Dishonorable Mention--Houston Art Scenesters' Least Favorites of 2011

by Robert Boyd

Lots of folks in the Houston art scene selected their favorite shows/performances/whatevahs for Pan--so many that it took five blog posts just to list them all (you can read them here, here, here, here and here). But of the 14 who responded, only three offered up their "worst of Houston," and two of them requested anonymity. I can understand this--writing (and thinking) about things you don't like is often not as fun as doing it for things you like. I think this is one reason that there are more good reviews than bad reviews. But I think it's important to express the negative as well as the positive. Otherwise, we exist in an uncritical environment, a kind of pollyannish boosterism. No one is held to account. Critical dialogue is completely one-sided. So listed below are the worst of Houston, as chosen by Jim Pirtle and two anonymous local artists.

The attack on the Art Guy's tree. Jim Pirtle selected this without comment, but I wasn't sure if he saw it as the best or worst of Houston? I asked him to clarify, and he sent the following: "the killing of the art guys tree at the Menil. [Was that the best event or the worst?] more in the surreal category that a work of was so clearly misunderstood as commenting on gay marriage and that the piece was so controversial...and said sad things about the Menil.... and shocked me almost like book burning but by what I consider to be the most enlightened...and if art is about thinking the saga of that tree is conceptual agony" Nuff said!


Darke Gallery "If you didn't get to Austin to see the Texas Biennial." An anonymous respondent wrote "the principal of this was the worst. Lazy curating/zero curating, crazy title, overall tacky." Brutal. (That said, I thought the Darke Gallery had some fine shows--I especially liked the Kathy Kelley show.)


Mark Wagner's Gale Bill was on view at the Houston Fine Art Fair, symbolizing all the money whirling around the joint

The Houston Fine Art Fair. Here's what one respondent had to say: "Ugh. Just... man. So overblown and all-around awful." Weirdly enough, this was the only mention of either of the art fairs by the respondents to my polls.


Workworkworkworkwork by Charles LeDray at MFAH. One of my respondents really didn't like this show: "Charles LeDray work work disgusted me. I'm not interested in his tedious OCD-related doll clothes and I don't think they're art." (For a somewhat different take--mine--read this.)



Walter de Maria, Trilogies at the Menil. The same respondent also loathed de Maria's show. "Walter de Maria was epic fail...a 25 cent idea with a million dollar budget."

George Gittoes, Witness to War at the Station Museum. That correspondent completed his own trilogy of vituperation by writing, "But the worst ...The Station's endless survey of propaganda posing as art hit a new low with the Witness To War: George Gittoes. If this is the left, color me totalitarian."

That's all from the Houston art community (at least the ones who answered my questions). Next up, my own personal favorites (and most disliked).

Part 5 of the Houston Art Scene's collective favorites of 2011

by Robert Boyd

(Continued from part 4)


Robert Pruitt, You Are Your Own Twin at Hooks Epstein. Mark Flood said Pruitt's You Are Your Own Twin was one of the best gallery shows he saw this year.

Rod Northcutt's Indigenous Genius at Art League. Emily Sloan selected this show, writing "The audience's strong mixed or confused reactions were interesting to me."


Scott Teplin, Crash at Ggallery. This got a vote from Bett Hollis.

Seth Mittag, No Show ( At icetsuoH). This mysterious show (described to me by Mittag as a "non-show") got a thumbs up from Michael Galbreth.


a tiny part of Shaun O'Dell's Silver Wall at Inman

Shaun O'Dell, Feeling Easy Feelings at Inman. Howard Sherman included Shaun O'Dell's solo show on his list of favorites.


Stan VanDerBeek: The Cultural Intercom at CAMH. Devon Britt-Darby wrote that the underground film pioneer's show "was pretty important, too."


Howard Sherman likes the accidental art made with this kind of paint.

The neon orange markings on the pavement in and around downtown. Howard Sherman likes this unusual type of found painting: "One last thing. I feel really strongly about the neon orange markings I see on the pavement in and around downtown. They're done by construction workers marking things off. The arrows and geometic edges are cool. So are the tar splatters. Wonderfully random and more inspirational than most of the art out there." (Personally, I would add painted-over graffiti--the irregular boxes of various shades of grey always appeal to me.)


