“44 Artists from Texas” at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts

by Hannah Dean September 3, 2018

 

Johan Barrios

Johan Barrios

To mount an exhibition (even a three-parter) that represents all of what is going on in Texas art is probably impossible. Consider the mythology, the landscape, and the people of Texas: past and present, histories — often parallel and clashing. Thankfully, curators haven’t stopped trying. The critiques often leveled at a state biennials or “best of” shows isn’t just which art is included (or excluded). It’s the scope of a show, where and how long it’s on view, and how it’s presented. 

Floyd Newsum

Floyd Newsum

44 Artists from Texas at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA) in Lubbock has quietly risen to the occasion. It is backed by an institution with some money and a track record, and the space allows for multiple works from many of the participating artists — works for which LHUCA paid the all the shipping costs, by the way, which is considerable in any exhibition of this size. Big work isn’t always better, but it certainly isn’t problematic on LHUCA’s ample wall space. Beyond the museum offering the artists autonomy, space (and money!) for their work, the range of material, style, and artists’ concerns have made for a solid exhibition. All three parts. 

William Cannings

William Cannings

LHUCA curators Linda Cullum and Maisie Marie Alford championed artists with ties to Lubbock, and why wouldn’t they? William Cannings’ giant purple iridescent inflatable steel gun—complete with blow-up nozzles— is more than a selfie hotspot (though it was that, too, during First Friday crowds.) I see the appeal. Bang Bang is pure finish-fetish in form, surface, and symbology. Even the way it is made, with flat steel and automotive paint, is seductive and apt. I guess the idea behind this work is both muddied and exemplified by the innocent act of taking a selfie with a giant gun for a backdrop, in Texas, in the Panhandle. Is “innocent” the right word? Either way, this is a juicy piece of art. 

Nancy Lamb

Nancy Lamb

Patrick Turk (collages), Nathaniel Donnett (painting)

Patrick Turk (collages), Nathaniel Donnett (painting)

These three shows, and especially the paintings, are worth gushing about: Nancy Lamb’s embellished elite partygoers with chiseled, folding skin lit by a camera flash; Howard Sherman’s huge stringy paintings with strips of what seems to be pleather and clunky representations of genitalia are humorous and little crude. Celan Bouillet’s tricky cut-outs are a surprise, thanks to the long walk from the main gallery into the studio gallery where, up close, the vision gives way to the stretched and painted canvas lattice, full of saccharine-sweet florals. Johan Barrios’ lifelike, life-size antiportraits of women obscured by pillows and comforters (pictured at top) are strange and uncomfortably familiar. James Zamora’s masterful and efficient repetitive scenes of grocery-store refrigeration aisles ask questions (about community, about consumption, about supply and demand) beyond their matter-of-fact presentation. Floyd Newsum’s chalky hieroglyphs punctuate slick atmospheres, nearly drowning the viewer with their weight. 

James Zamora

James Zamora

Howard Sherman

Howard Sherman

To find distinctly Texan work could mean a lot of different things. We are a borderland and a coast, with a fever-pitch politic surrounding guns, vaccines, and a host of other things that pisses everyone off, one way or another. These 44 artists can’t, as a group or individually, address all of this, but somehow, in this three-part show, they come together and really do. For that, I thank them for answering the question of Texanness in unexpected ways. 

Through Sept. 29, 2018 at Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (LHUCA) in Lubbock 

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Jordan Roth September 4, 2018 - 11:17

Thank you for the for take this! We had the honor the sending work by three artists, Jeff Parrott, James Zamora, and Erica Stephens. For a big show in three parts, there was significant attention paid to each artist by Linda Cullum and i can’t imagine the process they went through the so thoroughly cull through the obviously large group of artists who must have been up for consideration. I had several great conversations with Linda, who was truly engaged in tht curation of the show. Unfortunately, I wasn’t about to attend the openings, but I’ve heard from multiple sources that actually thousands of people attended each event. I would ask “thousands?” and the answer was “yes, thousands!” That’s impressive… Very glad to have been able to take part in this important exhibition.

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