Crime Wave

Robert Boyd

• The ghost of Enron still haunts us. The history of Enron's association with Houston's art scene has yet to be written down all in one place. At the very least, it deserves a long post of its own. Even though Enron collapsed in 2001, its ripples still pop up, even in the art world. Jeffrey Shankman had been COO of Enron Global Markets until December 2001. At Enron, he was also on a committee that bought contemporary art for Enron. (That collection was auctioned off as part of Enron's bankruptcy.) In 2003, he built the gallery complex at 4411 Montrose, which is now one of the most important art sites in town, home to five galleries.  He declared bankruptcy in 2008 (the same year he was sued for trying to blackmail a New York Gallery--I can't find the outcome of that suit online, though). In 2011, the gallery complex was sold as part of the bankruptcy.

Now, he has been indicted by a federal grand jury for engaging in "a scheme to conceal assets to defraud creditors and the trustee who was appointed to collect and dispose of all Shankman’s assets in his bankruptcy estate." These assets include "various pieces of fine art, decorative art, and jewelry." I would love to see this collection! In fact, exhibits of art taken as asset seizures would be quite fascinating. As an organizing principle, gathering asset seizure art into an exhibit seems no less legitimate than many other curatorial selection processes.


Photo By Johnny Hanson/Houston Chronicle. Used without permission because it's such a cool photo and I couldn't resist.

• Hazmat. Another intersection between Houston art and law enforcement happened this week--homes belonging to Cecily Horton, a partner at M.K.G. Art Management, were raided by the FBI. The raid has nothing to do with art, though. The Chronicle reported that certain chemicals had been ordered that could be used to produce "tear gas or nerve gas." Apparently they were ordered by Horton's son. I guess the FBI watches places where you can order this type of chemicals. The homes were in Houston and Michigan. An apartment in Bryan was also raided. As part of the raid, the FBI blew up some possibly dangerous substances. This sounds like a hell of a story, but whatever is going on, the FBI is staying mum.

• Cop in the Studio. OK, enough with all this crime. I was at Winter Street Studios last weekend for their open house and snapped a few photos. The studios were all cleaned up for guests, so we visitors got a somewhat artificial experience of them. My first stop was Solomon Kane's studio, which he shares with Jonathan Rosenstein and Vonetta Berry. Solomon Kane, in addition to being the nicest guy in the Houston art scene, happens to be an actual cop for Harris County.

Outside the studio hangs this Solomon Kane image of Ganesh.



Inside, each artist has his or her own corner. The color explosion above is Solomon Kane's.



Solomon Kane stands before a wall of Jonathan Rosenstein assemblages.



And Jonathan Rosenstein sits before a wall of photos of Vonetta Berry's work.

Kane told me about a project he's working on which I can't describe because it is not a done deal. There are still some hoops to jump through, apparently. But if it happens, it'll be great! Stay tuned.



Of all the studios I visited, Alex Wilhite's looked the most like a working studio. He had straightened up a bit and hung some pieces, but he still had all his materials out. I had seen his all-white canvases before, and was intrigued to see more colorful variations on the idea of nearly flat monochromatic canvases.



Fellow Memorial High School grad Van McFarland had work in a couple of studio spaces. This space was practically empty except for the paintings one the wall. But one look at the floor and you could tell the space had seen a lot of painting. He had a group of Leger-like abstractions on the wall.



Tuyet Ong-Barr recently had a show at d.m. allison gallery. With the exposed canvas areas, her work recalls Helen Frankenthaler and Sam Francis--in short, Ong-Barr is a third generation color-field painter. (Or would that be fourth generation? Francis and Frankenthaler were both born in the 1920s.)



Camille Warmington is right across the hall from Tuyet Ong-Barr, which is interesting because they both do gestural abstractions. Of course, Warmington also does realist paintings, but they seem much more conceptual. Her abstractions and realist paintings have similar palettes but otherwise feel very different.

In between these two abstractionists is realist house painter Cary Reeder's studio. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good photo of it. She just had an excellent show at Lawndale.



Finally, Monica Vidal had Temple Hive assembled in her studio for this event. I'm going to assume that it is not usually set up. The funny thing was that people were afraid to go into it. I guess we're taught from an early age not to touch the art. But she convinced folks to take the plunge and they loved it.


Monica Vidal from inside Temple Hive.

• Nothing at all to do with crime or police. But it made me laugh.

This is by cartoonist Sean Bieri. (Hat-tip to the Comics Reporter.)

