Top Five: February 8, 2024

Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.

For last week’s picks, please go here.

1. Matt Messinger: Curio | Catherine Colangelo: Throwing Stars
Galveston Arts Center
November 18, 2023 – February 25, 2024

From Galveston Arts Center:

“Curio features found object assemblages and mixed media paintings by artist Matt Messinger. Known for work that incorporates symbolic imagery and patterns with everyday objects, Messinger provides viewers a unique glimpse into his diverse interests and collections. The work is influenced by his background in graphic design and his eye for objects that provoke nostalgia, subtle humor, and mystery.

Throwing Stars presents paintings in gouache and graphite on paper created by Catherine Colangelo over the past two years. The images are talismanic in nature, created to protect a loved one. Exhibiting a strong sense of flat and frontal design, the work serves to ward off evil spirits with its elaborate patterns, bright colors, and ever-watchful eyes. In Colangelo’s new work, the energy of the paintings explodes outward, with sharp points pressing against the limits of the paper plane.”

Christopher Blay: Ritual SpLaVCe
Galveston Arts Center
January 13 – April 21, 2024

From the artist:

“Ritual SpLaVCe is a deconstruction and reconfiguration of The SpLaVCe Ship, a vessel which combines a spaceship and a slave ship as a way of talking about history and visions of a Black future. The SpLaVCe Ship embraces the artist’s Kru and Grebo lineage from Liberia, incorporating and reimagining rituals and beliefs with an emerging iconography all its own. In Ritual SpLaVCe the vessel is unpacked and reassembled in configurations that lean into its mystical and spiritual spaces, combining Kru and Grebo tribal mythology with the science fiction media that the artist consumes. Other elements include sculptures, paintings, and prints. The installation is a meditative Black space for imagination, contemplation, and stillness.”

2. The Way I See It: Works by Cindi Holt and Susie Phillips
Tyler Museum of Art
January 8 – March 10, 2024

From the museum:

“Organized by the Tyler Museum of Art, The Way I See It features works by Dallas-Fort Worth artists Cindi Holt and Susie Phillips. Focusing on the beauty of everyday spaces and objects, both artists offer their unique perspectives on the world around us through the use of flattened planes and bold patterning. Their diverse subjects are created across a variety of media including collages, drawings, embroideries and paintings.”

3. Tsz Kam: Like A Circle, Like The Moon
Ivester Contemporary (Austin)
January 20 – February 24, 2024

From Ivester Contemporary:

“Ivester Contemporary is excited to announce Tsz Kam’s first solo exhibition with the gallery, Like A Circle, Like The Moon. In this exhibition the artist reflects their own hybrid self-identification by featuring mythological subjects, chimera monsters, and decorative motifs from around the world. Kam argues that cultures and aesthetics are not rigid and separate. They write, ‘The world has never existed in clearly defined boxes, and it has always been more interesting when we allow ourselves to observe the blurry territories where different cultural motifs and identities overlap to redefine each other in their continuous evolution.’

Kam’s exposure to the fluorescent, festive streets of Hong Kong and the aesthetics of the nightclub that employed their parents during Kam’s childhood, coupled with their eventual move to Texas heavily influenced the concepts, color, and textures of the work in this exhibition.”

4. Raul Rene Gonzalez: So Many Styles, I Am A Group Show
Box 13 Artspace (Houston)
January 12 – February 10, 2024

From Box13 Artspace:

“The title of the show is inspired by two well-known artists, Lil Wayne and Rachel Hecker. The title comes from combining lyrics from the song Miss Me by Drake and Lil Wayne, where Wayne states ‘Man, I got so many styles, I am a group’ and Rachel Hecker’s Art League Houston’s 2013 Texas Artist of the Year solo exhibition titled Group Show. She stated in an interview; ‘I want to give myself more permission to do whatever occurs to me without reservation.’ This exhibition features a selection of new works in painting, sculpture, drawing, and performance, largely influenced by my interests in work, play, family, music, abstraction, and affinity for the city of Houston.”

5. Pedro Morales: The Prejudice of Perception
Mercury Project Gallery (San Antonio)
February 2 – 28, 2024

From Mercury Project Gallery:

“Curator Statement: Pedro Morales’ work delves into the realms of perception and reality, prompting the viewers to contemplate the seen versus the unseen, the known versus the unknown, reality versus the real what is understood and what is not understood. His work serves as a pause button for the mind, encouraging moments of reflection on profound possibilities. His invitation to look further, to look beyond creates a sense of wonder and curiosity. Pedro’s unique ability to capture elusive elements of light and space are intriguing and thought provoking.”