful autumn, including the call of %26ldquo;Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome%26rdquo; at the Kimbell Art Museum (October 16 %26ndash; January 8) and %26ldquo;The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk,%26rdquo; at the Dallas Museum of Art (November 13 %26ndash; February 12).

Image: %26ldquo;Wunderkammer%26rdquo; at Conduit Gallery. Photo courtesy Conduit Gallery.

Art Notes

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:15:00 GMT

Saying Grace: We%26rsquo;re thankful for abundant art, too many shows for one person to possibly see. Here are some of the stops on our radar this month (hint: 11-11-11 is the day). At DiverseWorks, %26ldquo;My Life as a Doll%26rdquo; %26mdash; a collaboration between hometown tandem sculptress Tara Conley and writer Tria Wood %26mdash; will be as good as it gets (November 11 %26ndash; December 17) ... The visionary Susan Plum, my Heights neighbor, serves up a cosmic slice of ancient Mayan wisdom at PG Contemporary (November 11 %26ndash; December 10) ... Prodigal-son painter John Alexander returns to solo at McClain Gallery (November 5 %26ndash; December 3) ... At Nau-haus, Kenn Coplan%26rsquo;s odd political-based play kits and contraptions/games reflect an anarchist mindset (November 5 %26ndash; 26) ... Valerie Cassel Oliver%26rsquo;s survey of Donald Moffett at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston shows what happens when you marry painting with ardent activism. Don%26rsquo;t miss the Barbara Jordan/Watergate sound piece (through January 8) ... Soak in the splendors at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts,%26rdquo; another insightful, jewel-toned show reveling in the arts of the Islamic world (through January 16, 2012) ... Yours truly curates the Texas Sculpture Group at G Gallery, including offerings by the mythic Bert Long Jr., Sharon Kopriva, Steve Murphy and Maria Cristina Jadick, who reprises her interactive pie performance (November 5 %26ndash;%26nbsp;28) ... The late Virgil Grotfeldt %26mdash; an organic surrealist whose style was%26nbsp; hermetic, mysterious and hypnotic %26mdash; was a friend to many, including this scribe. Discover his oeuvre anew at Wade Wilson Art (November 3 %26ndash; 26) ... It%26rsquo;s Cinema Arts Festival time. Head to cinemaartsociety.org for the complete lineup of this sizzling film-fest (November 9 %26ndash; 13).

Image: Tria Wood and Tara Conley%26nbsp; prepare for %26ldquo;My Life as a Doll,%26rdquo; 2011, at DiverseWorks. Photo by Felix Sanchez.

Art Notes

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:17:57 GMT

Museum Mile: As we head into the season, we%26rsquo;re reminded of the riches of our museums, from the ground-breaking, chameleon-like Tony Cragg, whose new-material sculpture redefined the Bronze Age, at the Nasher Sculpture Center (through January 8) to the Jean Paul Gaultier blockbuster at the Dallas Museum of Art (through February 12). This is a time to embrace both exhibitions, for novel discoveries by those who raised the bar very, very high. And remember to include the Crow Collection of Asian Art in your Arts District trek; take in %26ldquo;Qiu Anxiong: Animated Narratives,%26rdquo; which bridges millennia of Chinese art with hot topics embedded into contemporary video and painting (through February 5) ... Pop over to Fort Worth for a provocateur extraordinaire, Brooklyn-based KAWS, aka Brian Donnelly, creator of cool-surfaced, idiosyncratic abstractions that steal from cartooning (Mickey Mouse to SpongeBob) and the energy of the streets, at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (December 11 %26ndash;%26nbsp;February 19). Also catch Richard Diebenkorn%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;The Ocean Park Series%26rdquo; (through January 15) %26hellip; The Kimbell Art Museum continues %26ldquo;Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome,%26rdquo; revealing the master of light and shadow via canvases sacred and secular from saints to cardsharps (through January 8) ... We also recommend %26ldquo;John Marin: Modernist at Midcentury%26rdquo; at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, a peek at the jazzy terrain of Marin%26rsquo;s final decades in which the canvases are almost shimmy (through January 8).

Avant-gardists: We%26rsquo;re also enamored of far more than the polished and gleaming. Have you discovered the vitality of the experimental space owned and directed by artist/catalyst/recent UTA grad Kevin Rub%26eacute;n Jacobs? Jacobs%26rsquo; entree, Oliver Francis Gallery %26mdash; bordering Deep Ellum, downtown and Fair Park %26mdash; emphasizes new media, installation and performance art of a Texas bent, curated in a concise 1,000-square-foot space (209 S. Peak St., 817.879.8231; oliverfrancisgallery.com). Be there for OFG%26rsquo;s next happening: Michael Mazurek%26rsquo;s messy yet vital installation, opening December 3 ... Simultaneously in Fort Worth, Artspace 101 unveils a compelling group view for accomplished Texas trio Charlotte Smith, Paul Booker and Tudor Mitroi (also opening December 3). Pay close attention to Smith%26rsquo;s new surfaces, where cascades of stacked pigment strands dangle from the canvas like ribbons or hair, manifesting a new modality between craft and painting ... Back in the Dallas Design District, Plush Gallery%26rsquo;s solo for Daniel Kurt, %26ldquo;Saving Knowledge Stimpy,%26rdquo; features a wild pop ride through the annals of cartooning, early punk records, arcane historical references and%26nbsp; personal narrative (through December 17) ... Over in Oak Cliff, Mighty Fine Arts serves up painter Peter Ligon, whose impastoed canvases propose a novel, freewheeling form of realism (December 17 %26ndash; January 8).

Public Art Rising: The buzz is all about the Omni (555 S. Lamar), a new hotel for the Convention Center environs, which gets high marks for both its Silver LEED certification and its commitment to Texas art, including headliners James Surls (the three-story Cascading Flowers) and Ted Kincaid (an epic 22-by-14 foot-photograph of a cloud formation sampled from the skies nearby) ... Meanwhile, Griffin Partners%26rsquo; Preston Park Financial Center has acquired an ambitious suite of abstract canvases by Houston-based Austin James for the lobby of its office building. More corporations need to do the same.

Party Arty: Indulge in the season and support the scene at Blue Yule, the McKinney Avenue Contemporary%26rsquo;s Noel-time fund-raiser. Watch out for the Blue Mystery punch, but do come home will some cool ornaments crafted by Texas talents (Saturday, December 3) ... See you in 2012. Have an artful holiday!

Image: Tony Cragg%26rsquo;s Eroded Landscape, 1998, at Nasher Sculpture Center. Photo Kevin Todora.

Art Notes

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 03:00:18 GMT

Cardboard-Rama: We%26rsquo;re taken with the droll little structures lovingly crafted by L.A.%26ndash;based first-generation Mexican-American Ana Serrano at Conduit Gallery, where her way with cardboard makes a nice mash-up with Texan Lance Letscher%26rsquo;s collage mastery, as well as Dallas-based Joan Winter%26rsquo;s unadorned wooden architectural forms (through November 12).

Do-si-do: In the mood for a square dance? Celebrate the new Antoine Predock%26ndash;designed Trinity River Audubon Center on Saturday, November 12, 6 pm. The one-night only community happening/art performance involves a genuine caller, guests as participants and appealing snacks set upon old-timey, gingham-covered tables, as well as a dose of art: vintage dance photos culled from the archives of Dallas City Hall and the Dallas Public Library, projected upon the compelling new building. SMU%26rsquo;s Leila Grothe and private art dealer Cynthia Mulcahy do curatorial honors for this intriguing participatory experience supported by a Warhol Foundation Idea Fund Grant (gratis; cargocollective.com/squaredance).

Just In: The Dallas Museum of Art gets a new director. Dr. Maxwell Anderson, most recently the main man at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, has a resume that includes a transformative directorship at the Whitney. He%26rsquo;ll assume his new post at the DMA in January. The dynamic Anderson is a scholar and an innovator, with a record of exciting achievements in new technology, environmental initiatives, preservation and as an advocate for artists. It was his museum that was responsible for curating the American Pavilion at this year%26rsquo;s Venice Biennale, where Puerto Rican artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla ignited enthusiasm.

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Image: Ana Serrano%26rsquo;s Carpet Auction, 2009, at Conduit Gallery. Courtesy the artist and Conduit Gallery.

Art Notes

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:22:45 GMT

It%26rsquo;s a crackerjack fall. Wonderful %26mdash; and unexpected %26mdash; riches abound, from old masters to fashion provocateurs. The latter you%26rsquo;ll see in our Special Section on the vision on Jean Paul Gaultier, which walks the catwalk at the Dallas Museum of Art in the DMA%26rsquo;s first-ever exhibition devoted to the fashion firmament, an extravaganza of beautiful, inventive clothes that become sculptural costumes while evoking past civilizations, time travel and the pull of the streets. %26ldquo;The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk%26rdquo; unfurls at the DMA November 13, 2011, through February 12, 2012. Read all about it in our exclusive preview section in this issue.

Masterpiece Theater: Next are two exhibitions that raid the larder of art history. At the Kimbell Art Museum, %26ldquo;Caravaggio and His Followers in Rome%26rdquo; culls American, Canadian and European collections to present canvases by the influential master of light and shadow and his disciples, spanning religious and mythological scenes (including one very drunken Bacchus) to secular pursuits and subjects, such as a gypsy fortune teller and the Kimbell%26rsquo;s own dramatic The Cardsharps, circa 1595 (October 16 %26ndash; January 8) ... The Meadows Museum at SMU continues its innovative collaboration with Museo Nacional del Prado, showcasing an icon from the Prado%26rsquo;s coffers: The Magdalene, a sensitive show-stopper from 1641 by Jusepe de Ribera, one of the leading painters of Spain%26rsquo;s golden age. This top treasure is the catalyst %26mdash;%26nbsp;and the centerpiece %26mdash;%26nbsp;of %26ldquo;Ribera:%26nbsp;%26lsquo;Mary Magdalene%26rsquo; in a New Context,%26rdquo; which embraces other important Ribera works from international collections, as well as the Meadow%26rsquo;s inimitable collection of works by this leading 17th-century painter and his followers (through January 15).

All About Burt: On the contemporary front, Photographs Do Not Bend always pulls out the surprises. This month is no exception, as co-owner Burt Finger is celebrated in %26ldquo;Pictures of Me%26rdquo; (October 15 - November 12). FYI: Finger was one of the 40 international reviewers tapped by FotoFest for its first-ever Meeting Place portfolio review in Moscow. Check out our blog for the details; the week-long photo convergence intersected with two of the biggest global art players in the world today: Daria Zhukova and Roman Abramovich, our hosts. Stay tuned too, for our coverage leading up to FotoFest, among the first and foremost biennials of international photography in the world, coming in 2012, themed Russia and taking place in Houston, with PaperCity as media sponsor (March 16 %26ndash; April 29).

The Unforgettable Ted Pillsbury: The late Edmund Pillsbury was the director who transformed the Kimbell, as well as a scholar and a collector of more than old masters. His penchant for modern and contemporary art was perhaps surprising, but he turned his discerning eye to that field, as well as mentoring many Texas artists. Now his collection goes on the block at Heritage Auctions, in the auction house%26rsquo;s major October sale, curated by the eagle-eyed expert from Heritage, Frank Hettig. Prepare your paddle Wednesday, October 26; click to ha.com for lot details.

Caravaggio%26rsquo;s Sick Bacchus, 1593 %26ndash;1594, at the Kimbell Art Museum. Courtesy Galleria Borghese, Rome.

War is Hell (portrait of Burt Finger, anonymous photographer, Vietnam), 1969, at Photographs Do Not Bend.

Art Notes

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:47:45 GMT

Autumn heralds an improbable melding of art, fashion, food, Tut-mania and even tattoos. How do we convey our excitement about the impending Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art? Fashionaires from across the nation will converge to catch this blockbuster organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The extraordinary Gaultier himself %26mdash; who put the cone bra on Madonna and whose muses extend from Catherine Deneuve to Dita Von Teese %26mdash; will travel to town for this survey%26rsquo;s Texas debut (November 13 %26ndash;%26nbsp;February 12).

Alternative Action: The Dallas Contemporary has stepped up its game under Peter Doroshenko, as evidenced by the adjunct curatorial appointment of Paris-based Florence Ostende, as well as this month%26rsquo;s thought-provoking solos for Jennifer Rubell (a tasty Tex-Mex performance) and painter Aaron Parazette (whose abstractions, redolent of gems or beachy landscapes, define %26ldquo;cool school%26rdquo;) alongside Austin-based Jason Brooks, who is considered the most important tattoo-ist between the coasts (opening night September 24; through December 4) ... At the McKinney Avenue Contemporary, what do a turnip, a loaf of bread and an owl have in common? They%26rsquo;re all part of Bill Davenport%26rsquo;s gargantuan display of objects that in some weird, wild way relate to King Tut. (One of the final iterations of Tut-mania lands in Texas next month at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 16 %26ndash; April 15). %26ldquo;Bill Davenport and the Golden Treasures of the Pharaohs%26rdquo; is a hilarious sendup to the boy king. The show is curated by Charles Dee Mitchell (September 17 %26ndash; October 22).

Gallery-Rama: Abstraction also holds sway, most promisingly with Charlotte Smith%26rsquo;s breakthrough series at Cris Worley Fine Arts %26mdash; a fresh, lush take on contemporary painting (September 10 %26ndash;%26nbsp;October 8) ... At Wisby-Smith Fine Art at The Crescent, Elton John%26rsquo;s collaborator, music man Bernie Taupin, ventures into the visual scene with intuitive canvases (September 2 %26ndash; 10; personal appearance Friday and Saturday night, September 9 and 10) ... Plush Gallery grandstands with Celia Eberle%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;The End of All Things,%26rdquo; a show that mines magic in the miniscule (September 10 %26ndash; October 8).

A Photorealist Remembered: Ever since our Dallas assistant editor Christina Geyer showed us images of her grandfather%26rsquo;s canvases of antique toys rendered in a crisp light with meticulous detail, we%26rsquo;ve been John Geyer devotees. The photorealist, who passed away last year, has shown with some of the best, including the mythic OK Harris Gallery owned by Ivan Karp, discoverer of Warhol. Now, Seti Gallery in Kent, Connecticut, illuminates Geyer%26rsquo;s remarkable eye, paired now with his son %26mdash; Christina%26rsquo;s uncle %26mdash; Scott Geyer, who inherited the photorealism gene (through September 21).

Fair Thee Well: Make tracks to Houston for its first-ever international art fair, headlined by 80 worldwide dealers, unfurling at the George R. Brown Convention Center (opening night Thursday, September 15; September 16 %26ndash;%26nbsp;18; houstonfineartfair.com). Walk This Way: We never miss the %26nbsp; Dallas Art Dealers Association (DADA) Fall Gallery Walk. This year, it%26rsquo;s set for Saturday, September, September 24, 2 to 8 pm (lineup at dallasartdealers.org). We%26rsquo;ll meet you at power player The Goss-Michael Foundation.

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Images:

Part of Bill Davenport%26rsquo;s 2011 MAC installation, %26ldquo;Bill Davenport and the Golden Treasures of the Pharaohs,%26rdquo; prepares to hit the road. Photo courtesy the artist.

Charlotte Smith%26rsquo;s Dreamscape (detail), 2011, at Cris Worley Fine Arts. Photo courtesy the artist.

Art Notes

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 04:31:07 GMT

It%26rsquo;s a big, arty fall with not one but two fairs beckoning, plus Tut-mania coming to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Can you say blockbuster? %26ldquo;Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs%26rdquo; lands at the MFAH October 16 through April 15. We%26rsquo;ll take you inside the pyramids next month, with our Special Section %26hellip; Turn to page 26 for our preview of the Houston Fine Art Fair, unveiling at the George R. Brown Convention Center Thursday, September 15, with a glittering Opening Night benefitting the MFAH Glassell School of Art Core Program (Fair, September 16 %26ndash; 18). Auction house Morton Kuehnert sponsors the lecture led by Donald Lipski, Friday, September 16, 1 pm (free for Fair ticket holders).

I%26rsquo;ll Take Texas: Other walls roll out the best of Texas talent, beginning with Art League of Houston, showcasing Texas Artist of the Year Mary McCleary, whose obsessive mosaic paintings are sublime and extraordinary (September 9 %26ndash; %26shy;%26shy;%26shy;October 21) ... At Moody Gallery, nature lover and advocate of animals Helen Altman%26rsquo;s shines (September 10 %26shy;%26shy;%26ndash; October 15) ... Dallas-based painter Tommy Fitzpatrick%26rsquo;s architectural geometry dazzles at Inman Gallery (September 9 %26ndash; October 22) ... Venturing farther afield, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont presents %26ldquo;Obsessive Worlds,%26rdquo; including the mighty H.J. Bott (September 24 %26ndash; January 8) ... Femmes take over the Art Car Museum, from Kaneem Smith to Aimee Jones; check out Robynn Sanders%26rsquo; psychedelic 1963 Porsche dolled up as %26ldquo;Surfer Dude%26rdquo; (September 10 %26ndash;%26nbsp;December 4) ... Anya Tish taps two Texans of Middle Eastern heritage for an exhibition of contemporary Islamic art; this doubleheader features Simeen Farhat%26rsquo;s sculpture and Mohammed Al Shammarey%26rsquo;s photography (September 9 %26ndash; October 8) ... The nitty-gritty Wheeler Brothers, James Ackerley Porter, and Ryan Geiger collaborate on wild canvases at Heights provocateur Wayne Gilbert%26rsquo;s G Gallery (September 3 %26ndash; 26) %26hellip; Paint handler extraordinaire Howard Sherman, who would never be mistaken for a minimalist, leads off the season at McMurtrey Gallery (September 10 %26shy;%26shy;%26ndash; October 15) ... Bryan Miller Gallery serves up a solo for new Rice art department head, John Sparagana, whose sampled imagery has always been ahead of its time (September 9 %26ndash; October 22) ... Texter extraordinaire Tierney Malone takes a stand at PG Contemporary (September 17 %26ndash; October 15) %26hellip; William Reaves Fine Art celebrates six decades of Texas abstraction, with gems by Robert Preusser, Dick Wray and Richard Stout (through September 17).

From Russia with Love:%26nbsp; As you read these words, this scribe will just have returned from FotoFest%26rsquo;s Meeting Place in Moscow, at the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, co-presented by Daria Zhukova%26rsquo;s Iris Foundation. FotoFest%26rsquo;s International Biennial of Photography unfurls this spring, with a Russian theme (March 16 %26ndash; April 29), and PaperCity as media sponsor.

New Faces, New Places/Fair Well: Stay tuned next month for news from the New World Museum; gallery openings for Devin Borden, Sharon Engelstein and Simon Gentry; and our exclusive preview of the Texas Contemporary, which is stacking up with surprises, a fascinating emphasis on sustainability, and nearly 50 dealers, from Acme in L.A. to Lone Star quartet Moody, Sicardi, Inman and Texas, at the George R. Brown (October 20 %26ndash; 23, Opening Night benefits the CAMH; txcontemporary.com).

FBI and Art?: Former FBI crime specialist and the author of the riveting Priceless, Robert Wittman, dishes about stolen masterpieces at the MFAH Brown Auditorium on Thursday, September 8, 7 pm%26nbsp; (tickets 800.504.4849; blafferartmuseum.org).

Back to the Future: At The Menil Collection, the consummate earthworks artist of our time, Walter De Maria of The Lightening Field and The New York Earth Room is the subject of his first ever major American museum show; curated by Menil director Josef Helfenstein, %26ldquo;Trilogies%26rdquo; stars a surprising vintage classic American automobile (September 16 %26ndash; January 8).

%26nbsp;

Images:

The Wheeler Brothers, James Ackerley Porter and Ryan Geiger%26rsquo;s Working Empirically From What We See, 2011, at G Gallery.

Walter De Maria%26rsquo;s Bel Air Trilogy (detail), 2000 %26ndash; 2011, at The Menil Collection. Photo courtesy The Menil Collection.

Art Notes

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:51:46 GMT

Enlightening Stops: Top touts for what you need to see this month: Texas Southern%26rsquo;s University Museum hosts an exhibition from the troves of Elliot and Kimberly Perry that focuses on artists of the African diaspora. Sixty-five extraordinary offerings by 55 talents span time periods from the historical to today, from Henry O. Tanner%26rsquo;s drawing of a young girl to Kehinde Wiley%26rsquo;s hip-hop sendup of John Singleton Copley, plus creations by Houston artists Ann Johnson, Lauren Kelley (a recent star of the MFAH Core Program) and TSU alum/visiting prof, Whitney Biennial%26ndash;exhibited Robert Pruitt (through August 21).