Artcrawl 2011

by Robert Boyd

Among the artists and art scenesters of Houston, there is a feeling about Artcrawl of "why bother?" The art that gets shown in the spaces in the warehouse district is not all that interesting (your mileage may vary, of course) and tends to feel the same every year. Even a good artist like John Runnels shows the same pieces every year.

But Artcrawl, like the Bayou City Art Festival, is important. It's one of the few times each year that a LOT of Houstonians get out to look at art. And Artcrawl has some advantages over the Bayou City Art Festival--the art is mostly by local artists at Artcrawl, and it has an altogether grungier, more bohemian aspect to it. Not only that, you can hear live music at the Last Concert Cafe...

Or in other nooks and crannies along the crawl, such as Atelier Jacquinet...

The disadvantages are obvious--when you see so much artwork at once, you get art fatigue. In a rush to get through, you might overlook someone who'd doing good work. And there are problems with the crawl--some of the venues are really far away and hard to get to, especially if your energy starts to flag or you run out of time.

Anyway, I started at The Foundry, a group of studios north of I-10 just under the Elysian Street Viaduct. I always start here because they let UH students show work, which means that there is often something fresh--at least something you didn't see last year.

obelisk by Daniel Adame

I don't know what the name of this piece by Daniel Adame is, but I like the idea of making an obelisk out of old crappy weathered wood planks.

two paintings by Tangerine Williams

These two self-affirming paintings by Tangerine Williams made me laugh. I love the combination of the blunt statement (a statement one would only make if one weren't really all that sure) with the simple child-like smiley-face portraits. Indeed, the smiley faces are almost something a teacher would stick on your test when you got a good score--another affirmation. And what's most funny is that there are two of them. I'm not sure how much irony is here, or if this was the result of a long dark night of self-doubt. Either way--I like them.

Then I went to North Main Auto, which appeared to be a new entry on the Artcrawl map. But there was not much there--apparently they were going to have a party later in the evening, but for now it was an empty, abandoned store with one piece of artwork sprawled in the corner.

sculpture by Bobby Kaloor

The piece is apparently by Bobby Kaloor. As for the space, the story I got was that Avenue CDC was trying to get the owner to let them have it as a community art space. But the guy I talked to admitted that this was unlikely. Even though it has been empty for years, there are great expectations for increased real estate values once the North Line light rail is finished and the Quitman station opens.

The Silo (4601 Hirsch)

I knew nothing about the Silo when I drove out there. It took me a while to actually find it. It's in a highly industrial neighborhood on Clinton just north of the ship channel. (Weirdly enough, just south of Clinton from it is a tiny residential subdivision, As I was looking for the Silo, I drove into this subdivision, where I witnessed police handcuffing some poor schmuck. Lovely neighborhood.)

Finally I realized that the Silo was the decrepit-looking building that I had thought was abandoned as I drove by. I parked next to a food truck--delicious barbeque smells were coming out of it. I went inside to this big dark warehouse. It was quite cluttered. To my right was a room closed off with a hanging black curtain--a sign next to it announced a schedule of films being shown through the day. Apparently a film was being showed at that moment. I didn't want to interrupt, so I continued to a lighted office that had this sign on the outside:

I went to into the office, where two guys were huddled around computers. I said hello, and they responded amiably enough but didn't offer anything beyond a greeting. On the walls were several bad paintings with ridiculous prices on the labels beneath them. I checked out the website later--it is kind of a utopian techno-communist movement. Later that evening, I was having a conversation with someone who suggested we could get by without money through some system of volunteer labor. I asked him if he would volunteer to work in the mercury mines. I guess the Zeitgeist people would say, robots would do all the mercury mining while the rest of us only do work we felt passionate about. Sign me up!

I then went outside into one of the two courtyards. With the high concrete walls, this part of the Silo looked like a prison, but the abandoned nature of it gave it kind of a Mad Max vibe--which was accentuated by the junked remains of old art cars that littered the yard.

And the complex was big--there were a couple of large courtyard-type enclosures and a big paved back area--all filled with rusty old art cars.

As I wandered through this wasteland, I only saw one other person, who looked just as perplexed as I was. The whole time I was there, the facility was being buzzed by a helicopter.

So what is the Silo? They have a Facebook page which isn't terribly informative. Later that night, as I was telling someone about the Silo, a young woman interrupted and said she had been to raves there in the past.

