Pan Recommends for the week of August 22 to August 28

Robert Boyd

Here's most of what's opening up this weekend in Houston's art scene in these last few weeks before the fall season.

THURSDAY


painting by Emilio Reato

Argentine Art in Houston curated by Andres Bardon, featuring Ladislao Kelity, Nubar Doulgerian, Sebastian D'Amen, Monica Shulman, Luis Altieri, Alejandro Parisi, Emilio Reato, Franca Barone, Maria Paula Caradonti, Alicia Chaves, Antonia Guzman and many more, at Spring Street Studios, 6 to 8 pm. I don't know much about this show but it looks interesting.



20Hertz: Bill Arning Presents "Sad Bastard Music, C'est Moi", 7:30 pm at CAMH. A lecture by CAMH director and former rocker Bill Arning on "sad bastard music," such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, The Buzzcocks, Pulp, Belle and Sebastian, Xiu Xiu, and Perfume Genius. What this has to do with visual arts, I don't know but who cares? This is some of my favorite music!

FRIDAY

 
Marcelyn McNeil , Untitled (speed), 2010 , Oil on panel; 74 x 71 x 1" -- this was in the 2011 Texas Biennial

Texas Biennial Invitational : Christie Blizard, Marcelyn McNeil, Tom Orr and Brad Tucker, curated by Michael Duncan and Virginia Rutledge at Lawndale Art Center, 5 to 8:30 pm. This is a little confusing--this show isn't part of the Texas Biennial, but features four artists previously selected for the Texas Biennial. So I guess this is kind of a spin-off?


Susi Brister

Fantastic Habitat by Susi Brister at Lawndale Art Center, 5 to 8:30 pm. Some of these photos may feel like modern updates of Cousin It, but overall this looks like a very beautiful if somewhat unnerving suite of images.


Cary Reeder, Jaundiced View, 2013

Now, What Was There? by Cary Reeder at Lawndale Art Center, 5 to 8:30 pm. Cary Reeder paints beautiful, stripped-down images of the charming but endangered  bungalows in the Heights. Wouldn't it be ironic if the upper-middle-class burgers of the Heights bought them to decorate their new McMansions?


Susannah Mira's Water Tower (2012) isn't going to be in the show, but it looks really cool!

Room Divider by Susannah Mira at Lawndale Art Center, 5 to 8:30 pm. We got a tantalizing taste of Mira's work in the Big Show, and now we will see what a room-full of her geometric assemblages look like.


Picasso brand donuts from the Menil/Fiesta project

The MENIL/FIESTA Project: Ten Years of a Curious Painting Assignment At the University of Houston at Inman Gallery, 6 to 8 pm (up through August 24, so don't procrastinate!) UH Painting professors Aaron Parazette and Gael Stack have, for the last 10 years, been sending their students to the Menil and to Fiesta Mart in order to synthesize their impressions into one painting. This is a show of some of the best results of this assignment.

SATURDAY


Alex Luster's video of the Montrose rollerblade dancer

Houston Is So Hot! featuring Ivete Lucas, Tish Stringer, Bill Daniel, Chris Nelson, Alex Luster, Stephanie Saint Sanchez, Madsen Minax and more at the Aurora Picture Show, 7:30 pm. I don't know about you, but sitting in an air-conditioned movie theater is about my favorite thing to do in August.


Jonah Groeneboer, SUN / MIRRORS, video still, 2009, 22 min

THE DISLOCATED CENTER OF THE MATERIAL WORLD by Jonah Groeneboer at the Galveston Artist Residency, 6 to 9 pm (on view through October 19th). I hate it when there are simultaneous art openings in Houston and Galveston that I want to see. Tough choice! But this one, which includes video, painting, installation and a sound piece, will be up for a while while the videos are Saturday night only... So this one might have to wait until next weekend.

Pan Recommends for the week of May 30 to June 5

Robert Boyd

There's a lot of stuff going on this weekend, of which the list below is just a small sample. The tough question is what to do Saturday--see all the exhibits opening in Houston (including most of the Colquitt galleries) or go down to Galveston and check out the openings there? (Of course you could try for both if you're willing to risk a speeding ticket.)

THURSDAY


Jeremy DePrez

Jeff Elrod and Jeremy DePrez: Fantasy Island at Texas Gallery, 6 pm (runs through July 6). Young Houston painter DePrez is teamed with established Brooklyn/Marfa artist Elrod--the combination is intriguing.

FRIDAY

 
The Opulent Project, Silver Digital Ring, sterling silver cast from 3-D printed model of digital ring designs found online

Ctrl+P featuring the Opulent Project, Bryan Czibesz and Shawn Spangler, Stacy Jo Scott, and the Ryder Jon Piotrs Nomadic Gallery at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 5:30 pm (runs through September 8). Very interesting sounding show--with 2-D archival printing and now 3-D printing, the line between the craft world and the digital world has blurred.

