What Are You Doing on March 12?

What you should do is attend Box 13 ArtSpace's annual fundraiser. No, wait--don't zone out! All non-profit art spaces in Houston have fund-raisers and many of them are very deserving of your support. Box 13 is definitely deserving. But that's not why I am suggesting that you attend this fund-raiser.

Instead, the reason is that it is a way for us low-budget art collectors to get some surprisingly substantial pieces of art for a really low price. Lots of spaces have auctions (Project Row Houses, Diverse Works, Lawndale) and what I find is that the prices at these auction (for very, very fine pieces of art) are really high--these auctions attract fairly well-to-do collectors. Even at Lawndale's annual Retablo show, a silent auction in which most pieces are relatively affordable, the most desirable pieces end up selling for a lot of money.

But the way Box 13 structures its event is as a raffle. They get a large number of donated artwork from artists with studios at Box 13, other Houston artists, artists from the rest of Texas and a few from other parts of the country. Last year, the selection was terrific, I thought. Then beside each piece is a little box. You buy as many raffles tickets as you want, and put a ticket in the little boxes adjacent to the pieces you would like. The more popular an individual piece is, the more tickets there will be in the box. But the thing is, for a relatively small amount of money, you are extremely likely to win something. Last year I bought something like $200 worth of raffle tickets. How many artworks can you buy for $200? Not too many! But I ended up winning four beautiful, substantial pieces (as I wrote about here).



This was one of the raffle winning tickets being chosen last year. That's one of the fun parts of the event--winners find out the same night--and get to carry their new piece of artwork home with them.

That's why you should come to the Box 13 fundraiser. For a little bit of money, you probably will drive walk home with a piece or two of superb artwork. The fact that you will be also supporting a wonderful organization is just a bonus. So mark off March 12 and be there at 7 pm.

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Would You Want to Live in the HIVE?

HIVE is an envisioned compound of artists live/work spaces made of shipping containers. There was a fundraiser for it last night at Avant Garden. The visionary behind this is Nestor Topchy. I went to the fundraiser and plopped down my $20 bucks, but personally I have mixed feelings about it. When I look at the rendering, I get the feeling of a post-apocalyptic compound, scavenged together from old shipping containers. Put some gun turrets and spotlights on the perimeter walls and you have a good approximation of the "First Colony" from The Passage. It looks like it would be a strong redoubt against vampires or zombies.

It would also make an idea headquarters for the Hierarchy of International Vengeance and Extermination. It has the look of a super-villain's headquarters, I think. Of course, when one sees a compound out in the woods like this, it's hard not to recall various compounds that cult-leaders have retreated to, to escape from this oh-too-worldly world. And that's what I think the problem with it is.


HIVE poster at Avant Garden

I was talking to an artist friend of mine the other day who told me that most of the people she knows are also artists. Which is natural--people often tend to socialize within their profession. It can be problematic for artists and writers or other creative people when they want to create work that is relevant to people outside their profession. On one hand, you want to have this community on whom you can bounce off ideas, with whom you can collaborate, etc. On the other hand, you don't want to be in an echo chamber. Fortunately, artists still live in the world. They still have daily contact with people and things that aren't part of the art world.

HIVE would isolate artists. The HIVE is a giant echo chamber, a walled compound in what appears to be a relatively remote setting where on a day-to-day basis, contact with non-artists would be profoundly limited. I think the effect of that on the art produced would be terrible.


Hail HIVE! Immortal HIVE! We shall never be destroyed! Cut off one limb and two more shall take its place! We serve the Supreme Hive, as the world shall soon serve us!

But it looks like Topchy is serious about building it. He has formed a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization for it, and they have a timeline that involves buying the land this spring. I'll be interested to see how it progresses.