Absolving Abstraction: San Antonio painter Gabriel Delgado comes to town for a curatorial turn at Audley Society, Linda Marroquin%26rsquo;s alternative space that manifests a utopian essence. Organizing %26ldquo;Op de Muur%26rdquo; %26mdash; the title, a Dutch phrase translated as %26ldquo;On the Wall%26rdquo; %26mdash; he looks to Houston and central Texas for the second generation of abstract expressionists, as well as their younger peers. In Delgado%26rsquo;s eye are overlooked painters such as senior master Michael Hollis, whose eloquent, well-honed compositions are as good as it gets, alongside those we%26rsquo;ve never seen before, especially Louis Vega Trevino from San Antonio (through October 1) ... On the Richmond corridor, there%26rsquo;s news from Latin American powerhouse Sicardi Gallery: a ground-breaking in preparation for Sicardi%26rsquo;s move next spring to a plum spot near The Menil Collection. Meanwhile, catch %26ldquo;Pages III,%26rdquo; presenting 10 provocative contemporary voices from the Southern continent (through August 20) %26hellip; Next door, McClain Gallery%26rsquo;s newly minted assistant director, Erin Siudzinski, makes her curatorial debut in %26ldquo;The Big Top,%26rdquo; placing ringside The Art Guys, John Alexander, Donald Baechler and more (through August 6) ... Speaking of the circus, we%26rsquo;re mad for the strange ceramics of Mark Chatterley at Goldesberry Gallery, including a human-sized rabbit walking other bunnies that%26rsquo;s going to a Houston private collector whose benevolence is covered in this issue (through August 6).%26nbsp;

Have You Been?: Three jewel-box photographic exhibitions are off the usual radar. At Architecture Center Houston, investigate four-and-a-half decades of urban images by award-garnering photographer Paul Hester (through August 12) ... Lensman Jack Potts%26rsquo; 11-year-old son Jackson Potts has taken up the profession, showcasing his rock %26rsquo;n%26rsquo; roll portraits at Catalina Coffee (through August 20) ... Make tracks to the Museum of Printing History, where late legend Marvin Zindler%26rsquo;s crime-scene photographs are highlighted, from the days of his covering murder and mayhem Weegee style as a cub photojournalist (through August 13) ... FotoFest%26rsquo;s Fred Baldwin and Wendy Watriss head to Moscow, overseeing their highest profile portfolio review ever, at internationally renowned Dasha Zhukova%26rsquo;s Garage Center for Contemporary Culture (August 29 %26ndash; September 2).

Eco and Cavalier: Rush to Cavalier Fine Art for the enticing closing sale, now taking place, with hundreds of rare, historical canvases. Owners Carl Moore and Bert Melnick are retiring and will be greatly missed (August through September) ... At Poissant Gallery, Clean Economy Network%26rsquo;s Tyra Rankin curates a recycled/repurposed exhibition, with Texans Alicia Duplan, John Linden and Dan Phillips confirmed to date (August 19 %26ndash;%26nbsp;September 5) ... Texas Artists Today creative type Susan Plum opens her studio for a trunk show of her infinitely collectible woven-glass jewelry, set for Sunday, August 21; for your invite, e-mail susanplum@gmail.%26nbsp;

Galveston, oh Galveston: Our fave island has a new art stop. Carrie and David Hardaker have joined forces with painter Ray Phillips to open Avis Frank Gallery in the Strand District. Up now is the promising %26ldquo;Spectrum,%26rdquo; curated by master drawer Lisa Qualls and featuring protagonists Lucinda Cobley, Leamon Green, Floyd Newsum and Patrick Renner (through August 13).

Fair Thee Well: Houston Fine Art Fair has gathered momentum: Eighty gallerists representing 12 countries will roll into town, including Houston notables Meredith Long %26amp; Company, McClain Gallery, Barbara Davis Gallery, Moody Gallery and Sicardi Gallery. Opening night Thursday, September 15, will benefit the MFAH/Glassell Core Program (September 15 %26ndash;%26nbsp;18, at George R. Brown). Preview the Fair fare at Neiman Marcus%26rsquo; valet window (August 11 %26ndash; 21), and Tootsies%26rsquo; windows (September 11 %26ndash; 18); Tootsies also hosts a private party co-sponsored by PaperCity for VIP ticket holders, %26agrave; la Art Basel Miami Beach, innovatively melding fashion and art (info houstonfineartfair.com) ... The Texas Contemporary Fair is also taking shape, turning into something more intimate, with hometown dealers Kerry Inman and Fredericka Hunter molding it (October 20 %26ndash;%26nbsp;23). We%26rsquo;ll cover both, reporting from the aisles and aisles of art.

Images:

Kehinde Wiley%26rsquo;s Mrs. Joseph Barrell (Hannah Fitch), 2006, at University Museum, TSU

E. Michael Hollis%26rsquo; Untitled, 2011, at Audley Society

%26nbsp;

Art Notes

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 05:01:10 GMT

Helmut and ArtHouston Rising: July swirls when bold provocateur Helmut Newton%26rsquo;s life-size exploration of the other side of normal gets pulses racing at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (July 3 %26ndash;%26nbsp;September 25; see page 8 for why we%26rsquo;re hot on Helmut) ... ArtHouston takes off on Saturday, July 9.%26nbsp; Just in, three more to love: Montana-based lens lady Barbara Van Cleve at Wade Wilson Art, who takes on the American West (July 8 %26ndash;%26nbsp;August 6); eye-popping drawings and collages by Jules Buck Jones that give a new feeling to the animal kingdom at McMurtrey Gallery (July 9 %26ndash; August 13); and, while not officially part of ArtHouston, top collector Lester Marks%26rsquo; enigmatic abstractions, presented in %26ldquo;Obscured Realities%26rdquo; at New Gallery/Thom Andriola (July 8 %26ndash;%26nbsp;August 27). Marks, whom we always call %26ldquo;the Art Prince,%26rdquo; writes about his surprising color photography: %26ldquo;I want my work to float inside the spaces of your head, for physical reality is big but inner reality is bigger!%26rdquo; Kudos to Harris Gallery%26rsquo;s Harrison Itz and Mariah Rockefeller for pulling together the sizzling extravaganza (at Harris, catch Italian idylls by Sandra Langston, July 9 %26ndash; 30).

Other Walls: Box 13 and Art League have stepped up the game. At the former, the East End thrives with a sense of Lawndale Art Center back in the day, with installations and odd performances with a throw-down charm, as is the case with Cody Ledvina, while San Antonio talent Joey Fauerso%26rsquo;s nature-based videos/Technicolor travel imagery could be subtitled %26ldquo;Afternoon of the Faun.%26rdquo; A visit to Box 13 also requires stopping by the studios of cardboard king Dennis Harper and taxidermy queen Elaine Bradford, plus a peek into the window by Jenny Schlief, whose stock-photography project (snapped by PaperCity%26rsquo;s Jenny Antill) owes a debt to Cindy Sherman (through July 23). Meanwhile, Art League celebrates patterning, the low-tech and the hand-made in a new series by Catherine Colangelo (recently featured in the Texas Biennial), with a nautical theme as a point of departure (July 15 %26ndash;%26nbsp;August 26).

Blaffer%26rsquo;s Best: When you%26rsquo;re Venice Biennale bound, investigate Russian-born, NYC-based Anton Ginzburg%26rsquo;s epic installation at Palazzo Bollani. It%26rsquo;s edged with poetry and steeped with ancient history, combining totems of marble with a vast, serpentine sculpture entitled Ashnest, all inspired by a search for the mythological land of Hyperborea, said to rim the White Sea in Northern Russia (through November 27). Co-supported by the Blaffer Art Museum, the ambitious installation is curated by Matthew Drutt, most recently director of Artpace (and married to Blaffer director/curator Claudia Schmuckli) ... Back at home, the Blaffer%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;Window into Houston%26rdquo; series mounts its second installment as Patrick Renner collaborates with hometown high-school students, mining magic from collage, light, sculpture and kinetics to craft an oculi-inspired offering (through September 28).%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;%26nbsp;

It%26rsquo;s a Really Big Show: Save Friday, July 1, for one of the biggest, most democratic experiences in town, as Lawndale Art Center rolls out %26ldquo;The Big Show,%26rdquo; featuring open-call offeringsjuried by Larissa Harris (July 1 %26ndash; 30), while Emily Sloan organizes a Salon des Refuses for those that did not make the cut, at Gallery M Squared (through July 9).

Deco Drama: One of our fave dealers at Antiques Pavilion, Robert E. Alker Fine Art (his latest container is being opened as you read this), combines majestic Art Deco treasures with a new showing of European street scenes by big names Cortes, Berkes, Blanchard, Galien Laloue and Jules Herve, alongside a dose of Americana supplied by Houston painter Steve Tagliere.

Fair Fever: We don%26rsquo;t have space for all the updates about the Houston Fine Art Fair (September 15 %26ndash; 18) and the Texas Contemporary (October 20 %26ndash; 23), both at the George R. Brown Convention Center, so check back on our blog. Host committees have been formed, nonprofits are lining up, and, most importantly, gallerists are signing up, picking one fair or, in a few cases (such as Moody Gallery and Sicardi Gallery), joining both. Opening nights benefit respectively, the MFAH Glassell School of Art Core Program and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Read all about it at papercitymag.com, then prepare to attend and collect. Our take on it all? We%26rsquo;ve never had such a talked-about fall; Between two fairs and King Tut at the MFAH, the art world is reaching a boil.

Images:

Jenny Schlief%26rsquo;s Happy Jenny Drinking a Warm Cup of Joe, 2011, at Box 13. Photo by Jenny Antill.

Lester Mark%26rsquo;s 2414, 2011, at New Gallery/Thom Andriola

Art Notes: Dallas Art News for July 2011

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 06:31:14 GMT

Braque and Picasso to a Nimble Pop-Up: This month%26rsquo;s diverse, enticing fare will appeal to modernist fans and seekers of today%26rsquo;s avant-garde. The Kimbell Art Museum%26rsquo;s exquisite peek into art history, %26ldquo;Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment, 1910 %26ndash; 1912,%26rdquo; reveals a chapter between friends and rivals that set the stage for the stylistic revolution that would follow (through August 21) ... In Highland Park Village, a new pop-up next to Patrizio%26rsquo;s brings the cutting-edge and important to the Park Cities when private dealer Kristy Stubbs sets up shop for a solid six months (opening July 7). Stubbs was one of our top picks from the 2011 Dallas Art Fair; peruse papercitymag.com for that story. More to come in our New Doors coverage next month ... Another new art stop is Jordan Roth%26rsquo;s Ro2 Art in West Village. Co-owned with mom Susan Roth Romans, the gallery will headline three Texans in its inaugural view: sculptor Elizabeth Akamatsu, ceramicist Piero Fenci and painter Michael Francis (through July 17). We love that there%26rsquo;s a craft component in this new space%26rsquo;s exhibition programming. %26nbsp;

The Big Sleep: Check out Dallas designer Dan Bemiss%26rsquo; new collection, Sleepy Dan, which has an alarm-clock insignia emblazoned with %26ldquo;You Snooze, You Lose,%26rdquo; which were just f%26ecirc;ted at a big reveal at The Public Trust. We%26rsquo;re snapping up some tees as soon as possible (from $20; sleepydan.com).

Can You Say Kink?: Complete your viewing with the scintillating %26ldquo;S/Twist,%26rdquo; at Kirk Hopper Fine Art, as new director Liliana Bloch (formerly with The MAC), tantalizes with a look at sex and repression in the age of Spitzer and Strauss-Kahn (July 9 %26ndash; August 13) ... Taking the less explicit road, %26ldquo;Allure: The Power of Subtle Attraction%26rdquo; at William Campbell Contemporary Art includes adroit lineman John Holt Smith (through August 6).

Images:

Dan Bemiss%26rsquo; Sleepy Dan collection

David Van Ness%26rsquo; Caribou Conflict, 2010, at Kirk Hopper Fine Art

Art Notes

Thu, 26 May 2011 01:27:54 GMT

Titian Takes the Town: Summer arrives, yet our art world still simmers, with offerings from Old Masters to innovative Texans. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, leads the way with %26ldquo;Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting: Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland,%26rdquo; which highlights 25 extraordinary paintings and drawings, including a pair of Titian%26rsquo;s mythological canvases that have never before traveled to America: Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto, which were part of a suite commissioned by 16th-century royal King Philip II of Spain. They%26rsquo;re exhibited alongside stellar offerings by Tintoretto, Veronese, Bassano and more (through August 14) ... While you%26rsquo;re at the MFAH, catch a poignant show of sculpture by Charles LeDray that forces you to slow down and gaze at his miniatures in wonder, even as it packs a conceptual message that hovers between current events and surrealism%26nbsp; (through September 11) ... Contemporary Arts Museum Houston mounts a ground-breaking survey of late new-media pioneer Stan VanDerBeek, co-curated by CAMH director Bill Arning, who is one of our state%26rsquo;s go-to guys for technology (through July 10).

In Our Viewfinder: Photo offerings abound, beginning with FotoFest%26rsquo;s peek into long-ago lensmen in %26ldquo;Faces of History %26ndash; Latin America,%26rdquo; which focuses on eight turn-of-the-century talents who recorded portraits of laborers to patricians in the booming cities of late-19th/early-20th-century Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru. Curated by Wendy Watriss, this rare exhibition promises a window into metropolises of elegance and accelerated urbanization (June 6 %26ndash; August 5) ... At Houston Center for Photography, catch a must-see perspective about the life of the teenager, from the Middle East to small-town America, via five contemporary protagonists (through June 24), side-by-side with Atlanta-based HCP-fellowship winner Kendrick Brinson%26rsquo;s compelling exploration of a retirement community in %26ldquo;Sun City: Life After Life,%26rdquo; (through June 19) ... Two gallery F-stops: Barbara Davis Gallery for Houston commercial photographer-NYU grad Julie Soefer, who shows off her art side with insightful images of global travels, including a few humorous frames captured stateside at the Houston Rodeo (June 10 %26ndash; July 2), and De Santos Gallery for Christine Laptuta%26rsquo;s nuanced images of landscapes reverberating with memory and time (through June 18) ... Prepare for an unprecedented exhibition of Helmut Newton%26rsquo;s early books of the 1970s and 1980s %26mdash; White Women, Sleepless Nights and Big Nudes %26mdash; as more than 200 images, now in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, are shown in the expansive galleries of the MFAH%26rsquo;s Beck Building (July 3 %26ndash; September 25). This marks the international premiere of this remarkable work in its entirety (stay tuned for details in our art-packed July issue).

Art Cars to Transformers: It%26rsquo;s worth the drive down Highway 59 to Victoria%26rsquo;s Nave Museum for %26ldquo;Art Car Central: Photos %26amp; Ceramics by Irv Tepper%26rdquo; (through July 3) ... Visit our Art Car Museum for Melissa Noble%26rsquo;s view of musicians who make art, from Tim Glover to Terry Allen (through August 7) ... Randy Twaddle showcases his latest ode to Houston%26rsquo;s electrical grid, in a solo at Moody Gallery that encompasses works on paper (including coffee grounds as media) and a breathtaking new tapestry depicting a transformer (June 4 %26ndash; July 2) %26hellip; PrintMatters presents the inaugural PrintHouston, a showcase of innovative works on paper, that extends to Anya Tish Gallery, where Turkish talent ArdAn Ozmenoglu travels to install the site-specific installation %26ldquo;Mosque Tales,%26rdquo; formed from hundreds of printed patterns on Post-It Notes (June 10 %26ndash;%26nbsp;July 3).

Ready, Set, Collect: ArtHouston unfurls Saturday, July 9, with PaperCity as media sponsor. Watch for our picks from the bounty of 30-plus exhibitions, plus a little history %26mdash;%26nbsp;do you know who was the biggest ever discovery of this sizzling citywide open house? Which Top 100 collector has turned artist to debut in ArtHouston 2011? The answers arrive in next month%26rsquo;s issue ... Peruse this site for the latest about the frenzy of two (feuding?) fairs, coming this September and October. Clear your calendar for the Houston Fine Art Fair, which leads the way, September 15 %26ndash; 18, with opening night benefitting the Core Program of the MFAH ... Follow our blog for news of four Texans who headline in a Manhattan gallery this month (hint, Susan Plum is one of them). Log on now to see where Austin James will open his new art space, debuting Saturday, June 18, with a collaborative painting endeavor with the intriguing J. Antonio Farfan %26hellip; Do-gooder Jurate Kopecky arrives on the scene, moving here from Miami, to curate for the nonprofit Arts 4 Japan Foundation, launching Thursday, June 16, with a fund-raiser at Gremillion. Be there!

Image at top: Jacopo Bassano%26rsquo;s The Adoration of the Kings, early 1540s, at MFAH. Photo courtesy National Galleries of Scotland.
Image below: Mel%26iacute;t%26oacute;n Rodr%26iacute;guez%26rsquo;s Carolina Carballo, Medell%26iacute;n Colombia, 1899, printed 1991, organized by FotoFest at One and Two Allen Center. Courtesy FotoFest, Houston

Art Notes

Thu, 26 May 2011 02:14:41 GMT

Exploding Scene (Literally): It%26rsquo;s the most sizzling June on record, in terms of the mercury and art, beginning with University of Texas at Dallas grad Carlo Zinzi%26rsquo;s explosive UltraChrome photographs, in which he lights firecrackers in fast food, artfully staged in his homegrown garden vignette. Zinzi is a bright star in Cris Worley Fine Arts%26rsquo; %26ldquo;Dioscuri,%26rdquo; a group show of a memorable octet of mostly Texas talents that also includes light lady Adela Andea, bronze meister Harry Geffert, high-voltage painter Howard Sherman, dizzying photographer Rusty Scruby and Charlotte Smith of the lush, surface-encrusted canvases (through June 25) ... Next-door neighbor Galleri Urbane mounts the canvases of former Paris, now Beaumont painter Emilie Duval, who depicts massive moose heads in stylized abstracted landscapes with accompanying trophies. Duval studied at the %26Eacute;cole du Louvre, so we%26rsquo;re looking forward to investigating her oeuvre (through July 2).

Twenty-Five Candles: Deep Ellum denizen Barry Whistler Gallery celebrates a quarter century in %26ldquo;XXV,%26rdquo; which surveys Whistler%26rsquo;s remarkable stable via 25 artists %26mdash; some looking forward, some gazing back. Don%26rsquo;t miss Allison V. Smith%26rsquo;s recent image of a State Fair Princess (through June 18).

Nymphs Have Their Way: We also love Holly Johnson Gallery%26rsquo;s solo for a California painter with Texas ties, Kim Squaglia, in %26ldquo;Nymphaeum.%26rdquo; Her surfaces bear seductive abstractions bisected by loopy lines (through July 2).

Texans Save the Day: Blocks away, Photographs Do Not Bend presents four iconic Texas lensmen in %26ldquo;Eyes of Texas%26rdquo; %26mdash; Peter Brown, Keith Carter, Earlie Hudnall Jr. and George Krause %26mdash; which is about as good as you can get, anywhere (through July 2).

The Mighty Kincaid: Another Design District stop, Marty Walker Gallery, unveils new photo-based works by Ted Kincaid that recall the rich, silver-laden printing techniques of the 19th century, steeped in time and velvety surfaces, but are not what they appear to be (through June 11).

Veritas in Vernon: Vernon Fisher, one of the first Texans to achieve national renown, remains a force to be reckoned with. His visionary painting moves beyond mere Pop to complex narratives with unfolding story lines that are cinematic in their multiple viewpoints and powerful enigmas. See canvases from his pivotal decade, 1989 to 1999, where he honed his unique syntax, at Dunn and Brown Contemporary (through June 30).

The Daring Dal%26iacute;: Before Warhol, there was Salvador Dal%26iacute;, whose interweaving of art, commerce and fame paved the way for the Factory superstar. Now, Dal%26iacute; works collected by respected collaborator, publisher and pal Pierre Argillet shine at recent arrival Wisby-Smith Fine Art at The Crescent, starring watercolors, etchings, drawings and tapestries (through June 5). Speaking of Spain: The Meadows Museum rolls out a one-person show for under-known master Esteban Vicente (1903 %26ndash; 2001), who excelled at limpid pools of color, shared a studio with de Kooning and was highly regarded by scholar/critics Clement Greenberg and scholar Meyer Shapiro. Collages and sculptures are highlighted in %26ldquo;Concrete Improvisations%26rdquo; (through July 31).

Picasso Versus Braque: At the Kimbell Art Museum, the heavyweights of modernism weigh in. %26ldquo;Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment, 1910 %26ndash; 1912%26rdquo; is a scholarly, riveting yet intimately scaled exhibition %26mdash; 15 paintings, 20 works on paper %26mdash; that packs a punch in its revealing look at the birth of modern art, co-organized by the Kimbell and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (through August 21). Secure your tickets now.

Image: Carlo Zinzi%26rsquo;s Festival, 2011, at Cris Worley Fine Arts.

Art Notes

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 04:52:06 GMT

Enlightening Stops: You can%26rsquo;t go wrong at The Menil Collection, home to a pair of exhibitions that are moving and poignant in different ways %26mdash; and very much in keeping with the sensitivity to art history and human rights championed by the de Menils. %26ldquo;Upside Down: Arctic Realities,%26rdquo; is curated by visual anthropologist Edmund Carpenter, whose ongoing %26ldquo;Wunderkammer%26rdquo; exhibit at the museum also is heavy on the power; artist Doug Wheeler devised the inspiring installation with its labyrinthine pathway,%26nbsp; display tables and wall niches for treasures of Arctic culture spanning millennia. This is one of the most exquisite exhibitions the Menil has ever mounted (though July 17) ... Also Menil way, take in the truths of %26ldquo;The Whole World Was Watching: Civil Rights-Era Photographs from Edmund Carpenter and Adelaide de Menil,%26rdquo; co-curated by the Menil%26rsquo;s Michelle White and Danielle Burns of the Gregory School, where it is also on view (through September 25 at the Menil; through August 20 at Gregory).

The Hometown Team: We%26rsquo;re making tracks to Darke Gallery, where Linda Darke continues her commitment to Houston talents via a solo for Wendy Wagner. This mid-career notable plays with a panoply of media %26mdash;%26nbsp;sculpture, installation, animation, craft and painting %26mdash;%26nbsp;in a whimsical exhibition that could be on the Cartoon Network (May 13 %26ndash;%26nbsp;June 10) ... At Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery, the first artist that this scribe ever interviewed, Sharon Kopriva, adds ghostly canines and a few phantoms to her repertoire, paired with a homecoming for Angelbert Metoyer, who rolls out his latest explorations in memory, time and the universe, told through films and glass-based works (both May 14 %26ndash;%26nbsp;June 25).

