Collecting Histories: Dogon at the Menil
The complex history behind American and European interest in present-day Mali informs a new exhibition at The Menil Collection, Feb. 3-July 9, curated by Paul Davis.
Visual Art
Motion Redux: Tad Beck at FotoFest’s International Discoveries VI
When Vinod Hopson of FotoFest suggested that I check out the work of Tad Beck, I figured dance was involved. And indeed, Beck's work with renowned downtown dancemakers is compelling on several levels, from the detailed process to the end image, which involves re-photography and some actual dancing.
Called to Archive: Studio One in Houston
Share an article, pin an image, save a post, link a story. The immediacy of social media and digital visual culture is astonishing. And yet, with all of its accessibility, its staying power is questionable. With so many artists relying on social media to maintain a significant, up-to-date digital presence, is it possible to preserve the knowledge and contributions of living artists?
Redefining Modern: McNay Director Rich Aste on Breaking Down Walls——Literally and Figuratively
Before joining San Antonio’s McNay Art Museum as its third director in September, Rich Aste was finishing work on the exhibition French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850-1950, which turned out to be his swansong as the Brooklyn Museum's managing curator, arts of the Americas and Europe, and curator of European art. French Moderns travels to the McNay from March 1 to June 7. Devon Britt-Darby sat down with Aste to discuss his plans for Texas's oldest modern art museum.
Music and Printmaking Merge in Son Jarocho Style: Alec Dempster at MECA
In the front hallway of the 6th Ward’s MECA building, you can scan a QR code and hear the creaky strains of an old violin from the Veracruz region of Mexico. Another digital scan of a jumbled-looking square produces a complex tapestry of rapidly overlapping strings known as El Siquisiri. The style of music is known as Son Jarocho, and it is a blend of “musical and dance tradition from the Sotavento, the southern regions of Mexico’s Veracruz state.”
Leaving a Mark: PrintAustin Deconstructs Diverse Art Form in 4th Citywide Festival
Austin is a capital of printmaking with many different components. Using several venues to host a deluge of events, PrintAustin ties all the components together. The month-long festival from Jan. 13-Feb. 18 at venues including Gallery Shoal Creek, FlatBed Press, and La Pena Gallery, draws a diverse crowd of art snobs, artists, hipsters, and novices. It’s printmaking on a huge scale.
Honoring Texas Artists: The Texas Medal of Arts Awards come to Austin
You may be hard-pressed to explain what ZZ Top, Eva Longoria, Willie Nelson and Walter Cronkite have in common, but for the Texas Cultural Trust, the answer is simple: Texas.
Balance in the Fog of Memory: Angel Otero at CAMH
Angel Otero: Everything and Nothing, on view at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston through March 19, 2017, is the artist’s first survey exhibition, covering just under a decade of his work.
Fantastic Spaces: Where Will a Former Architect Take the DMA?
Given the centrality of immigration to the 2016 election and Texas’s status as a red state with an ascendant Latino population, this summer’s announcement that the Dallas Museum of Art had hired Agustín Arteaga, a museum director in Mexico City, and that he would be moving, with his husband, to the Lone Star State to run the Dallas Museum of Art, was bound to turn heads.
Houston Voices: Local Impact at PRH
Round 45: Local Impact at Project Row Houses through Feb. 12, includes artists Regina Agu, JooYoung Choi, Sally Glass, Jesse Lott + Ann Harithas, Tierney Malone, Harold Mendez, and Patrick Renner.
Modern Spanish Art From The Asociación Colección Arte Contemporáneo at The Meadows Museum
An exhibition on the development of modern art in Spain from 1915-1957 recently landed at the Meadows Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University.
A Remarkable Career: The Single-Minded Clarity of Floyd Newsum
“It’s always been my dream to be a full-time artist.” I spoke to Floyd Newsum in his studio in the basement of the UHD campus, a short train-ride from Planter and Stems, as he prepared for a show of new paintings at the Nicole Longnecker Gallery, Jan. 14-Feb. 18, 2017.