 Francis Giampietro, Nature Is Crooked from the UH Masters show

33rd School of Art Masters Thesis Exhibition at the Blaffer. An anonymous respondent spoke of the UH masters show. The class of 2011 was pretty remarkable, for sure.

Vija Celmins: Television + Disaster, 1964-9166 at the Menil. Michael Galbreth liked it a lot.


The tiny underwear that was part of Seth Mittag's installation at Rice


Seth Mittag, We're Still Here...  at EMERGEncy Room. Mittag's trailer park tragedy got the nod from an anonymous respondent, who wrote, "Seth is an amazingly humble artist for someone with such knowledge and skill. This installation kicked off the EMERGEncy Room right."

A few quick notes here. A vast majority of the respondents were artists--only Bill Arning (museum director/curator) and Devon Britt-Darby (critic/blogger) were not primarily artists (although Britt-Darby arguably is letting his artist side come to the fore with his current project). I noticed that the artists who responded tended to have observable biases towards institutions or galleries with which they were associated. There was also a bit of a generational bias--artists would select work from their peers. And there were observable "social circle" biases. Now I don't think any of these biases is bad, but it does suggest that if 11 other Houston artists had responded, the results would have been dramatically different. In short, this list is not definitive.

Finally, I have added a post for the worst of Houston in 2011. Check it out.

The Part 4: Best (and Worst) of 2011 -- The Houston Art Community Selects their Faves

(Continued from part 3)


Temple Hive by Monica Vidal wowed 'em at Box 13

Monica Vidal, Temple Hive at BOX 13. "I can't wrap my head around all the planning and measuring that goes into Monica's work. The scale of her work is really impressive, and I loved being able to walk into this one (a similar hive at Lawndale was sealed off). Her drawings are also quite nice." That's what an anonymous respondent thought. Maybe Vidal should make a super-giant hive for the West Oaks Mall art space. That would be worth the 20 mile drive to see!

Moving into his new studio. Sometimes the most important art event is purely personal. Earl Staley wrote that his most "memorable event was moving into a studio at 2711 Main St. The rest is noise." That's a great location if you find that you've run out of pthalo green--Art Supply on Main is just downstairs.


Nathan Green's show at Art Palace

Nathan Green, Fill the Sky at Art Palace. An anonymous respondent gave a thumbs up to this show.

Kenn Coplan, Ultimate Kenn at Nau-haus Art Space. One of our anonymous respondents wrote, "Kenn Coplan's solo show was incredibly entertaining. His pieces are crazy. They're so fun to look at and play with. His photography is also outstanding, but I get really excited by his wacky toys and rusty sculptures."


Duck! Curt Gambetta's Office Light at Lawndale


Curt Gambetta, Office Light at Lawndale. Emily Sloan gave the nod to this perversely claustrophobic outdoor installation by Curt Gambetta.


First Take: Okay Mountain Collective at Blaffer Gallery. This got a vote from Brett Hollis, with no word on whether he joined their cult.


Camp Bosworth keeps an eye on everything with Security Camera 1 at Southern/Pacific

Southern/Pacific curated by Paul Middendorf at Lawndale. "The most successful group show I've seen at Lawndale in a long time. I'm excited to see the next installment of this traveling project." That's what an anonymous respondent wrote about this Portland/Marfa/Houston show.


Susan Plum, Nuevo Fuego at PG Contemporary. An anonymous respondent wrote, "Susan Plum's show is just plain beautiful. All of that sparkling woven glass is mesmerizing. Her work feels both earthy and clean at the same time."

Kenn Coplan, Wayne Gilbert & Charles Krafft, Momento Mori at PG Contemporary. "I love Charles Krafft. Enough said. The three artists complimented each other nicely. Wayne's human ash paintings were perfect with Charles' human bone china pieces. Kenn's rust angels and dusty curio cabinet were haunting," was what an anonymous respondent wrote.