The Next Chapter: At McClain Gallery, Aaron Parazette leaves surfing behind with %26ldquo;Cloud Break,%26rdquo; an investigation of the push-and-pull between control, surface and geometry in contemporary abstraction (May 5 %26ndash;%26nbsp;June 11).

Heights-Arama: Don%26rsquo;t forget that edgy 11th Street Heights enclave, where cross-continental Indian and American painter Rahul Mitra comments on dual cultures at G Gallery (May 7 %26ndash; 29) and Ann Harithas%26rsquo; captivating collages triumph at Na%26uuml;-haus (May 7 %26ndash;%26nbsp;28).

Back to Lawndale: The buzz is thundering about Lawndale Art Center, which has triumphantly returned to a prime spot as a trend-spotter. Three of its most exhilarating artists in residence are highlighted this month:%26nbsp;conceptualist Anthony Shumate, painter Daniel McFarlane and provocateurs Hillerbrand+ Magsamen (through June 4).

Did You Say Titian?: Next month we%26rsquo;ll bring you an update about the masterful Titian/National Galleries of Scotland blockbuster at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, so stay tuned for a report on two of the greatest paintings of the Italian Renaissance (May 22 %26ndash;%26nbsp;August 14).

Images:

Top: Wendy Wager%26rsquo;s Piccadilly Circus, 2011, at Darke Gallery.

Below: Sharon Kopriva%26rsquo;s Hallowed Hall,%26nbsp; 2011, at Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery.

Art Notes

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 04:54:55 GMT

Balloons + Bullets: Unique themes and materials percolate this month, beginning with Martin Creed%26rsquo;s%26nbsp; edgy golden-orange balloons that fill a downstairs gallery at the Nasher Sculpture Center. Part sculpture, part experience (claustrophobes need not apply), it%26rsquo;s the latest installment in the British artist%26rsquo;s ongoing investigations into our age of uncertainty, curated by the Nasher%26rsquo;s Jed Morse (through June 19) ... One of Texas%26rsquo; most notable masters of the human figure, Heyd Fontenot, takes a curatorial turn at CentralTrak, along with Webb Gallery%26rsquo;s Julie Webb, in from Waxahachie, to collaborate on the too-topical %26ldquo;Gun %26amp; Knife Show.%26rdquo; (through June 4).

Light Bright: Meanwhile, The MAC (McKinney Avenue Contemporary) makes it about light when art maven June Mattingly curates %26ldquo;Starry, Starry Nights,%26rdquo; featuring five Texans who address the media, some in literal ways, others more subliminally: Adela Andea, Chris Lattanzio, Jeremy McKane, Susie Rosmarin, and Billy Zinser (through May 14).

Comic Connection: Dallas Art Fair co-founder Chris Byrne is planning his next project. After the Fair%26rsquo;s wildly successful year three, he is eying a curatorial endeavor with artist Gary Panter for Manhattan%26rsquo;s Andrew Edlin Gallery, %26ldquo;Zap: Masters of Psychedelic Art 1965%26ndash;74,%26rdquo; focusing on six talents including the infamous Robert Crumb, who in the beginning peddled Zap comics out of a baby carriage in San Francisco (May 5 %26ndash; June 18).

Ten Candles: One of the most informative (and first) art Web sites in America, Texas%26rsquo; own Glasstire, founded by Rainey Knudson, celebrates its first decade with a public panel at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth that convenes five smart art voices to dish about an ongoing, ever-shifting topic:%26nbsp;regionalism in the 21st century. Weighing in will be Yale School of Art dean Robert Storr and David Pagel, in from the Los Angeles Times, joined by several Texas voices: The Menil Collection%26rsquo;s Toby Kamps, Michael Galbreth of Art Guys fame, and Christina Rees, director of Fort Worth Contemporary Arts (Saturday, May 7, 11 am, in The Modern%26rsquo;s auditorium). Be there!

Image: Leon Alesi%26rsquo;s Heyd, 2011, at CentralTrak

Art Notes

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:45:24 GMT

Austrian Blooms and Arctic Climes: Museum must-sees include the early-20th-century color imagery of Austrian pictorialist Heinrich K%26uuml;hn at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston %26mdash; the only American venue for this extraordinary exhibition organized by Vienna%26rsquo;s Albertina (through May 30) ... At The Menil Collection, %26ldquo;Upside Down: Arctic Realities%26rdquo; contrasts Arctic artifacts, circa 1000 BC to 1400 AD, with an exciting environment crafted by California %26ldquo;Light and Space%26rdquo; man Doug Wheeler. Edmund Carpenter, a scholar of this remote region (and husband of Adelaide de Menil) organizes this intriguing exhibition (April 15 %26ndash; July 17).

Flower Power: Two masters of saying the max with the minimal arrive. Donald Sultan%26rsquo;s handsome economy empowers fruit and blossoms at Meredith Long %26amp; Company (through April), while Donald Baechler%26rsquo;s show at McClain Gallery presents towering images of flowers alongside heroic sculpture (through April 30).

Graphite King, Mister Mapplethorpe: %26ldquo;Blood Poisoning%26rdquo; at Moody Gallery spotlights Michael Bise%26rsquo;s obsessive epic graphites, which delve into third-grade memories (through April 23) ... At Texas Gallery, Robert Mapplethorpe%26rsquo;s incomparable photographs from the 1970s and %26rsquo;80s, curated by Klaus Kertess, range from nudes (Patti Smith makes a cameo) to blooms (through April 24). While you%26rsquo;re there, check out the book Freds and Ians, conceived by Nancy Douthey, in which costumed and wigged pals (from Lynn Wyatt to fellow gallerist Barbara Davis) pose as gallery owners Fredericka Hunter and/or Ian Glennie for lensmen Thomas DuBrock and Michael Brims. Brilliant!

Tripping the Light Fantastic: Regine Schumann, German mistress of Plexiglas and light, solos at Gallery Sonja Roesch. Her immersive black-light environment also involves a knitted floor piece (April 2 %26ndash; May 7) ... Charlotte Smith presents her latest hyper-surfaced canvases at Anya Tish Gallery (through April) ... Monochrome master painters Joseph Marioni and Peter Tollens share the limelight at Wade Wilson Art (April 1 %26ndash; May 28) ... Sculptress Tara Conley makes word play at Laura Rathe Fine Art (through April 23).%26nbsp;

Change Is in the Air: Blaffer Museum of Art gets a redux to go along with its new name. Excitement swirls around innovative NYC firm WORK Architecture Company, which will enhance the courtyard and design a new entrance and cafe space. Construction begins this summer, with the building to reopen in January 2012 ... Watch this column for the latest about a new gallery for Devin Borden (formerly of Hiram Borden Devin Borden Gallery). The biz partners have amicably dissolved their relationship, with Hiram Butler to remain in his West End Space; Borden promises to open his new endeavor by September 15. Also expect news of a project for Scott Peveto, most recently with McClain Gallery. And kudos to McClain%26rsquo;s Erin Siudzinski, who has just been promoted to assistant director. She and her beau, McClain artist Kent Dorn, are among our fave art couples%26nbsp; ... Artist and rising curator Jennifer Ash has left Anya Tish Gallery to head to Art League Houston, where she oversees exhibitions and directs press operations %26hellip; Watch on these pages for news from Sicardi Gallery.

Fair Thee Well: Calling all collectors: Dallas Art Fair year three unfurls April 8 through 10 in the Dallas Arts District, at the handsome modernist Fashion Industry Gallery. (We%26rsquo;ll meet you by the shimmering Robert Indiana Hope sculpture in the Colton %26amp; Farb booth.) Come fall, Houston gets not one but two art fairs. The Houston Fine Art Fair, presented by Rick Friedman%26rsquo;s Hamptons Expo Group, takes place September 16 through 18 at the George R. Brown Convention Center; opening night on September 15 will benefit the MFAH%26rsquo;s Glassell School of Art Core Program. Then in October, Forum Gallery scion Max Fishko arrives with another fair, again at the George R. Brown. Texas is hot on the fair circuit!%26nbsp;

Overseas: Glassell Junior School of Art instructor Heidi Celeghin exhibits her sailing-inspired drawings, bearing text and painting, in the Barcelona World Race Awards Ceremony Gallery (through April); she collaborated with skippers Ryan Breymaier and Boris Herrmann, who captain craft in the 90-day nonstop maritime race ...%26nbsp; Iconic Nestor Topchy%26rsquo;s (of Templo Zocolo fame), whose recent endeavors%26nbsp; tap his Ukrainian heritage via icon making and Easter egg painting, just soloed at the Ivan Honchar Museum in Kiev, which is dedicated to preserving Ukrainian culture.

Art Hearts Design: Esteemed lensman Greg Gorman is highlighted in an expansive exhibition at Decorative Center Houston. %26ldquo;A Distinct Vision%26rdquo; encompasses four decades of his considerable career. More than 200 images are presented, with focus on celebrity portraiture. (F-)stop by to see likeness from Johnny Depp to Keanu Reeves (April 27 %26ndash; June 3, with a book signing of Gorman%26rsquo;s latest, In Their Youth, on Thursday, April 28, 2 pm).

Public Art%26rsquo;s A-Poppin%26rsquo;: Our town now boasts a plentitude of Plensas %26mdash; works by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa (one of the main attractions at Chicago%26rsquo;s Millennium Park), to be precise. A suite of seven seated stainless-steel figures evoking Buddhas now serenely perches along the banks of Buffalo Bayou adjoining the new Harmony Walk bridge, which spans Memorial Drive east of Studemont towards Allen Parkway. Houston Arts Alliance and Greater Houston Community Foundation spearheaded the project, while private patrons led by His Highness the Aga Khan and benefactress Mica Mosbacher contributed key support. More public art is in the works %26mdash;%26nbsp;stay tuned for details about the soon-to-be-completed new permitting center for the City of Houston, decked out in important commissions. This HAA endeavor is overseen by collaborator and installation/performance artist Mary Margaret Hansen, who%26rsquo;s tapped an extraordinary multi-generational stable, including the late, larger-than-life Houston painter Dick Wray ... We%26rsquo;ll also bring you the latest on the extraordinary James Turrell Skyspace planned for Rice University. As you read this page, ground-breaking occurs on the Suzanne Deal Booth Pavilion, named in honor of the munificent alum funding the reportedly $6 million commission. Word%26rsquo;s out the skyspace possesses a musical component and will be used for Shepherd School performances.

Image above: Michael Bise%26rsquo;s Children (detail), 2011, at Moody Gallery. Photo courtesy of the artist and Moody Gallery.
Image below: Jaume Plensa%26rsquo;s Tolerance. Photo courtesy Houston Arts Alliance.

Art Notes

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 05:49:01 GMT

Before It Closes: We%26rsquo;re rushing to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth to catch the final days of %26ldquo;Ed Ruscha: Road Tested%26rdquo; (through April 17) ... For a dose of something intimate and exquisite, consider the Meadows Museum%26rsquo;s masterful showing of%26nbsp; illuminated treasures in %26ldquo;The Lost Manuscripts from the Sistine Chapel: An Epic Journey from Rome to Toledo,%26rdquo; headlining a splendid cache of rediscovered codices from the Vatican%26rsquo;s Sacristy of the Sistine Chapel, spanning the early Middle Ages to the 18th century (through April 23).

More Museum Must-Sees: Just opening is the Dallas Museum of Art%26rsquo;s exhibit for hot young talent NYC-based Matt Connors (who is also showcased at Canada%26rsquo;s booth at the Dallas Art Fair). At the DMA, Connors is paired with another promising emergent energy, Berlin-based Irish painter Fergus Feehily, making for a nuanced dialogue in %26ldquo;Concentrations,%26rdquo; inaugurating the 30th year of this series; the DMA%26rsquo;s Jeffrey Grove curates (April 3 %26ndash; August 14) ... The Nasher Sculpture Center%26rsquo;s solo for Turner Prize winner Martin Creed serves up a buoyant ode to joy via hundreds of gold balloons that fill the downstairs gallery (through June 19). The Nasher also presents %26ldquo;Statuesque,%26rdquo; the museum%26rsquo;s first-ever exhibition outside, starring a cast of internationals %26mdash; Pawel Althamer, Huma Bhabha, Aaron Curry, Thomas Houseago, Matthew Monahan and Rebecca Warren %26mdash;%26nbsp;and 10 dramatic large-scale works. The exhibition travels here from Manhattan, where it was presented and organized by the Public Art Fund%26rsquo;s Nicholas Baume (April 9 %26ndash; August 21).

Lights Bright: Two of the most exciting gallery showings invoke light and shadow. At Marty Walker Gallery, catch Jay Shinn, fresh from his Berlin residency. His %26ldquo;Centerfolds%26rdquo; unfurls a new series that begins with paintings created from wall projections, then moves optimistically into the future (April 2 %26ndash; May 7). We%26rsquo;re also mad for the capricious light sculptures of rising Texan/UNT MFA candidate Adela Andea at Cris Worley Fine Arts (April 2 %26ndash; May 14).

Arrivals: Gallerist Cynthia Mulcahy emphatically returns to the scene, stepping forth to co-curate %26ldquo;XXI: Conflicts in a New Century%26rdquo; with art-smart scribe Charles Dee Mitchell at a promising new space, Oak Cliff Cultural Center (OC3). Nearly 20 photographers and documentary photojournalists are showcased on the front lines, from the Congo to Afghanistan, including Oak Cliff freelancers Kael Alford and Thorne Anderson (April 15 %26ndash; June 3) ... Houston%26rsquo;s Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery has a new Dallas associate director: Ellie Lemak, a St. Edward%26rsquo;s University graduate and emerging photographer, is the daughter of stylish art patrons Muffin and John Lemak. Greet her at the gallery%26rsquo;s booth at the Dallas Art Fair, where we%26rsquo;re also visiting Kristy Stubbs Gallery in a quest for a work by Damien Hirst, Collage 20th Century Classics for mid-century offerings and Galleri Urbane for some Texas talent.

Image above: Lisa Barnard%26rsquo;s%26nbsp;Head Gear. Used by a soldier receiving treatment for PTSD, 2008, at Oak Cliff Cultural Center (OC3). Photo %26copy; Lisa Barnard.
Image below: Ed Ruscha%26rsquo;s Travel Agency, 1983, at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Art Notes

Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:53:33 GMT

For the Road: Fans of the classic American road trip and/or the inimitable West Coast painter Ed Ruscha convene this month at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth for the %26ldquo;Road Tested%26rdquo; retrospective, which can only described as sublime. Organized by The Modern%26rsquo;s astute Michael Auping, surprisingly it%26rsquo;s the first time ever that the highway as a theme has been explored in the Oklahoma-raised Ruscha%26rsquo;s output. Highlights are grand classics %26mdash;%26nbsp;Standard Stations and the looming Hollywood sign %26mdash; as well as obsessive photo books that delight in quantifying the vernacular and banally beautiful: Twenty-Six Gasoline Stations, Real Estate Opportunities, Some Los Angeles Apartments, Thirty-Four Parking Lots and the panoramic Every Building on the Sunset Strip (through April 17). Collectors, take note: Acquire a limited-edition pair of prints displaying the gear shots of a Chevy and a Ford through The Modern Shop ($3,500 for the set; $3,000 for members).

Not Sour Grapes: Our favorite show outside of a museum has to be Dallas Contemporary%26rsquo;s graffiti fest starring the collective Sour Grapes, which pumps up the aerosol action in this town with two epic murals that honor fallen graffiti artists and Dallas ice cream vendors slain during a series of 2005 robberies and memorialized in four giant paletas (Mexican popsicles) painted on the side of the DC (through August) ... There%26rsquo;s more important nonprofit action at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary with the group show %26ldquo;Nobody Knows My Name: The African American Experience in American Culture,%26rdquo; organized by Phillip E. Collins, retired chief curator of the African American Museum in Dallas. The three artists all have Texas ties and an ardent collector base: Angelbert Metoyer, Whitney Biennial%26ndash;exhibited Robert Pruitt and Laura Jean Lacy (through April 9).

Gallery-Rama: We love Austin-ite Virginia Fleck%26rsquo;s popish mandelas formed from recycled plastic bags at Holly Johnson Gallery (through March 26) ... Just in: Houston%26rsquo;s Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery gets a Dallas associate director: Ellie Lemak, a St. Edward%26rsquo;s graduate and emerging photographer, is the daughter of stylish art patrons Muffin and John Lemak ... Gallop over to Hotel ZaZa%26rsquo;s handsome new Art House %26amp; Social Gallery for Ashley Collins%26rsquo; latest, insightful take on horse and rider, curated by notable Santa Fe dealer Turner Carroll Gallery (through March). Collins%26rsquo; collector base includes Hollywood types Robert Redford, Kate Capshaw, Holly Hunter and Blythe Danner. The artist is donating a percentage of proceeds towards Dallas after-school soccer and poetry programs for elementary kids.

Top Ten: Congrats to Dallas Art Fair co-founder Chris Byrne, whose curatorial tour de force/tightly focused retrospective of painter Peter Saul at Haunch of Venison last November was anointed by the Village Voice as one of the top ten NYC exhibitions for 2010. After April%26rsquo;s Dallas Art Fair takes place, Byrne will be on to his next initiative, a graphic novel he%26rsquo;s writing and drawing that will be published by Marquand Books. Stay tuned.

Image above: Virginia Fleck%26rsquo;s Pink Paris Mandala, 2010-2011, at Holly Johnson Gallery.

Happy Birthday, Amon Carter

The Museum of American Art celebrates a half century while adding %26ldquo;American%26rdquo; to its moniker. And what grander way to commemorate 50 years than by mounting a show for the movement that represents one of the most glorious chapters in American art:%26nbsp;the 19th-century landscape. See canvases by Thomas Cole (1801 %26ndash; 1848) and other members of the Hudson River School, including Cole%26rsquo;s extraordinary five-canvas cycle The Course of Empire, which joins 40 other offerings by towering figures Frederic Edwin Church, Asher B. Durand, John Frederick Kensett, Jasper Francis Cropsey and George Inness, all traveling to Fort Worth from the rich holdings of the New-York Historical Society (through June 19).

Image below: Thomas Cole%26rsquo;s The Course of Empire: The Consummation of Empire, 1836, at Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Courtesy New-York Historical Society.

Art Notes

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:43:03 GMT

Not Lascivious: The talk of the town swirls around Austin artist Heyd Fontenot%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;It%26rsquo;s a Nude, Nude, Nude, Nude, Nude, Nude World%26rdquo; at Inman Gallery. Heyd%26rsquo;s delicate, compelling portrait drawings are rendered in his own inimitable style, with oversized heads that dwarf delicate, smaller bodies and make you forget the subject is sans clothes. Known for painting his pals, this time around he takes on the Houston art world, capturing likenesses from artist Katrina Moorhead to his dealers Kerry Inman and Patrick Reynolds. You%26rsquo;ve got to see this show (through April 2).

Texas Time: The hotly collected Angelbert Metoyer solos at Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery, fresh from a well-received exhibition during Art Basel Miami Beach fair week in an independent project space adjoining the Margulies Collection. Word%26rsquo;s out Metoyer may reprise some of his recent work from this %26ldquo;Positivism Project%26rdquo; (March 12 %26ndash; April 30) ... Koelsch Gallery curates a delightful convergence of Texas talents celebrating 175 years since the battle of San Jacinto. The show packs surprises, as gallerist Franny Koelsch rounds up artists from Marfa, Houston, Dallas and points in between, including Camp Bosworth%26rsquo;s memorable gun as mini bar, Ellen Frances Tuchman%26rsquo;s over-the-top collages and nuanced pencil drawings by Claire Cusack (March 3 %26ndash; April 23).

A Future Top Collector: The eagle-eyed art prince, aka Lester Marks, and his physician wife Penelope welcomed new arrival Alana Valentina in early February. Marks is already jump-starting his daughter%26rsquo;s collection, which includes a Marlene Dumas watercolor ode to Andy Warhol and a romantic Joseph Cornell sand-tray sculpture.

The 411 on 4411: Just in. One of Houston%26rsquo;s signature gallery destinations, 4411 Montrose, is being saved. Patron and collector Bruce Eames just acquired the Peter Zweig%26ndash;designed building and plans to preserve it as an art nexus. Eames, whose day job is as a trading tycoon, told us he purchased 4411 not as a real estate deal, but because of a personal passion for the art community. He plans to keep it as a showcase for galleries, artists%26rsquo; collaborations and innovative visual projects, and is already at work tweaking the contemporary structure, including enhancing landscaping and parking. Eames has tapped Fresh Arts board member Samira Salman as consultant, and the pair recently brought in rising designer David Peck for a fashion project at 4411. Galleries Barbara Davis, Anya Tish, Wade Wilson and Peel stay on.

Art Cars and Canvases, Anniversary-Rama: Kudos to the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art for its approaching 30th anniversary. Sign up now for your VIPit tickets to spring%26rsquo;s rollicking 24th anniversary Art Car Parade, with the festive parade-side viewing party co-chaired by stalwart OS supporter Don Mafrige Jr. and yours truly. This year, the date deviates from tradition, moving to Sunday, May 22, to welcome thousands of internationals here for the American Association of Museums (AAM) annual meeting. And devise your costume now for the raucous Art Car Ball on Friday, May 20, at the folk art monument itself. An %26rsquo;80s theme is in the works (713.926.6368; orangeshow.org) ... The Rothko Chapel rings in four decades with a galactic anniversary gala chaired by the inimitable Lynn Wyatt, which honors humanitarian Bianca Jagger on Wednesday, May 18, at the Houston Country Club (tickets, sean@rothkochapel.org).

