The Story of Houston’s Oldest Art Gallery and How Yvonne Garcia Is Keeping Hooks-Epstein’s Legacy Alive

Kudos to the stalwart Hooks-Epstein Galleries, established 1969, a heritage dealer that can claim to be Houston’s oldest continuously operating gallery. This art enterprise, which was opened by the late Geri Hooks and her sister-in-law Evan Epstein 57 years ago at 1200 Bissonnet, still thrives today as a vital part of Houston’s art ecosystem.

In 1975, Epstein’s interest in the gallery was bought by Geri’s husband Charles Hooks. The couple later held court from a spacious temple of art at 3210 Eastside and were leaders of the seminal Houston Art Dealers Association. After Charles’ death in 1995, Geri continued on, now in the gallery’s current Colquitt location, where she became one of the foundational dealers along Houston’s thriving Gallery Row.

In 2006, a fresh-faced UH art-history grad came on as junior member of the team. Flash forward 20 years and Yvonne Garcia, Hooks’ trusted colleague (akin to a daughter) holds the reins, carrying on five years after Geri Hooks passing as her hand-picked successor. Garcia is committed to honoring the founder’s vision, which morphed over the years from Hooks’ first focus as a dealer of 19th and 20th-century prints (the gallery’s inaugural show set a high bar by presenting Picasso’s Saltimbanques series). More museum-quality print exhibitions followed, including ones that offered homage to the Surrealists and attracted such astute collectors as Dominique de Menil.

During more than half a century, Hooks-Epstein has earned a sterling reputation as a staunch but iconoclastic gallery with a stable that includes the longtime represented Kermit Oliver (the only American to create scarves for Hermès); artists of the American studio-glass movement including Toots Zynsky; inventive Houston craft master Edward Lane McCartney (currently on view through this Saturday, May 9); and Korean-born, Texas-based ceramicist Hayun Surl, a rising star in contemporary clay.

Now Hooks-Epstein Galleries owner and director Yvonne Garcia tells us more.

PaperCity: How do you discover new talent? 

Yvonne Garcia: Artists usually submit to us. However, once in a while, we will see work that really inspires us and literally makes us say “Wow.”

South Korean-born, San Angelo-based ceramicist Hayun Surl is one of our newest emerging artists. He was actually in Houston checking out galleries. He gave me his website, and when Jayni and I viewed the work, we were hooked. It’s been a great journey working with him, and we’re looking forward to seeing him evolve.

What role does Jayni play at the gallery?

YG: Jayni Karsan has been with the gallery since 2016. She’s celebrating her 10-year milestone this March. She is my associate director, and she is my right-hand. We have a great rapport when it comes to the gallery and our exhibitions. Of course, we also have fun outside the gallery.

She has been helping curate shows since I took over the gallery. The most notable include Angelica Raquel’s “Legends and Mine” in 2023, and Clara Hoag’s “Ball Pit” and “Kaleidoscope: Celebrating Women in Art” in 2024.

How has the gallery metamorphosed since its founding?

YG: We have kept to our surrealist and representational roots with work by Mayuko Ono Gray, Mark Greenwalt and of course, Kermit Oliver, among others. However, we have incorporated more craft into our inventory.

There is a wonderful community of craft artists and enthusiasts thriving and collecting here in Houston. We are featuring ceramics by Clara Hoag, Angel Oloshove and Hayun Surl; glasswork by José Chardiet and Toots Zynsky; craft jewelers during our WEAR IT OUT! group exhibitions; beadwork sculpture by Austin-based artist Heather Logan; and pysanky egg art by Houston-based artist Basia Hawicz.

On the gallery’s long-standing role as main representative of Kermit Oliver.

YG: Stewarding an artist such as Kermit Oliver comes with a great responsibility. Oliver has maintained a private, disciplined life while the gallery has helped to share his work and maintain his reputation among his collectors and the public.

