Update on The Fountains Parking Garage

I have found out a little more about this mural, which I wrote about earlier this month.  It is by an artist who specializes in murals named Eulogio Ortega. He commented on Swamplot, when they reported on the mural. Some (including myself) worried that the mural might fade (as so many around Houston do). Here's what Ortega wrote:

I used very high quality exterior paint; it’s guaranteed for 20 to 30 years, also it’s on the north side of the building which does not receive any direct sun all year long; that will add to it’s lifespan. This mural is meant to be seen from far away and near. I encourage anyone to look at it more closely once the project area is open to the public. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at the amount of detail and fuller effect that it gives up close. I tried to paint something beautiful and exceptional for the city of Houston to enjoy.

The Bayou City Art Festival

Here's another report coming in a little late. The Bayou City Art Festival was held March 25th through the 27th in Memorial Park. Parking at Memorial Park was fairly limited, so they had shuttle busses coming in from downtown and Northwest Mall (where I originated). I wasn't sure what to expect. Was this going to be craft-oriented? Was it going to be lots and lots of kitsch? Who would be attending? I didn't really get solid answers to these questions, but I can give you my impressions.



Jay Long, Vetiver, oil painting

This Jay Long painting was a typical (but very fine) example of a lot of what I saw there. (I photographed it because it was good and because I like barn owls.) Long is a painter from Austin. There were lots of painters, printmakers and collagists--two dimensional work was common. The Festival definitely wasn't a craft show, but at the same time it wasn't the kind of art one would typically see at a contemporary art gallery in Houston (although some artists worked in modernist or postmodernist idioms). And that presented a question--why isn't Jay Long's work (or work like it) in galleries in Houston? Occasionally you see work in this vein at places like Koelsch Gallery and in a few other places. Still, it feels a little out of place. And likewise, you can't imagine more conceptual artists like Dump Truck or Francis Giampietro setting up booths in the festival circuit (and there is indeed a circuit).



Larry Stephenson, Dick's Donut, watercolor

I liked this one because of the way he incorporated an actual Dick Tracy strip into it. Larry Stephenson is an artist from Kansas who loves old toys. They are the primary subject for his masterful watercolors. If it's a toy based on a comic strip, he'll sometimes include the comic in the picture. I like the contrast between flat image and representation of a three-dimensional object within the same image.

There were plenty of sculptural objects for sale. Some, like this one, tended more towards the "craft" side of the equation.



Fred Conlon, Venus Flytrap Garden Art, welded metal

Fred Conlon's work doesn't really pretend to be anything other than funny clever garden decorations. They were definitely popular with folks, and if I had been looking for a garden decoration, I might have gotten one too.



Michael Gard, various sculptures, wire

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I'd never want to own one of these flying metal dancers by Michael Gard. However, I did like them there in the park, hanging over his booth. With all the previous artists, I could see the point of coming to the Festival. Long, Stephenson and Conlon all had items that someone could plunk down a relatively small amount of money and buy on the spot. (In Long and Stephenson's case, they had original paintings--pretty expensive--and much cheaper prints.) But a large sculpture like this--it seemed like a leap (no pun intended). I assume Gard knew what he was doing--that someone in this large crowd would buy over the course of three days. Who buys a large sculpture at an outdoor art festival?


Eric Ober, various sculptures, steel

What I said about Gard goes double for Eric Ober. As handsome as they are, these mechano-totemic objects, there is no way someone just walked up that weekend and bought one. A purchase of something that big has to be a major decision. However, Ober is from Houston, so maybe this was just a chance to show off. He is represented by commercial galleries, but none in Houston (according to his website).

One thing that was really cool about the festival, yet really kind of at odds with the rest of the festival, was the Emerging Artists Program. These were 13 high school students who made installations. And some of them were pretty far out--way beyond what I would have imagined doing myself as a high school artist. The works included pieces made with modest, "unartistic" materials; many depended heavily on their context to be identified as art; some were process based. I suspect there are some pretty hip art teachers out there. Specifically, I bet there is one very hip art teacher at Pearland High School, which sent an astonishing four pieces. (I mentioned in an earlier post that the removal of the David Addickes Presidential Heads did not mean that Pearland was now an art-free zone--because it seems that Pearland High School is, in fact, a hotbed of art) The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts sent three pieces, but that's to be expected surely.



