Suddenly, it seems the Austin collective Okay Mountain is everywhere: after their big splash at the 2009 Pulse fair in Miami (their installation Corner Store received both the PULSE prize and Viewer’s choice award, and was purchased by Kentucky collectors Steve Wilson and Laura Lee Brown), they’ve been seen at Freight + Volume and currently [...]
The people in Dallas who know about these things have all heard of Dan H. Phillips, but I figure most everyone elsewhere in the state has yet to run across his quirky and exceptionally skilled work. His current show at Webb Gallery, Early American, showcases Phillips’ masterful cabinetmaking skills alongside his equally masterful, and sly, [...]
Peter Marzio, the longest-serving director of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, died Thursday night from metastasized cancer. He was 67 years old. Marzio began his tenure at the MFAH in 1982 and oversaw its growth, as the collection quadrupled and new buildings were added, including the Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden; Rienzi; and the Audrey Jones [...]
San Francisco sound artist Pamela Z will be doing her thing tonight at the brand new, not-even-open-yet Houston Museum of African American Culture! Click here for details — in the words of the LA Times, "Pamela Z is, as the saying goes, an intriguing bunch of people, a vocalist who mixes street instincts with vestiges of operatic singing and other [...]
Congratulations to Jamal Cyrus, Will Henry, and Jeff Williams, just announced as the finalists for the $30,000 Arthouse Texas Prize. Cyrus is a member of the Otabenga Jones collective which appeared in the 2006 Whitney Biennial, and shows with CTRL Gallery; Henry, perhaps the least well-known of the three, makes quirky gouache paintings and shows with Devin Borden [...]
Starting tonight through Sunday, Spacetaker is hosting their annual Winter Holiday Art Market (WHAM) with an explosion of goodies from Houston artists (including our own Bill Davenport)! You won’t have to Carelessly Whisper to loved ones on your holiday gift list — just have Faith that if you give it One More Try at the fair, the Father [...]
San Antonio artist Chuck Ramirez died today from injuries sustained in a serious bicycle accident. He was 48 years old. For nearly two decades, Ramirez was a central figure in the San Antonio art scene. Known primarily for is photographic portraits of women’s purses, he exhibited at Artpace in 2002 and recently completed a new series of photographs [...]
The Austin Museum of Art has announced their roster for their fourth triennial of new art in Austin. Congratulations to Miguel Aragon, Jesus Benavente/Jennifer Remenchik, Ben Brandt, Debra Broz, Elizabeth Chiles, Santiago Forero, Nathan Green, Ian Ingram, Anna Krachey, Robert Melton, Leslie Mutchler, Ben Ruggiero, Adam Schreiber, Barry Stone and J. Parker Valentine! Artists were [...]
This just in: Ron Tyler is retiring as director of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. Tyler has bookended his career at the Amon Carter, working there as a curator before leaving in 1986 to teach at UT Austin for 20 years in the history department. In 2006 he returned to the museum, now [...]
Services have been announced for Houston artist Edsel Cramer, who died on August 31, 2010. A viewing will be held at The Mabrie Memorial Mortuary, 5000 Almeda Road, Houston, TX 77004, (713) 942-7673 on Thursday, September 9, from 1-8 PM, with the family in attendance from 6-8 PM.The funeral services will be held on Friday, September 10, 2010 at [...]
Houston artist Edsel Cramer died on August 31, 2010. He was 86 years old. Born on May 6, 1924 at the old Jeff Davis Hospital in Houston, Cramer was known for his classically inspired portraits and landscapes. He painted many prominent Houstonians during his career, ranging from Adelaide de Menil (daughter of John and Dominique), [...]
Today the Houston art world is a-twitter with the announcement that Toby Kamps, Senior Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, will be taking over the post of Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at none other than the Menil Collection, just up the street. Kamps takes over for Franklin Sirmans, who left the [...]
Lawndale’s Big Show has been the first line item on many a Houston artist’s resume. It’s the one time every year that Lawndale sets aside its curatorial authority in the name of supporting the community with a big ol’ enveloping-and-not-too-particular bear hug. The idea is that the quantity over quality approach will hopefully give a [...]
It’s one thing to know that there are places on this planet that never get dark at certain times of year. It’s quite another thing to actually be somewhere where it feels like the afternoon is just starting to peak at 11 pm. The fact that it doesn’t ever get dark makes for a strange [...]
Dallas Artist Chapman Kelley, who asked the Dallas Museum of Art to sell his work back to him because he didn’t like the way it was displayed, sued the Chicago Parks District in 2006 over similar concerns about the alteration of an outdoor sculpture of his. Kelley is associated with activist John Viramontes and the [...]
{Sponsored event} We’ve giving away 2 free tickets and a $50 gift certificate to the Glassell art sale preview party next Thursday, May 20. Anyone can enter — just head on over to our Facebook page and vote on your favorite MFAH show from the past year!
Sad news today for the Houston art community: Liz Alexander, grants coordinator for the Houston Arts Alliance, died this morning at St. Joseph’s Hospital. She had been hospitalized on Monday with pneumonia. For many of the artists and arts organizations who went through the grant process with the City of Houston, Liz was their sole [...]
These snapshots are from Andrea Dezsö’s show "Sometimes in My Dreams I Fly" at Rice University Art Gallery. The photos don’t do the show justice: each window at the gallery has been transformed into a life-sized "tunnel book," with layers that recede from the viewer into a fantastical distance. This is old school special effects [...]
I recently asked a curator what she thought of the contemporary art world. She looked at me blankly. I pressed: you know what I mean, it’s headed in the wrong direction, the money is ruining everything and there’s mostly bad art being made. She calmly observed that she thought the art world was fine and [...]
Renowned curator Ted Pillsbury’s untimely death on March 25 has been ruled a suicide, not a heart attack as has been previously reported, according to family members. The body of Pillsbury, 66, was discovered outside his parked car on a deserted stretch of Hiram Road east of Terrell, TX, where he died of a self-inflicted [...]
