‘Round 7’ at Lawndale Art Center
Why do we copy? Why do we appropriate imagery? Is it inherently different from the source? Perhaps these questions aren’t all asked overtly or even consciously in the Round 7 Lawndale Artist Studio Program Exhibition, but these themes percolate when considering the three artists together. The exhibition features work from DOMOKOS/FUTURE BLONDES 0.0.0.0., a self-described [...]
Steve Brudniak: The Science of Surrealism
Comte de Lautréamont was a 19th-century poet whose famously cryptic line – “beautiful as the chance encounter of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table” – was adopted as one of Surrealism’s aesthetic credos. Nearly sixty years later, André Breton, one of the founders of Surrealism, would similarly define surrealist art as [...]
Clarissa Tossin at Window into Houston & Sicardi Gallery
A common undergraduate exercise for architecture and design students tasks them with going out and taking pictures of “things used as other things.” Jack Lemmon’s character in The Apartment famously used a tennis racket to strain pasta, and I not so famously use an old sewing table as a desk. Anyone living in an urban [...]
No Paint at Gallery Sonja Roesch
In the 1970s and 80s modern land art was in its infancy, the steel industry was at its peak, and holograms were stunningly cool. No Paint at Gallery Sonja Roesch features a group of six artists whose art practices stem from this era with surprising relevancy and impeccable curation. No Paint creates a dialogue of [...]
Creature Comforts, Indoors and Out
Andy Coolquitt’s Sculptures and Tableaux Use Urban Materials to Evoke Domesticity Andy Coolquitt has a steadfast interest in domestic spaces. So much so that the Austin-based artist, who has a solo exhibition opening soon at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston [...]
Sean Shim-Boyle: Salt House
Rarely does such a potentially disruptive, even violent architectural intervention feel as organic and sensitive as Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based artist Sean Shim-Boyle’s response to one of the historic Holman Street shotgun houses in Project Row Houses’ Round 38. Reacting to [...]
Astrodome Rising?
Proposal for Moldering Stadium Shows Promise Amid Logistical, Access Issues A few weeks ago, a student’s proposal to partially demolish the Astrodome and keep its steel skeleton as a monster-sized gazebo to shade NFL tailgaters, rodeo livestock and carnival-goers, and sports practice fields became a local viral sensation. It was even endorsed by the mayor [...]
Mark Fox: If That Then This
Grids are nearly synonymous with the concept of order. Spreadsheets compartmentalize data into cells of information. Graph paper structures the organization of schemas and equations. Even if one does not deal in occupations that demand such regimentation, the grid is unavoidable for any urban dweller, as nearly all city streets are based [...]
Robert Ruello: Open Other Side
Visiting Robert Ruello’s third solo exhibition at Inman Gallery, I was reminded of the term “abstract illusionism,” which critic Barbara Rose coined in the late 1960s to describe painters using trompe-l’oeuil devices to create spatial and other pictorial illusions in non-representational painting. After years of Clement Greenberg-decreed movements [...]
Loose Ends
Stray Tidbits, Blind Items and Unsolicited Advice Last year’s salutary exhibition American Made: 250 Years of American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston played to the MFAH’s strengths, telling a convincing story of American art across media while giving the works room to breathe. It also begged the question: How would the MFAH [...]
The Queen of Conflation
Marcelyn McNeil Blends the Rules in Lemonworld The seductive, curious paintings of Houston-based artist Marcelyn McNeil leave no room to doubt her commitment to a studio-based practice. Just ask painter Howard Sherman, a friend who often swaps studio visits with [...]
Dallas Art Fair Turns Five, Spawns Satellites
New partnerships part of ongoing evolution At the ripe old age of five, the Dallas Art Fair is becoming as sure a sign of April in Texas as wildflowers blooming along the highways – albeit one with a more contemporary edge. More than 80 galleries representing cities from Miami to Milan will set up shop [...]