Jillian Conrad, Claire Falkenberg, Ian Pedigo, and Brion Nuda Rosch, Related Clues at Inman. An anonymous respondent wrote, "Well to be honest what i really like at Inman is Claire Falkenberg and Ian Pedigo. [M]ust have been 5 or 6 years ago when I [first] saw [Pedigo's] work. He does some pretty cool stuff, but I'm still not quite sure where he is coming from. First time to see Claire's work--like it so far." I thought Conrad and Rosch's work in this show was also excellent.

To be concluded in part 5!

The Best (and Worst) of 2011 -- The Houston Art Community Fails to Reach a Consensus (part 3)

(Continued from part 2.)

Cody Ledvina, Gawd parents: I am real at BOX 13. Performance has a hard time in lists like this because it is so fleeting--you had to be there. That said, one of our anonymous respondents was there and wrote, "I've always been a big fan of Cody's work. This is something that's been floating around out there needing a space for a while, and I was really excited to see it finally happen."

Grandalism curated by Gonzo 247 at Diverse Works. Howard Sherman voted for several of the pieces put up as part of Diverse Work's ongoing Gandalism project.

Heyd Fontenot's It's a Nude, Nude, Nude, Nude, Nude, Nude World at Inman gallery. Bill Arning came in with an unexpected but fun vote: "My fave event was Heyd Fontenot's Nude, Nude, Nude, Nude, Nude, Nude World at Inman gallery, the gesamtkunstwerk of seeing all your Houston art pals pose naked for this great portraitist made my year, and yes, I posed too! "

James Burns at Cardoza Art Gallery. Mark Flood liked this show.

James Surls, Molecular 3x3 at CAMH. This was on Michael Galbreth's list.


im Nolan, Palisades Paintings / Brown, Red, Yellow, Blue, photo on canvas, 2011

Jim Nolan, Today is Tomorrow, Art Palace. This got an anonymous vote. Personally, I think 99¢ Only Stores should hire Nolan as artist-in-residence.

Johnny Meah: The Czar of Bizarre at Art Guys Museum. Michael Galbreth voted for this one, presumably with a little curatorial pride talking. This was definitely the best exhibit of side-show art in Houston in 2011.

Linda Post, Wherever, Art Palace. Linda Post's video art got the thumbs up from one of our anonymous respondents.



Jim Woodring wields Nibbus Maximus at Lawndale


Marc Bell and Jim Woodring, Walpurgis Afternoon at Lawndale Art Center. Brett Hollis selected this one as one of his favorites, which, as the curator of the show, makes me feel real proud.

Mark Ponder, A Time to Celebrate at Lawndale. An anonymous respondent love this and wrote, "Mark is just getting his start in Houston. He's hugely prolific and his work is playful and sick. I can't wait to see more."

I've hit my limit on "tags", so this post shall be continued in part 4 and part 5.

The Best (and Worst) of 2011 -- The Houston Art Community Fails to Reach a Consensus (part 2)

by Robert Boyd

This is continued from part 1. The shows/events listed below are everything that got one vote from the 14 respondents to my poll.

Howard Sherman, Apocalyptic Wallpaper at McMurtrey. This show actually got two votes, but one was from Howard Sherman himself! I approve of an artist having high self-esteem, but thought it wouldn't be right to count that toward the total. Mark Flood also liked this show.

Alex Jones' protest against the Federal Reserve bank on Allen Pkwy. This odd entry on the list came from Mark Flood: "Maybe not art but I loved [the] Alex Jones led a protest against the Federal Reserve bank on Allen Pkwy., sorta connected with occupy."

Ancestors of the Lake: Art of Lake Sentani and Humboldt Bay, New Guinea at the Menil. Mark Flood wrote, "I also loved [the Menil's] Ancestors of the Lake: Art of Lake Sentani and Humboldt Bay, New Guinea. It makes me sound like a Menil groupie but believe me I'm not."


Ana Serrano, House of Beauty installation view, mixed media, 2011

Ana Serrano's Salon of Beauty at Rice Gallery. An anonymous respondent said, "I love to be totally immersed in an artist's world. This was spectacular! I wish I could visit it still."