 
Gary Schott, Plumb Bob Broach #2

Gary Schott: The Ornamental Plumb Bob at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 5:30 pm (runs through September 8). Schott had a great show at Goldesbury Gallery in 2010, so I expect a this exhibit will be excellent.


Cerling (left) and Topek (right)

Penny Cerling and Toby Topek at Zoya Tommy Contemporary, 6 pm (runs through June 29 with an artist talk on June 1 at 2 pm). Two revered elders of the Houston art scene are joined for this exhibit.


Judy Ledgerwood, Composition in Yellow, Orange, and Pink, 2013, oil on canvas, 96 x 120 inches 

Judy Ledgerwood: Fields and Flowers at Barbara Davis Gallery at 6:30 pm (runs through July 5). I know nothing about artist Judy Ledgerwood, but I like pretty things.

 
Whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis?

Bill Willis: New Paintings at The Joanna Gallery at 7 pm. I love how the Joanna's website hasn't been updated since 2010. I guess it never will now. This is the last Joanna show. Our little girl is all growed up.

SATURDAY

 
Tracye Wear, Winter Evening, 2013, encaustic and oil stick, 30"x 20"

Tracye Wear at d. m. allison, 4 to 9 pm (runs through June 29). Thick encastic gives Wear's paintings a relief quality. You'll want to touch them, but please refrain from manhandling the art.

 
Devon Christopher Moore, Pontchartrain, Bracket – B, Etched acrylic lacquer on galvanized steel 

Devon Christopher Moore: The Gravity of Time at Nicole Longnecker Gallery at 5 pm (runs through July 6). With the Joanna ending, it's nice to be able to welcome a new gallery. Good luck, Nicole Longnecker Gallery on your first ever exhibit!

 
Zachery Zeke Podgorny

Galveston Artist Residency Exhibition featuring Josh Bernstein, Zachary Zeke Podgorny and Davide Savorani at 6 pm (runs through July 20). The GAR celebrates its second year with a show of its residents. And by the way, I think the parents who named their child Zachary Zeke are awesome.


Marcelyn McNeil, Good Day Bad Day, 2013

Marcelyn McNeil: Bent into Shape at Galveston Arts Center at 6 pm (runs through July 7). An excellent painter whose work can maybe be described as bold, cartoony abstraction has a show at the GAC.

Pan Recommends for the week of February 7 to February 13

Robert Boyd with Dean Liscum

It's Mardi Gras time and there will be partying. Or alternatively, you can discuss public art or go on a long walk or look at a few paintings. It's all cool.

THURSDAY

Slide Jam: Sally Frater and Kimberli Gant at the CAMH, 6:30 pm. It's usually artists who show the slides at CAMH's slide jams, but this time they've handed the projector over to curators to talk about what it is that they do.


Marcelyn McNeil, Crudely Drawn Mimic, Oil on Canvas, 58"x60", 2013

Howard Sherman: Artist's Picks featuring Michael Guidry, Geoff Hippenstiel, Marcelyn McNeil, Tudor Mitroi, Robert Ruello, Howard Sherman, and Shane Tolbert at the Alliance Gallery- Houston Arts Alliance at 5:30 pm through March 26. An artist (with an ego and an opinion and not afraid to sling either) picks other artists to exhibit.



Rebecca Hamm, Ski Hut, watercolor on paper

Toward Substance:Paintings by Rebecca Hamm and Cary Reeder at the O'Kane Gallery, 6 pm, runs through March 14. Rebecca Hamm paints dense underbrush and Cary Reeder paints Charles Sheeler-esque images of cottages--sounds like an interesting combination.

FRIDAY


One of the pieces in Judged and Juried

Judged & Juried with guest juror Alyssa Monks at East End Studio Gallery at 6 pm. Featuring work by Adrienne Wong, Anat Ronen, Angela Obenhaus, Antonio Torres, Aron Williams, Blue OneThirty, Christian Perkins, Claire Richards, Dawn Thomas McKelvy, Diane Gelman, Ellen Hart, Jonathon Lowe, Kevin Peterson, Lacey Crawford, Leslie Roades, Lisa Comperry, Mario Casas, Mark Chen, Marky Dewhirst, Maryann Lucas, Melinda Patrick, Mic McAllister, Rona Lesser, Sacha Lazarre, Saida Fagala, Sam Li, Sarah Cloutier-Houston, Spartaco Margioni, Tatiana Escallon, Tim Walker, Will Brooks. This show seems a bit overwhelming on the face of it--an East Side "Big Show". Look out Lawndale!