More Save The Dates: The Third Biennial Rice/Menil Lecture Series stars Kara Walker of the striking silhouettes. This important international discourses about her art on Monday, March 14, at The Menil Collection Foyer (1515 Sul Ross, free; menil.org) ... Way out West, Marfa Ballroom%26rsquo;s innovative new program, %26ldquo;The Reading,%26rdquo; features free readings by important rising screenwriters on Saturday, March 26 %26mdash; this spring honoring Maine native, currently Austin-based Andrew Lanham (ballroommarfa.org).

Public Art%26rsquo;s a-Popping: Our town now boasts a plenitude of Plensas %26mdash; works by Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa, to be precise, one of the main attractions at Chicago%26rsquo;s Millennium Park. A suite of seven seated steel figures evoking Buddhas now serenely perch along the banks of Buffalo Bayou adjoining the new Harmony Bridge, which spans Memorial Drive east of Studemont towards Allen Parkway. Benefactress Mica Mosbacher and His Highness the Aga Khan were key supporters, working in conjunction with the Houston Arts Alliance. More public art is in the works %26mdash;%26nbsp;stay tuned for details about the soon-to-complete new permitting center for the City of Houston, decked out in important commissions %26mdash; another HAA endeavor, this one overseen by the supreme collaborator and installation/performance artist Mary Margaret Hansen, who%26rsquo;s tapped an extraordinary multi-generational stable, including the late, larger-than-life Houston painter Dick Wray (houstonartsalliance.com; rockbridgetimes.blogspot.com/).

Remembrances: Mr. Houston Painting, Dick Wray, passed away in the early days of the year. Dick, perhaps more than any the artist, characterized the bravura that began our contemporary art scene. Long before Glasstire, ArtLies, the Core Program or even the internet, Houston artists really worked on a frontier. (%26ldquo;Fresh Paint: The Houston School%26rdquo; changed that a bit.) Throughout the decades, the mythic Mr. Wray was front and center, holding court at Chaucer%26rsquo;s and living a life passionately devoted to art making, pure and sans pretense. There was no contradiction between this man%26rsquo;s painting and his swaggering persona. For nearly 50 years, his graceful abstractions, fearless (and occasionally R-rated) figuration and remarkable palette, seething with energy, made him the patriarch of Houston art ... Bright light, collector and a high-energy member of our art community Charlotte Fischer Ewart will also be greatly missed. In her honor, a memorial fund has been established by her friends at Wade Wilson Art for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (contributions to MFAH, mailed to Barry Walker, Curator of Prints and Drawings, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, P.O. Box 6826, Houston, TX 77265-6826).

Image: Heyd Fontenot%26rsquo;s La Pieta (Darren and Beatrice), 2010, at Inman Gallery

Art Notes

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:24:55 GMT

Let There Be Light: This month%26rsquo;s leitmotifs are light, space and color, beginning with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston%26rsquo;s dazzling exhibition for Carlos Cruz-Diez, the pioneering Franco-Venezualan (born 1923) whose chromatic investigations and immersive environments are the most futuristic art we%26rsquo;ve ever seen (presented in conjunction with the artist%26rsquo;s foundation, February 6 %26ndash; July 4) ... Texans working in this direction include painter Sydney Philen Yeager at McMurtrey Gallery (hurry, closes February 12) and sculptor Christian Eckart of the gleaming metal abstractions and mighty, well-deserved international reputation at McClain Gallery (through March 5). Also in this vein, check out senior grand master painter/second generation ab-exer Tony Magar at Laura Rathe Gallery; Magar%26rsquo;s roots in Texas run deep (the artist now lives in Corpus Christi). See his nature-inflected canvases, which are illuminated by a sense of the land, sea and sky (February 19 %26ndash; March 19) with a brunch/panel discussion starring the artist, including insider tales of SoHo and Taos back in the day (February 20, noon to 2 pm; gratis, RSVP 713.527.7700).

More Power Players: Highly recommended %26mdash; the engaging Dump Truck duo Cory Wagner and Mat Wolff at Rudolph Blume Fine Art/ArtScan Gallery featuring an odd intervention into a living room (through February 26) in %26ldquo;Secret Message and Pillow Talk,%26rdquo; as well as Aussie-born painter Janaki Lennie%26rsquo;s homecoming at Booker-Lowe Gallery, an adroitly edited retrospective of the current Canadian%26rsquo;s time in Houston (through March 5) ... Candice and Lonnie Schiller%26rsquo;s daughter, Caroline Schiller, solos at Salon Ceron alongside rising-talent photog Carmen Reed. Opening night is Saturday, February 12 (through February), benefitting the worthy nonprofit ArtBridge, which provides art lessons for homeless kids ...

Posh paddles: Morton Kuehnert%26rsquo;s auction Sunday, February 27 captivates with a luminous monoprint by colorfielder Friedel Dzubas, alongside other choice art and European and American furnishings and decorative objects (bidding, mortonkuehnert.com).

Images:

Sydney Philen Yeager%26rsquo;s Inversion, 2010, at McMurtrey Gallery.

Christian Eckart%26rsquo;s Hexagonal Perturbation, 2010, at McClain Gallery.%26nbsp; Private collection, Houston; image courtesy McClain Gallery.

Art Notes

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:05:04 GMT

Two to Love: A pair of museum offerings headline this month%26rsquo;s must-sees. The Meadows Museum mounts %26ldquo;The Lost Manuscripts from the Sistine Chapel: An Epic Journey from Rome to Toledo,%26rdquo; a jewel-box exhibition that traces the fascinating tale of 40 exquisite illuminations (11th to 18th century) that were looted by Napoleon%26rsquo;s army from the Vatican, rescued by the Archbishop of Toledo, then rediscovered in the Toledo Cathedral by an Italian scholar during the late 1990s. The Meadows%26rsquo; presentation marks the American debut of these pristine, intimate works of art (through April 23) ... The Dallas Museum of Art%26nbsp; rolls out an in-depth reappraisal of American furniture master Gustav Stickley, curated by the DMA%26rsquo;s Kevin W. Tucker. The show arrives in Texas after a triumphant Newark Museum of Art run, and before it travels to the San Diego Museum of Art this summer. Revel in 100 works, as well as the re-creation of the 1903 dining room that defined the Arts and Crafts movement (February 13 %26ndash; May 8).

Ticket Time: Dallas Art Fair Patron tickets are going fast. Secure your access to perks such as the Preview Gala and the Neiman Marcus kickoff party, exclusive openings at the Dallas Contemporary and Nasher Sculpture Center, plus panels, a three-day Fair pass and more ($300 per person, call Tracy Moberley at 214.220.1278 or visit dallasartfair.com; Dallas Art Fair, April 8 %26ndash;%26nbsp;10, Preview Gala Thursday, April 7).

Images:
Above: Frieze with Cardinalitial Coat of Arms of Cardinal Antoniotto Pallavicini and Initial T (Te igitur) with the Piet%26aacute;, 1503-1507, at the Meadows Museum. Photo courtesy of Biblioteca Nacional de Espa%26ntilde;a, Madrid, MS Vitr. 22-7

Below: Gustav Stickley%26rsquo;s Electric lamp No. 625, designed c. 1909, at the Dallas Museum of Art. Collection Crab Tree Farm

Art Notes

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:00:23 GMT

A Coffeepot to an Old Master: At the Dallas Museum of Art, investigate a gem-like survey culled from the DMA%26rsquo;s half-century of holdings, from furniture to memorable objects by game changers Vernon Panton, Ettore Sottsass, Zaha Hadid and more, curated by the museum%26rsquo;s Kevin Tucker. %26ldquo;Form/Unformed%26rdquo; marks the DMA%26rsquo;s first comprehensive peek at its modern and contemporary design treasures (on extended view, through January 29, 2012) ... Another must-see is the Kimbell Art Museum%26rsquo;s presentation for dramatic, sensuous 17th-century Italian old master Salvator Rosa, co-organized by the Kimbell and the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, where it began its tour last September. Peruse 36 of Rosa%26rsquo;s best canvases, loaned from top collections in the U.S. and Europe, which traverse portraiture, allegory, history, landscape, witches, magic and philosophy (through March 27).

Animal Kingdom, Metro Stations: Meet the man behind Plush Gallery%26rsquo;s %26ldquo;Slow Cheetah%26rdquo; show (January 22 %26ndash; February 19) by checking out our New Door, elsewhere on this site. Welcome back, Randall Garrett ... Hop to Holly Johnson Gallery for Austin-based photog Mike Osborne, who%26rsquo;s attracting attention for his thoughtful, incisive series that traverse the globe, from the subterranean chambers of German metros to printing plants in Taiwan, the U.S. and Europe, simultaneously presented in %26ldquo;Papers and Trains%26rdquo; (January 8 %26ndash; February 12) ... Wrap up your viewing at The MAC with a fierce foursome of Texas femmes %26mdash; Helen Altman, Frances Bagley, Celia Eberle and Margaret Meehan (all Texas Artists Today inclusions) %26mdash; who take on the animal kingdom in %26ldquo;Beasts and Bunnies,%26rdquo; concurrently shown with Isabelle Scurry Chapman%26rsquo;s droll %26ldquo;Birds of Lint%26rdquo; (both shows, January 8 %26mdash;%26nbsp;February 12) ...

Finally, resolve in 2011 to collect Texas art!

Image: Celia Eberle%26rsquo;s Hungry, 2010, at The MAC

Art Notes

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 12:58:51 GMT

Let There Be Light, Send in the Clowns: The year begins with an emphasis on light, brought forth literally and figuratively by four Texas artists. First up, at Anya Tish Gallery, Adela Andea dazzles with light displays that take the legacy of Flavin%26rsquo;s eloquent minimalism and propel it into today. Andea%26rsquo;s free-form, exuberant sculptures with jutting bolts of lights and organic explosion of electrical parts and whirring fans make you want to celebrate. Her exhibition %26ldquo;Bioluminescence%26rdquo; also concocts a wild installation that recalls a cyber, underwater fairy tale (January 7 %26ndash; February 5) %26hellip; At DiverseWorks, Houston-based Patricia Hernandez, one of our most eagerly watched painters during the late 1990s, makes a comeback. Her new solo, %26ldquo;Parody of Light,%26rdquo; is a send-off of mall artist Thomas Kinkade that includes some pretty strange paintings embedded with clown imagery, alongside an installation that mimics a domestic interior and a shopping mall. Attend the final day of the exhibition, and for a minimal donation %26mdash; which goes to fund the artist%26rsquo;s nonprofit Studio One Archive Resource that preserves and promotes the histories of Houston%26rsquo;s alternative spaces %26mdash; you can acquire a nifty collectible (January 14 %26ndash; February 26) ... At Wade Wilson Art, Lucinda Cobley and Joan Winters continue their investigations in light, space and translucency in their respective painting and sculpture (January 7 %26mdash;%26nbsp;February 12).

The Impressionists Are Coming: Secure your tickets now for the stampede of treasures when the National Gallery of Art%26rsquo;s formidable masterpieces arrive next month at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Fifty canvases by Impressionist and Post-Impressionism%26rsquo;s greatest are showcased %26mdash; C%26eacute;zanne, van Gogh, Monet, Manet and more %26mdash; while the National Gallery%26rsquo;s 19th-century French galleries are shuttered for a redux. MFAH audiences reap the visual rewards, rather than their being put in storage (February 20 %26ndash; May 23; its final days coincide with the annual American Association of Museums%26rsquo; conference traveling to town May 22 %26ndash; 26; tickets mfah.org).

Auction-Rama: Get your collecting on at AIDS Foundation Houston%26rsquo;s ART4Life, Saturday, January 22, at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art. Among the silent auction goodies curated by co-chairman Barbara Davis are stellar works by Robert Longo, Joe Havel, Donald Lipski, James Drake and Mie Olise; PaperCity is media sponsor (afhouston.org).

Let%26rsquo;s Look at Art: Resolve to enroll in Looking at Art for enthralling tours and insider visits with artists, gallerists and collectors led by Victoria and Marshal Lightman (lookingatart.com) ... If you%26rsquo;re a 20-something, check out Canvases and Cocktails, a series of lively mixers that amp up the art dialogue, led by PaperCity%26rsquo;s Lauren Fred and gallerina Eloise Frischkorn (canvasesandcocktails@gmail.com) ... The new Tootsies at West Ave has tapped the great Mondini, aka Whitney Biennial-Rome Prize Texas talent Franco Mondini-Ruiz (represented in Houston by Colton %26amp; Farb), to create fashion-suffused paintings that are being super-sized for the new store windows. Tootsies%26rsquo; main man Mickey Rosmarin is a big Franco fan.

Cornell-copia, Cheers to the RDA: News of another Joseph Cornell creation headed to The Marks Collection: Lester Marks, enamored of this American surrealist, has just scored a sand tray from 1946, originally shown in one of the first exhibitions Cornell ever had ... Finally, we love what the Rice Design Alliance is doing. Check out their blog, offcite.org, for submissions about readers%26rsquo; favorite places that epitomize Houston as the Unexpected City. RDA%26rsquo;s Katie Plocheck hopes to translate this concept into an exhibition and publication.

Images:

Adela Andea%26rsquo;s Light Curve, 2010, at Anya Tish Gallery.

Patricia Hernandez%26rsquo;s Tenacious Clown, 2010, at DiverseWorks.

Art Notes

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:50:20 GMT

Into the Future: It%26rsquo;s the final column of 2010, and our mantra is %26ldquo;Collect, collect, collect.%26rdquo; Turn to this issue%26rsquo;s Gift Guide for some suggestions of the visual persuasion. Meanwhile, we%26rsquo;re departing from tradition here, reflecting back and gazing forward on some exciting trends %26mdash;%26nbsp;and those who make them happen %26mdash; in our 21st-century art nexus. These past 12 months were a banner year, and often a thrilling one, especially with The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Arts of China Gallery opening at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, with a bold gunpowder explosion choreographed by international superstar Cai Guo-Qiang, whose legacy is the remarkable Odyssey now installed for perpetuity in the MFAH%26rsquo;s new exhibition space, thanks to the vision of curator Christine Starkman and the faith of director Peter Marzio ... Speaking of the East, Asia Society Texas Center is readying its extraordinary new building, designed by MoMA expansion architect Yoshio Taniguchi for a Fall 2011 reveal, with a grand opening planned Spring 2011 ... At The Menil Collection, we were given both the amazing Kurt Schwitters (through January 30; go immerse yourself in the recreated Merzbau environment)%26nbsp;and the new de Menil volume profiled on page 44 ... The MFAH also opened its futuristic, green, gleaming Kilroy Visitor and Education Center at Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, designed by hometown architect Leslie Elkins, creating a gracious portal to the past ... An addition, too, is planned for the Blaffer, which now adds %26ldquo;Museum%26rdquo; to its moniker; we%26rsquo;ll be reporting the architect in the months to come ... And we can%26rsquo;t wait for the Galveston Arts Center to be restored this coming year post-Ike, so Clint Willour can return to the original GAC instead of curating his brilliant views in exile.

We Heart Iconoclasts: We love that Houston has three important alternative spaces: Lawndale Art Center, where the strange Boozefox Collective was utterly captivating this fall; Art League Houston, which I resolve to visit more in the coming year; and DiverseWorks, where the Yes Men exhibition this spring was simultaneously chilling, humorous and prophetic ... Kim Davenport%26rsquo;s Rice Gallery amps up the energy with installations that vary from the bold and strange Wayne White to the hypnotic Andrea Dezs%26ouml; ... Let%26rsquo;s also celebrate that our galleries are not all in one place. It%26rsquo;s an easy 10-minute zing from Colquitt down the Richmond corridor to 2500 Summer Street, the Isabella Courts on Main, across to 4411 Montrose, then back to West Gray, where this wonderful Wegman is on view at Texas Gallery (through December 31), and the West End and the 11th Street spaces (which G Gallery%26rsquo;s Wayne Gilbert reminds me we need to cover more. Go see the fire drawings of San Antonio%26rsquo;s Bill FitzGibbons, whose day job is director of Blue Star Artspace, December 4 %26ndash;26) ... Let%26rsquo;s celebrate the innovative incubator spirit realized in Jim Harithas%26rsquo; dual art spaces %26mdash; the riotous Art Car Museum and the international Station Museum of Contemporary Art. The former showcases iconoclastic voices decrying the Gulf spill including Alicia Duplan, John Linden and my pal, assemblage sculptor Jonathan Rosenstein, through January 14. The Station%26rsquo;s survey for Venice Biennale Texan James Drake is simply as good as it gets (through January 9) ... Finally, my three favorite discoveries of the year are Box 13 in the happening East End, with kudos to Kathy Kelley and JoAnn Park; Sketchy Neighbors, a collective all about the art of drawing, co-directed by Devon Moore from his studio on Arlington (check out our blog for details of their December extravaganza); and Montrose Art Society, a group of talents nonchalantly popping up exhibitions around town, including at War%26rsquo;Haus Gallery, hidden in plain site next to a boxing studio on 4715 Main Street in the Museum District.

Images:

William Wegman%26rsquo;s On Edge, 2010, at Texas Gallery

Jonathan Rosenstein%26rsquo;s Don%26rsquo;t Tread on Me, 2010, at Art Car Museum

Art Notes

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:56:24 GMT

Museum Merrymaking: It%26rsquo;s the final column of 2010, and our mantra is %26ldquo;Collect, collect, collect.%26rdquo; Turn to this issue%26rsquo;s Gift Guide for some suggestions of the visual persuasion. Also, wrap your year with a visit to these museums. In Fort Worth, make treks to The Modern for Texas%26rsquo; own Vernon Fisher, presented in a masterful survey that pulls back the curtain on the brilliant, innovative painting/sculpture/installation practice of Mr. Pop Vernacular in %26ldquo;K-Mart Conceptualism%26rdquo; (through January 2). While you%26rsquo;re there, investigate red-hot former Texan/now New Yorker (and UT Austin BFA grad) Erik Parker %26mdash; his mad, mad canvases ooze with psychedelic figuration and word fragments. The museum%26rsquo;s Andrea Karnes curates this Focus exhibition (December 5 %26ndash; February 6) ... Amble next to the Kimbell Art Museum, where the dramatic, hermetic %26ldquo;Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea%26rdquo; posits a new view about the ocean%26rsquo;s role in this civilization%26rsquo;s powerful world cosmology (through January 2). Back in Dallas, the Nasher Sculpture Center rolls out an uplifting (literally) exhibition showcasing mobile meister Alexander Calder, while tracing his influences on subsequent generations of sculptors in %26ldquo;Alexander Calder and Contemporary Art: Form, Balance, Joy%26rdquo; (December 11 %26ndash; March 6) ... At the Dallas Museum of Art, a peek into the mindset of the Middle Ages reminds us to seek pleasure in the spiritual nature of things. This quiet little gem, %26ldquo;The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy,%26rdquo; also celebrates the humanistic impulse (through January 2).

Arrivals: Two new spaces are unveiling. First, New Gallery at 5600 W. Lovers Lane (Suite 210) is a showplace for the important field of contemporary realism, which reflects a national trend to return to classical painting. Artists Donna Schneider and Emily Corrigan co-own and curate. Thursdays during December, an open house from 4 to 6 pm highlights New%26rsquo;s stable ... Then it%26rsquo;s welcome back, Randall Garrett (thank goodness!), who reprises Plush, one of our favorite underground, avant-garde Texas art nexuses. The surprising location: 918 Dragon Street, infiltrating the studio of Cunningham Architects. Catch a fierce foursome now through December 18: Brandon Behning, Nancy Brown, Celia Eberle and Floyd McLeod.

Simply Sublime: In the galleries, it doesn%26rsquo;t get any better than Dunn and Brown Contemporary%26rsquo;s dual solo for two Texans of epic, original talent: Susie Rosmarin of the exquisite, radiant geometric-grid canvases and Liz Ward%26rsquo;s contemplative, nuanced, nature-suffused watercolors (both through December 18).

Images:

Erik Parker%26rsquo;s Space Chase, 2006. Photo Courtesy of Honor Fraser Gallery.

Nathan Carter%26rsquo;s Radar Reflector Origin Petit Calivigny Grenada, 2009, at Nasher Sculpture Center. Photo Courtesy of the artist and Casey Kaplan, New York.

Art Notes

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:10:26 GMT

Extraordinary: Rice University%26#8217;s new light show, Radiant Pathway, futuristically bridges art and science. El Paso%26#8211;raised Leo Villareal completed the commission for the BRC (BioScience Research Collaborative) building a few weeks ago %26#8212; an ode to light as performance that builds upon the creations of Cruz-Diez, Turrell and Flavin through a sculpture that mimics nature in its endless perambulations of light. Rice public art program director Molly Hipp Hubbard gave us a tour ... Overheard at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: %26#8220;It%26#8217;s the first time I%26#8217;ve ever entered a work of art.%26#8221; That%26#8217;s what one gallery-goer said about the lyrical, 162-foot-long wall drawing permanently residing in the museum%26#8217;s Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Arts of China Gallery. Chinese contemporary master Cai Guo-Qiang produced the massive work%26nbsp;from gunpowder, smoke and fire.

Fluxus Fascination: A years-in-the-making retrospective for Fluxus pioneer Benjamin Patterson opens at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, organized by senior curator Valerie Cassel Oliver (November 5 %26#8211; January 30), marking the septuagenarian%26#8217;s first-ever major museum exhibition.

Mighty and Mythic: New Mexico-based James Drake represented America in the 2007 Venice Biennale. Now the former Texas talent takes over the Station Museum of Contemporary Art in %26#8220;A Thousand Tongues Burn and Sing,%26#8221; with charcoal drawings and a Trophy Room commenting on humanity and animality (through January 9).

Cock-a-Doodle-Do: Houston conceptual artist Anthony Thompson Shumate pulls another rabbit out of his art hat %26#8212; only this time, it%26#8217;s a rooster. See what we mean in %26#8220;Cocky%26#8221; at Barbara Davis Gallery (November 19 through December).

