Dave, Dave, Dave
Dave Hickey recently announced his retirement from art criticism, citing his disgust with the circus that the art world—particularly the world of contemporary art—has become. He also, in an article published online by The Guardian/The Observer, noted he’s working on a book that will be a “snarky diatribe on Christianity.” I met Dave in Austin about [...]
Most Fun Volunteer Gig in Town
This past weekend, I had the opportunity to assist with the jurying of Lawndale Art Center’s annual Big Show. I have volunteered for this event for the last three years, and it has become a cherished annual ritual for me. When I arrived on Saturday, the galleries were filled with nearly a thousand artworks submitted [...]
The Chupacabrona Tour, Part 2: On South Texas Identity, or The Wild Nudes of McAllen
Basketball season brings out the aggrieved San Antonian in me. I am a Spurs fan, of course. Not a basketball enthusiast, necessarily, but a Spurs fan. This is a congenital condition. It’s brought on not just because San Antonio has no other major league sporting teams to diffuse our ardor, but because San Antonio is [...]
Sustainable Practice: Nancy Zastudil
In many ways, Nancy Zastudil was the inspiration for this series of interviews about sustainable practices. We worked together at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts at the University of Houston, which organized a symposium called Systems of Sustainability. In the course of planning for the event, we talked about ways that the [...]
Abstraction Packed
There is a proliferation of exhibitions featuring abstract painting in Houston right now. Gallery Sonja Roesch, Sicardi Gallery, and Hiram Butler Gallery have group exhibitions featuring abstract painters, and there are several galleries featuring solo exhibitions by painters– Zachariah Rieke at Wade Wilson Art, Michael Kennaugh at Moody Gallery, Geoff Hippenstiel at Devin Borden Gallery, [...]
Sustainable Practice: Robert Boyd
It takes a lot of creativity to make a new idea happen and quite a bit of sacrifice to keep it going. Inspired by Glasstire’s remarkable eleven years on the scene, this series of interviews on sustainable practices will profile artists, writers, and curators who broke out of the box, started an original project, and [...]
Josh Bernstein’s “Man Corn”
Josh Bernstein‘s exhibition “Man Corn” is the third exhibition in Rice University’s newest art venue– EMERGEncy Room. Located on the second floor of Sewall Hall, where Rice Gallery is also housed, the project space is dedicated to showing emerging artists in a small room with a front, glass wall through which one can see the [...]
Skydive Celebrates Its 4th Year
Four years ago, Sasha Dela and Ariane Roesch opened a studio on an upper floor of an outdated and slightly ominous looking office building across from Montrose Krogers and the Chinese Consulate after the artists were both in the 2008 Houston Area Exhibition at Blaffer Art Museum. They decided to curate small exhibitions in [...]
Is there room for ART in CSR?
Long gone are the days when a CEO could simply cut a company check to his favorite charity. Now that it has become clear that companies can get the social kudos they used to get from philanthropy through initiatives that are also “good business,” managers have difficulty justifying any Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives that [...]
Art Narc: Vildelife
My former landlord in Williamsburg, Brooklyn—a sphinx-like Teutonic manchild who sublet me one of the ad-hoc drywall sleeping lofts in the colossal warehouse he leased near the Bedford Avenue subway stop—still owes me $1200. It was my security deposit from 2008 and I don’t expect to get it back. I don’t mean this story as revenge [...]
Chupacabrona World Tour! (…Of South and West Texas)
Hi again, Glasstire readers! This is what I think y’all look like: And also like this: Hello to you all. This December, I embark on The Chupacabrona World Tour (of South and West Texas). Over the course of five months, I aim to make ten two- and three-day trips from SATX to urban centers [...]
The Chupacabrona World Tour (of South and West Texas)
Hi again, Glasstire readers! This is what I think y’all look like: And also like this: Hello to you all. This December, I embark on The Chupacabrona World Tour (of South and West Texas). Over the course of five months, I aim to make ten two- and three-day trips from SATX to urban centers [...]
Queer State(s) at the UT Visual Art Center: Out of Nowhere
My friend Rebecca watches ”RuPaul’s Drag U” with her six-year-old daughter, who’s a big fan. The six-year-old, her mother believes, doesn’t understand that Jujubee, Raven and the other drag queens are not biological women. The little girl watches for more or less the same reason her mom does — for the kitschy glamor (although the kiddo [...]
SATX-ATX Manifesto with the strength of a thousand demons!
Since I titled this post thusly, I sort of want to write the whole thing in ALL CAPS FOR EMPHASIS. But I won’t. Hello! I’m Sarah Fisch, a fresh out of the box Glasstire blogger. I’m obsessed with contemporary art, sharks, and Julie Andrews, I hate mayonnaise, I’m a born and bred San Antonian who [...]