Christopher Blay and Christina Rees on a super-connector’s solo show, new work by the Artist for the Apocalypse, and the great Jeep meet-up in the sky.
“I’ve had dreams about this. These paintings capture a collective consciousness.”
To watch last week’s Top Five installment in which Brandon Zech and Christina Rees talk about our picks at Anya Tish Gallery in Houston, please go here.
1. Robyn O’Neil: IN PIECES ON FIRE
September 12 – October 31
Inman Gallery (Houston)
From the gallery:
“Inman Gallery is pleased to present two concurrent exhibitions to celebrate the gallery’s 30th anniversary: IN PIECES ON FIRE by Robyn O’Neil, and Our world swells like dawn, when the sun licks the water by Angela Fraleigh. The exhibitions present new bodies of work by each artist. On view beginning Saturday, September 12, they will continue by appointment through Saturday, October 31, 2020. In lieu of a public opening, there will be public programs via Zoom scheduled throughout the run of the exhibitions and interested visitors may make appointments to view the shows in person.”
“The works in this exhibition look upward, and each comes from O’Neil’s ongoing Cloudmakers series, begun in 2018. Two large drawings included in her career-spanning retrospective at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (2019) anchor the show, and the remaining intimately scaled works were produced since then. Most of the small drawings were made during quarantine while O’Neil was unable to source her usual art supplies, and the resulting works contain colors and papers that the artist does not normally use. Scraps of recycled drawings reappear as collage elements. O’Neil says, ‘the papers used in these small drawings all have histories of their own. Which is why you also see that some of the dates on these drawings started years ago.'”
Danielle Demetria East, “Lubbock, Texas, 2020.”
2. Danielle East: Transfiguration of a Black Girl’s Magic
September 26 – October 18
Contracommon Gallery (Bee Cave)
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 26, 7-10 PM
From Contracommon Gallery:
“A solo exhibition of works by Danielle East. The exhibition will run through October 18th, with a socially distant opening reception on Saturday, September 26th from 7-10pm. Masks will be required, and the number of guests inside the gallery will be limited, but there will be plenty of outdoor space for visitors to gather in an appropriate manner.”
3. Richard Armendariz: Smoke Signals And Other Reliable Means Of Communication
September 19 – October 17
Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking (Austin)
From Flatbed:
“Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking proudly invites the public to Smoke Signals and Other Means of Communication, an exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints by Richard Armendariz.
“Richard Armendariz was born in El Paso, Texas, and resides in San Antonio, Texas. His artistic and conceptual aesthetic is heavily influenced by growing up on the US/Mexico border. Romanticism for the American landscape and the hybridization of Mexican, American and indigenous cultures have long informed the content of Armendariz’s work. Images that have cultural, biographical and art historical references are carved into the surfaces of his paintings and the woodblocks for the woodcut prints. The use of animals as surrogates to represent physical emotional and psychological difficulties is the conceptual backbone of his work. Smoke Signals features Armendariz’s new Celestial series, lighted paintings that reboot astrological signs and their meanings and the role that fate and luck play in shaping our destiny. Included in the exhibition are new ‘burned’ drawings on archival paper and woodcuts from the Border Movement series.”
4. Alexander Paulus: Savior Energy
September 19 – October 17
Ro2 Gallery (Dallas)
A solo exhibition featuring work by Alexander Paulus. To register for the limited-attendance opening reception, see ticketing here.
From Ro2:
“Ro2 Art is proud to present Savior Energy, a solo exhibition featuring new works by artist Alex Paulus. The show will run from September 19 through October 17, 2020. The exhibition will open with an artist reception at Ro2 Art in The Cedars located at 1501 S Ervay St. Dallas, TX 75215 and will take place from 12-5 PM. Attendance to the reception will be limited to groups no larger than ten over 20 minute intervals — Reservations available via EventBrite at http://ro2.us/sept19shows.
“Alexander Paulus’s new body of work boasts a dazzling color palette depicting the bizarre predicaments the artist has become recognized and beloved for. Savior Energy’s comical chaos provides a small break from reality, while giving the viewer space to reflect on these current confusing times. Topsy turvy perspectives and outrageous scenarios unravel with highways to nowhere, dreamlike landscapes, and inane pop culture references. Paulus’s work has a unique influence on the psyche evoking a simultaneously lighthearted and unnerving edge. When we’re uncertain what to believe, the artist implores us to look within ourselves for the answers.”
5. Running for Office: Candidates, Campaigns, and the Cartoons of Clifford Berryman
September 26 – November 28
Wichita Falls Museum of Art
From the Wichita Falls Museum of Art:
“Created by the National Archives with the support of the Foundation for the National Archives and organized for travel by Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, this exhibition showcases facsimile prints of early 20th century drawings, using satire, gesture, and simplicity to communicate the American democratic experience.”
“Image: Clifford Berryman, Figgering’ on the Returns, November 7, 1907; US Senate Collection, Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives & Records Administration.”
Bonus Picks:
A. Angela Fraleigh: Our world swells like dawn, when the sun licks the water
September 12 – October 31
Inman Gallery (Houston)
From the gallery:
“Angela Fraleigh’s lush and complex works mine the history of academic and avant-garde painting, often created as site specific projects to recontextualize the unique collections of public institutions. Our world swells… consists of five large immersive canvases from two bodies of work. Three of the works were part of Fraleigh’s recent solo exhibition commissioned by the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington, Delaware. Sound the Deep Waters responded to the institution’s strong holdings of Pre-Raphaelite paintings and American illustration using the lens of historical narrative art to explore contemporary issues of gender and identity.”
B. Brian K. Jones: …and it burns, burns, burns.
September 19 – October 17
Ro2 Gallery (Dallas)
To register for the limited-attendance opening reception, see ticketing here.
From the gallery:
“Continuing his series on the legendary Texas Fair icon, Big Tex, Dallas-based artist Brian K. Jones offers a new take on the towering cowboy. The burning monument in the likeness of the artist himself holds a mirror to current events as inequality, corruption and greed leave the world burning, taking Big Tex down with it. With the Texas State Fair currently halted and it’s magical distractions locked away, our eyes are opened to what the world has become!”
