Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.
For last week’s picks, please go here.
Rachel Wolfson Smith, “Caregivers,” graphite on paper, 40 x 92 inches
1. Rachel Wolfson Smith: The Future Is Behind Us
Women & Their Work (Austin)
August 13 – September 29, 2022
Opening August 13, 7-9 PM
From Women & Their Work:
“In The Future Is Behind Us, Rachel Wolfson Smith focuses our attention on the essential and grounding effect of beauty in nature. In portraying constructed, intricate, and imagined landscapes, Smith creates an antidote to the imbalance many of us experience as we lurch from impulse to impulse in our tech-laden, consumer-driven, modern existence.
The scope of The Future Is Behind Us includes a series of floral cyanotypes that could be at home in the Victorian era, large scale graphite drawings alluding to the complexities of the modern self, and an imagined future where landscapes arrive in sci-fi-esque pre-packaged boxes.
It is in these historical and cultural influences that we observe history repeating itself, and better understand our relationship to natural beauty and the role it will undoubtedly play in the digital future. Smith invites us to pass through time, searching landscapes for beauty and finding guidance in eras past, present, and imagined.”
2. The Border is a Weapon
Laredo Center for the Arts
July 1 – August 20, 2022
Gil Rocha’s curatorial statement, from the Laredo Center for the Arts:
“The agony of separation is something that unites us. Leaving or getting away from something or someone, whether we want to or not, is part of the negotiation to improve our lives; although many times the opposite turns out.
At the border between the United States and Mexico we are witnesses to migratory undertakings, legal and illegal. We are accomplices or we are part of the group of people who cross our lands in the hope of achieving their dreams.
Wars and political treaties divided the territories that today strategically frame the dividing line. Government leaders and communication platforms continually use our border as a weapon to cause panic and corrupt the peace of the country in order to remain in power. The dividing line emerges in the form of a river and a fragmented wall between deserts and mountains. Most obstructing still, it exists in the mind due to lack and manipulation of information. Even so, these temporarily divided territories are also united by bridges, stories, foods, languages, the air, the arts, and in short, a unique culture; a culture that adapts to the differences of two countries and makes it one.
This exhibition of visual art tries to take control of our own voices to clarify what is professed in the north of the United States about us. Our intention is to show things as they are and dismantle “The Weapon.” Things are not entirely admirable, but the country’s problems are not ours or those of the immigrants. The problem arises because of the founding of a country developed in injustices. In order to understand each other, let’s listen to each other without prejudice.
As artists, we observe and shape our testimonies. This group of works is a small sample to reflect and analyze ourselves. It is also a way to unmask myths and show our strengths and weaknesses. We use the gallery as a platform for those willing to meet us and enter into dialogue. Perhaps yes, the border is a weapon, but loaded with hopes and dreams.”
McKay Otto, “Ever Dream Ever,” 2022 acrylic on mixed media and acrylic on fabric, 96 x 14 inches
3. MCKAY OTTO: VANISHING VIBRATIONS
Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art (Houston)
July 21 – August 20, 2022
The artist on his work, via Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art:
“My work sets the stage for asking, do we ever reach the unreachable ever …
In consideration of the dimensional relationships that exist between painting and sculpture, my work is obsessed with the expression of color, light, and the way we perceive these things.
In this latest series, the black assemblage sculptures maintain a focus on structure and design with shifts in dimension that demonstrate the possibilities of black paint — all the while unifying the form.
While gazing upon the matte-black outer surface, viewers are led to discover the quietness inherent within an inner infinity of possibilities manifested by each ethereal light box. These semi-transparent surfaces provide the opportunity to transform traditional ways of looking. My process creates work that blurs the distinction between the material and immaterial.
Despite what your eyes are telling you, the notion of being able to see beyond the surface changes preconceived ideas of pictorial space.
And it’s beyond black — the absorption of light in the material world leads to the discovery of what is reflected by the universal truth.”
Blake Weld, “Kick the Can,” on view in “Third Coast Biennial”
4. 2022 Third Coast Biennial
K Space Contemporary (Corpus Christi)
July 15 – August 26, 2022
From K Space Contemporary:
“Third Coast Biennial is a national juried competition and exhibition of contemporary works of art from across the U.S. This year, the competition was juried by Mark L. Smith, PhD, owner and operator of Mark Smith Studio and Gallery in Johnson City, Texas. Smith is a member of the Austin Arts Hall of Fame, co-founder of Flatbed Press in Austin, and co-author of Flatbed Press at 25. Currently, he is serving as an art advisor to the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park’s Cabinet Oak Project, and he is exhibiting his Hope Suite prints at the Neil-Cochran House Museum in Austin.
“I was impressed by the quality of the works submitted. Most showed a high range of talent and excellence in concept and in presentation. Also, I was encouraged that so many of the artists addressed current social issues in their work. It is difficult for any artist juror to eliminate good works that one likes personally. One must choose between respect and pleasure. There is a finite amount of space for the exhibition, so, not all outstanding works could be included. Hopefully, there is some aesthetic coherence to those selected, a commonality of beauty, intelligence, craftsmanship, and mindfulness.”
– Mark Lesly Smith, PhD, June 16, 2022
Smith reviewed 552 works of art submitted by 199 artists. Of these, he selected 53 works of art by 49 artists for exhibition. “
5. HOT & SWEATY 2022
500X Gallery (Dallas)
August 13 – 21, 2022
Opening August 13, 7-10 PM
From 500X:
“500X holds this uncurated open show every summer, and anything is fair game. Hot and Sweaty is a salon-style, non juried exhibition of works of any medium made by Texas Artists. If we have the space for it, we will hang it! Proceeds from Hot and Sweaty goes to continue exhibition opportunities and events that support local and emerging artists in the state of Texas.”