Jonathan Martinez, Body & Chains, mixed media

Here's one of the Pearland artists. This one reminded me of the installation by Jonatan Lopez at project Row Houses last year.



Ava Barrett, The Way It Was, sheets and clothesline

This was the first of the emerging artists pieces I saw, and I initially had a "what the fuck?" reaction. I wasn't expecting to see any art like this here. This piece depends almost entirely on context to signal to a viewer that it is a piece of art (just like Marchel Duchamp's Fountain or Andy Warhol's Brillo Box--see Arthur Danto for more) That said, those warm pastel rectangles fluttering in the wind were beautiful.



Faith Pruneda, Luck be a Lady, mixed media with lady bugs

Another HSPVA student went for process art, building this little pavilion and filling it with zillions of ladybugs. Seriously, who can imagine a high school student coming up with this? It's like finding out that a high school student composed a 12-tone concerto. I'm amazed. The artist was there, watching people enter her piece. I spoke very briefly to her and asked where she got the bugs. She got them through the mail. You can mail order ladybugs. Who knew?

Here's the inside of Luck Be a Lady.



Faith Pruneda, Luck be a Lady, mixed media with lady bugs



Marshall Mosley, Nature's True Form, i don't know what this is made of

Mosley is another Pearland artist. I think, based on the small sampling here, we can say the Pearland school favors sculpture in a more traditional sense, while the HSPVA school favors site-specific installations and conceptualism. Fortunately, they did not form up into gangs and fight it out in Memorial Park. I like this sculpture a lot. It has a superficial resemblance to the big Jean Debuffet in Discovery Green. I like the form of the sculpture itself, but I think the drawing on the sculpture is both excellent on its own and adds a lot to the totality of the piece.



Arpi Grigorian, Universe, I'm not sure but is it possible that this is made of paper?

This very cleverly constructed sculpture has the somewhat cosmic name Universe. When I see something like this, I think that Arpi Grigorian must listen to a lot of whatever the modern day equivalent of Yes is. This is a prog-rock sculpture--brainy, mathematical, cosmic. Grigorian goes to the Awty International School over off I-10 and Post Oak.

There's more about the festival I want to write--how does it work for the exhibitors? How are they chosen? I needed to talk to an exhibitor for this, and I did. But that's another post. I will say this, though. People were buying. Perhaps this is where some Houstonians go when they are thinking it's time to get some art for the house. It is a lot less intimidating than an art gallery. The artists are here and you can actually speak to them. I think that helps people feel comfortable with buying the work. And as I said, the work here is generally more approachable than what you find in a gallery. Did I buy anything? Yes--a silk tie with a beautiful marbled pattern, some wooden toys, and a couple of small drawings that I will talk about later.

Otto Soglow

Otto Soglow (1900-1975) is a great cartoonist whose work I love. That's my excuse for showing these New Yorker images (from the blog Joyville, which belongs to Spanish cartoonist Gabriel Corbera).

Tadanori Yokoo in Chicago

Oh, I wish this show would travel to Houston...



Tadanori Yokoo, Shin Sangokushi, silk screen, 1999

I did an earlier post on this artist (about whom I learned from the wonderful blog A Journey Around My Skull), but thought he was a 60s and 70s artist. But apparently he is still active and as the image above shows, still making really striking posters.

If you happen to be in Chicago between now and June 19, check out this show. Yokoo will very likely blow your mind.

Boogie Woogie, Ctd.

They aren't going for subtlety with this movie poster! The trailer can be seen here. A good article about it is here. It'll probably play for two weeks at The Angelika, but I'm looking forward to it.

