Pan Recommends for the week of March 28 to April 3

Robert Boyd

I've been in a hotel room in Arkansas for the whole week, so here are a few things I am looking forward to very strongly when I get back to sweet home Houston.

THURSDAY



God's Architects by Zachary Godshall at 14 Pews, 7 pm. A documentary about visionary architects and the mystical visions from God that inspired their work. Sounds fascinating!

FRIDAY


Christopher Cascio, Harvest Time, 2012

35th UH School of Art Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition at the Blaffer Gallery, 6 pm. A show I look forward to every year, this year's class includes Megan Badger, Christopher Cascio, Erica Ciesielski Chaikin, Fiona Cochran, Carrie Cook, Stacey Farrell, El Franco Lee II, Elicia Garcia, Jessica Ninci, Stephen Paré, Jasleen Sarai, and Katelin Washmon. Many of these artists have been making their mark locally for a while, but now they will have something they didn't have before: a diploma (to paraphrase the Wizard of Oz).


Jessica Ninci, Waiting for to Go, 2012


Hillaree Hamblin painting from Daytime Television

Daytime Television featuring art by UH and Rice art students Trey Ferguson, Hillaree Hamblin, Stephanie Hamblin, Miguel Martinez, and Ana Villagomez, curated by Debra Barrera at galleryHOMELAND, 6 pm. The UH Thesis show isn't the only student show opening Friday night--young artists traditional rivals Rice and UH are teaming up at galleryHOMELAND to show their stuff.

SATURDAY

Project Row Houses Roung 38 featuring installations and work by M’kina Tapscott and Kenya Evans, Darin Forehand, Derek Cracco, Jürgen Tarrasch, Sean Shim-Boyle, Rahul Mitra, and Thomas Sayers Ellis, 2:30 pm (artists' talks) and 4 pm (opening). Another big Project Row Houses Saturday afternoon, featuring some work in cultural exchange with Space One Eleven in Birmingham, Alabama.

MONDAY



Paul Horn's Cheeseburger Cheeseburger II at the McDonald's @ I-45 and N Main, 7 to 10 pm. A pop up show at Houston's swankiest eatery, brought to you by Paul Horn and his merry band

$timulus and I Love You Baby Bullets

Two art shows opened Friday so I decided to check them out after work. First was $timulus at Diverse Works, a group show of 2009 recipients of grants from Artadia, a grant-making outfit that supports selected artists in selected cities, including Houston. So like any group show, you have some winners and losers. Usually I only like to talk about the art I like, but I have to complain about El Franco Lee II (or Junior, for short).

• He is the son of Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee.

not sure what the title is, El Franco Lee II

• Junior's art looks inept and adolescent.

Blaqsheep vs Marvel, El Franco Lee II

• It troubles me to look at it--is Junior being ironic or is this work just plain dumb?
• You are meant to wonder this when you look at some of the work of, say, Mike Kelley or Lisa Yuskavage. But, y'know, really it's obvious that these two are clever postmodernists producing double-coded art.
• The only hints that he might be an ironist are his elite education (Yale, UH MFA) and where his art is shown.
• But for me, that just doesn't make up for the bad drawing and general stupidity of the work.

Blaqsheep vs. DC, El Franco Lee II

• If he were 16 years old and drawing this, I'd feel slightly embarrassed for him.

from "The Young Manhood of Dan Pussey," by Dan Clowes

• I'm reminded of the Dan Clowes story where Dan Pussey shows his art to Gummo Bubbleman.

• But I like to think I'm less naive than "Bubbleman"--I don't care if Junior is being postmodern. This art is horrible.

Blaqsheep vs. Triad

• I mean "Blaqsheep vs. Triad"--Jesus.
  
• But some of the art in the show was good.

Self-Portrait, Stephanie Toppin

• Like this.

La Llorona in Lilith's Garden, Delilah Montoya with Tina Hernandez, 2004

• And this.

La Llorona in Lilith's Garden, Delilah Montoya with Tina Hernandez, 2004, detail

• Here's a detail of that last one.

Mam E, Dawolu Jabari Anderson

• This one made me laugh. (Laugh with it, not at it.) Dude digs Kirby, eh?
  

I left Diverse Works with mixed feelings. I was worrying over whether ineptitude as a strategy, as a way of questioning certain artistic meta-narratives, butts up against ineptitude that happens because an artist doesn't know any better. With Junior, like with so much postmodern art, context is everything. If you saw one of those "Blaqsheep" drawings in a teenager's notebook, you might be encouraged that he is being creative, but you certainly wouldn't encourage him to pursue an art career. My question is, does this really change just because the work in on the pristine white walls of Diverse Works?

These questions didn't get easier at my next stop for the night. An art group, I Love You Baby (ILYB for short), was showing at The Joanna.

• The Joanna is just an ordinary house on Graustark across from the University of St. Thomas.
• Its shows last one night only--on Friday, that was from 6 pm til 2 am.
• The group I Love You Baby is a collective of anarchic art punks.
• They were among the exiles from the Commerce Street Artist Warehouse who were in the movie by Skeezer Stinkfist. (They were ones who had the office Christmas party that degenerated into an orgy of destruction.)
• Their paintings seem a bit cleverer and more knowing than Junior's.

unknown title, ILYB

• I liked this one.

unknown title, ILYB

• And this one made me laugh.
• But even though they were basically exhibiting in someone's living room, context was everything.

unknown title, ILYB

• The work would seem ridiculously crude and inexplicable outside a gallery.

unknown title, ILYB

• One last I Love You Baby painting.