Country Houses, Design Hearts Art: At Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers, catch Rebecca Campbell%26#8217;s oil-on-linen vignettes of British country houses November 11 and 12 (artist reception Thursday, November 11, 6 to 9 pm) ... Head to Decorative Center Houston for San Francisco%26#8211;based Alexis Laurent%26#8217;s installation of paintings, sculpture and elements of nature in %26#8220;Be a Flaneur%26#8221; (November 17 %26#8211;%26nbsp;December 17); its opening coincides with DCH%26#8217;s Fall Market and Design Excellence Awards presented by PaperCity.

Why Not Wyeth: The sensitive realist works of American painter Jamie Wyeth haven%26#8217;t been exhibited in Houston since 1983. Now they%26#8217;re showcased at Meredith Long %26amp; Company, with subjects ranging from flora and fauna to an Apollo spacecraft launch (through November 30). Wyeth%26#8217;s lineage %26#8212; his father was the incomparable Andrew Wyeth and his grandfather, the illustrator N.C. Wyeth %26#8212; places him firmly in the pantheon of a American artistic greats.

Astroworld/The Great Mondini/Gone Goth: Leave it to Bill Davenport%26#8217;s Optical Project to reassemble the original 1967 model for Astroworld %26#8212; a project devised by Houston%26#8217;s Ed Henderson (on display through December 11). Contact Davenport at borabora@wt.net to acquire this relic of our history ... Whitney Biennial showman Franco Mondini-Ruiz arrives for a one-night extravaganza at Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery Friday, November 12, purveying little canvases plus some signature Popish ceramics %26#8230; At Hooks-Epstein Galleries, Mark Greenwalt%26#8217;s drawings and paintings feature Hieronymus Bosch%26#8211;like beings (through November 27).

Bookin%26#8217; It: Line up at The Menil Collection Wednesday, November 3, 7 to 8 pm, for a book signing/program to celebrate Art and Activism, the volume edited by director Josef Helfenstein and publisher Laureen Schipsi that examines founders Dominique and John de Menil%26#8217;s commitment to art and architecture, community and human rights ($65, Yale University Press for The Menil Collection) ... Be there for the first public launch of Texas Artists Today ($95, Marquand Books) at Brazos Bookstore Sunday, November 7, 4 to 6 pm, with an artist reception/book signing (reserve your signed copy, 713.523.0701; for complete signing schedule, contact Margaret Bott, mdbtoday@gmail.com).%26nbsp;

Image above: Cai Guo-Qiang%26#8217;s Odyssey, 2010, at MFAH. Collection MFAH, photo %26#169; Will Michels.

Images below: Jamie Wyeth%26#8217;s Apollo XI %26#8212; T Minus 4 Hours 10 Minutes and Counting, 1969 %26#8211;%26nbsp;2009, at Meredith Long %26amp; Company.%26nbsp;

Art Notes

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:32:33 GMT

Girl Power Plus a Giant Inflatable: A ground-breaking exhibition at McKinney Avenue Contemporary pairs two generations of female artists with a decidedly feminist stance. Mary Ann Edelson, who burst onto the SoHo scene in the 1960s, brings works circa 1981 through%26nbsp;1997 %26#8212; mostly small-scale, mixed-media offerings, plus an installation materialized as a vast spider web. Concurrently, Houston and New York%26#8211;based Molly Gochman unfurls the series %26#8220;Lullabies,%26#8221; which interweaves photography, sculpture, video and audio into a hypnotic installation (November 7 %26#8211;%26nbsp;December 12) ... At Victory Park, Artopia on Saturday, November 13, includes headlining Dallas artist Billy Zinser. His work is hard to miss: It%26#8217;s a 20-foot-tall, forced-air inflated sculpture, series three of his ongoing Macrodon toys. Zinser%26#8217;s day job is as an art dealer at Marty Walker Gallery.

%26nbsp;

Museum Must-Sees: If you identify with the Middle Ages, the Dallas Museum of Art%26#8217;s contemplative exhibition %26#8220;The Mourners%26#8221; is required viewing (through January 2). The DMA is co-organizer of this gem-like show of tomb figures from the 14th- and 15th-century Court of the Burgundy, which once reigned over a territory encompassing France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. The DMA%26#8217;s Heather McDonald serves as co-curator for this seven-city national tour %26#8230; Make tracks to the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth for %26#8220;American Modern: Abbott, Evans, Bourke-White.%26#8221; The exhibition showcases Walker Evans alongside the lesser-known Berenice Abbott and Margaret Bourke-White, focusing on the trinity%26#8217;s classic documentary black-and-whites %26#224; la the 1930s (through January 2).

%26nbsp;

Where Would You Go?: Christopher Blay is an installationist whose time-machine vignette with the viewer as performer is creepy cool. Catch his final days at Conduit Gallery in the Project Room (through November 13).

%26nbsp;

Refrigerator Man: ARTnews recently anointed former Texan Peter Saul, the acknowledged genius of the darkly comic figured canvas, as one of the best underrated artists, so Dallas Art Fair co-founder Chris Byrne%26#8217;s curatorial turn at the New York branch of international gallery Haunch of Venison %26#8212; a survey of 50 years of Saul%26#8217;s prodigious output %26#8212; seems perfectly timed (November 5 %26#8211; January 8). On ice are Saul%26#8217;s famed paintings of refrigerators (an early precursor to Pop art, the %26#8220;Icebox%26#8221; series continues today).

%26nbsp;

Bookin%26#8217; It: Dallas Contemporary, one of the beneficiaries of the volume Texas Artists Today %26#8212; whose North Texas project leader is collector/patron Karla McKinley %26#8212; hosts the first Dallas book signing on Friday night, November 19, followed by another signing at the Nasher Sculpture Center on Saturday, November 20, 1 to 3 pm. See you there! %26nbsp;

%26nbsp;

Images:

Billy Zinser%26#8217;s Macrodon (Series 3), 2010, at Artopia, Victory Park.

Molly Gochman%26#8217;s Topography of a Town from the %26#8220;Lullabies%26#8221; series, 2008, at The MAC. Photo courtesy the artist and Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery, Houston.

Art Notes

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:43:34 GMT

A Fabled Kingdom, Those German Impressionists and True Fireworks: Look no further than the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, for a pair of exhibitions that are rewriting art history. First up, a jewel-like show for sculptures from the ancient African kingdom of Ife (9th to 15th centuries) showcasing %26#8220;Dynasty and Divinity%26#8221; via cast copper heads and figures that are regal, mysterious and imbued with an inscrutable presence. The MFAH%26#8217;s Frances Marzio organizes the presentation in Houston (through January 9) ... Also in the Beck Building, the American debut of German Impressionists, as the MFAH mounts a blockbuster-scale show highlighting landscapes by Max Liebermann, Lovis Corinth and Max Slevogt, co-curated by Helga Aurisch, alongside a focused exhibition of drawings, watercolors and prints by the esteemed trio, whose works have rarely been shown outside the continent. Dena Woodall organizes the works-on-paper exhibition (both through December 5) ... It%26#8217;s literally an explosive scene when international artist Cai Guo-Qiang comes to town to create a portal for the new Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Arts of China Gallery, unveiling at the MFAH%26#8217;s Law Building on October 17. The excitement swirls around Guo-Qiang%26#8217;s gunpowder drawings, blasted onto 42 panels, which will be created from live fireworks set off at a warehouse near Reliant Center in five sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 5 and 6. To attend (free), download a ticket from mfah.org.

%26nbsp;

Collage Kings: The Menil Collection is the place to be when director Josef Helfenstein co-curates a major survey of the under-known Kurt Schwitters (1887 %26#8211; 1948), an important talent who inspired generations of collage masters from Rauschenberg and Twombly to heavily collected Texan Lance Letscher, whose show at McMurtrey Gallery coincides with the Menil%26#8217;s for the German collage king (Schwitters, October 22 %26#8211; January 30; Letscher, October 23 %26#8211; November 27).

%26nbsp;

True Texans: Plan a Dallas road trip for the Nasher Sculpture Center%26#8217;s extraordinary retrospective for James Magee, an El Paso%26#8211;based artist (and poet) whose mythic Hill is one of the great works of land art on a scale with Smithson, Heizer and Turrell%26#8217;s creations. Utterly majestic and unflinching, it resides in a remote area outside Magee%26#8217;s hometown (through November 28) ... While you%26#8217;re there, head to Fort Worth for The Modern%26#8217;s 30-year survey of the emperor of Texas painters, Vernon Fisher, aka Mr. Pop Postmodern, whose canvases often need a Rosetta stone or storyboard to decipher their cinematic narrative (through January 2).

%26nbsp;

Get Crafty/Astro World Anyone?: Hurry to Houston Center for Contemporary Craft for the biggest show of the year, the hotly anticipated %26#8220;Craft Texas,%26#8221; which spans a gamut of media and methods as it showcases the best and brightest stars in today%26#8217;s craft firmament (through December 30) ... You won%26#8217;t want to miss this weird little show: Bill Davenport%26#8217;s Optical Project is restoring the original model of Astro World, crafted by Ed Henderson (call 713.863.7112 for dates). Wander next door to see some mystery bags culled by the artist%26#8217;s sons, Phineas and Oscar, and Davenport%26#8217;s ongoing project: a pristine, gargantuan ball of yarn.

%26nbsp;

Painter%26#8217;s Progress: Londoner Danny Rolph%26#8217;s high-voltage abstractions redefine 21st-century painting via inventive materials such as industrial plastic and collaged elements from his kids%26#8217; coloring books (Barbara Davis Gallery, October 15 %26#8211; November 6) ... Heights provocateur Wayne Gilbert is among the Texas talents selected for New American Paintings, an eagerly watched volume that prognosticates upon the most tantalizing contempo artists who tackle the medium of painting. Menil curator Toby Kamps juried this edition, which arrives this month (newamericanpaintings.com).

%26nbsp;

Alternative Action/Rock %26#8217;n%26#8217; Roll: Some of the freshest shows around are being curated at the east-of-downtown, artist-run alternative space Box 13. Recommended: a micro exhibition by JoAnn Park that deals with hoarding and history, Kia Niell%26#8217;s glittering manufactured boulders, a soundscape by Lina Dib, and Ariana Roesch and Christoph H%26#252;ppi's collaboration in an old Kenmore (all shows through October 21) ... At Bering Art Collective, Houston painter John Jenkins takes on rock %26#8217;n%26#8217; roll in a show that spills over to actual electric guitars (October 9 %26#8211;%26nbsp;30).

%26nbsp;

Bookin%26#8217; It at the Menil, Apama%26#8217;s New Museum: Have you been to the Menil Bookstore lately? The volume-centric destination gets a handsome redux as former Core Fellow Paul Forsythe takes the helm. Forsythe is well known to book-obsessed locals for running Brazos Bookstore from the %26#8217;90s till 2005 and for his own rare-book enterprise, Exquisite Corpse Booksellers. He now stocks the Menil Bookstore with out-of-print tomes, has added a children%26#8217;s section and has returned to the mission of its late founding manager, Sheila Rosenstein, who exhibited Houston artists. On the walls now, catch collagists Russell Prince and antiquarian David Lackey ... Respected Art Basel Miami Beach%26#8211;exhibited gallerist Apama Mackey shares news of her new nonprofit: A 501c3 is being formed for a Museum of Drawing [MOD], which takes drawing from pencil and paper to the video realm, and promises to be intriguing and innovative. Stay tuned %26#8230;

%26nbsp;

Just in: A book signing for droll painter Sally Chandler, whose latest volume is toasted at Ouisie%26#8217;s Table Sunday, October 17, 4 to 6 pm (RSVP 713.528.2264).

%26nbsp;

Images:

Seated figure, Tada, late 13th %26#8211; 14th century, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; %26#169; National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria, courtesy Museum for African Art/Fundaci%26#243;n Marcelino Bot%26#237;n. Photo Karin L. Willis.

%26nbsp;

JoAnn Park%26#8217;s %26#8220;Saving It for Later, Making It Better%26#8221; (detail), 2010, at Box 13

%26nbsp;

Art Notes

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:19:33 GMT

This month, we%26#8217;re diverging from tradition and devoting this column entirely to two museum surveys for a pair of Texans who can hold their own anywhere %26#8230;

%26nbsp;

The Mysterious Mr. Magee: International eyes will be on the Nasher Sculpture Center as it mounts %26#8220;Revelation: The Art of James Magee%26#8221; (through November 28), a rare peek into a mythic land, art and architectural convergence that has been under creation for the past 30 years outside El Paso. Simply titled The Hill and set for completion in 2025, this massive West Texas monument %26#8212; Magee%26#8217;s life work %26#8212; has to date only been experienced by a handful of followers, mostly board members and a coterie of guests of the nonprofit Cornudas Mountain Foundation, which raises funds toward the completion of this Herculean undertaking, the scale of which might be compared to a small pyramid. Your scribe visited The Hill and found it to be one of those obsessive, mystical endeavors that deserves a place alongside the ambitious interventions upon the Earth crafted by titans Heizer, Smithson and Turrell. While some may be tempted to make analogies to Judd%26#8217;s Chinati complex, the extreme seclusion of Magee%26#8217;s spot precludes the art tourism of Marfa. (When I was there, our group glimpsed a lone cow crossing the road; the nearest town is miles down a sun-baked road.) This is instead a site suitable for a pilgrimage, reserved for seekers like those who visit De Maria%26#8217;s The Lightning Field. In addition to studies and photographs of The Hill, the Nasher exhibition presents the intensely private El Paso master%26#8217;s sculptural reliefs, which have the gravitas of a modern Lorenzo Ghiberti %26#8212; one part the Gates in Florence, the other a post-apocalyptic-meets-medieval conjuring of grand ruins from some vanquished civilization. Magee%26#8217;s elaborate assemblages offer a paean to our faded, gilded age, constructed from fragments of once heroic materials including iron, glass, concrete, wax, enamel and lead, alongside prosaic linoleum, grease, brake fluid, car parts, salt, rust water, hibiscus, honey and paprika. The 200-page companion volume, James Magee: The Hill (penned by Nasher curator Jed Morse and the noted Richard Bretell; Prestel Books, $40 hardcover), is a required acquisition for acolytes of land art, architecture and the contemporary scene.

%26nbsp;

The Veritas of Vernon: It%26#8217;s the fall of Fisher %26#8212; Vernon Fisher, to be precise. This internationally celebrated, museum-collected, Whitney Biennial%26#8211;exhibited Texas artist could be the poster man for postmodernism. Small wonder he%26#8217;s the subject of both a blockbuster 30-year survey at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, curated by Michael Auping, and a definitive new volume from the University of Texas Press. And Fisher is one of our own: Living in Fort Worth since 1977, the now retired University of North Texas professor has influenced multiple generations of Texas artists. The Modern%26#8217;s exhibition, %26#8220;K-Mart Conceptualism%26#8221; (through January 2, 2011), alludes to Fisher%26#8217;s fascination with the working class and his embrace of the everyman. This month also sees the release of a lavishly illustrated, 256-page monographic book %26#8212; the first in more than two decades to explore Fisher%26#8217;s idiosyncratic vision: Vernon Fisher, penned by the artist himself (UT Press, $55 hardcover).

%26nbsp;

Images:%26nbsp;James Magee: The Hill (Prestel, 2010), accompanying the exhibition %26#8220;Revelation: The Art of James Magee%26#8221; at Nasher Sculpture Center.

Vernon Fisher%26#8217;s Boat, Island, Ape, 1991, at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; photo%26nbsp;courtesy the Modern.

Art Notes

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 05:12:46 GMT

Museum Mile: At the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, an intriguing pair of exhibitions rewrites the art historical canon. %26#8220;Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria%26#8221; brings ancient terra-cotta and copper portrait heads (circa 9th to 15th centuries AD) from the fabled kingdom of Ife in southwestern Nigeria, the forerunner of the later Benin masterworks in metal. The MFAH is the first American venue for this international traveling exhibition, which features many works that have never before left their native land, loaned by the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments. Frances Marzio organizes the presentation in Houston (September 19 %26#8211; January 9) ... Concurrently, the MFAH%26#8217;s Helga Aurisch co-curates %26#8220;German Impressionist Landscape Painting: Liebermann%26#8212;Corinth%26#8212;Slevogt%26#8221; in tandem with G%26#246;tz Czymmek of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum %26amp; Fondation Corboud, Cologne, in a dual presentation that examines the grand triumvirate of German Impressionism via 90 paintings that elucidate the movement%26#8217;s percolation and power outside of Paris (September 12 %26#8211;%26nbsp;December 5) ... At The Menil Collection, Kristina Van Dyke curates a spiritually inspired view of %26#8220;Objects of Devotion%26#8221; that includes such treasures as a 16th-century ciborium (through October 13). Also catch recent Menil acquisitions in %26#8220;Earth Paint Paper Wood,%26#8221; such as Claes Oldenburg%26#8217;s Study for Store Window, 1961, which launched the sculptor%26#8217;s pop-inflected career (through November 28). And get ready for next month%26#8217;s Kurt Schwitter%26#8217;s exhibition, which is destined to make the late collage master even more of a cult figure (details coming in October%26#8217;s art issue) ... The newly rebranded Blaffer Art Museum also rolls out a provocative duo: the 10-year survey of Mexico City sculptor-collagist Gabriel Kuri in honor of the Mexican Bicentennial, plus the avant-garde performance/theater art of Berlin-based, Texas-born Amy Patton. The Blaffer%26#8217;s Claudia Schmuckli and Rachel Hooper, respectively, do curatorial honors (both exhibits, through November 13).

Wondrous Walls: Rice Gallery%26#8217;s season opener, 2010%26#8211;2011 Rome Prize recipient Sarah Oppenheimer%26#8217;s idiosyncratic, radical spatial intervention, features wormholes and other architectural oddities (September 16 %26#8211; December 5) ... DiverseWorks launches fall with a searing photographic take probing the impact of Katrina in %26#8220;Before (During) After%26#8221; told via the perspective of Louisiana lensmen (September 10 %26#8211;%26nbsp;October 23).

More Wows: Glassell teacher/figurative impresario Patrick Palmer presents his newest series in a pair of receptions at his Winter Street Studio (2101 Winter Street, September 24 and 25; patrickpalmerart.com) ... The brilliant H.J. Bott continues his geometric antics with %26#8220;Paradigms in Paint and Wire%26#8221; at Anya Tish Gallery, rolling out obsessive canvases circa 2010 and (almost) never-shown wire works (September 10 %26#8211;%26nbsp;October 9) ... Another Houston talent, Joe Mancuso, serves up exquisite, nuanced floral abstractions %26#8212; sophisticated encaustic studies of nature that are literally bathed in pigment and light %26#8212; at Barbara Davis Gallery (September 10 %26#8211;%26nbsp;October 9) ... Make tracks to De Santos Gallery for the luminous images of internationally acclaimed Arizona-based photographer Ken Rosenthal in %26#8220;The Shadow Behind Your Eyes%26#8221; (opening September 11); Rosenthal%26#8217;s vapory silver-gelatin prints pose between the real and the surreal. Especially recommended are his bathing beauties, who appear to step from %26#8217;50s-style pinups ... Houston%26#8217;s Edward Lane McCartney%26#8217;s solo at Goldesberry Gallery, %26#8220;Dignity and Impudence,%26#8221; promises such crafty surprises as a size-6 frock fashioned from infant measuring tapes (September 11 %26#8211;%26nbsp;October 16) ... Also in the crafts arena, Wade Wilson Art shows Seattle-based Dante Marioni%26#8217;s lyrical glass works (September 1 %26#8211;%26nbsp;October 2). The artist, whose lyrical vessels are in the collection of the White House, is the nephew of monochromatic painter Joseph Marioni, one of the stars of the WWA stable ... Ceron Salon hosts a showing of Elizabeth Moore Arnold%26#8217;s latest abstract paintings, drawings and mixed media works on Thursday, September 16 (7 to 9 pm), with a portion of the sales benefitting Dominic Walsh Dance Theater.

Those Art Guises!: What will Michael Galbreth and Jack Massing devise next? Find out when The Art Guys%26#8217; The Statue of Four Lies is unveiled at the central campus of the University of Houston (4835 Wheeler Street, entrance 5) on Wednesday, September 22, at noon (info Minister of Culture of the Council of Aesthetics, Michael Guidry, mguidry2@central.uh.edu). No images are available at press time, but the work is billed as %26#8220;Texas%26#8217; most surprising statue! Bronze! Concrete! Landscaping! A Plaque!%26#8221; Who are we to disagree?

Images:
Edward Lane McCartney%26#8217;s Dress, 2010, at Goldesberry Gallery.
H.J. Bott%26#8217;s Perky Quirky Trialog, 2010, at Anya Tish Gallery.

Art Notes

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 05:03:46 GMT

Painter%26#8217;s Progress/Oh So Demure: It%26#8217;s all about the triumph of the Texans. Two exhibits in that direction are highly recommended: Seth Alverson returns to town for a solo at Art Palace %26#8212; with a newly minted MFA and a very strange, albeit compelling group of paintings that pack a menacing narrative (through August 21) ... At Houston Arts Alliance%26#8217;s Space 125 Gallery, the power duo of Houston talents Melanie Crader and Katy Heinlein (a painter and sculptor, respectively), makes an impact in %26#8220;If We Only Knew Now What They Knew Then%26#8221; (through September 9).

