Pan Recommends for the week of November 21 to November 27

Robert Boyd

Kind of a lot of stuff happening this weekend. When was the last time Lawndale and the Art League had an opening on the same night? I guess with Thanksgiving next week, a lot of events have to be crammed into this week. Good times!

THURSDAY


Sally Bennet, Making Faces,  32x31x2.5 inches

Sally Bennett and Ann Huey: New Works at Koelsch Gallery,  6–8 pm. Work that plays with illustration and design.


David Row, Ellipsis, 2012, Oil on canvas, 50 x 96 inches  

David Row: Elements at McClain Gallery, 6:30–8:30 pm. Paintings, works on paper and sculptures made of cast glass.

FRIDAY

 
from Emily Peacock's W.T. series

Learning Curve 7 and See Food: Contemporary Photography and the Ways We Eat curated by Natalie Zelt and featuring Corey Arnold (Portland, OR), Jonathan Blaustein (Arroyo Hondo, NM), Christin Boggs (Washington, D.C.), Damaris Booth (London, England), Nolan Calisch (Portland, OR), Jody Horton (Austin, TX), Andrzej Maciejewski (Ontario, Canada), Mark Menjivar (San Antonio, TX), Emily Peacock (Houston, TX), Emily Sloan (Houston, TX) and David Welch (Martha's Vineyard, MA) at the Houston Center for Photography, 6–8 pm (with a panel discussion for See Food Saturday from noon to 1 pm). Learning Curve 7 is their annual student show, and See Food is pictures of food, obviously.

 
That's Monica Vidal, looking pretty damn ecstatic in front of her installation Falling Hive

FALLING: Monica Vidal and Everyday Grace: Sedrick Huckaby at Art League Houston 6–9 pm, with artists' talks at 6:30 pm for Sedrick Huckaby and 7 pm for Monica Vidal. Monica Vidal brings Falling Hive home to Houston, just down the hall from Sedrick Huckaby's paintings.


Beth Secor, Sudden Appearance in Places Unknown, 2013, Found embroidered linens with drawing and embroidery, 30" x 30" 

Superficial Outgrowths by Sang-Mi Yoo, Melinda Laszczynski and Jessica Ninci: This End Up,  Beth Secor: The Significance of "Material" and Regina Agu: Nerve Endings at Lawndale Art Center, 6:30–8:30 pm. I don't have much to say except that all these shows look great!

FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY
 
Winter Street Studios

8th Annual Winter Holiday Art Market at Winter Street, 6 to 8 pm Friday ($10 admission), 11 am to 8 pm Saturday (free) and 11 am to 4 pm Sunday (free). Don't let the bleak industrial landscape above fool you--this weekend it will be packed with artists and craftsmen selling their stuff.

SATURDAY


They played at last years' ArtCrawl

ArtCrawl at multiple locations just north of Downtown and on the East End, 10 am to 9 pm. The annual trip through various art spaces and artists' studios near downtown. ArtCrawl related events include:

• Fotofest Bike Scramble, 11 am to 3:30 pm, starting from FotoFest headquarters.
• ArtCrawl "The Happening" featuring art by Michael Meazell, Alfredo Scaroina, Patrick Renner, Felipe Lopez and Lester Marks, 4 pm until whenevah at David Greave Art Studio.
• RATIO at El Rincón Social (see below for more info)

Anasheh Partiai

The Art of Everyday Politics featuring Amber Baker, Anasheh Partiai, Sarah Rodriguez, and Brandon Zech at Alabama Song, 8 pm Saturday to 8 pm Sunday. Hey, if you have 24 hours free, there's a one day (literally) only show with performances by Amber Baker at 6:45, Anasheh Partiai at 7 pm and Brandon Zech at 7:15, plus other activities throughout the night to help you stay awake!


Debora Smail, I fucking love you, Polaroid Installation

RATIO featuring Jenn Blackburn, Ben Tecumseh DeSoto, David Salinas, JoAnn Santangelo, Alex Larsen, Ashleigh MacLean, Abrahan Garza, Edna Sandoval, Galina Kurlat, Ben Parks, Theresa Escobedo, Emily Peacock, Bryan Forrester, Matthew Landry, Rosa Gurrero, Shannon Duncan, Laura Corley Burlton, Maureen Penders, Mark Audacity Romberg, Traci Matlock, Debora Smail, Joe Winsto and Gary Griffin at El Rincón Social, 7 pm to 2 am. El Rincón Social always have these events that last until 2 am, and old guy that I am, I always wonder who is going to hang out until 2 am? Pathetic, huh? This looks great--a lot of my favorite local photographers will be there.

