Houston to San Antonio
We arrived at Blue Star Thursday night to a performance of Justin Randolph Thompson’s Tossin’ the Rag as part of his exhibition Meet Me in the Bottoms. A rag doll was being thrown in the air from a blanket while the artist performed with a group of collaborators. They were accompanied by a small band facing [...]
SLICING UP THE CINEMA ARTS FEST (Part 1: The Verge)
The Houston Cinema Arts Festival is back with an eclectic program celebrating film both as art and as art document. It opens this Wednesday and runs through Sunday. As always, the fest features some great programming. And, as always, it’s a little difficult to decipher and plan for. In reality, the HCAF is a few [...]
CONNECT THE DOTS. Media Archeology 2012
The Aurora Picture Show’s 9th annual Media Archeology Festival (Thursday through Saturday, Sept. 21-23) premieres a host of unique films and live audiovisual performances that transform everything from magnetic fields to cardiac rhythms to landmark film abstractions. When the Media Archeology Festival began nearly a decade ago, it was primarily focused on artists’ repurposing of [...]
Four Solo Shows at Lawndale
Though it may still be hot and steamy outside, the fall exhibition season is almost upon us. The next several weekends in Houston look to be busy, busy with much-anticipated solo shows, blockbuster group exhibitions, and galas galore. Lawndale Art Center is ahead of the curve and has already opened four solo shows that will [...]
’bout sound and vision
Experimental Eye and The Sounds of Silence. The next 6 weeks bring Houstonians rare opportunities to see some of the most dynamic experimental films in history- many shown on delicious 16mm film! Four upcoming film screenings–one presented by the Aurora Picture Show, and three co-presented by the Menil Collection and Rice Media Center–showcase a diversity [...]
Summer exhibitions at Box 13 ArtSpace
Box 13 ArtSpace on the east side of Houston just opened their first set of summer exhibitions featuring a roster of artists from around the world. At a time when most places have stopped doing exhibitions of international artists, it is encouraging to see an artist-run space still fostering art as an global conversation, budget [...]
LOW IMPACT (RESISTANCE TO FLOW / THISISBOBDYLANTOME) SUBJECT TO CHANGE at Lawndale Art Center
Choreography a collaboration by Jim Nolan and Linda Post. Documentation of opening night performance featuring: Daniel Adame, Shanon Adams, Tina Shariffskul and Prudence Sun. Documentation by Lillie Monstrum. For their exhibition at Lawndale Art Center, Jim Nolan and Linda Post have gathered institutional props, mellow sounds, and documentation of the exhibition’s installation as their [...]
eState Sale
Last weekend I went with a friend to a string of local openings. Some of the shows I saw I don’t even remember looking at, although I distinctly remember every conversation I overheard or had on the night in question. The conversations were compelling and funny, and at times actually intelligent sounding, which is probably [...]
Cinema Arts Festival Houston
This Wednesday evening, the third annual Cinema Arts Festival Houston launches five days of film screenings, multimedia performances, video installations, and artist talks in venues around the city. CAFH is unique in the film festival world because it’s not so much a celebration of movies as it is an exploration of film’s relationships with all [...]
Unit B: Michele Monseau’s “Elephant in the Room”
Lucky has been anything but. A 46-year resident of the San Antonio Zoo, the sixtyish, female elephant became a cause célèbre for animal rights activists after her longtime companion Alport died in 2007, leaving Lucky alone. Since then, she’s gained a new friend, Boo, but Lucky remains, as she has been since she was captured [...]
Maria Guzman
Maria Guzman interprets her world into playfully grotesque, allegorical paintings, installations, sculptures and performances. In settings inspired by a mixed cultural identity (Italy, South America and USA) Maria renders herself as Alejandra, an elderly blogger, and her family as troubled elephants and mythical man beasts amongst other incarnations. Visit Alejandra’s blog (Maria’s alter-ego): alejandralejandra.blogspot.com/
Lane Hagood
In 2010, Lane Hagood re-created the “Mary’s Mural”, a former public icon and landmark of Houston’s Montrose neighborhood. The revived painting, made at the Johanna (an artist-run space in the city), served as a celebration of an unlikely masterpiece and a token of regret for its disappearance. The process of recreating the mural also commenced [...]