Linkages

News article or press release? Ever heard of Zen Art Space? Or you might have heard it called Zen Art Gallery. Its website can't decide. I haven't, but I'll make a point of checking it out soon. It's in the Galleria. Here's what The Houston Press wrote about it:

The Zen Art Space is a gallery known for its fresh, alternative take on art and is part of an international community of artists from Mexico, China, Japan, and the U.S. However, the gallery pays special attention to local Houston artists, poets, and fashion designers by helping them transition from the amateur to professional circuits. (The Houston Press, June 10, 2010) 

My first question is, known by whom? My second question is, is this a news article or a paid ad? Their current show is on the theme of "Super-Heroes." Sounds super. (OK, I'm feeling sour grapes since this place managed to get coverage from the Press while my exhibit at Lawndale featuring two of the most interesting cartoonists in the world got zilch. Which simply goes to show that Kyle Lu, owner of Zen Art Space/Gallery is better at promoting his thing than I am.)

Artist's Statements Must Die! Do you ever feel like artist's statements are terrible? Insipid collections of cliches with the right artspeak, they feel just about as personal and meaningful as a motivational corporate PowerPoint. There are exceptions, but as a rule they're horrible, one of the worst literary genres that currently exists. Writing them is kind of a humiliation for artists. A humiliation that artists can now avoid thanks to the Arty Bollocks Generator. Let this algorithm write your crap artist's statement for you--so you can spend more time doing art.


The Austin Museum of Art... For now.

Art and Accounting. Claire Ruud continues her numbers-crunching exploration of Texas area non-profit art spaces, digging deep into their form 990s. This installment looks at the Austin Museum of Art, using the Tuscon Museum of Art and MOCA Jacksonville as benchmarks. And the picture looks pretty good on the surface but looks quite bad if you dig down. The reason it looks good is because AMOA just got a huge influx of capital by selling off land downtown which had been intended for a new permanent building. But hey, when is eating your seedcorn ever a good idea? This is a great series--CAMH is next in line!

He Wanted to Be A Comics Artists (But Fate Intervened): This video features Adrian Villar Rojas, who represented Argentina at the Venice Biennale. He comes from Rosario, Argentina, and as a teen, he wanted to draw comics. He went to art school and discovered that they had no comics drawing classes. So he was forced to study other kinds of art. Maybe a big loss to the world of comics, but clearly a win for the fine arts world!


Walking and Talking in Houston: Carrie Schneider has been providing artists with MP3 recorders and telling them to narrate walks around Houston. This walk--down Hillcroft from from Bellaire to Bissonet--is narrated by one of my favorite artists, Stephanie Toppin (a painting of hers is hanging right outside my door as I type this). Take a listen. Schneider spoke yesterday at TEDxHouston about the project--once they put a video of her talk on YouTube, I'll post it here. Ironically, Schneider was in a leg-brace for her talk! (OffCite)