After that, I went over to Commerce Street, where there were a few studios open. One was the Gribble Stamp Warehouse, where Sketchy Neighbors had a show up. As I understand it, the studio they were using belongs to artist Joseph Blanchard. He and Sketchy Neighbors had a show up on the theme of time travel-- which wasn't all that obvious. What was obvious was that all the pieces were doors of some kind.

a piece by Joseph Blanchard

Brenda Cruz, Altered

Jordan Johnson, skatethepast

Next stop was Diverse Works, which has a show up that I didn't think much of. See Dean Liscum's review--he was a little more gentle than I would have been, but basically we're on the same page. In the same building is Howard Sherman's studio, which was open that evening.

That's Sherman with a giant mound of tape, blinking his eyes.

I crossed under I-10 into the belly of the beast, the central studios of Artcrawl.This is the part that art scenesters hate the most--it's crowded, parking is difficult, etc. I swept through Mother Dog Studios and didn't see much new (that said, I think there are a lot of good artists at Mother Dog Studio). Then I went into the studios that are catty-corner to Mother Dog. I'm not sure what they are called, but it's always a crowded madhouse in there. There is too much art to absorb, and most of it is terrible. It's nice when you come across pieces that seem restful and uncrowded, like these three by Alex Wilhite.

But that was an oasis in the desert of visual clutter.

Next to these studios is Cardoza Gallery, site of a recent Mark Flood exhibit and formerly known as the Temporary Space. Chris Cascio had some paintings up in a back room.

three Chris Cascio paintings

I liked the one on the right enough to buy it--my sole Artcrawl purchase. I thought that'd be my last art purchase of the year, but Art Palace is having its own "Black Friday" sale which looks like it may be too good to pass up.)

I then hit a couple of more studios in the neighborhood, but nothing caught my eye. However, I ran into several people I know, including a friend from B-school who I haven't seen since school. He works here in town for a major French bank and told me that all the traders there had been laid off that week. But he was felt pretty secure and had decided to come out and check out the art. This might have been his only art event of the year, for all I know. I hope he checked out Chris Cascio's art, and Sketchy Neighbors, and FotoFest (which has a great International Discoveries show up) and Box 13--which all had some of the best work at Artcrawl.

I ended the evening at Box 13, whose Dutch Invasion show was both excellent and sparsely attended. But it will be up for a while, so you still have a chance to see it. There were a few other East End studios I missed--but by the time I got to Box 13, I was pooped. Maybe next year!

WHAM and Artcrawl 2010 part 2

After I left WHAM, I came over to the Elder Street Artist Lofts. The first piece I saw there that I liked was this sculpture by Jonatan Lopez.

Jonatan Lopez, Redeemer, found steel and animal bones


This piece recalls Vessel States, the installation Lopez did at Project Row Houses last year. But the level of craft displayed here is higher. I don't know if this reflects a growth in Lopez's abilities, or if it's just a result of the demands of the piece itself. Still, the use of headless bodies and chains is common in both works--and equally spooky. One thinks of prisoners or slaves, as well as s&m imagery. (I remember an interview with Leon Golub where he admitted that in order to create his searing images of interrogations, he often referred to S&M magazines for poses. And horrifically, this association came around recently with the stomach-churning photos from Abu Ghraib.) Removing the head does several things. It dehumanizes the image, but it also in a way classicizes it by making us recall sculptural fragments from Greece and Rome. It is suggestive of horrific violence--a dismembered corpse. I don't know if Lopez is influenced by Golub, Goya, the Marquis de Sade, or the Chapman Brothers. I am disturbed looking at Redeemer and Vessel States, and that's good. This kind of work is probably something Lopez should continue to explore.

J.P. Hartman, Vatican (Past-Present-Future), assemblage, 2005



J.P. Hartman was someone whose art I had seen before at The Big Show. His work is all brightly painted assemblage and sculpture, usually with a socially-aware or political point. Some of the politics are simplistic--messages like "Republicans are bad" or "G.W. Bush is a rat" are common. That's the difficulty of doing political work in a visual medium. Hans Haacke can pull it off without producing mere propaganda, but not too many others. That said, these assemblages are great. They have a real funky energy to them. They were on display in this crowded apartment (it's misleading for Elder Street to refer to its apartments as lofts--as far as I can see, none have high ceilings or open plans). One thing he did that was cool was to place them on bright red plinths. Obviously J.P. Hartman is not a "white cube" kind of guy. Visual maximalism seems to be his approach.

Naz, performance piece (title?), woman in a wood and glass box, 2010


I went to the Houston Foundry next, where I saw Naz--who I think is a U.H. student. This was another piece that made me uncomfortable. Girl in a box, imprisoned and on display. She wasn't doing a Laurel Nakadate deal--she wasn't showing off her body--but she was attractive, which accounted for part of the discomfort. How can I, a 47 year old hetero man, not feel like a creep looking at her (and taking her photo)? So, good piece. Mission accomplished.

