critical analysis of visual & performing arts
Reviews
History + Beauty
Perhaps the most startling thing about watching Martha Graham’s 1944 ballet Appalachian Spring
Houston Ballet’s “From Houston to the World” Offers Range and Polish
In traditional classical ballet, the corps de ballet is, more often than not relegated to posing, serving as a backdrop for the principal dancers.
Houston Ballet Soars in John Neumeier’s Otherworldly Midsummer Night’s Dream
Two smooth bodies, outfitted in glittering unitards
The Boy From Oz
When Peter Allen sings his now infamous song “Everything old is new again” in The Boy from Oz, it sounds like a wish more than a fact.
Les Miserables at Dallas Theater Center
The version of Les Miserables currently on stage at the Dallas Theater Center (DTC) is not your mother’s Les Miserables.
Reevaluating Modernism’s Reevaluation
Bruno Latour’s 1991 book We have never been modern,a short but dense text that reevaluates modernism, is no light read.
A Secret Affair: Selections from the Fuhrman Family Collection
Executive Director Louis Grachos flexes his vision for The Contemporary Austin with the high-profile sculpture exhibition A Secret Affair: Selections from the Furhman Family Collection.
Mark Grotjahn Sculpture
In the latest example of the Nasher Sculpture Center’s foray into contemporary art, Mark Grotjahn Sculpture is the first museum exhibition to focus on a body of work in this discipline from an artist primarily known as an abstract painter.
Suga
Currently on view at BLUEorange Contemporary, Suga is the fifth exhibition in a cycle of collaborations between artists Rabéa Ballin, Ann Johnson, Delita Martin and Lovie Olivia.
Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775-2012
The El Paso Museum of Art’s big summer show takes ice as its epic yet delicate subject matter. Though striking imagery and art historical context, Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775-2012 gives new meaning to the phrase “moving at a glacial pace.”
Beauty Reigns: A Baroque Sensibility in Recent Painting
While beauty may be one attribute of a work of art, it is rare nowadays to see that word in a critical context. And yet, at the McNay Museum of Art, curator René Paul Barilleaux has organized a 13-person group exhibition around the topic.