Houston
Featured Show: Lisa Cain: The Storyteller, Through March 28
Lisa Cain says she can feel the spirit of the South in the sound of a crowing rooster, the crickets, and the wind in the trees, even in the silence of the night. Growing up, she learned about the beauty of the earth and importance of spirituality from the people in her family, church, and hometown of Canton, Mississippi. Today her acrylic folk-art paintings depict African American history and experience in the rural South. By incorporating monochrome black-and-white vintage images into her paintings, Cain offers a personal view of a historic time.
Featured Show: Kaima Marie Akarue: Under the Atlantic Veil, Through May 31
Houston artist Kaima Marie Akarue uses collage to explore the fluidity of identity and the complexity of memory, focusing on urbanism, capitalism, and erased narratives. The works on view in her solo exhibition Under the Atlantic Veil at Jonathan Hopson are a result of her time as an artist-in-residence at Black Rock Senegal in Dakar in 2025, including a poignant moment at the ocean that, along with other emotive experiences, “…resists translation through a lens.” The exhibition is presented in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of FotoFest.
Dallas
Featured Show: Stephen Lapthisophon: Works on Paper, Through April 4
Life holds a wealth of artistic inspiration, if you know where—and how—to look. Stephen Lapthisophon understands this, moreso after suffering major deterioration of his vision and medical treatment that left him legally blind. Lapthisophon’s exhibition at Conduit Gallery, a selection of mixed media works on paper between 2003 and 2025, showcases his “poetic improvisations inspired by and referring to deeply buried literary sources, music, poetry and twentieth century art.” Through the use of unconventional materials such as fats, spices, and dirt, Lapthisophon draws attention to meanings and histories buried in the everyday.
For her exhibition Golden Ancestry at James Harris Gallery, Dallas-based artist Gaurii S Kumaar presents abstract works on paper and sculptures that respond to her visit back to her ancestral home of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, specifically “the nature of belonging within India’s traditional caste system and its inheritance practices.” Kumaar often uses spiritual chanting during her art-making process, and explains that her “vibrating ink drawings” are guided by the sacred symbolism of ancient Eastern literature, astrology, and cultural boundaries.
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HOUSTON: Lisa Cain, Walking Home, 2025, mixed media, 20 x 16 inches, image courtesy of the artist and Redbud Arts Center.
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HOUSTON: Kaima Marie Akarue, Girls in pink, 2025, paper collage, image courtesy of the artist and Jonathan Hopson.
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DALLAS: Stephen Lapthisophon, Resistance, 2020, house paint, coffee, spray paint, India ink on paper, 50 x 38 inches, image courtesy of the artist and Conduit Gallery.
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DALLAS: Gaurii S Kumaar, Vibrating Ink 33c, 2025, stone pigment, 24K gold on hemp, 31 ½ x 22 ½ inches, image courtesy of the artist and James Harris Gallery.
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FORT WORTH: Billy Hassell, Dusk on a South Texas Prairie, 2026, oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches, image courtesy of the artist and William Campbell Gallery.
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SAN ANTONIO: Mark Menjívar, Murmuration, 2026, digital C-print, dimensions variable, image courtesy of the artist and The Contemporary at Blue Star.
Fort Worth
Featured Show: BILLY HASSELL | STILL LIFE, March 28 – May 9
Landscapes and still lifes are endlessly fascinating subjects for artists to explore; Billy Hassell’s new paintings reconsider the relationship and blur any preconceived boundaries between the two genres. The artist’s solo exhibition at William Campbell Gallery features a new body of work that incorporates field sketches, botanical studies, and memories, highlighting the power of looking closely at the world and thinking deeply about an artwork’s composition. Gallery visitors may be surprised to see that while Hassell’s paintings may appear to be landscapes, they embody the intimacy of still lifes.
San Antonio
Featured Show: Mark Menjívar: Murmurations, Through May 3
For approximately twenty years, San Antonio-based artist Mark Menjívar has created art outside of the studio in contexts that focus on intentional community-building, an approach to artmaking described as social practice. His training in social work and photography deeply informs his interest in helping other people share their stories, which often takes the form of recording oral histories, building archives, creating publications, and developing installations. His mid-career survey at The Contemporary debuts new works and features a selection of his long-term projects with students, community groups, and leaders.
—NANCY ZASTUDIL