Haden Garrett, A New Sculpture for Artcrawl, mixed media, 2010


Haden Garrett is a sculptor whose work has been displayed at Poissant Gallery in the past year or so. This photo is only part of the installation he did in this narrow hallway. I like the cartoon hands coming out to me.

David Graeve, big weird photo balloons


David Graeve has a studio at The Houston Foundry, where he fabricates beautiful melted glass sculptures. (At least I think he has a studio there--he had a lot of stuff on display). But the things he does that I like best are these big balloons.


Then I crossed the freeway and checked out the galleries in the McKee street neighborhood.

I don't know why, but I liked this crumbling abandoned building with its aggressive graffiti at the corner of Rothwell and Hardy.

Chris Cascio, two paintings


There was a show in the old Temporary Space (RIP) space featuring work by James Burns, Christopher Cascio, and Nick Scott. I had seen Cascio's work before at Lawndale--really big collages. But I like these paintings of his better--deadpan recreations of old stereo equipment ads. Very nostalgic for a guy of my generation.

Alex Wilhite, various paintings


In the cacophony of paintings that I saw in one of the studios (can't remember the name), Alex Wilhite's mostly white canvases were a visual oasis. Rough-hewn and austere, they struck me with their beauty. Wilhite had a sign up telling people he was deaf, and asking them to tap him on the shoulder if they wanted to speak with him. These painting ironically made me think of white noise.

Jimmy Houston, Poor Ol' Rufus, oil on iron skillet


Jimmy Houston had a bunch of humorous, cartoonish paintings that I liked a lot. His work reminds a little bit of Bob Zoell's--not so much in style but in manic lowbrow energy.


Mother Dog Studios always has pretty amazing stuff for Artcrawl, which makes sense given that they are the ones more-or-less behind it. Someone there--I don't know who--had this huge area that he was letting teens and children paint in. Update: I've been told this is the studio of Mitch Samuels, aka "Grystar."

Then there was a dog-oriented exhibit that included these pieces by Maria Smits:

Maria Smits, from left to right: Adam, Mother Maria, G sus, Mary Magdalena, Eve, pastel & charcoal on paper, 2010


These drawings by Maria Smits seem very closely related to the show she has up currently at Lawndale. I like the striking, muscular drawing, even if I don't quite get the dog heads. (Full disclosure: I own a small Maria Smits drawing.)

This guy was standing guard at the entrance of the dog show. I don't know the artist, though.


Greg Budwine contributed these beautiful dog portraits. I love the old fashioned magazine illustration style on display in these paintings.

Greg Budwine, Ruffles, acrylic, 2010

Greg Budwine, Domino, acrylic, 2010


I also like that for a show of art that was a little more cutting edge that whoever put this show together thought it worthwhile to include these highly illustrational pieces. Budwine has great technique and in these and other pieces, he takes sentimental subject matter and gives it a weird little twist with his idealized portrayal.

Mother Dog Studios honcho John Runnels was part of the dog show. He had several pieces that were like this:

John Runnels, part of Bayou Beauties; the way some women walk the dog, inkjet on paper, 2009

Ladies, if you want to have John Runnels photograph you in the nude walking your dog along Buffalo Bayou, send Runnels an email at motherdogstudios@earthlink.net.

Runnels also had a room full of interesting work, including models for his Buffalo Bayou Park entrance and a bunch of work made of cigarette butts.

John Runnels, cigarette chair, chair with cigarette butts

Runnels is always worth looking at. A crazy artist, a lover of naked females and the word "fuck," a protean imagination--he always produces interesting work.

John C. Runnels, House of Bausch (A Danger to be Safe in), graphite, Chartpack letters on tile and wood, 2010

One last Runnels. He is a capable drafstman as well as being a great assemblagist and conceptualist. I love the feel of this piece--the perplexing drawing with its combination of Clovis Trouille and Walt Disney's Lady and the Tramp--with it's equally perplexing collage elements. It makes for a mysterious, beautiful whole.

After Mother Dog Studio, I went over to the hardy & Nance Street Studios. I was pretty bushed and I wasn't seeing a lot of stuff I liked--but maybe if it had been my first stop, things would have been different. I was suffering from art fatigue (as you, my readers, are probably suffering right now). But I did like the childlike, minimal paintings of Celeste Tammariello.

Celeste Tammariello, Untitled: Overlap, silkscreen, latex print

That's it for this year. Next year I think I'll start from the Southeast corner of Artcrawl and move roughly north and west. That way I won't poop out before I get to El Rincon Social and Aerosol Warfare.