BOX of Curiosities PODA Project by various Box 13 artists. This was one of the choices of an anonymous respondent.


Carlos Cruz-Diez: Color in Space and Time at MFAH. This color-saturated show was one of Devon Britt-Darby's favorites.


CounterCrawl flyer

CounterCrawl. A bicycling trip through various art studios struck a chord which performance artist Carrie Schneider.

The Cy Twombly Gallery shortly after his death. One of the most moving responses I got to my poll wass this one by painter/collagist/crochetist Stephanie Toppin: "To take an extremely personal take on this that I have not really told or blogged to anyone about, I did the very typical artist thing and visited the Cy Twombly gallery after he died. He is a part of the realm of painters that mak[es] me fall in love with not art, but paint. The relationship to canvas is what I could gawk at, spending hours away. I don't know what I really went for, but I had to go to satisfy the itch of not going. I wanted to think about art now that moved me like this. I felt scared. This year has been a personal rollercoaster for me and art has always been my safe place. For the first time, life seemed marked. I am not afraid of death, I am afraid of artist's death, of an art death. It actually hurts me to type this. Maybe I always felt that his painting lived, the possibility of more, and with his death they truly stopped. All of it became history. This is all there is.

"I know it is dramatic. I wish I was better at communicating a feeling that I can hardly contain. I've been thinking about it for days. I just wanted to tell you, it doesn't matter if you post this. I wish there was a show that shined above this for me.

"Art seems so fast now, there are so many pop up shows and work around every corner. I applaud the energy, I think it helps the public know and understand arts contribution to the culture of the city. I guess I am romantic. I want more slow art. I will have to stew on that."


Dennis Harper, iPageant, performance with paper props, 2011

iPageant, Dennis Harper & friends at the Joanna. An anonymous respondent wrote, "I was really disappointed with Nancy Douthey's performance, and I wish there was more time spent on the game show portion of the exhibition, but this was great." (Personally, I liked Douthey's performance, but I agree the game show should have kept going--hopefully they will restage it sometime.)

The Devon Britt-Darby saga. Emily Sloan voted for "Devon Britt-Darby's life, art, religion, sexcapades!"


Donald Moffett: The Extravagant Vein at CAMH. And speaking of Devon Britt-Darby, this is one of his top choices of the year.


Emily Peacock, MeeMee and Me, C Print, 2010

Emily Peacock. One anonymous correspondent wrote voted for "anything Emily Peacock does," which raises a point--there are artists that you see here and there who may not have a solo exhibit, but the sum of their work makes a big impact. I can see that effect with Peacock's photography.

Francis Giampietro & Jeremy DePrez, The Power of Negative Feedback at Lawndale. This two-man show garnered a vote from one of my anonymous respondents.

(Because I've reached the limit on the number of characters I can have in my "tags", I'm going to contiunue this in part 3--and part 4 and part 5. Onward!)

The Best (and Worst) of 2011 -- The Houston Art Community Fails to Reach a Consensus (part 1)

by Robert Boyd

Last year, I wrote my first "top exhibits of the year" post, and I will again this year (later this week), but I thought it would be nice to see what other people in Houston thought. I sent out a request for people to tell me what they considered the best (and worst) art things of the year. I wanted to hear about the best exhibits, of course, but also the best events, performances, trends, whatever. Fourteen people replied from all strata of the Houston art world (except gallery owners, for some reason--the gallery owners I emailed have chosen to keep their favorites close to the vest). Three of the respondents requested anonymity--they are all artists, but that's all I'll say about them. (I asked for "worst show," and everyone who replied to that question requested that I keep them anonymous. I understand. It's a small art community. I'll write about those responses in a future post.)

To understand what they were saying, I gridded out their replies. The left-hand column was their choices, and the top row was their names. What I hoped was that by doing this, a consensus choice would become evident. No such luck.

In all, my 13 respondents picked 36 art things in Houston that they really liked. But only six got more than one vote! So that's where I'm going to start--all the art exhibits that got two votes from my poll.


