Bright Lights, Big Building
Maybe it’s my small-minded side talking, (or the oil-paint fumes) but I’m always a bit wary of art that has to be plugged in. Of course, Flavin can be transcendent, and Bill Viola’s slow-motion...
View ArticleDo Ho Suh in Austin
There is nothing homey about Do Ho Suh’s houses. Like a child taking apart the pieces of a favorite toy, the artist dissects the nostalgia surrounding the idea of home, his diaphanous sculptures...
View ArticleThrowback at the Modern
By the time I began studying their work in the early aughts, artists like Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, Jeff Koons and Julian Schnabel were already history book material. Not in the dead and dusty...
View ArticleKid in the Council Room
On Tuesday, as I buckled Clementine into her carseat, she asked me, “where we goin’ mama?” and my answer was “City Hall.” We went to hear artist Troy Stanley address the city council, as well as Ed...
View ArticleFriday Night Lights
At 7:46 on Friday evening, the dense-looking skies over George Bush Intercontinental Airport made good on their threat and let loose the kind of torrential rain that turns Houston into the Bayou City....
View ArticleA Brief Visit to Infinity
When teaching any beginner level studio class, I try to steer students clear of what I might deem “obvious” materials and symbols. Anything with mirrors, skulls and anatomical hearts, and things that...
View ArticleSmall Miracles
Liza Littlefield’s Milagros and Landscapes is a series of jewel-like works filling the blood-colored walls of Redbud Gallery. The larger works, still relatively small in a city of many Rothko’s, are...
View ArticleI Texas Art Car
For one sublime afternoon every spring, Allen Parkway is closed to all ‘average’ vehicles. Drivers of shiny ‘Beamers’ and well-tended SUV’s are met with orange detour signs and told to make way for...
View ArticleIt’s not art, but…
Access to world class museums is one of the major advantages of living in the fourth largest city in the country. I guess you mind the traffic less if there’s a truly amazing destination at the end of...
View ArticleIt Takes Everything
This one is for the artists. Or maybe you just love an artist and are struggling to understand why that person is dumping so much of their time and money into an enterprise that seems so futile....
View ArticleHello Old Friend
In the 90s there was a skit on SNL about a bunch of big-haired southern ladies visiting the Louvre. My sisters and I referred to these types as “Q-tip heads,” since their hair was so firmly lacquered...
View ArticleToppling Symbols Midweek
The Houston “season” has commenced. In the past week we’ve attended no less than six openings, some with and some without the youngest art stroller. After last night’s HOMEcore opening of painter...
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