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The Monets and Manets are Coming: Dipping into the pool of art history, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, just announced a sensational Spring 2011 blockbuster: %26#8220;Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art,%26#8221; which comes to town February 20, 2010 for a dazzling three-month run (through May 22, 2010). Kudos to director Peter Marzio for tapping these treasures for Houston audiences while the National Gallery galleries are undergoing renovation, continuing an initiative that began in 2003 with an important tour of MoMA masterpieces and followed in 2007 with traveling iconic canvases from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Portrait Pizzazz Plus a Few Taboos: %26#8220;Do I Know You%26#8221; at Inman Gallery may be the most extraordinary show of the summer, rounding up international and Texas types to present compelling takes on contemporary portraiture, from Billy Sullivan to Rachel Hecker. The town%26#8217;s buzzing with Heyd Fontenot%26#8217;s sittings of art-world types rendered nude and semi-nude, which add an impromptu performance element via a dialogue between the sitter and the artist (through August 21) ... %26#8220;Tattoo/Taboo%26#8221; at Poissant Gallery serves up a provocative group take on topics that span environmentalism to erotic skin markings (through August 14) ... At the University Museum at Texas Southern University, Gregory School curator Danielle Burns organizes a thoughtful solo for Kaneem Smith, %26#8220;Out of Tribulation%26#8221;; Smith%26#8217;s simple, almost homespun sculptural materials bear the weight of African-American history (through September 25) .... Late Houston figurative/landscape painter Barbara Jones gets a major retrospective at ArtCar Museum. Look for this under-sung talent%26#8217;s on-the-edge series %26#8220;Girls with Guns,%26#8221; which steals the show (through October 8).

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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; has 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 excitement about 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 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 MFAH%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 ... Closer to home, 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. Kamps%26#8217; curatorial high points at the CAMH include %26#8220;The Old, Weird America,%26#8221; named 2008%26#8217;s %26#8220;Best Thematic Show Nationally%26#8221; by the U.S. chapter of the International Association of Art Critics, and last summer%26#8217;s extraordinary %26#8220;No Zoning,%26#8221; a high-voltage look at the most significant players in the Houston scene, from Flower Man to Dean Ruck and Dan Havel ... Painter Patricia Hernandez has launched her own administrative art services company and is currently archiving Lawndale Art Center%26#8217;s historical trove ... Meanwhile, Morton Kuehnert announces the arrival of Lindsay Davis, a certified appraiser with an expertise in fine art. She holds an MA from Columbia, with experience ranging from the international auction house Phillips de Pury %26amp; Company to the bastion of cool Haunch of Venison gallery. Reach her at ldavis@mortonkuehnert.com.

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Can You Say Art Auction: Support the upcoming 268-page volume Texas Artists Today (to be released this fall from Marquand Books and penned by this scribe, with portraits in studio taken by photogs including PaperCity%26#8217;s Jenny Antill and collages crafted by Tatiana Massey) by attending a lively auction at the collection of Penelope and Lester Marks on Thursday, August 26. The de Medicis of the Houston art world, the Markses%26#8217; holdings are as acclaimed as their support of Texas talents. Wade Wilson does live-auction honors, while works by Sharon Kopriva, Howard Sherman, H.J. Bott, McKay Otto, Bert Long Jr. (a collectible that accompanies a culinary experience), Robyn O%26#8217;Neil and other book artists are on the block. The owners of the top five auction lots receive an invite to a black-tie dinner during Art Basel Miami Beach this December, while their acquisitions are included in the %26#8220;Positivism Project%26#8221; on view during the Art Basel Miami Beach Fair week. Best of all, the book benefits four entities: Lawndale Art Center, Dallas Contemporary, Menninger and Beyond Batten Disease Foundation. For an invite/details, contact Margaret Bott, 713.582.4127; mdbott@gmail.com.

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Images:%26#160; Above, Melanie Crader%26#8217;s "After all these years, the contents remain" (detail), 2010, at Space 125 Gallery, Houston Arts Alliance. Below, Seth Alverson%26#8217;s "Bed for One," 2010, at Art Palace

When La Dolce Vita Gets Bitter

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:16:54 GMT

TO SEE PICTURES CLICK ON 'LAUNCH SLIDESHOW'

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Get to the Angelika Film Center and Cafe and see%26nbsp;I Am Love, a new feature film by Magnolia pictures that is simply too good to be true.

Set in Italian fashion metropolis Milan, the movie depicts an Italian dynasty, the Recchis', and the transference of authority from one generation to the next. The patriarch's decision to split the power between his son and grandson acts as the initial crux for the movie but quickly fades as Tilda Swinton assumes her role as heroine. Outstanding cinematography heightens the ensuing plot twists. For more juicy tidbits, you%26#8217;ll just have to see it.

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What shook us to the core were the sets and costumes. Swinton's style is so understated and elegant that we found ourselves unable to appreciate the totality of it in one sitting. (We felt a wee bit faint at times!)

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Perhaps equally as astonishing is Swinton's mother-in-law in the film, Marisa Berenson, who %26#8212;hello %26#8212; is a descendent of Elsa Schiaparelli and naturally wears her clothes, and character to a tee. The gentlemen in the film are spot on as well, both in their clothes and attitudes. At times, you feel it%26#8217;s a documentary of chic Italian life, showing the success of costume designer Antonella Cannarozzi.

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While Swinton%26#8217;s clothes (all designed by Raf Simons for Jil Sander) may have caught our eye first, the main setting %26#8212; the Recchi%26#8217;s compound %26#8212; brought us aesthetic delight throughout the film's entirety. The fortress-like home used for filming; the Villa Necchi Campiglio, was built in 1935 by Milanese architect Piero Portaluppi. Its heavy and stoic attributes, include built-ins and the extensive use of wood and stone for its interior. Set Designer Francesca Di Mottola, drew inspiration from %26#8220;paintings from various periods of art history, photographs of metropolitan landscapes and portraits,%26#8221; according to press materials.

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The furnishings are haute bourgeoisie, accentuating a world where servants run rampant, a party is always in the works and Diptyque candles scent every corner of one%26#8217;s home. Enjoy!

Art Notes

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:39:10 GMT

Terrific Tandem: From the searing portraits and hypnotic canvases of an international art star to a poignant look at the vanishing American tradition of the sideshow, this summer has it all. Catch the first-ever American retrospective for the masterful mid-career Belgian Luc Tuymans at the Dallas Museum of Art, the second leg of a national tour. Tuymans, a painter%26#8217;s painter, is an influential artist within his figurative oeuvre, which spans the grand tradition of Northern European painting, extending back to the late Gothic era, to today%26#8217;s media-saturated, cinematic spectacles (through September 5) ... As a counterpoint to the Tuymans retrospective, we suggest %26#8220;World of Wonders%26#8221; at Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery. This amazing series by husband-and-wife team Jimmy and Dena Katz, follows the vanishing carnival folk of the %26#8220;World of Wonders%26#8221; troupe, from 80-year-old ringmaster Ward Hall in his faded finery to classic but destined-to-be-bygone acts such as fire-breathing John Johnson (extended through July 24).

Cheers to the Contemporary: Dallas Contemporary puts its soaring new space to work by bringing in up-to-the-minute, Brooklyn-based guest curator Regine Basha for the fresh exhibition %26#8220;Seedlings,%26#8221; billed as %26#8220;Nature. Industry. Productivity.%26#8221; Basha corrals nine Texas, New York City and California talents for a topical look at artists taking on the environment, including Hilary Berseth, whose hive sculpture formed from towers of actual honeycomb provided the show-stopping invitation image (through August 8) ... While you%26#8217;re in the neighborhood, cruise by The Goss-Michael Foundation%26#8217;s new 12,000-square-foot home, unveiling this fall in the lower Oak Lawn area at 1405 Turtle Creek Boulevard. Stay tuned for details about the grand opening.

Gallery-Rama: Make tracks to Dunn and Brown Contemporary for a doubleheader that pairs Texas painter Aaron Parazette with the smart group show %26#8220;Floor Plan.%26#8221; Parazette%26#8217;s jubilant exhibition, %26#8220;Snow White Tan,%26#8221; touts abstraction through compelling shaped canvases and a new wall painting. %26#8220;Floor Plan%26#8221; brings together eight from D and B%26#8217;s esteemed stable whose work addresses space, implies architecture and proves that Texans can hold their own with anyone in the room:%26nbsp; Tara Donovan, Vernon Fisher, Joseph Havel, Annette Lawrence, Amy Myers, Nic Nicosia, Matthew Sontheimer and Erick Swenson. (Both exhibitions through August 21.) ... Carl Jung%26#8217;s recently released private journal, The Red Book, has inspired Rome Prize artist Bert Long Jr. at HCG Gallery. His %26#8220;Red Room%26#8221; interweaves sculpture and painting within singular works that possess an incontestable power and authenticity. When the show debuted at the Jung Center in Houston, it was hailed as Long%26#8217;s strongest of the past decade. No surprise, then, that this show is heading north (July 10 %26#8211; August 14).

Images:
Above: Jimmy and Dena Katz%26#8217;s John Johnson Breathing Fire, Florida, 2007, at Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery. Photo courtesy of the artists.

Below: Luc Tuymans%26#8217; Turtle, 2007, at Dallas Museum of Art. Photo courtesy David Zwirner, NY, %26amp; Zeno X Gallery, Antwerp.

Art Notes

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 01:43:14 GMT

Way Out West: At the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the lure of the fabled West is celebrated with canvases and bronzes %26nbsp;by Charles Russell (1864 %26#8211;1926), an image-maker who later inspired Huston and Ford%26#8217;s cinematic interpretations (through August 29). This exhibition is the first-ever museum retrospective mounted for the Montana great, who captured the frontier at a time when it was already vanishing. In Houston, the MFAH%26#8217;s Emily Neff organizes the show, which puts a flourish on the museum%26#8217;s American season. Watch for the many faces of Russell, from humorist to environmentalist, and his extensive and sensitive depiction of native Americans (through August 29).

Here Comes ArtHouston: More than 30 hometown gallerists continue a 30-year summer tradition: the citywide open house that is ArtHouston (arthouston.com). Here are our picks for shows we love. At G Gallery, emerging talent Maria Cristina Jadick asks if we are %26#8220;Ready to Rumble?%26#8221; %26#8212; an interactive exhibition with narrative and metaphor (from football to the kitchen) that calls on the gallery-goer to exercise political, military and economic power (July 3 %26#8211;%26nbsp;26) ... On Colquitt, painter/collagist Michael Miller at Moody Gallery and photog/installationist Rusty Scruby at McMurtrey Gallery show here for the first time in recent memory (both exhibitions July 10 %26#8211;%26nbsp;August 7) ... At Gallery Sonja Roesch, gallerist Volker Eisele curates part one of a topic that has consumed him for years: %26#8220;Quantum Dada,%26#8221; which investigates the intersection of the contemporary Dada movement with quantum science (July 3 %26#8211;%26nbsp;31). Stay tuned; part two arrives at newly branded Rudolph Blume Fine Art/ArtScan Gallery this October.

Bigger Than Ever/Crafts Crazy: It%26#8217;s %26#8220;Big Show%26#8221; time at Lawndale Art Center, rolling out our favorite juried show of the year. Portland- and Berlin-based Paul Middendorf does the curatorial honors (July 9 %26#8211; August 7).

Major Leaguers: At Art League Houston, hometown talent Marco Villegas takes inspiration from Japanese woodcut master Katushika Hokusai with an ambitious five-part suite of wall drawings entitled Long Way She Wave, which also offers an ode to our endangered Gulf of Mexico. In an adjoining ALH gallery, Houston painter Beth Secor curates the must-see %26#8220;Lonesome Travelers,%26#8221; a photo-based exhibition showcasing three Texas lensmen %26#8212; Mario Perez, Bryan Schutmaat and Robert Ziebell %26#8212; who celebrate the ordinary along the world%26#8217;s byways. Secor says of this grouping, %26#8220;Looking at them makes me want to have adventures and write stories, like %26#8230; Kerouac%26#8217;s, whose book the title of the exhibition is based. In my narratives, Ziebell%26#8217;s woman in a market who happens to be standing behind a plant is in reality Coatlicue, the mother of the gods;%26nbsp;Schutmaat%26#8217;s hotel telephone rings, and the caller announces mankind%26#8217;s destiny; and Perez%26#8217;s chihuahua Buster is an all seeing being, who with a single sniff, can read one%26#8217;s thoughts ...%26#8221; (both exhibitions, July 9 %26#8211; August 20).

Fountainhead: International conceptual artist/sculptor Dennis Oppenheim is putting the finishing touches on his three-element Radiant Fountains at the entranceway of George Bush Intercontinental Airport %26#8212; an innovative permanent, public site-specific creation spearheaded by Houston Arts Alliance. The stainless-steel structures resemble gigantic crowns, which pulsate with multi-hued LED lights that depict water cascading from a fountain. At press time, an unveiling this month is planned.

Images:
Above: Michael Miller%26#8217;s "Today I Am Thankful For All I Have," 2009, at Moody Gallery. Photo courtesy the artist and Moody Gallery

Below: Charles Russell%26#8217;s "In Without Knocking," 1909, at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Photo courtesy Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth.

Art Notes

Wed, 26 May 2010 11:49:01 GMT

Museums Rule
Start your summer with Ben Jones%26#8217; way-out, color-suffused, digital-era storytelling at The Modern, part of its %26#8220;Focus%26#8221; exhibition (hurry, ends June 6) ... While you%26#8217;re in Fort Worth, head to the Amon Carter Museum for a masterful American lensman showcased in %26#8220;Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light%26#8221; (through November 7). This tightly focused show %26#8212;%26nbsp;which is ultimately about the wonders of the American West %26#8212; exhibits 40 stunning prints from the Carter%26#8217;s coffers and a private collection that veer from the heroic to the intimate and highlight Adams%26#8217; considerable range ... Fort Worth Museum of Science and History marries science and art with Leonardo da Vinci: Man, Inventor Genius.%26#8221; The exhibition revels in the Renaissance luminary%26#8217;s art making and especially extols his futuristic vision, vis-%26#224;-vis models of the immortal Leonardo%26#8217;s flying machines, robots, scuba gear, submarines and solar-powered devices (through September 6) ... At the Nasher Sculpture Center, international contemporary Rachel Whiteread is limelighted in a retrospective that explores her process via works on paper; organized by the definitive Hammer Museum in L.A., the exhibit serves up more than 150 drawings and collages, many straight from the artist%26#8217;s London studio (through August 15) ... Prepare for a blockbuster at the Dallas Museum of Art, which ignites the summer with the first-ever U.S. retrospective for Belgian painter Luc Tuymans, co-organized by SFMOMA and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio (June 6 %26#8211; September 5). Tuymans%26#8217; expressionist paint handling bridges past and future, existing between D%26#252;rer and Bacon, Neel and Peyton.

Galactic Galleries, On the Block
Just in: Jimmy and Dena Katz%26#8217;s compelling take on traveling carnivals and the folks who inhabit their sideshows, %26#8220;World of Wonders%26#8221; has been extended at Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery (through July 24). The exhibit is presented alongside a museum-caliber gem, %26#8220;Photographs %26amp; Etchings: Lee Friedlander + Jim Dine,%26#8221; from the 1969 portfolio of the same name (June 19 %26#8211;%26nbsp;July 24). Also, catch PDNB%26#8217;s poignant traveling show, %26#8220;Shine,%26#8221; which pairs vintage shoeshine stands with photogs who captured this subject, on view at the Center for the Visual Arts in Denton (June 11 %26#8211; August 1) ... Deep Ellum denizen Barry Whistler Gallery brings together a Texas/Berlin/New York triangle in %26#8220;Berlin Geschicten,%26#8221; based on the creative convergence of Terrell James, Adam Raymont and Bo Joseph last fall in Germany (June 5 %26#8211;%26nbsp;July 10) ... Heritage Auction Galleries%26#8217; modern and contemporary art director Frank Hettig curates a one-day sale at the auction house%26#8217;s Design District Annex June 9, at 10 am, including Impressionist treasures, red-hot contemporary Chinese work and modern and contempo Cuban and Latin American offerings (online preview, fineart.ha.com).

Image: Ben Jones%26#8217; Black Math 8, 2010, at The Modern in Fort Worth

Art Notes

Wed, 26 May 2010 04:36:06 GMT

East Meets West
At the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, two exhibitions showcase geographic, aesthetic and cultural diversity. %26#8220;Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam%26#8221; plunges the viewer into a voyage into the art, furniture and objects created by this historic branch of Islam. The exhibition features intriguing, even mystical fare from the 9th century to today, including mosque lighting, wine and beggar%26#8217;s bowls, contemporary canvases that shimmer with light and, of course, illuminated manuscripts. The Brooklyn Museum organizes this traveling exhibition, which is coordinated here by MFAH assistant curator of the Arts of the Islamic World, Francesca Leoni, who adds the contemporary spin (through August 8) ... Then the MFAH metaphorically heads way out West with %26#8220;The Masterworks of Charles M. Russell: A Retrospective of Painting and Sculpture.%26#8221; This is the first major survey for this inimitable American artist (1864%26#8211;1926), who defined cowboy culture while depicting some of the marginalized figures of the mythic West. Emily Neff organizes the Houston stop of this traveling tour, a collaboration between the Denver Art Museum and Tulsa%26#8217;s Gilcrease Museum (June 6 %26#8211; August 29).

Get Crafty/We Love Photography
At the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Valerie Cassel Oliver curates a topical exploration of the collision of craft and performance in %26#8220;Hand+Made,%26#8221; including the sexy Marilyn Minter and 2010 Whitney Biennial%26#8211;exhibited Theaster Gates (through July 25) ... At Holocaust Museum Houston, German artist in Houston Hans Molzberger employs crafts in a searing examination of Nazi atrocities. His photography on raku ceramic plates, arranged in a portal tunnel, document a forced labor concentration camp for women in %26#8220;Never Let It Rest!%26#8221; (through October 3) ... One of Texas%26#8217; best, Will Michels, is literally in the lens at Houston Center for Photography in %26#8220;Made by Will: Selections from Four Portfolios,%26#8221; paired with the debut of an extraordinary series by another Houston photographer, Scott Dalton. The latter%26#8217;s %26#8220;Macondo: Journeys in Garcia Marquez%26#8221; stars images that capture the cadence of Marquez%26#8217;s great novels of magic realism, created during the decade when Dalton lived in Colombia. Also highlighted at HCP are Matt Eich%26#8217;s %26#8220;Carry Me Ohio%26#8221; about the lost American dream in the Buckeye State and 20 self-portraits by area teens that often rise to the extraordinary. (All HCP exhibitions through June 27.)

Gallery Action
Speaking of photography, Texas artist Beau Comeaux mines the night in a showcase at Darke Gallery (June 11 %26#8211; July 2), which has now doubled its digs in the West End after an expansion that converts owner artist Linda Darke%26#8217;s gleaming tin house into a second gallery building ... Over on Colquitt, McMurtrey Gallery pitches a doubleheader, pairing Houston artists Cheyanne Ramos%26#8217; nimble paintings (her %26#8220;Beer and Skittles%26#8221; is the best title of the season) with Michael de la Cerda%26#8217;s airy abstract sculptures (both June 5 %26#8211;%26nbsp;July 2) ... At Moody Gallery, hometown talent Claire Ankenman solos with a new series that poetically melds feminism with organic minimalism (June 5 %26#8211; July 3) ... At the Isabella Courts complex, Inman Gallery's show for Darren Waterston is creating big buzz, with collectors such as Michael Landrum acquiring the West Coast artist's nuanced watercolors executed on 18th- or 19th-century prints (through June 19) ... Neighboring Art Palace rolls out a dual bill with Emilie Halpern and Eric Zimmerman, two image makers whose multilayered installation challenges the viewer to decipher its message (through June 19) ... Over Heights way, the daughter of Whitney Biennial talent Al Souza is featured at Na%26#252;-haus Gallery. Owner/director/fellow artist Dan Allison is spot on with his showing of Alyson Souza, a well-regarded national talent residing in both New York and L.A., whose idiosyncratic oil and wood reliefs suggest the strange energy of Coney Island signage (June 5 %26#8211;%26nbsp;27) ... "The White Album" at Wade Wilson Art offers a summery slew of canvases inspired by both the color and the Beatles' classic album of the same name ... And kudos to Laura Rathe, who celebrates a decade as a dealer with a swell f%26#234;te on Saturday, June 5, at her eponymous gallery.

Chi Town/Big Moulah
Houston art types took on Art Chicago last month to great success. Exhibitors included Gallery Sonja Roesch and John Palmer Art; the featured speakers, collectors Lester Marks and Reggie Smith, wowed the crowd with the latest dish about the Texas scene during a panel discussion at the reinvigorated international art fair ... And the winner of the $50,000 Hunting Art Prize is %26#8230; Houston artist Lane Hagood, an emerging visualist with a freshly minted UH degree who has shown at living-room-as-art-space The Joanna; catch his current solo, "Old Book Smell," at Gallery 1724 (through June 19).

Images: Above, Cheyanne Ramos%26#8217; Hang on to Your Change, 2009, at McMurtrey Gallery. Below: Beau Comeaux%26#8217;s New Construction, 2009, at Darke Gallery.

Art Notes

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:39:03 GMT

Painter%26#8217;s Progress: It doesn%26#8217;t get any better in terms of abstract painting than when Texas mid-career maestro David Aylsworth%26#8217;s %26#8220;That Thing That Makes Vines Prefer to Cling%26#8221; opens at Holly Johnson Gallery (May 8 %26#8211; June 12). Aylsworth, a former Core Fellow at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is one of seven recipients of an Artadia Award 2010 Houston. And in case you%26#8217;re wondering, his exhibition title references lines from once classic, but now obscure, American show tunes.

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Warhol Wow: Speaking of accolades, our vote for best museum show this spring goes to The Modern for %26#8220;Andy Warhol: The Last Decade%26#8221; (hurry, exhibition closes May 16). If you thought the late Pop master was just about soup cans, Brillo boxes and celebrity portraits, think again. This seminal survey includes collaborations (Clemente to Basquiat), camouflage canvases, those odd black-and-white ads and the very sublime %26#8212;%26nbsp;and spiritual %26#8212; Last Supper series, plus bonus videos including a very strange interview between Warhol and Larry Rivers, filmed for Warhol%26#8217;s early 1980s television series, TV.