The Joannex

Here's another tardy review. I saw this show about a month ago and meant to write about it then. I wanted to mention it now, though, because they have a new 1-night-only show on Saturday called "Are You There God? It's Me, Birdie." Anyway, the last show was a big group show. The Joanna's previous shows were in a small house, but this time they had a large house to show their stuff. They packed it with a pretty incoherent collection of work. Here are some of my favorite things from the show.

When you walked up to the house, you saw this.


Nick Meriweather, Dali's Mustache, mixed media, 2010

Here's a little video I took so you can see the mustache in action.



The mustache was powered by a leaf blower.



This was similar to those spastic attention getting dudes you see in front of stores. I've heard them referred to with the surprisingly poetic term of "air dancers." They're cheesy, and this piece was a witty play on their cheesiness by associating Dali (a master of cheese) with them. It also was an excellent attention getter for the Joannex. I don't really know anything about Mr. Meriwether, but he has a Flickr page here.


Dennis Harper, Howdy Pilgrim, mixed media installation, 2010

When you walked in, this piece dominated the room. There are two ideas at work here--the religious putt-putt game, and the giant face made by the eyes and fireplace mouth. I'm not sure how these two ideas are related. The face was funny like an old black-and-white cartoon. The putt-putt combined an icon with a game of skill. The golf-balls were painted gold, which enhances the Byzantine feel of the piece. And luckily for our salvation, it was pretty easy to get the ball into the hole.

The artist is a guy name Dennis Harper, who I wasn't familiar with. I'm not sure if this is the same artist, but if this is his website, and these two articles are about the same Dennis Harper, then he has an interesting history--doing underground comix in the 1970s, but going back to school in the 2000s to get a BFA and MFA--wow. Definitely an artist I'd like to know more about.


Francis Giampietro, not sure what this is called, wood and protein powder, 2010


Francis Giampietro was back with more wood and protein powder. Like he did in Contrapposto, he used protein powder (which guys use to bulk up with) as one of the elements. He likes playing around with heavy wood structures. Was he making a comment on masculinity... and carpentry? Who knows--I just know I liked it. Maybe it unconsciously appealed to the bro in me.


Jeremy Deprez, another on I don't know the title of, torn stretched canvas

Here's another artist I know nothing about. He has a blog, though. This piece seems pretty dissimilar to the pieces on the blog. An homage to Lucio Fontana, I assume?


Sketch Klubb, this lack of titles is getting old, silkscreen

This appealed to me because a naked tattooed Betty turns me on. Don't ask to understand the mysteries of men's minds. The tattoos are apparently by individual members of Sketch Klubb.

Dump Truck

Apologies for this tardy post. That's how many of my posts are likely to be. I have so many I want to write and so little time, I get behind. I could have just said, fuck it, and not done this post. But if I had done that, I wouldn't be able to post this photo:




Yeah, that's Bill Arning, the director of the CAMH, painting while dressed in an elephant costume.

This was the culmination of a slide show Dump Truck gave on march 25 at the CAMH. Dump Truck is Cory Wagner and Mat Wolff. One of their first pieces was called Dump Truck Divorces a Sculpture--a play off the Art Guys performance The Art Guys Marry a Plant. In this case, they took one of Wagner's solo sculptures, a rather cool cube made of PVC pipe on one corner, and systematically destroyed it with golf clubs in a Houston city park, dressed in white linen suits. They showed a video of this but cut it short, which really bummed me out because I wanted to see the whole thing come down.

Their current project, How to Make Art in Texas, seems much less interesting. You can read about it here. Read it? OK. The problem, based on the snippets they showed us, is that the discussions tended to veer to the silly and self-deprecating--which is too bad because it would be interesting to know how people who promote art, display it, connect artists, enable art events, etc., do what they do on a practical level and on a level of psyching oneself up to actually do it. But maybe that be there in the completed videos. The thing that bugged me was that the sound quality was horrible! They paid a lot of attention to creating a setting but not too much to recording it well.

Then again, I never pay much attention to sound quality myself. As can be seen by this video.