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

Recent Acquisitions from Several Artists

This is a "catch-up" post for a bunch of things I have gotten in the past few months (!) that I haven't written about. The big one is a page by Jaime Hernandez.



Jaime Hernandez, Bob Richardson page 2, ink on bristol board, 1995

This is not the most spectacular Jaime Hernandez page (which is probably why I could afford it). But it is an elegant example of his work. This is from a story called "Bob Richardson" which features two full pages of Maggie getting slapped in the face by everybody she has ever known, a dog with a telepathic link to Isabel, and a low-level traitor named Boyd (!).

Back on September 18, The Joanna had their "gala," in which I came dressed as Pan. They had an art raffle, which they set up the same way that Box 13 did theirs earlier in the summer. Because the raffle tickets were really cheap, I ended up winning three pieces of art.



Molly Gochman, Red Truck (from Lullabies), inkjet print mounted on aluminum, 2010



Emily Link, Prime Ordeal Ooze, watercolor, ink, graphite and glitter on paper, 2009



Jessica Ninci, untitled (detail), watercolor and ink on paper, 2010

I didn't know much about Molly Gochman, Emily Link and Jessica Ninci when I won these. Gochman is highly regarded enough to get big public commissions and to be featured in that massive Texas Artists Today book. Jessica Ninci is currently a student getting her BFA at UH, and she was part of a group show ar the Joanna earlier this year. And I've seen Emily Link's plush heads in various venues, including some that are up at Box 13 right now.

PictureBox is a really great small press art comics publisher, and like all small presses, they are chronically having to figure out how to pay for their projects, particularly those that are large and expensive. I can tell you from personal experience that the lag between the expenses on a publishing project and the revenue is a long time, and for a small press, that can spell bankruptcy. That's why so many small presses try to get grants for specific projects because it moves the revenue stream forward in time.

For a pair of books, PictureBox did something innovative to move that revenue stream forward. Two Fort Thunder alumni had books in the works, If 'n' Oof by Brian Chippendale and Powr Mastrs [sic] #3 by C.F. (the pen name of Chris Forgues). If 'n' Oof was an especially ambitious (and expensive) book to print--800 pages long. So they put out word that if you bought these books up front--way in advance of publication--you would get some free artwork by C.F. and Chippendale.



Brian Chippendale, Murderer, Coyote, Trickster, Fool, Hero, ink and marker on paper, 2010



Brian Chippendale, untitled, silkscreen (?) 119/130, 2010



C.F., untitled, silkscreen (?) (unnumbered), 2010

The grey areas in the C.F. silkscreen (if indeed that is what it is) are actually silver ink.

Yesterday I stopped by P.G. Gallery to see the latest exhibit, and I noticed there were still some Gabriela Trzebinski slats available from an earlier show. Since they were only $30, I went ahead and bout two.


Gabriela Trzebinski, American Thunder (from the Matatu Sticks Project), acrylic paint on recycled wood, 2010


Gabriela Trzebinski, Voice of the Ghetto (from the Matatu Sticks Project), acrylic paint on recycled wood, 2010

Now you might ask yourself why I got these. American Thunder I just liked because it made me think of Bob Segar and Dodge Ram Pick-ups. As for Voice of the Ghetto, people have often said to me, "Robert, even though you are whiter than Dick Gephardt and are a known fan of both The Decembrists and Belle and Sebastian, you are truly the voice of the ghetto."

Finally, I went to the opening last night at Box 13 and they had another raffle. This time, you didn't get to choose the art that you won. However, there were no rules against trading. That's how I ended up with this:


Maria Smits, untitled (?), ink and pastel on paper, 2010 (?)

Maria Smits is a Dutch artist who has somehow landed in Houston. She has a show opening November 19 at Lawndale. And I'm afraid my photo utterly failed to capture the extremely delicate pen and ink work in this piece.