Top Five: July 15, 2021

Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas this week. For last week’s picks, please go here.

1. Cauleen Smith: We Already Have What We Need
July 15 – October 3
Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

From the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston:

“Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition Cauleen Smith: We Already Have What We Need, which presents works by the acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist, and features film, video, sculpture, textiles, installation, and drawing. Organized by MASS MoCA, the exhibition has been modified for CAMH’s site-specific presentation which includes a new installation and recent work in neon, on view in the Museum’s Brown Foundation Gallery July 15 through October 3, 2021. For over three decades, Smith (b. 1967, Riverside, California) has harnessed acts of imagination and the power of revolutionary thinking to envision a better world.

“The title of the exhibition—and the expansive video installation at its center— suggests that, in fact, ‘We Already Have What We Need.'”

 

2. a) Nao Bustamante: BLOOM
July 15 – September 5
Artpace San Antonio

“For Nao Bustamante’s project BLOOM, she is working to create the most significant redesign of the vaginal speculum since 1943. Rooted in both research and object-making, the idea for BLOOM came into her mind, fully formed, shortly after a pelvic exam in 2011. ‘For me the projects that come to fruition are usually those that stick in my head. I call those projects brain burrs. It’s a thought that won’t go away and sits there, in some cases, for years,’ said Bustamante. ‘Like many women, I wondered why the medical industry cannot create a more comfortable apparatus for such basic procedures. I’ve often skipped the annual event out of my own avoidance of discomfort. My approach will be both practical and fantastical, probing the history that has led to this overlooked apparatus. I see BLOOM as an investigation of imagination, material, and space.’ BLOOM—with its look at the autonomy of women and their bodies—has particular resonance in light of Texas’s recent bill banning abortions after six weeks.”

 

2. b) Summer 2021 International Artists-in-Residence
July 15 – September 5
Artpace San Antonio

From Artpace San Antonio:

“The current residency cycle at Artpace, a nonprofit residency program which supports regional, national, and international artists in the creation of new art, includes artists Nao Bustamante, Iván Argote, and Michael Menchaca, invited by curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas. Three times a year, Artpace invites an internationally recognized curator to choose three artists to live and create art in San Antonio for two months. Join us Thursday, July 15, from 6–9pm for the opening reception of new exhibitions by our Summer 2021 International Artists-in-Residence.

“This event is free and open to the public and free parking is available at 513 N Flores. An artist talk will be held at 6:30pm and a performance by Nao Bustamante will start at 8pm.  We will also stream the talk live on our Facebook page.”

 

3. Simone Leigh: Sentinel IV
July 15
Online only
UT Austin Landmarks

From UT Landmarks:

“Join Simone Leigh as Landmarks celebrates the newest addition to the university’s public art collection. Sentinel IV will be sited at the redesigned Anna Hiss Gymnasium courtyard and on view beginning 15 July. The welcoming garden anchors the sculpture in a gathering space that invites reflection and engagement.The virtual opening event features artist Simone Leigh, the first artist to be commissioned for the High Line Plinth in New York. She will represent the United States at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in 2022. Leigh will be in conversation with Stephanie Sparling Williams, a Black feminist theorist and associate curator at the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum who serves as curatorial contributor.”

 

4. Nastassja Swift: Canaan: when I read your letter, I feel your voice
July 17 – October 3
Galveston Arts Center

From Galveston Arts Center:

“Canaan: when I read your letter, I feel your voice is a multi-layered installation and collaborative performance that intimately displays the exchange between Nastassja Swift and her brother, who is currently incarcerated within the Virginia Department of Corrections. Articulating feelings of absence, erasure, and the personal and communal impact of mass incarceration, Nastassja’s culminating body of work explores her personal experience navigating, as his sister, the past few years of Canaan’s incarceration.

“At the heart of the exhibition, Security Blanket includes a 40-foot fabric and glass beaded quilt that serves as both a portal for channeling Canaan’s energy, and a representation of the artist’s feelings of responsibility towards her brother.”

 

5.a) The 8^th Annual Texas Juried Exhibition
July 17 – August 28
Artspace111, Fort Worth

From Artspace111:

“Artspace111 is pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition, The 8^th Annual Texas Juried Exhibition. The gallery welcomes the public to attend the opening reception to see the exhibition of selections made by the Juror. This year Artspace111 is honored to welcome Caleb Bell, Curator at the Tyler Museum of Art, as the juror.

“Artwork selected by the juror from the eligible submissions will be included in the Texas Juried Exhibition at Artspace111 and are eligible for cash awards. A total of $5000 will be awarded, and the “Best In Show” prize will include a cash award of $2000 and the opportunity to exhibit at Artspace111 in a separate solo or group exhibition in 2021-2022.”

To RSVP for the opening reception on July 17, 2021, go here.

 

5. b) New Texas Talent XXVIII
July 10 – August 21
Craighead Green Gallery (Dallas)

From Craighead-Green Gallery:

“A state-wide juried exhibition conceived to introduce & promote emerging artists. 2021 Exhibition Presented by Craighead Green Gallery. New Texas Talent is designed to introduce and promote emerging visual artists in the commercial market.  Each year hundreds of images are submitted for review.  The juror then selects artists to participate in the New Texas Talent exhibition.  Through their participation in the show, some artists have been offered representation by galleries and/or have been extended invitations for inclusion in future exhibitions.  2021 Juror: Christina Rees, Editor-in-Chief, Glasstire.”