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Up and Comer: Meanwhile, Deep Ellum denizen The Public Trust mounts UTD grad image-maker/print-maker Brent Ozaeta%26#8217;s %26#8220;Introverted Floating World%26#8221; (through May 29). The artist is a great bet for beginning collectors with his lively, action-packed graphic sensibility.%26nbsp;

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MAC Masters: The McKinney Avenue Contemporary taps UTD arts and humanities chair Richard Brettell to curate a double-header pairing two hot Austin artists who raid art history, showcasing Ginger Geyer%26#8217;s unorthodox ceramics alongside Kenneth Hale%26#8217;s compelling collages. And in the MAC%26#8217;s other gallery, New Orleans environmental and eco-activist Jacqueline Bishop exhibits paintings, drawings and installations that sound a wake-up call for our planet (all through May 15; complete with catalogs).

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Carnival Kings: Finally, we%26#8217;re entranced by the weird, uncanny world of circus sideshow performers, from sword swallowers to fire eaters and snake handlers, documented by Jimmy and Dena Katz in %26#8220;World of Wonders%26#8221; at Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery (May 8 %26#8211;%26nbsp;June 12).

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Image: David Aylsworth%26#8217;s "To Relieve That Pleasant Ache," 2009, at Holly Johnson Gallery

Art Notes

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 01:45:05 GMT

New Masters: The final month of the spring season is packed with notables, both big art stars and promising up-and-comers. In the first category we cite James Surls, who returns for a show at Barbara Davis Gallery featuring an epic wall drawing (May 14 %26#8211; July 3), concurrent with his %26#8220;Magnificent Seven%26#8221; at Rice University campus (through August) ... Meanwhile, Surls%26#8217; pal since the days of Lawndale%26#8217;s founding, internationally exhibited Fifth Ward native son Bert Long Jr., shines in one of the Jung Center%26#8217;s most notable exhibits of the past decade; Long takes as his inspiration the just released, posthumously published The Red Book by Carl Jung (through May 28) ... Over in the Isabella Courts complex, Inman Gallery mounts an exquisite, sensitive installation by San Francisco painter Darren Waterston that may be the best work of the artist%26#8217;s remarkable career to date (May 8 %26#8211; June 19) ... Next-door neighbor Ctrl Gallery invites New York%26#8211;based Houston native Jackie Gendel (daughter of performing arts patrons Diane and Harry Gendel) to co-curate with Tom McGrath the intriguingly titled %26#8220;Precarity and the Butter Tower%26#8221; (May 7 %26#8211; June 19) ... On Gallery Row, Laura Rathe Fine Art serves up mid-career Austin painter Ray Donley, whose portraits bow to Rembrandt and other old masters, featuring hypnotic masked figures and archetypes such as the sorcerer (May 1 %26#8211;%26nbsp;29) ... Neighbor McMurtrey Gallery brings brilliant collage impresario Lance Letscher to town for the Austin artist%26#8217;s newest book, The Perfect Machine, a volume that%26#8217;s billed as a children%26#8217;s book but that would be a must for serious art collectors (Saturday, May 15).

Power Gals Plus Mr. Alexander: McClain Gallery showcases Rice University art department head Karin Broker, whose media range from Surrealist sculpture to Baroque-inflected still lifes in what will be one of the most anticipated openings of the season (May 6 %26#8211; June 10), coupled with a cocktail evening for John Alexander%26#8217;s debut of a major new canvas, accompanied by a new flight of drawings (May 7 %26#8211;%26nbsp;June 10) ... At Off the Wall Gallery, child prodigy/recent UCLA fine art grad Alexandra Nechita arrives for a PA (uncrating May 15; openings May 22 and 23); word%26#8217;s out Nechita will be adding glass, bronze, and aluminum sculpture to her repertoire as well as her signature expressionistic paintings.

Fast Cars/Perfect Pairings/Paintings as Poems: Photorealist extraordinaire Cheryl Kelley%26#8217;s latest love affair with muscle cars and tailfins takes over New Gallery (opening May 1) ... At Texas Gallery, Carl Palazzolo%26#8217;s quiet canvases are layered with understated metaphors that reference time and memory (through May 15) ... Two spaces pair hometown talents and New York types. At Wade Wilson Art, the father of Houston abstraction, Dick Wray, is highlighted via new black-and-white canvases, concurrent with translucent gestural paintings by Danielle Frankenthal (through May 29). At Deborah Colton Gallery, Artadia 2010 Houston finalist Nathaniel Donnett opens alongside Whitney Biennial-exhibited provocateur Marianne Vitale (May 8 %26#8211; June 26).

Get Crafty: At the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Valerie Cassel Oliver curates a topical exploration of the collision of craft and performance in %26#8220;Hand+Made%26#8221; (May 15 %26#8211; July 25; opening reception May 14) ... At Houston Center for Contemporary, it%26#8217;s %26#8220;ClayHouston,%26#8221; spotlighting two dozen talents who push the limits of clay (through May 23) ... Peel Gallery presents two top contemporary ceramicists, Tom Lauerman and Fabio Fernandez, in the intriguing collaboration %26#8220;Sculptures in Love with Architecture,%26#8221; based on a book of drawings by the late Menil-exhibited architect John Hejduk; on view are the duo%26#8217;s 100 winsome miniature glazed creations (through May 29).

The Sufis Are Coming: Mid-month, get a spiritual infusion at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, with %26#8220;Light of the Sufis,%26#8221; a look at this Islamic mystical practice told via 50 rare treasures from Syria and the Iranian world as well as Egypt, North Africa, Spain, China, Central and Southeast Asia and India (May 16 %26#8211;%26nbsp;August 8) ... Then DiverseWorks gets political with The Yes Men%26#8217;s %26#8220;Keeping It Slick: Infiltrating Capitalism%26#8221; (through June 5).

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Image: Ray Donley%26#8217;s "The Sorcerer," 2010, at Laura Rathe Fine Art

Art Notes

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:26:10 GMT

Ask Alice: One of strongest and most unflinching exhibitions we%26#8217;ve seen at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has just opened %26#8212; %26#8220;Alice Neel: Painted Truths%26#8221; (through June 13), co-curated by the MFAH%26#8217;s astute Barry Walker and Brit Jeremy Lewison, formerly of the Tate. The show is set for a European tour, marking the American artist%26#8217;s first retrospective across the pond. The bold and brave portraitist (1900 %26#8211;%26nbsp;1984) was a contemporary of Andy Warhol %26#8212; whom she painted %26#8220;like a young Saint Sebastian,%26#8221; comments Walker %26#8212; and captured Robert Smithson and family members in a style both startling and timeless, paving the way for artists such as Elizabeth Peyton, John Currin, Julian Schnabel and Anh Duong ... Continuing at the MFAH is Emily Neff%26#8217;s remarkably curated view showcasing hometown-owned canvases by the great American expat John Singer Sargent in %26#8220;Houston%26#8217;s Sargents%26#8221; (through May 9). Acquire the catalog now at the MFAH bookstore ($24.95).

Sculpture Times Deux: While it%26#8217;s being billed as a sculpture showdown, Houston audiences benefit. French master Bernar Venet continues at Hermann Park with epic twists of CorTen steel (through September 30), while James Surls returns home for what he told us is %26#8220;the most important project I%26#8217;ve ever undertaken in Houston%26#8221; with %26#8220;Magnificent Seven,%26#8221; a suite of seven monumental bronze and stainless-steel sculptures laced throughout the Rice campus. They sprout like graceful evocations about time, man and the land (through August), presented by Houston Arts Alliance and Rice University Public Art Program, directed respectively by Jonathon Glus and Molly Hubbard; patroness Judy Nyquist assisted in the fund-raising. Then at Rice Gallery, director Kim Davenport surprises with Hungarian installationist Andrea Dezs%26#246;%26#8217;s sweet suite of tunnel books, %26#8220;Sometimes in My Dreams I Fly,%26#8221; which recall childhood memories of imagined space travel (through August 8).

Five Gals and Two Guys: Here are some of our FotoFest faves: Libbie Masterson%26#8217;s nuanced %26#8220;Sky,%26#8221; both night and daytime views of the American skyscape, at Wade Wilson Art (April 1 %26#8211; 27); Inman Gallery%26#8217;s solo for former Core Fellow Demetrius Oliver, whose photographs enfold prosaic objects in mystery (through May 1); rising lenswoman Laura Letinski at Peel Gallery, whose coolly considered still lifes owe a debt to the Dutch genre, while possessing a contemporary edge (through April 16); Houston talent Ann Stautberg at Parkerson Gallery, presenting hand-painted monumental black-and-white prints of hibiscus from an insect%26#8217;s perspective (through May 1); Luis Mallo at Sicardi Gallery, taking us behind the scenes into the storage vaults of American museums including the MFAH (through April 3); Kinzelman%26#8217;s Art Consulting%26#8217;s mounting of %26#8220;Inside Roy Lichtenstein%26#8217;s Studio,%26#8221; snapped by former assistant Laurie Lambrecht, at Bank of America Center (through June 1); and at Bering %26amp; James, Shelley Calton%26#8217;s pitch-perfect black-and-whites, which record the rites of femininity (through April 12).

Two Texans, One International: Bert Long Jr. takes over the Jung Center with new canvases inspired by founder C.G. Jung%26#8217;s recently published personal journal (April 17 %26#8211;%26nbsp;May 28), while contemporary Richard Stout opens in a retrospective culling 50 years of painting and sculpture at Canal Street Gallery (April 2 %26#8211; 27, reception Friday, April 9) %26#8230; At Barbara Davis Gallery, red-hot Italian Andrea Bianconi reprises his one-person Volta NY show, %26#8220;A Charmed Life,%26#8221; including an opening-night performance Friday, April 9 (through May 1).

Buffet Line: Collectible and high recommended are collaborators Kelly Pike, Kara Hearn, and Sasha Dela, who roll out Buffet: All You Can Eat Video, including videos by Cody Ledvina, Laura Lark and Lauren Kelly, featuring cameos by Glenna Bell, Rachel Cook, Andrea Grover with daughters Gigi and Lola Lama, and Thelma and George Smith and daughter Kaneem, spurred by grants from the Houston Arts Alliance and The Idea Fund ($25, buffetdvd.com).

Image, above: James Surls%26#8217; Ten Big Standing Bronze Flowers, 2008, at Rice University; photo by Jeff Fitlow

Image, below: Alice Neel%26#8217;s Dorothy Pearlstein, 1969, at MFAH; Estate of Alice Neel

Art Notes

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:40:53 GMT

Splendid Sargent, Extraordinary Cattelan: From the grand portraits of an American expat to a way-out intervention by a contemporary international, March manifests the extreme and extraordinary in our art scene. Celebrate %26#8220;An American Season%26#8221; at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, with a terrific trio: %26#8220;Sargent and the Sea%26#8221; (through May 23), %26#8220;Prendergast in Italy%26#8221; (through May 9) and %26#8220;Houston%26#8217;s Sargents%26#8221; (through May 9). American art curator Emily Neff hits the trifecta, but the one that stands as the punctuation mark is her exhibition devoted to the Sargents in hometown collections %26#8212; the greatest cache of any American city after New York and Boston. The Prendergast exhibition also reveals this painter as a proto modernist, while %26#8220;Sargent and the Sea%26#8221; provides new insights into one of the giants of American art ... Not to be outdone, The Menil Collection mounts the brilliant, provocative %26#8220;Maurizio Cattelan,%26#8221; curated by departing Franklin Sirmans (now with LACMA). This exhibition goes way beyond artworks presented in a single gallery. You%26#8217;ll want to navigate the museum like a contestant in a scavenger hunt, to discover Cattelan%26#8217;s sometimes shocking interventions, from the rooftop to the medieval, surrealist and contemporary galleries (through August 15).

FotoFest Focus: Bring on the Americans %26#8212;%26nbsp;and the Texans. That%26#8217;s the rallying cry of FotoFest 2010, %26#8220;Contemporary U.S. Photography.%26#8221; Here are the 10 shows we%26#8217;ll be checking out, starting with four organized by FotoFest. For 2010, artistic director Wendy Watriss has tapped three independent curators (including former MFAH curator Gilbert Vicario, who returns to organize %26#8220;Medianation: Performing for the Screen%26#8221;) plus an entire curatorial team from Los Angeles County Museum of Art%26#8217;s photography department (for %26#8220;Assembly: Eight Emerging Photographers from Southern California%26#8221;). Two other FotoFest-organized offerings evoke the shifting fortunes of America: %26#8220;The Road to Nowhere%26#8221; and %26#8220;Whatever Was Splendid: New American Photographs.%26#8221; At the participating spaces, must-sees are the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston%26#8217;s %26#8220;Ruptures and Continuities: Photography Made after 1960 from the MFAH Collection%26#8221; curated by 2008 hire Yasufumi Nakamori; DiverseWorks%26#8217; solo for Allison Hunter, who introduces a new video in her ongoing, otherworldly saga about the planet%26#8217;s fauna; and four top gallery views for Texans: Spacetaker founder David Brown at Darke Gallery revealing our town via a series of lenticular prints that squash the space-time continuum; Beaumont native son Keith Carter at McMurtrey Gallery with classic black-and-whites in %26#8220;Shangri-La%26#8221;; Casey Williams%26#8217; heroic color abstractions snapped at the Houston Ship Channel at Rudolph Projects/ArtScan Gallery; and brilliant duo Jeff Shore and Jon Fisher at McClain Gallery, cooking up another high-tech/low-tech presentation (March 12 through April 25; participating spaces%26#8217; dates may vary; complete exhibition listings, fotofest.org).

Girls Gone Wild/Epic Abstract Painters: Our vote for fave guerilla show of FotoFest goes to the duo of Nancy Douthey and Jacinda Russell at Texas Gallery; the pair present stills from their Thelma %26amp; Louise%26#8211;type adventure to the wilds of the American West, where they communed with earthworks by the big boys of American art, including Robert Smithson%26#8217;s Spiral Jetty (March 13 %26#8211;%26nbsp;April 17) ... At McClain Gallery, senior master David Row is the tamer of the curve (March 25 %26#8211; April 29); his opening night on March 25 includes a book signing for Richard Polksy%26#8217;s latest, I Sold Andy Warhol (Too Soon) ... At Barbara%26nbsp; Davis Gallery, Saatchi %26#8220;Sensation%26#8221; finalist Mie Olise is held over, in an amalgamation of painting, installation and video that adds architecture to the dialogue%26nbsp; %26#8212; as well as heroic flying ships (through March 27).

Persuasive Public Art: Stay tuned next month for a roundup of all the new public art that%26#8217;s propagating, including Aurora Robson%26#8217;s solar-powered alien-life-form sculpture at Rice and an overview of Houston Arts Alliance%26#8217;s latest endeavors. (Hint: an update on the Carter Ernst and Paul Kittelson%26#8217;s pop-influenced piece for Hobby Airport; where you%26#8217;ll see a new Luca Buvoli and what%26#8217;s coming along the bayou by a pair of prominent internationals) ... Artists Natali Leduc, Sandi Seltzer Bryant, Nicola Parente and John Berry transform bikes to raise funds for MS; see their creations and 20 more works by Houston notables at Discovery Green in %26#8220;Art Bike 2010,%26#8221; presented by National Multiple Sclerosis Society: Lone Star (March 22 %26#8211; April 25).

Up-and-Comers/Heavy Metal: Catch the new Core Fellow crop at the Glassell School of Art and see if you can spot the next Whitney Biennial talent (March 5 %26#8211;%26nbsp;April 16), then head to the Blaffer Gallery for the %26#8220;School of Art Annual Student Exhibition%26#8221; (through March 13), followed by a must-see show for UH MFA grads (March 27 %26#8211; April 24) ... At Lawndale Art Center, check out a collaboration between L.A.-based installationist Ariane Roesch and painter Jonathan Leach, as well as Joe Havel and Chuck Ivy%26#8217;s avant-garde %26#8220;Dirty Secrets from the Cataract Cinema%26#8221; (both, March 12 %26#8211;%26nbsp;April 17) ... Meanwhile, at Gallery Sonja Roesch (mom of Ariane), heavy-metal man John Clement makes an impact in %26#8220;Eye Candy%26#8221; (March 13 %26#8211;%26nbsp;April 24).

Bird Man and Woman: Avians inspire Billy Hassell (up now at Meredith Long %26amp; Company) and Heather Bause at Bering %26amp; James (through March 6) ... Hurry to see the great and powerful H.J. Bott at Anya Tish Gallery in %26#8220;Three in 3D,%26#8221; with Garland Fielder and George Grochocki (through March 6).

French Connection: Head to Daniel-Kayne%26#8217;s studio (2300 McKinney #403) for a special showing of French mid-career sculptress Veronique Chalandar, featuring semi-figural works from her %26#8220;Totems%26#8221; and %26#8220;Originelles%26#8221; series (March 26, through the Texan-French Alliance for the Arts, 713.822.2060; part of the French Cultures Festival; francophonie-texas.org). Follow our blog on papercitymag.com for weekly art picks.

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Image above: Jacinda Russell %26amp; Nancy Douthey%26#8217;s "(A still from) a dizzying hot pink prom dress whirling at Spiral Jetty," 2009, at Texas Gallery; Credit: Courtesy of the artists and Texas Gallery

Image below: John Singer Sargent%26#8217;s "Madame Ram%26#243;n Subercaseaux," circa 1880-1881, at MFAH; Credit: Fayez Sarofim Collection

Art Notes

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:44:34 GMT

Year of the Tiger: Celebrate the Asian New Year by heading to the Crow Collection of Art, which mounts one of the most meaningful pairings in memory with solo shows for two Texas talents: painter Yang Jin Long (through April 18) and photographer and frequent PaperCity contributor Ka Yeung (in the Crow%26#8217;s new LinkAsia gallery, through May 16). Chinese-born Long%26#8217;s innovative melding of pop and surrealism to critique society is layered with nuanced cultural references. Yeung%26#8217;s large-format black-and-white prints %26#8212; originally inspired by a visit to China%26#8217;s Three Gorges Dam %26#8212; encompass past and future through his evocative use of form, light and subject matter.%26nbsp;

Photography Collides with Impressionism: Sometimes an exhibition comes along that opens a window upon unknown annals in art history. Such is this spring%26#8217;s view at the Dallas Museum of Art, %26#8220;The Lens of Impressionism: Photography and Painting Along the Normandy Coast, 1850 %26#8211; 1874%26#8221; (February 21 %26#8211;%26nbsp;May 23). The exhibition explores the interconnections between early photographers and the great practitioners of Impressionism (Monet, Manet, Courbet and colleagues) by focusing on the dramatic coast of Normandy; approximately 90 works will be presented, including many rare vintage photographic prints, alongside 38 paintings, pastels and watercolors, as well as a selection of ephemera detailing the burgeoning 19th-century tourist culture of that region.

The Possibilities of Plensa: The Nasher Sculpture Center unfurls the exciting oeuvre of contemporary Spaniard Jaume Plensa (who%26#8217;s also one of the showstoppers of the Meadow Museum%26#8217;s new sculpture plaza). At the Nasher, Plensa gets a 20-year retrospective in %26#8220;Jaume Plensa: Genus and Species.%26#8221; Rarely seen in Texas until the Meadows%26#8217; new stainless-steel head, Sho, was installed last year, Plensa%26#8217;s multilayered works are about space, nature and culture. They incorporate light, sound and text, often interactively, as in the mesmerizing Crown Fountain at Chicago%26#8217;s Millennium Park. For the Nasher, nine recently completed large-scale offerings are installed, both indoors and out (through May 2).

The Other Ciccone: Yes, he%26#8217;s Madonna%26#8217;s brother %26#8212; and he%26#8217;s also an artist. Christopher Ciccone comes to HCG Gallery to exhibit an odd yet compelling amalgamation of his %26#8220;Hollywood%26#8221; period, including Easy-Marker drawings, Polaroid prints and video works from Madonna%26#8217;s %26#8220;The Girlie Show%26#8221; tour, which he directed, as well as a unique take on country crooner Dolly Parton (through March 6)

Smack Down: It's the ultimate showdown, Version 2.0: H. Paxton Moore Gallery (El Centro College) and Mighty Fine Arts are both showcasing Houston artists in Dallas, through the second and final installment of the dueling group exhibitions "Houston vs. Dallas" (through February 22) ... We also recommend Greg Miller's beguiling photorealism at Artspace 111 (Fort Worth, through March 6) and the poignant examination of the late, internationally shown Houston artist Virgil Grotfeldt at Holly Johnson Gallery. FYI, Grotfeldt was one of the legendary Walter Hopps' favorite painters. At Holly Johnson, he will be remembered via the mystical exhibition "Memories and Transformations" (February 20 %26#8211; March 20) ... At Martin Lawrence Galleries, two of the stars of their stable make personal appearances: Robert Deyber, painter and connoisseur of wine (Sunday, February 7, 2 to 4 pm), and the stunning realist Ren%26#233; Lalonde (Thursday, February 18, 6 to 8 pm) ... Finally, it's an intriguing doubleheader at Valley House Gallery, contrasting the otherworldly cubistic vision of much-lauded Dallas painter Valton Tyler with tribal masterworks (through February 27).

Meet Me at the Fair: Click here for our latest coverage of the Dallas Art Fair (February 5 %26#8211;%26nbsp;7).

Image: Yang Jin Long's Happy Dragon, Rat and Snake, 2009, at the Crow Collection of Asian Art. Collection of the artist.

