Op Ed

If one turns a corner in the upper gallery, a sunny narrative breaks open and dispels any and all disquietude.

Ceramic in particular as art is still on an upswing, as a subcategory of clay as art. But the bottom line is anything can be an art material in the hands of an artist. Mayonnaise. Paper. Chalk. Ceramic is a clay process. It's what you do with it that makes it break toward either "art" or "craft."

Clever artists who had some ironic or absurd fun with Instagram in the beginning are tired of producing its content for it. Good.

We’re less corporeal than ever, and there’s art to prove it.

A Christmas comic by Texas artist John Forse.

Facebook’s disabling of my account in November has led me to examine the history of Facebook’s censorship of art as reported in the press, which I share here in chronological order. 

It’s us, the visitors, who need a wake-up call to make us slow down and look at what (or who) is right in front of us.

"It seems like every museum is Meow-Wolfing."

We may have invited plenty of trouble on ourselves for thinking life should be risky, but at least we resist.

Of course, if you want to really dream, you could imagine downtown Houston looking like Paris with the Seine running through it.

Here in Texas there are more art venues, art-school programs, and artists than ever before. And a dire lack of honest, engaging, readable critical writing about any of it.

Imagine if the MFAH had lived up to the bootstrapping spirit of this crazy swamp and done something really radical.

These days, no one trolls liberal America better or harder than Republicans do. 

Transcendental Style essentially induces boredom as deliberate technique in order to produce a sort of “ambient plane,” and then cracks it open with a moment of ecstasy and release.

It’s not so much about liking, or “liking,” a casting decision. It’s about believing in the character.

If I would prefer to find my pleasures elsewhere than this new direction of museums, then obviously there are artists who are already way ahead of me.

"Hello. I would like to purchase some of your works as a surprise gift to my wife in honor of our upcoming wedding anniversary."

Where your “heart” is? Where your memories are? How does a place change things? How does a place change people? How does the design of the built environment colonize space and nature to manufacture desire in the landscape of capitalism?

I’m afraid I’ll never be really moved by a work of art again.

If the art that comes after Childish Gambino’s 'This is America' video doesn’t move the needle in fixing whatever it is raging against, then we should stop making protest art, because it’s not working.