SATURDAY


Mac Whitney, Houston, 1982 (in Stude Park)

Public Art and Its Impact Within Houston featuring panelists Michael Guidry (University of Houston), Jimmy Castillo (Houston Arts Alliance), and Cynthia Alvarado (Midtown Management District) and moderated by Paul Middendorf at Gallery Sonja Roesch, 2pm-3pm. Where does Houston rank in terms of public art? And who green-lighted those Jaume Plensa sculptures on Alan Parkway? All will be revealed.

El Rincon Social Music Night at the Art League featuring Ryan Lee Hansson, Lisa Marie Hunter, Josiah Gabriel and Fernando Ramirez at 8 pm. This is interesting not just because of what it is but because it represents a trend I've been noticing recently in Houston--that art exhibits are having continuous related events throughout the course of the show. We saw that with STACKS at the Art League and with Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art at CAMH, and we're seeing it now with Tony Feher: Free Fall at Diverse Works. Anyway, go to the Art League early to get warmed up, then head on over to...


Poster by Sebastian Forray

Otis Ike and The Joanna Gallery Present:MARDI GRAS - An Epiphany of Anal Beads with the World Famous CHRISTEENE!!!  at Numbers, 9 pm til 2 am. Promises to feature Human King cakes! Tranny floats! An unmarried gay Tree! Bears! Cubs! Moms! Glory Holes! Shims! Hymns! Kings! Queens! Beads! Altar boy bathroom attendants! Enron! Elrond! & A Barbara Bush invitation to move to HOUSTON!!!

SUNDAY


Carrie Schneider and Alex Tu will apparently be wearing hazmat suits on Sunday

The Human Tour with Carrie Schneider and Alex Tu, 11 am starting at Natachee's in Main. This is the first of 10 walks to be conducted by Schneider and Tu along the path of the Human Tour, an enormous art project originally created by Michael Galbreth back in 1987. The piece was a map of certain Houston streets that formed a crude outline of a human figure.


Michael Galbreth, The Human Tour, 1987

Anne J. Regan's Unusual Sleeping Arrangement

Anne J. Regan, Partner, Receiver, Cartographer, paper Regan slept with for 100 nights, 2010

I mentioned the Louise Bourgeois tribute show at Darke Gallery in my previous post. I liked the show quite a lot, but by the time I had time to write about it, it was down. (It's always a game of catch-up here at the Great God Pan...). There is a new show in the downstairs gallery (Marcelyn McNeil), but many of the pieces from the tribute show are still on view upstairs, including this piece by Anne J. Regan.

Artists have a bunch of different relationships with their materials. They might feel indifferent to them or in love with them. Regan takes loving her materials to a whole new level here be sleeping with a piece of paper for 100 days. The paper is in pretty good shape, considering. A piece like this, where the process is so important, really makes a viewer ask some questions. First of all--was Regan sleeping alone all this time? If not, what did her partner think? "Honey, we have to share the bed with this piece of paper, OK?"

Richard Martinez' Shaped Canvases

Robert Boyd

If you are driving around Rice Military looking for the Darke Gallery, the only thing to visually distinguish it from the tall townhouses that populate that neighborhood's small blocks is this sculpture:



When I went in, I met the owner of the gallery, Linda Darke Swaynos. She told me about the show they had up (paintings by Richard Martinez) and in the process described her strategy for selecting artists. Her artists tend to be art professors at various universities around Texas. As she put it, many of them are in areas with few or no art galleries and little opportunity to show their work. And practically every university in the state (and the whole country, too) has some art teachers, and many have art departments and a brace of professors. So for her, this forms a nice pool of talent from which to pick artists to exhibit.

Richard Martinez teaches art at U.T. San Antonio. His canvases are not strikingly original. When one thinks of shaped canvases and stripes, one thinks of Frank Stella works from the early '60s. Martinez' canvases are mostly monochrome (the spaces between the stripes are subtly different shades of the same color as the stripes) but unlike those early Stella pieces, they are brightly colored. The shapes, too, are different--baroque and even rococo, in a way. (This, too, recalls Stella--but the later Stella of the wall sculptures.)



Richard Martinez, Young American, 2009

The pieces also all have a single painted element in silhouette. This is another little baroque touch.


Richard Martinez, Ultra 19, 2009

There is not that much to say about these. This isn't quite a situation of "What you see is what you see." But close.


Richard Martinez, Ultra 18, 2009


Richard Martinez, Ultra 18 detail, 2009

The thing is, I like these paintings. It was pleasant being in a room with them. And that's enough.

Darke showed me another piece from her most recent show that I really liked.



Marcelyn McNeil, Study 2, painted strips of wood, 2009

Again, this was a nice piece to share a room with. It was fun to walk around it taking pictures.



Marcelyn McNeil, Study 2, painted strips of wood, 2009

I like the fact that it is a sculpture, and a fairly large one at that, but that it remains so low to the ground. I like that you have to look down to really see it. It also reminds me of canoes I saw in Brazil.