Pan Recommends for the week of September 26 to October 2

Robert Boyd

THURSDAY


Gaia, Mies Van Der Rohe at Charles One Center, Baltimore (Part of Legacy Project), 2012-13

GAIA: Marshland, Rice University Art Gallery, 5–7 pm. I don't know what to expect from this installation by a credentialed "street artist" with a very pompous name, Gaia. Big faces presumably.

Help Yourself: Mark Ponder and Ariane Roesch, curated by Rachel Hooper , EMERGEncy Room Gallery, 7 to 10 pm. I don't quite know what to expect here. Ariane Roesch is known for her work using EL wire, though. And Ponder has a video.



BETSY HUETE: Interiorities at the Matchbox Gallery, 8 to 11 pm. Betsy Huete is a writer for this here blog, which should be the only reason you need to the see her show. Aside from that, all I can say is that I hope this joint includes the above-pictured varmint.

FRIDAY


Rachel Hecker, Can't Fly


Rachel Hecker: Group Show, 2013 Texas Artist of the Year, Art League Houston, 6–9 pm. Reportedly this show involves carved styrofoam snowmen in a winter wonderland-style installation. I don't have any photos of that, so here's a photo of a Rachel Hecker painting of a post-it note from my personal collection.


Kermit Oliver, A Swine Before a Silvered Bowl of River Pearls, 2012

Kermit Oliver: Tracing Our Pilgrimage, Lifetime Achievement Award in the Visual Arts , Art League Houston, 6–9 pm. An exceptional artist like Kermit Oliver must sometimes feel like he is casting his pearls before swine (like me). Here's a chance to see a room full of this painter's astonishing work.


Luc Tuymans portrait

Nice. Luc Tuymans, Menil Collection, 6–8 pm. A selection of the Belgian painter's monochromatic, washed-out portraits.

MOVING VIOLATION by Mark Nelson,  14 Pews on Friday, 6 to 9pm. Houston artist Mark Nelson presents a multi-media installation on the theme of motion.

SATURDAY


Ward Sanders, From the Ruins of Industrie , 2013 , assemblage , 9 x 7.5 x 3"

Q&A Session with Jacqueline Dee Parker and Ward Sanders conducted by yours truly at Hooks Epstein Galleries, 2:30 pm. RSVP strongly suggested. I am very pleased to be conducting this talk Parker and Sanders. Expect French sounding words like "collage", "assemblage" and "bricolage" to be uttered.


Brian Jobe, Channel Modules, 2012, basswood, paint, flagging tape, 7.5" x 64" x 3"

TransAMplitude with J. Derrick Durham, Brian R. Jobe, Carin Rodenborn and Heidi Wehring at BLUEorange Contemporary, 6–9 pm. Take the bus to see  this show that is described as "an investigation of transit."


Jo Ann Fleischhauer, detail of one of the new clock faces

What Time Is It? by Jo Ann Fleischhauer (with composers Anthony Brandt and Chapman Welch and new music group Musiqa), The Louis and Annie Friedman Clock Tower, 6:30–9:30 pm. This sounds like an interesting intervention on the old clock at Market Square.


Did this influence my Pan Art Fair decision?

Eyesore and Give Up: Current work and Collaborative efforts, Cardoza Fine Art, 8–11 pm. Eyesore and Give Up, two wheatpaste-style street artists whose work might be described as "not nice," show new work.

Pan Recommends for the week of May 23 to May 29

Robert Boyd

Houston's art world is taking the long weekend off for the most part. (I'll be using this time to check out a few shows I've missed. Or I'll go to the beach.) But there is never a completely art-free weekend in Houston. Here are a few things happening this weekend that we're interested in.

THURSDAY


Hollis Frampton, still from Critical Mass

An Aurora Picture Show Open Screen Night Double Header: One Second Film Festival and Hollis Frampton Films, 7:30. A film festival of one-second films (don't expect a lot of characterization and plot) from TCU, curated by Nick Bontrager, and a selection of 16 mm films from the pioneering avant garde filmmaker, Hollis Frampton.

