Christina Rees and Christopher Blay are joined by Houston artist Patrick Renner to run down the top five art events in Texas this week.
“I love trash, and I like to see what happens when I try to put a new spin on it.”
To watch last week’s Top Five episode with Brandon Zech and Christina Rees at Jonathan Hopson Gallery in Houston, please go here.
1. Patrick Renner: Bounty
Redbud Gallery, Houston
February 1- March 31
“It’s an age-old adage: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. At some point this became the guiding principle of my art practice, coupled with the optimistic outlook from a titular Calvin & Hobbes volume: There’s Treasure Everywhere!
“Initially, out of necessity as a high school art student with extremely modest means, I took notice of the abundance of (free!) architectural refuse that showed up at regular intervals in random places on Houston roadsides. My first foray into the trash pile treasure pile was epiphinal, and I was hooked. Even now, after more than 20 years of sifting through mountains of detritus, I still find my head turning unconsciously as I drive past a promising pile of pre-art. The urge to glean these carelessly discarded gems from heaps of rubble is nearly insatiable.
“The exhibition BOUNTY explores the wonderful possibilities of this resuscitated material, in a few selected approaches. Refuse as a vehicle for memory is a way of exploring the human condition; my mania for accumulating building materials parallels the universal trajectory of experiential aggregation over the course of a lifetime. Having amassed a vast fortune in this cryptocurrency, I am slowly reinvesting it in new, Frankensteined forms made available for public consumption.”
2. Flatbed Redux
Flatbed Press, Austin
February 22 – March 21
Opening Reception: February 22, 6 – 8 PM
Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking invites the public to the upcoming exhibition, FLATBED REDUX. Featuring twelve artists, Flatbed Redux celebrates the rich history of working with and representing stylistically diverse artists to create fine art prints. The experience of seeing these historic impressions in Flatbed’s new, beautifully lit gallery gives this exhibition its title, Flatbed Redux. Showing are rarely seen prints by Flatbed artists Miguel Aragon, John Cobb, Ann Conner, Jack Craft, Suzi Davidoff, David Everett, Denny McCoy, Sharon Kopriva, Linda Ridgway, Dan Rizzie, Darden Smith and Julie Speed. These artists, known as either painters or sculptors, use printmaking as part of their art practice and have worked at Flatbed Press’s studio with master printers to create original museum-quality prints.
3.a) Barbara Horlander: Sexyugly
Ro2 Gallery, Dallas
February 22 – March 21
Opening Reception: February 22, 7 – 10 PM
“Rough around the edges with raw wood, crooked lines, and wonky cuts, my process shows a human hand in the mix with this work. With the inclusion of glittery, glistening resin, I’ve set out to concoct sculptural paintings, which are half ugly, partially yummy. My hope is that they’re unexpected and a little awkward. The assembled works contain abstract shapes suggesting human form, both appealing and appalling. They’re soft and hard, dull and shiny, awkward and rhythmic … sexy ugly!”
3.b) Erica Stephens: Paintings for a Lost Lover
Ro2 Gallery, Dallas
February 22 – March 21
Opening Reception: February 22, 7 – 10 PM
In Paintings for a Lost Lover, artist Erica Stephens offers exuberant explorations of abstraction and materiality sited in the emotional space of being inspired by and dedicated to a former lover. This work continues her previous examinations of femininity, memory, and the power of unapologetically laying claim to her personal history.
4. Loring Taoka:Oh Well
Galleri Urbane, Dallas
February 22 – March 28
Opening Reception: February 22, 5:30 – 8 PM
Returning for his fourth solo exhibition with the gallery, Loring Taoka (Fayetteville, AR) presents a new series of 13 paintings in Oh Well. This exhibition reflects a current shift in Taoka’s studio practice from his well-known paintings on plexiglass to new explorations on panel. Taoka utilizes this updated surface to advance his concerns with ideas of perception, a process that requires developing alternative approaches to communicating the illusion of flat and dimensional space. Significant roles are played by geometric shapes and color choices, altogether creating an experience that requires viewers to question what they are seeing.
For William Sarradet’s review of Taoka’s last show at the gallery (2018), please go here.
5. Screening: Hale County This Morning, This Evening By RaMell Ross
University of Houston Dudley Recital Hall
February 20
5:30 PM Reception; 6:30 PM Screening; and 7:45 PM Q+A
RaMell Ross earned a BA in both English and Sociology from Georgetown University, and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. His photographs have been exhibited internationally and his writing has appeared in such outlets as The New York Times and Walker Arts Center. He was part of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2015, and a New Frontier Artist in Residence at the MIT Media Lab. In 2016, he was a finalist for the Aperture Portfolio Prize, winner of an Aaron Siskind Individual Photographer’s Fellowship Grant, and a Sundance Art of Nonfiction Fellow. In early 2017, he was selected for Rhode Island Foundation’s Robert and Margaret Maccoll Johnson Artist Fellowship. RaMell is currently on faculty at Brown University’s Visual Arts Department. HALE COUNTY THIS MORNING, THIS EVENING is his first feature documentary.
