Top Five: April 13, 2023

Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.

For last week’s picks, please go here.

1. Yasuyo Maruyama: The One Scene
Redbud Arts Center (Houston)
March 4 – April 30, 2023

From Redbud Arts Center:

“Redbud Arts Center is delighted to present Yasuyo Maruyama with her show titled The One Scene. Her figurative portraits render a close view of Yasuyo’s own impressions of each model. Her subjects fill the entire panel in bright colors and clean outlines, popping from a monochromatic background. The portraits are very intimate, begging to get to know them better.

Artist Statement:
The inspiration for my artwork reflects my interactions with people, of which I remember certain scenes, atmospheres, colors, and gestures. When I was a teenager, I suffered from severe atopic dermatitis and experienced recovery from skin keloid. Since then, I have become very curious about human faces, especially eyes. As the proverb says, “Speech is silver; silence is golden.” Our eyes can express a great deal of insight about ourselves.”

2. Western Modernity
Artspace111 (Fort Worth)
March 25 – April 29, 2023

From Artspace111:
“Artspace111 is honored to present Western Modernity by Ed Blackburn (1940-2022) and Linda Blackburn (1941-2022). The duo spent most of their careers in Fort Worth becoming important fixtures in the North Texas Art Community, advancing the history of contemporary Texas art.

In 1962, the pair met in the art department at the University of Texas Austin. After individual stints in New York and Berkeley, California, the two married and drove the extensive drive from California to Fort Worth to teach at the Fort Worth Art Center, later to be called the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Both began teaching figure and portrait painting classes, while Ed was also a part time guard as well as an installation assistant. As the Modern evolved, so did the Blackburn’s careers. The two taught, exhibited, and curated all while continuing to paint. Favoring Western and Film Noir ‘B’ movies of the 30’s and 40’s, this subject matter, combined with Pop Art elements the pair has since been known for, these two Texas artists sit on the edge of Post Modernism.”

3. Nohemí Pérez: No Man’s Land
Artpace (San Antonio)
March 16 – May 7, 2023

From Artpace:

“Nohemí Pérez’s art captures the fraught relationship between humanity and nature, a theme that persists in her Artpace exhibition, No Man’s Land. The Texas landscape forms the background of the drawings, hinting at notions of migration, as Texas is an entry point into the United States for many migrants, especially those uprooted from their homes in southern countries. While this new work is a continuation of Pérez’s previous artwork, it expands new landscapes and relationships between men and nature. In this case, it is a study on seeking refuge in another land.

In No Man’s Land, the large scale conveys the vastness of the land, while the use of charcoal reflects the artist’s commentary on the exploitation of natural resources (which in Latin America, Pérez’s home country, brings with it war and displacement). The charcoal is messy, smudged, and imperfect, in layers of black, brown, and white. Hidden among the smokey landscape, you might find figures making their way across the terrain and delicate threads of embroidery delineating borders.”

4. Frank Frazier Retrospective: The Visionary. The Advocate. The Artist.
African American Museum Dallas
April 12 – June 27, 2023

From the organizers:

“A selection of more than 30 works from the collections of Renee Brooks, Dr. Michael Butler, Dr. Damien Fisher, the Tom Joyner Foundation, The Frazier Family Collection, and other collectors from around the United States. The exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to explore narratives of the African Diaspora while engaging in works that connect ancestral history with our contemporary world.

The works of Frazier illustrate traditions in daily life, culture, history, and the impact of one’s commitment to the arts. Frank Frazier Retrospective: The Visionary. The Advocate. The Artist. spans over five decades of creativity, activism, and Black art. An engagement of life and culture transcends through mediums, mark making, and dialogue in this retrospective. Frazier’s ability to capture Black life, struggles, joy, and connectivity enables viewers to connect in an aesthetic exploration of the power of reclamation, knowledge of one’s history perfected through the art of storytelling.”

5. Sparkle Town with Jane Reichle & Heather Sundquist Hall
Webb’s Fair and Square (Fort Davis)
April 8 – 21, 2023

From Webb’s Fair & Square:

“Jane Reichle (b. 1998, Bryan, TX) is a Texan with a love for the fancy hand embroidery of the past found on vintage suits of western wear. When most people hear “embroidery,” they think of pastel flowers and domesticity. This is not the case for Jane. She uses embroidery to express her fascination with irreverent subcultures, strange objects, grandiose fashion, anarchist music, and colors that blow our hats off. She often draws on cult classic music and films in her work, as well as other eccentric media. As an artist, Jane’s practice is focused on creating art at the intersection of pleasant and peculiar.

Heather Sundquist Hall is an artist based in Smithville, Texas. Her paintings are drawn from memories, nostalgia and narratives. Much of the focus in Heather’s work is on the details or the more quiet aspects. It’s the subtle shift in light at sunset she pays homage to, or even the kind of plaid a couch was that was in her grandmother’s house in 1986. These, often overlooked details, become characters in her stories and illuminate a memories through new eyes. Her artwork honors what has been forgotten, overlooked or under- appreciated by bringing it in the forefront of a lovely landscape or transformed into a new life by altering the purpose of an object into a completely different natural setting. We love Heather’s delicate touch, attention to detail, wit and insight.”