Art Notes

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:33:03 GMT

An American Spring: Get ready for a splendid American season at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which launches five must-see exhibitions that span the 19th through the 20th centuries while highlighting the works of four major painters. We%26#8217;ll bring you all the details next month in our annual March art issue, but meanwhile head to the MFAH for Valentine%26#8217;s Day openings for two exhibits on John Singer Sargent %26#8212; %26#8220;Sargent and the Sea%26#8221; and %26#8220;Houston%26#8217;s Sargents%26#8221; (through May 23 and May 9, respectively) %26#8212;%26nbsp;paired with American grand master watercolorist Maurice Prendergast in %26#8220;Prendergast in Italy%26#8221; (through May 9). Emily Neff organizes the traveling shows while curating the Sargent exhibition culled from tony hometown collections.

Texas Triumphant, Bring on the Internationals: While our Texas artists have been shamefully overlooked for the 2010 Whitney Biennial, they continue to emit bright energy in the galleries. Here are some must-sees. McKay Otto, painter of light and%26nbsp; vapor, materializes at Wade Wilson Art (February 19 %26#8211;%26nbsp;March 27) ... Former Core Fellow Francesca Fuchs introduces yet another new series at Texas Gallery (February 18 %26#8211;Mach 27), this one involving %26#8220;paintings of paintings,%26#8221; including a few capturing husband Bill Davenport%26#8217;s work ... Michael Macedo Meazell gets a long-overdue solo, displaying his unique Pop imagery upon aluminum surfaces at newly branded Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery (through February 27) ... Make tracks to Victoria for Susan Plum%26#8217;s %26#8220;Arbol de la Vida/Tree of Life%26#8221; at Nave Museum, featuring prints created at Dan Allison%26#8217;s Texas Collaborative Print Studio, drawings and the artist%26#8217;s signature glass weavings of the universe (February 5 %26#8211;%26nbsp;March 15) ... At Meredith Long %26amp; Company, Houston painter and Glassell teacher Brian Portman unveils captivating canvases that evoke nature (through February) ... And here%26#8217;s one international who%26#8217;s the exception to the Texas-centric month: Danish artist Mie Olise returns to Barbara Davis Gallery (February 19 %26#8211;%26nbsp;March 20), concocting an installation with a musical component, inspired by voyages and mythic places. (Check back here later in the month for our exclusive interview with this Saatchi Finalist talent).

Forecasting FotoFest: FotoFest, perhaps the most important biennial of photography and photo-based work in the world (fotofest.org),%26nbsp;launches in full force next month. And it all happens in Houston. Meanwhile, a slew of galleries are mounting early shows, including Laura Rathe Fine Art, presenting the iconic photographer of the Afghan Girl, Steve McCurry (February 20 %26#8211; March 25), and De Santos Gallery, serving up an international perspective with lensman Roman Loranc%26#8217;s photographs from Eastern Europe (through February 27; be sure to acquire the artist%26#8217;s accompanying volume).

Rice Rises: To see the buoyant, biomorphic new installation by Aurora Robson at Rice University, check back soon, as we%26#8217;ll be following online the thrilling plans public art director Molly Hubbard is implementing to make the Rice campus an authentic art Mecca. Hubbard%26#8217;s initiatives complement the long-standing vision of Kim Davenport, Rice Gallery director, who brings international sculptor El Anatsui to town this month for what can only be described as an epic project (through March 14).

Image: McKay Otto%26#8217;s Ever Catch a Glimpse Ever, circa 2010, at Wade Wilson Art

Art Notes

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:06:23 GMT

Fair Season: In 2010, we%26#8217;re looking forward to the Dallas Art Fair, year two. Save our special section in this issue for who to peruse and what to collect at Texas%26#8217; foremost art fair. Mark these dates on your calendar: Friday through Sunday, February 5 through 7, at Fashion Industry Gallery (F.I.G.); dallasartfair.com. Forty Candles, Galactic Galleries: Happy 40th to Colquitt grande dame Geri Hooks, celebrating four decades as an art dealer this 2009 %26#8211; 2010 season. This month, Hooks unfurls one of the most anticipated gallery views this spring: a solo for Whitney Biennial%26#8211;exhibited Houston notable (and Otabenga Jones co-founder) Robert Pruitt, who debuts his newest drawings, The Forever People (January 9 %26#8211; February 13) ... It%26#8217;s Dal%26#237; time at Off The Wall Gallery. The late surrealist master of the melting watches, Salvador Dal%26#237;, is showcased in a special three-day exhibition curated by Christine Argillet (January 22 %26#8211; 24) ... Over on Colquitt, Laura Rathe Fine Art now represents contemporary painting master Tony Magar. His latest, vaporous oceanic-inspired abstracts are on view in Rathe%26#8217;s architecturally stunning space%26nbsp; (formally home to Mix: Modern Clothes). Magar writes about his work: %26#8220;Abstract art has always been like coming home to me ... a place where I can feel free to expand my inner thoughts, a place to invent ... Once I get free to enter the world, I can start to develop and explore a vocabulary with the painting ... This process encompasses a mystery and surprise that I always love %26#8212; and undiscovered country.%26#8221; Materials Magic: From the intimate and poetic to the bold and mythic, materials and process are highlighted this month. First, catch the final days of Lisa Ludwig%26#8217;s exquisite bronze works cast from nature at Moody Gallery (through January 9) ... At Hermann Park, heroic scale is embraced in a nine-month installation opening January 23 (through September 30) of the French sculptor maestro Bernar Venet. Fifteen monumental Cor-Ten steel sculptures %26#8212; some 30 feet tall and weighing as much 12 tons %26#8212; transform the park into the ultimate public sculpture garden. More than 20 other culture capitals have hosted Venet exhibitions to date. The works at Hermann Park will be personally sited by the artist and McClain Gallery in eight locations; the project is sponsored by Texan-French Alliance for the Arts and endorsed by the City of Houston, the French Consulate, Hermann Park Conservancy, Houston Parks and Recreation Department and McClain Gallery, with support from AXA Art, the fine-art insurance company that continues to make innovative contributions to preserving cultural heritage. AXA collaborated with Dewitt Stern to underwrite insurance for this ambitious international installation. Rice Heats Up: Following Wayne White%26#8217;s giant pop puppet at Rice Gallery last month, the university art space presents work possessing a completely different aesthetic: a new installation by Nigerian-based international artist El Anatsui, who will create one of his signature suspended sculptures (incorporating such unexpected materials as liquor-bottle tops) to forge a form resembling a tapestry (January 28 %26#8211; March 14). FYI: Houston%26#8217;s Kinzelman Art Consulting commissioned El Anatsui%26#8217;s first site-specific work in the United States, Wrinkle of the Earth 2, 2007, for ConocoPhillips%26#8217; Houston office ... Stay tuned for more unfolding updates about Rice%26#8217;s burgeoning campus-wide sculptures, with the newest, a series of wild three-dimensional orbs by Aurora Robson, being installed as you read these pages. Asian Fall/American Spring:Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, it%26#8217;s an American spring at the MFAH, with impressive exhibitions on John Singer Sargent and Maurice Prendergast (both opening February 14) and Alice Neel (opening March 21). And be sure to catch the final days of the MFAH%26#8217;s %26#8220;Arts of Ancient Viet Nam (through January 3), %26#8220;Chaotic Harmony: Contemporary Korean Photography%26#8221; (through January 3), and %26#8220;Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea (through February 14). Kudos to Blaffer Galley, Heartfelt Farewells:Blaffer Gallery received a Coming Up Taller Award, personally presented by First Lady Michelle Obama for the museum%26#8217;s work with after-school arts and humanities programs. Then the museum%26#8217;s now-on-view artist Josephine Meckseper (through February 6; curated by Rachel Hooper) was selected for inclusion in the 2010 Whitney Biennial. Meckseper, who also designed a window and story displays for Neiman Marcus in conjunction with her Blaffer show, resides in New York; she will be among 50-some artists showcased when the Biennial opens February 25 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (through May 30) ... David Brown departs Spacetaker, the innovative nonprofit he founded ... And Franklin Sirmans will be greatly missed at The Menil Collection. However, we%26#8217;re hoping his move to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will foster a greater L.A./Houston connection.

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Image:%26nbsp; Robert Pruitt%26#8217;s "Superbad Garveyite," 2009, at Hooks-Epstein Gallery; courtesy of the artist and Hooks-Epstein Gallery

Art Notes

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:04:25 GMT

Fair Season: We%26#8217;re looking forward to the Dallas Art Fair, year two. Save our special section in this issue, for who to peruse and what to collect at Texas%26#8217; foremost art fair. And for the first time, two celebrated London dealers travel across the pond to exhibit, joining 50 notable national and Texas gallerists, up from last year%26#8217;s number of exhibitors by nearly 20. Mark these dates on your calendar: Friday through Sunday, February 5 through 7, at Fashion Industry Gallery (F.I.G.); dallasartfair.com. Blue Skies: Nothing looks more optimistic than Ted Kincaid%26#8217;s new series of sky images at Marty Walker Gallery (through February 13; Walker is also one of 15 Texas dealers to participate in the Dallas Art Fair, so look for some Kincaids in her booth there, too). Kincaid%26#8217;s a wizard in the photo-based field, deftly concocting images that hover between the real and the conjured. We still have memories of the flying saucer%26#8211;like orbs he fashioned for a Neiman Marcus cover years ago. Museum Musts: The Kimbell Art Museum looks at what it takes to become a top collector in its blockbuster encompassing old master paintings and sculptures, Impressionist masterpieces and modernist gems, acquired by discerning Texas eyes such as Ray and Patsy Nasher, John and Dominique de Menil, Marion Koogler McNay and namesake founders Kay and Velma Kimbell (through March 21) ... The Nasher Sculpture Center offers homage to contemporary Spaniard Jaume Plensa %26#8212; also one of the hallmarks of the Meadows Museum%26#8217;s new sculpture initiative and now permanently on view in its handsome sculpture plaza. At the Nasher, Plensa gets a 20-year retrospective in %26#8220;Jaume Plensa: Genus and Species.%26#8221; Plensa%26#8217;s multilayered works addressing space, nature and culture incorporate light, sound and text, often interactively, such as the Crown Fountain at Chicago%26#8217;s Millennium Park. For the Nasher, nine recently completed large-scale offerings will be installed indoors and out (January 30 %26#8211; May 2; we%26#8217;ll be reviewing this as soon as it opens at papercitymag.com). The Eye Has It: Canadian artist David Altmejd%26#8217;s hypnotic sculpture of mirrored glass, The Eye, 2008, literally shatters reality while serving us multiple views reminiscent of a carnival funhouse. (The artist%26#8217;s inspiration for the imposing work, which measures 11 x 18 feet, was the confluence of opera and science; The EyeThe Metropolitan Opera in New York, in response to the 2005 opera Doctor Atomic by John Adams, a tale of the events leading to the first nuclear bomb test.) Currently on view in its own gallery at the Dallas Museum of Art in %26#8220;Performance/Art%26#8221; (through March 21), it will enter the museum%26#8217;s collection once the show closes %26#8212; an acquisition made possible by Two x Two for AIDS and Art. Big MAC and Centraltrak: The McKinney Avenue Contemporary taps curator Phillip Collins, formerly of the African American Museum, to organize %26#8220;Mixed Media,%26#8221; a compelling survey of three Texas artists who incorporate African or African-American textiles into their practice: Sedrick Huckaby, Anita Holman Knox and Jack White (January 9 %26#8211; February 13) ... Centraltrak%26#8217;s visionary founder, Charissa Terranova, steps down. The good news is she%26#8217;ll stay in town, continuing to work at UTD as an assistant professor while completing her manuscript Automotive Prosthetic: The Car, Technological Mediation, and the Conceptual Turn in Contemporary Art. New director Kate Sheerin takes over this month.

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Image:%26nbsp; Ted Kincaid%26#8217;s "LA Sky 8061," 2009, at Marty Walker Gallery; Courtesy the artist and Marty Walker Gallery

Art Notes

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 12:51:09 GMT

The Koreans Are Coming: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, continues its Asian season with an up-to-the-minute survey of the brightest voices in contemporary Korean art. Anne Wilkes Tucker co-curates a concise presentation of 40 lensmen, spanning two generations, in %26#8220;Chaotic Harmony, Contemporary Korean Photography%26#8221; (through January 3). Concurrently, the MFAH%26#8217;s Christine Starkman co-curates %26#8220;Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea,%26#8221; the first American museum exhibition in two decades to explore the exploding contemporary Korea scene (through February 14).

The Last Chapter: This month is all about libraries %26#8212; a story whose final chapter celebrates a successful preservation story. First up, there%26#8217;s the ribbon cutting on the Julia Ideson Library, a visionary project that restores the original 1926 building to a graceful venue for social events, while adding a new archival wing for the rich holdings of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center. The nonprofit Julia Ideson Library Preservation Partners, led by chairman Phoebe Tudor, has raised 89 percent of its $32 million goal. To make a contribution in time for the holidays, contact executive director Margaret Lawler, 713.660.0772.

Destination Dallas Art Fair: The clock is ticking on securing VIP tickets for year two of this boutique art fair presented by Mo%26#235;t Hennessy at Fashion Industry Gallery (F.I.G.) in the Downtown Arts District, Friday through Sunday, February 5 through 7. Offered in a limited number, the VIP pass provides insider access to the Preview Gala on Thursday, February 4, and the fair itself. VIP ticket $400, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Information Tracy Moberley, 214.220.1278; dallasartfair.com.

Let There Be Light, India Calling: Among the most optimistic shows is Anya Tish Gallery%26#8217;s %26#8220;Light Switch,%26#8221; which culls artists who employ light including emerging Texas talent Adela Andea%26#8217;s way-out installation bathed in green rays (through December 31) %26#8230; Then Wayne Gilbert%26#8217;s G Gallery mounts an impressive exhibition of contemporary Indian artists (through December 28).

Outside the Box, Artful Bijoux: Bering %26amp; James is the place to be for the annual %26#8220;Art Box,%26#8221; a holiday show packed with portable miniatures, presenting 700 works by 250 artists whom think inside the box, all priced at $125 (December 4 and 5) ... At Darke Gallery, this month%26#8217;s jewelry exhibition serves up wearable masterpieces by avant-garde designer Raphaele (December 12 %26#8211; January 16).

Daring Dario, Lollipops, Here Comes Art Palace: There%26#8217;s been an energy shift to the Isabella Courts, with the early 2010 arrival of Art Palace, Austin%26#8217;s most influential gallery, joining Inman and Ctrl. And don%26#8217;t miss Dario Robleto%26#8217;s museum-caliber show mounted by Inman is a special project space (through December 31). While you%26#8217;re there, investigate Ctrl Gallery%26#8217;s tightly curated show of cutting-edge abstraction, %26#8220;Good Ship Lollipop,%26#8221; including the quirky, almost molten assemblages by Texan Richie Budd (through December 19).

Fabled Faberg%26#233;: The Houston Museum of Natural Science unveils a splendid exhibition of imperial jewels from Carl Faberg%26#233;%26#8217;s workshops including the exquisite Nobel Ice Egg (through April 4). This is the first time treasures from the privately held McFerrin Collection have been presented in a single exhibition.

Name Change, Franco the Fabulous: As you read this, Deborah Colton Gallery is now Colton %26amp; Farb Gallery, reflecting business partner Carolyn Farb%26#8217;s prominent role. Catch director-collector Lester Marks%26#8217; curatorial debut at C%26amp;F (through December 12) as well as a one-night-only event Wednesday, December 3, for Whitney Biennial%26#8211;Prix de Rome artist Franco Mondini-Ruiz and a book signing for Jay Rusovich on December 15.

A Surls for Heights Boulevard: Before the end of the year, James Surls%26#8217; Park Avenue Project will be reprised along Heights Boulevard and on the Rice University campus. While sites for Rice are being finalized, the three Heights sculptures will be placed at the 400, 900 and 1300 blocks of Height Boulevard including a new sculpture completed just for this project.

Books, Back to Nature: We love the small printed treasures at McClain Gallery (through December) including books from Fondation Beyeler ... Collage master John Pavlicek solos in %26#8220;Ordinary Miracles%26#8221; at Gremillion %26amp; Co. Fine Art (December 9 %26#8211; January 16) ... At Meredith Long %26amp; Company, tonal plein air canvases by Barbara Hines continue the grand tradition of American landscape painting (December 10 %26#8211; 30) ... Libbie Masterson turns her camera on her native state, in a mystical new series of black-and-white images shot at twilight in West Texas, at Houston Arts Alliance%26#8217;s 125 Gallery (December 3 %26#8211; January 7) ... Wade Wilson Art now represents mid-career masters Houston artists Ann Stautberg and Frank X. Tolbert 2. Investigate their respective photographs and paintings at the pair%26#8217;s open studio, co-hosted by Wilson and Cothren Contemporary Consulting on December 6 (513 Railey, info 713.521.2977).

Terrific Tierney: DiverseWorks rolls out one of the tour de forces of the fall. %26#8220;Tierney Malone: Third Ward is My Harlem%26#8221; (through December 19), in the nonprofit%26#8217;s Main Gallery. For this commission, Malone alters the artspace via an immersive installation featuring his eloquent signage. Often made on sheetrock or other humble materials, his paintings bear text fragments and phrases conjuring pop-cultural references, especially jazz and blues (many works evoke actual album covers), while conveying a sense of place as well as the power of the African-American experience. Additional leitmotifs are the Houston artist%26#8217;s own personal history, as well as the broader framework of growing up in urban black America. What%26#8217;s new here are sound components and a site-specific theater where Malone%26#8217;s first-ever film project screens. Catherine D. Anspon

Art Notes

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:57:20 GMT

Signature Signage: At Holly Johnson Gallery, Kim Cadmus Owens%26#8217; solo %26#8220;Reading Between the Lines%26#8221; will be a magnet for architectural advocates (through December 24). A University of Dallas professor, Owens adroitly investigates the junctures between the historical record and the present, delving into an exploration of vernacular architecture that eschews nostalgia for digital sampling. Along the way, she achieves a mirror of the 21st-century metropolis in metamorphoses via subjects banal and beautiful: a roadside motel, a mid-century bank, deco-era signage and facades along a city block.

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Can You Say Estate Sale? The Dallas Museum of Art taps its patrons to deaccession their personal collections to raise funds for the museum, while introducing a new holiday tradition. Art/Find at DMA%26#8217;s Museum Store culls the rare and intriguing including home design objects, vintage accessories, costume jewelry, textiles, books, rugs and even art (December 7 %26#8211; 13; members receive a 20 percent discount plus first shopping privileges on Monday, December 7).

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Destination Dallas Art Fair: The clock is ticking on securing VIP tickets for year two of this boutique art fair presented by Mo%26#235;t Hennessy at Fashion Industry Gallery (F.I.G.) in the Downtown Arts District Friday through Sunday, February 5 through 7. Offered in an extremely limited number, the VIP pass provides insider access to the Preview Gala on Thursday, February 4 %26#8212; your first chance to peruse 45-plus American and British dealers %26#8212; and the fair itself. Additional VIP perks include invitations to a PaperCity-sponsored Houston reception on Tuesday, January 5, at The Menil Collection and a Dallas preview party at Neiman Marcus Downtown on Wednesday, January 20; a personally guided tour of the show pre-opening; a Saturday-night soir%26#233;e at The Goss-Michael Foundation; a one-year inaugural membership in Friends of the Dallas Art Fair (which grants you access to specially curated events); and reserved seats for the fair%26#8217;s symposiums on Saturday and Sunday, February 6 and 7, at the Beck Imaginarium (F.I.G. building, fifth floor). VIP ticket $400, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts; information Tracy Moberley, 214.220.1278; dallasartfair.com.

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Let%26#8217;s Go West: Catch the final weeks of painter Susan Rothenberg, curated by Michael Auping, at The Modern %26#8212; an epic, 35-year survey told from the perspective of 25 seminal canvases (through January 3). After this show closes, the museum will have a Warhol spring %26#8212; literally. %26#8220;Andy Warhol: The Last Decade,%26#8221; organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum opens on Valentine%26#8217;s Day (through May 16), including the Pop master%26#8217;s abstract works, collaborations with Jean-Michel Basquiat, camouflage paintings, black-and-white ads, self-portraits and the haunting Last Supper series ... The Kimbell Art Museum probes top Texas private collectors in a blockbuster show that traverses art history, encompassing 100 old master paintings and sculptures, Impressionist masterpieces and modernist gems, acquired by discerning eyes such as Ray and Patsy Nasher, John and Dominique de Menil, Marion Koogler McNay and namesake founders Kay and Velma Kimbell (through March 21) ... Christina%26#8217;s World: While you%26#8217;re in Fort Worth, a must-see is the Christina Rees%26#8211;curated show, %26#8220;Death of a Propane Salesman: Anxiety and the Texas Artist,%26#8221; at Fort Worth Contemporary Arts. Rees is kicking up some dust, mixing emerging talents Eric Zimmerman and Seth Alverson with grand master Vernon Fisher. And any exhibition that includes Ludwig Schwarz, Margaret Meehan and Michael Bise is required fare (through December 13).

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Deco Drama, Trim the Tree: Collector types will be lining up at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary for Blue Yule, a holiday fund-raiser presenting Texas artist-made ornaments that%26#8217;s big fun (Saturday, December 5; $20, $15 for MAC members; info 214.953.1212) ... Martin Lawrence Galleries mounts the works of Ert%26#233; (Romain de Tirtoff, 1892 %26#8211; 1990), the Deco pioneer who infiltrated the performing arts. Ert%26#233; is also highlighted in the Dallas Museum of Art%26#8217;s %26#8220;All the World%26#8217; A Stage%26#8221; (through February 28). Catherine D. Anspon