FRIDAY

 
a heroic Hello Kitty by Erik Martinez

The Mouthless-Kat: Hello Kitty & Friends! featuring Alex Barber, Alice Le, Andrea Rodriguez, Blue130, Blue Rooster Customs, Browncoat, Catfish, Enma Castro, Erik Martinez, John Paul Luna, Katsola, Lisa Chow, Lizbeth Ortiz, Lizzette Gonzalez, Nesreen Hussain Alawami, Sophia Rose Luna and Veronica Vega at East End Studio Gallery. Art has many time-tested subjects that always work--Jesus, naked ladies, bluebonnets, etc. Hello Kitty is the latest (and greatest?) candidate for eternal artistic muse.

SATURDAY


Joëlle Verstraeten monoprint

Joëlle Verstraeten: Allegro, Moderato at Gallery Jatad, 3–6 pm, (runs May 25 through June 27). Somehow, Gallery Jatad opened without me hearing about it. This gallery specializes in African and contemporary art (I hope that means they will also show African contemporary art), and is run by the husband and wife team of Lisa Qualls (an artist we've reviewed before) and African art specialist Matt Scheiner.



Call it Street Art, Call it Fine Art, Call it What You Know with Anat Ronen, Lee Washington, Michael C. Rodriguez, Dual, Skeez181, Deck WGF, Sebastien “MR. D” Boileau, The Death Head, Eyesore, Empire I.N.S., Daniel Anguilu, Ana María, ACK!, Tatum One, Angel Quesada, Sode, Vizie and KC Ortiz at Station Museum of Contemporary Art, 7 pm. A big show of street art is an excellent way to kick off summer, don't you think?

Pan Recommends for the week of October 11 to October 17

Robert Boyd

All kinds of interesting events are on tap for this week. Here are just a few of them.

THURSDAY

Rem Koolhaas, "Architecture as a Global Practice," Thursday, October 11, 10 to 11:15 am, Autry Court, Tudor Fieldhouse at Rice University. Hurry--this is happening this morning! If you don't have a day job, this might be an interesting opportunity to hear the famed starchitect who is so freaking cool that he has "kool" in his name.

FRIDAY

Eye Candy featuring Felipe Contreras, Haden Garrett, Joyce Joe, Michael King, Lee Littlefield, Liza Littlefield, Elena Lopez-Poirot, and Randall Reid at Poissant Gallery, 4411 Montrose Special Events Gallery, October 12, 2012, 6 to 9 pm. Personally, I always welcome a chance to see some Lee Littlefield work. But what intrigues me is the location-not the old converted church that we used to see. Does this signal a permanent move? (An email to Poissant Gallery requesting information had not been responded to at press time.)

SATURDAY

Raid the Archive, Saturday, October 13, 2012 7 to 9 pm, Film Auditorium at the Rice Media Center. As someone who lived through the tale-end of this era (and saw the Ed and Nancy Kienholz show pictured above at the Rice Museum), I really miss it. I'm not sure what to expect from these films, but I like the idea that I'll be sitting in the same comfy theater where Kienholz showed me and my classmates movies 29 years ago.

The Power of Paint at Avis Frank, October 13, 2012, 6 pm to 8 pm. Lots of painting shows in Houston lately. What's up with that? Anyway, this show features work by 13 painters, including Ray Phillips, James Beaman, Kimber Berry and the gallerist himself, David Hardaker.

Well-Behave Animals with work by Daniel Anguilu, Eyesore, and Faviola Valencia at Cardoza Fine Art, October 13, 7 to 10 pm. I guess they're "well-behaved" when they show work legally in a gallery. Cardoza follows up his Give Up show with a show of three other prominent Houston street artists.

WEDNESDAY

 
Calvin Tomkins at the Menil, October 17, 2012, 7 to 8 pm. Tompkins was one of the first art writers I loved (along with the late Robert Hughes). I especially liked that his work was, at heart, narrative. He is more of a biographer than a critic. I recommend Bride & the Bachelors, Living Well Is the Best Revenge and Off the Wall: A Portrait of Robert Rauschenberg.