Andrei Molodkin, Liberty, acrylic block and plastic hoses filled with crude oil, pump, compressor, Dedolight, video camera, projector, 2011

Andrei Molodkin: Crude at the Station Museum of Contemporary Art. This show got props from both Howard Sherman and Devon Britt-Darby. And I have to add that it's a show that comes up a lot in casual conversation.


from left to right: Arturo Palacio, Barry Stone, Barry Stone's wife whose name I am blanking on

Barry Stone,  Dark Side of the Rainbow at Art Palace. The Austin-based photographer Barry Stone has had a good year. He was the subject of the first Pastelegram print issue, and his show at Art Palace was pretty great. I liked it so much that I bought a piece on lay-away. One of my anonymous respondents described Stone's photography as "fucking awesome," and another anonymous respondent called it "really good."


Answers to Questions installation view

John Wood and Paul Harrison, Answers to Questions at CAMH. One anonymous respondent loved this show, but wasn't sure whether is was the staging of the show or the videos themselves that he liked most. I agree--whatever you thought of the videos (which I personally loved), it was extremely well staged. Michael Galbreth of the Art Guys also listed it as one of his favorites of the year.


Mary McCleary, not sure about the title...


Mary McCleary: A Survey 1996 - 2011 at the Art League. About Mary McCleary's show, Emily Sloan wrote, "Her work had a profound affect on people. They were touched! ([You] don't see that all the time.)" That's true. We so seldom see people visibly moved by artwork these days that we are slightly suspicious of it. Howard Sherman also noted it as one of the best of the year.


Seth Alverson, can't remember the title...

Seth Alverson at Art Palace. This was the intriguing show where Alverson repainted all the canvases that didn't sell from his last show. The result, according to one anonymous respondent, was "double awesome." Artist Brett Hollis also included it as one of the best shows of the year.


Arctic Realities installation view, photo by Paul Hester (via)

Upside Down: Arctic Realities at the Menil. This show was listed as one of the best of 2011 by Artforum, but even more important was that Mark Flood liked it: "Upside Down: Arctic Realities at the Menil was just awesome." Devon Britt-Darby also included it on his best-of list.

By virtue of getting more than one mention by my distinguished respondents, this heterogeneous list is the closest we have to a consensus of Houston's art world. Let's call it a six-way tie for #1. The rest of the shows/events mentioned are tied for 2nd place, and I'll cover them in part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5.

Note on Lisa Qualls at Koelsch Gallery

by Robert Boyd



absence installation view

There is an interesting bit of family history that Lisa Qualls is mining for this show. Her great-great-great grandmother, Lily Qualls, was born a slave. She and one of the sons of the master fell in love. It was a love that had no future in the slave-holding South. So they eloped and fled north. The family name was Quarles , and the name Qualls was adopted to prevent embarrassment for the family. Presumably the love lasted--at least long enough for Lily to become a matriarch of a family that continued unbroken through Lisa. But the Qualls have no images of Lily.

This show is about that lack. It's called absence, and it is full of imagined images of Lily.



Lisa Qualls, Absence (eight versions), book pages, acrylic, colored pencil, oil, wood, 2011



Lisa Qualls, Absence (installation view), book pages, acrylic, colored pencil, oil, wood, 2011

One part of the project was to imagine a range of possible faces for her ancestor. Each portrait has a limited number of elements, and each of those elements has a set of possible variations. The skin tone, the hair, the placement of facial features--these vary subtly in each imagined portrait of Lily.



Lisa Qualls, my great-great-great grandmother at age 12, graphite on mylar, 2011

This I found a little odd--is she imagining her 12-year-old ancestor with grey hair? I'm not sure. This drawing is part of a triptych, which includes a self-portrait at 12 and, poignantly I thought, a portrait of her imagined daughter at 12.



Lisa Qualls, me at age 12, graphite on mylar, 2011



Lisa Qualls, my imagined daughter at age 12, graphite on mylar, 2011

One technical note--Qualls' graphite works are extremely subtle in their values. Consequently, they are unusually difficult to photograph well. The photos above give you an idea of what these drawings look like, but you really need to see them in person to get the real effect. So if you find yourself biking on the Heights hike & bike trail between now and January 14, stop by the Koelsch Gallery and check them out in person.