Houston-based conceptual sculptor Dario Robleto will be the next artist to juxtapose his own works in dialogue with selections from the Menil Collection (including our super-summery cover image, an Andy Warhol Sunset). Robleto told Devon Britt-Darby how his current, ongoing project tracks the history of the human heartbeat as a sound experience.
Charissa N. Terranova explores what she calls the “post-ironic” work of Dallas painters Eli Walker, Joshua Von Ammon and Nathan Green, whose work “strikes a new autonomy that is sincere and concerned with being physically present as three-dimensional form.”
We have two significant comebacks this month. Dance Theatre of Harlem makes its first appearance in Houston in over a decade on July 23, at Miller Outdoor Theatre, just after the company’s Jacob’s Pillow performance, where I have the privilege of being the designated scholar. Sydney Skybetter brings us into the conversation on diversity in ballet, a hot topic right now. After a hiatus, the Dallas DanceFest is back, with a three-day extravaganza over Labor Day weekend. Dallas dance writer Manuel Mendoza gives us some some history and an overview of the festival.
How does anthropologist, sociologist and scientific historian Bruno Latour’s seminal text We have never been modern (1991) translate into the art of Mariah Dekkenga and Josef Bull? Seth Orion Schwaiger paid a visit to Austin’s MASS Gallery to find out.
Momentum is building at University of Houston Center for Arts Leadership, now one year out of the gate. Skybetter updates us with the Center’s director, Sixto Wagan, on the big news on their first Summit, and what’s next for this upstart organization.
While attending panel discussions on cultural districts at the recent New Cities Summit in Dallas, Britt-Darby heard various theories and anecdotes about their impact on urban areas. But a sneak peek at the Dallas Museum of Art’s Mind’s Eye: Masterworks on Paper from David to Cézanne reinforced the panels’ most important message: that art districts’ most indispensable asset is their carefully curated content.
Jennifer Smart profiles Fort Worth’s Amphibian Stage Productions along with some inside insights on their summer play, The Nosemaker’s Apprentice: Chronicles of a Medieval Plastic Surgeon. After my recent visit to the McNay to visit with Jody Blake, the curator of the Tobin Theatre Arts Collection, we couldn’t miss an opportunity to tell you about what’s next. Scott Andrews walks us through their upcoming show, Artists Take the Stage: Theatre Design from Picasso to Nevelson, opening on Aug. 20.
We’ll be back in September with a whole new look.
Stay tuned and enjoy your summer!
Nancy Wozny
