Beth Secor’s Observations on the Texas Contemporary Art Fair
Now with two art fairs under my belt, not only does it really hurts when I sit down, but I have also become the world’s leading authority on ALL THINGS ART WORLD, and having established my authority as such, will share with you my observations on Houston’s latest contribution to the genre, the Texas Contemporary [...]
Reed’s Not-Too-Creepy Valley Releases Halloween Podcast Narrated by X-Factor Celeb Dermot O’Leary
Austin multimedia artist/illustrator Sarah Green Reed has been collaborating with UK author Matt Brown on The Creepy Valley, a story and activity site about a little monster named Keith and his world. In honor of Halloween, the site had added a new story, “The Terrifying Mew of the Cuddly Kitten,” read by Dermot O’Leary host [...]
Texas Contemporary Mad Libs winners!
Last week we ran a Mad Lib contest during the Texas Contemporary Art Fair, promising fame and free Glasstire t-shirts to our winners. And here they are, selected by the staff under the criteria of “made us chuckle.” Thanks to all who participated; you all are winners in our book. But only the people who [...]
New York Campout: Alison Ward brings Water Pod Developers to Seguin for Alternative Living Experiment
New York artist Alison Ward, in the papers recently for Water Pod Project, an experiment in collective green living on a barge in Manhattan, threw a Halloween party Saturday in Queens to raise money for her next venture: sutainable art farming in Seguin, Texas. The new project, called Habitable Spaces, hopes to raise $100,000 to [...]
Glasstire Drawing Project #1: Life On the List, Chapter 1
The Glasstire Drawing Project debuts with Chapter 1 of Michael Bise’s “Life On the List,” an autobiographical comic about life on the heart transplant list.
Old School Halloween (In praise of freaks)
So, I grew up on this tiny liberal arts college campus that was on an old 18th century farm in almost-rural New Hampshire. There was a legendary ghost, Emma, that would stalk about the place, showing up naked at odd hours of the night asking for shelter; plus, the house had also been a stop on the [...]
Hive Mind Writes Tech-Art Book in Seven Days; Andrea Grover Queen Bee
Ex-Texan arch-collaborator Andrea Grover formed a “hive mind” with writers Claire Evans, Régine Debatty, and Pablo Garcia, and designers Luke Bulman and Jessica Young of Thumb Projects earlier this year to write “New Art/Science Affinities” in a seven-day charette. The book is now out, and is available for purchase ($45.75) through print-on-demand service Lulu, or [...]
Franklin Sirmans to Curate Prospect 3 New Orleans
Dan Cameron, Curator and founder of Prospect 1 New Orleans announced last week that he was turning the creative reins of the three-year-old project over to former Menil curator Franklin Sirmans. Sirmans, currently contemporary art curator at LACMA, will serve as artistic director of the planned Prospect 3 in 2013.
People’s Art Show to Occupy Austin City Hall in 2012, Needs Local Art!
The City of Austin is looking for local art to fill City Hall for next year’s popular annual People’s Gallery Exhibition. This year the show will run from February 24, 2012-January 10, 2013 and the application deadline is midnight December 5 for artists, galleries and art spaces to submit artworks for consideration via the city’s [...]
Apples and Oranges
Looking at two new books that recently landed in my lap, I’m reminded of Dave Hickey’s description of the therapeutic institution. That would be the museum or ICA or biennial whose displays were, like nasty tasting medicine, supposed to be “good” for the viewer. In contrast to such visual puritanism, Hickey argued for exhibitions whose visual [...]
Times Square’s Glen Weiss New Director of Art League Houston
Public art manager Glen Weiss has been named as the new Executive Director of the Houston Art League, arriving fresh from NY, where he was the fonding manager of the Times Square public art program. He starts work on November 1. Working for the Times Square Alliance, a business-booster organization, Weiss organized over 30 arts [...]
Artist Eric Fischl to lecture at MFAH Glassell School TODAY!
Internationally acclaimed painter and sculptor Eric Fischl will present the inaugural Naomi Turner True Lecture at the Glassell School of Art this afternon, Friday, October 28, at 6 p.m. The lecture, “How I paint what I paint,” is free and open to the public, and it takes place in the school’s Frank Freed Auditorium, 5101 [...]
Gonzo247 and Merge360 Unveil Houston Library Garage Mural TODAY at 3!
Aerosol Warfare’s enormous mural, twining its way through the Houston Public Library’s underground parking garage is finished, and will be unveiled TODAY, Thursday, Oct 27 from 3-5 pm at the Central Library at 500 McKinney St. The mural, titled Linking You to the World, is a collaborative effort between street art impresario Gonzo247 and participants [...]
Why Gigamerz?
“In the war, things were in terrible turmoil. What I had learned at the academy was of no use to me and the useful new ideas were still unready… Everything had broken down and new things had to be made out of the fragments; and this is Merz. It was like a revolution within me, [...]
Artist Marni Kotak Has Baby in Gallery, Controversy Ensues
Brooklyn -based Performance Artist Marni Kotak gave birth to a healthy baby boy in New York’s Microscope Gallery on Tuesday. The culmination of her exhibition, The Birth of Baby X, which began as a replica home birthing center, and will finish out its run replaying video of the big event. Saying that “real life is [...]
Texas Contemporary Peeves and Qualms
So, the Texas Contemporary Art Fair is over. (Which gives me an excuse to post the above image. This particular Rachel Hecker piece is impactful and funny in-person, too.) So I’m still processing everything I saw, PLUS I’m recovering from a bout of dog-days writer’s block, which I blame on 9/11, heatstroke and having watched [...]
2X2 = $4.8 million (+ the chicken and the egg)
You’ve by now heard tell of how this year’s TWO x TWO guest of honor, the artist Mark Grotjahn, got all perschnickered on art-party libations, stumbled off scene just before his painting went on the auction block to sell for a cool one million, as a golden-robed Patti LaBelle belted out “Voulez-vous couchez avec moi.” He swaggered [...]
WOW To Install Tim Glover’s Light Garden At Houston Roundabout
In November 2011 the Washington On Westcott Roundabout Initiative (WOW) will break ground on the installation of its newest feature—“The Light Garden,” by artist Tim Glover. In the coming months, Glover’s three illuminated, tree-like sculptures will be ‘planted’ in the park setting of the roundabout at the intersection of Washington Ave. and Westcott St., near [...]
Fair Thee Well
The second whoppin’ big art fair has come to a close, and oh! I have so much to say that I doubt, what with today’s average attention span, any one will even make it to the end! As loyal readers know, the Texas Contemporary Art Fair was not my first rodeo. But it was the [...]
Dallas Two x Two For Aids and Art Event Raises $4.8 million for amfAR, DMA
The star-studded Two x Two For Aids and Art benefit, held at the Rachofsky House in Dallas raised a record-breaking $4.8 million for amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, and the Dallas Museum of Art last Saturday. Close to 475 people attended the black-tie event; 121 works of art were sold via live and silent [...]