Oliver’s work is important due to his unique style of linking “Old Masters” techniques, such as the Golden Mean, with a contemporary, deeply personal vision and his transformation of ordinary Texas life (ranching and wildlife) into timeless allegories.

Whenever we introduce his work to a new collector, they are usually awestruck at the themes and what he has accomplished during his art career. Having work in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (among other museum collections), having recently painted a portrait of Texas State Representative Senfronia Thompson and being the first and only American artist to have been commissioned by Hermès to create 17 designs for their scarves — that’s legacy.

On Susie Kalil’s forthcoming Kermit book.

YG: Kermit Oliver: An Enduring Spirit is still in development. It will be published by Texas A&M University Press. Susie has been working diligently and passionately towards the completion of the book. Geri had hoped to see the fruition of the book, as she had stewarded the idea, but she’ll be happily looking down when it is completed.

Kermit’s collectors and the gallery are looking forward, with bated breath, to the book’s release.

The gallery has always emphasized diversity. Can you speak to some of the BIPOC and women artists you have represented that have long relationships with the gallery? 

YG: During my initial gallery interview process, one of the things that really resonated with me was that Geri wanted the gallery to be a platform for artists of color to show their work. This was very important to me, especially being a woman of color.

We have taken great care in showing work not only by BIPOC artists, but also women artists. We have represented Nigerian-born, Houston-based artist Kingsley Onyeiwu since 2016. We originally saw his work at Project Row Houses in 2015. Since then, it has been a joy to see him evolve as an artist, moving from charcoal as his primary medium to using color pastels. He’s only in his early thirties, but his evolution has blown us away.

We also represent Houston printmaker Ann Johnson. She loves to refer to herself as a printmaker without boundaries. From printing on feathers to making her own bricks to apply print transfers, she is amazing at what she does.

What are you most excited about this spring in the Houston cultural sphere or beyond?

YG: I’m really looking forward to the upcoming Clutch City Craft exhibition at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (through August 8). Also, looking forward to shows at MoMA (Frida and Diego, Duchamp), the Guggenheim (Summer Pop Art Exhibition) and the Whitney (Lichtenstein).

What are you most excited about in the next 12 months for the gallery?

YG: We’re showing craftwork and exquisite jewelry work by Edward Lane McCartney and handwoven art by fiber artist Lynn Bennett-Carpenter (both through this Saturday, May 9), watercolors by Angelica Raquel (who currently has a solo show at the McNay) alongside ceramic sculptures by Angel Oloshove this coming summer, and drawings by Charlotte Cosgrove and UK-based David Farrer’s whimsical papier-mâché animals (both this coming fall). Plus a couple of surprises — stay tuned.

Most surprising passions outside of art world?

YG: Going to music concerts. I’ve seen everything from U2 to Madonna to Nine Inch Nails to Dolly Parton to Paul McCartney. My concert list is pretty much been checked off for the most part. Next up will be The Last Dinner Party, an all-female band from the UK.

I’m also a vinyl collector. I mostly collect vinyl from the ’70s and ’80s. However, I did recently acquire an (H-Town’s very own) Archie Bell and the Drells “Tighten Up” LP.

I love to watch old movies (A Place in the Sun, Rear Window, Cape Fear, etc.), see museum shows, read, chill out at a coffee shop (Siphon is my go to), and maybe take a nap in-between.

Fondest memory of Geri? 

YG: When she and I went to see Barbra Streisand at the Toyota Center. She was so excited and smiling from ear to ear.

When did she give you the news that she would pass the torch to you?

YG: It was probably the second year I worked here. She would teasingly say, “One day Yvonne is going to own this place on day.” She really did mean it.

Current exhibitions at Hooks-Epstein Galleries include Edward Lane McCartney’s “Connections” and Lynn Bennett-Carpenter’s “The Rages,” which are both showing through Saturday, May 9. Shows from Lorena Morales and Catherine Asher Morgan are set to run next Saturday, May 16 through June 20. For more information, go here.