Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.
For last week’s picks, please go here.
Zoe Leonard, “Al río / To the River (detail),” 2016–2022, gelatin silver prints, c-prints, and inkjet prints. © Zoe Leonard. Courtesy of the artist, Galerie Gisela Capitain, and Hauser & Wirth
1. Zoe Leonard: Al río / To the River
The Chinati Foundation (Marfa)
October 12, 2024 – June 15, 2025
From the Chinati Foundation:
“The Chinati Foundation/La Fundación Chinati is pleased to announce its forthcoming exhibition of Zoe Leonard’s Al río / To the River. Opening during the foundation’s 37th annual Chinati Weekend, October 11-13, 2024, and on view through June 2025, the photographic work follows the course of the Rio Grande/Río Bravo where the river is used to define the boundary between the United States and Mexico. Leonard’s work contemplates the intricate cultural, social, political, ecological, and economic landscapes that comprise the 1,200-mile stretch of river from Ciudad Juárez and El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico and poses the question: what does it mean to ask a body of water to perform a political task?”
Cynthia Mulcahy, “Daddy (War Garden Series),” 2024. Tansy, pennyroyal, angelica, sage, glass tubes, wood, enamel lacquer, Peacock-pattern hand-marbled paper, dyed calfskin, archival glue, brass rod, leather glue, brass hinges. 9 x 11.5 x 8.25 inches (box lid open). Image courtesy of the artist and Talley Dunn Gallery.
2. Is it Real? Contemporary Artists Address Reproductive Freedom
Lagoon Studios (Dallas)
October 5 – 26, 2024
From the organizers:
“Two Dallas-based curators, Emily Edwards and Sara Hignite, share further information on Is It Real? Contemporary Artists Address Reproductive Freedom, the first exhibition organized and mounted in the American South that directly addresses abortion access and reproductive rights with a focus on artists connected to the Southern states, a majority of whom represent marginalized communities. Organized by Hignite Projects and undertaken in partnership with ACLU of Texas, Texas Abortion Advocacy Network, Texas Equal Access Fund (TEA Fund), The Afiya Center, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Texas, and The Goss-Michael Foundation, with generous support provided by Unified Fine Arts Services and By George Partners.
Titled after Juanita McNeely’s important multi-panel painting, Is it Real? Yes It Is! (1969, Whitney Museum of American Art), which depicts the artist’s harrowing illegal abortion experience, the exhibition examines strategies that contemporary artists employ to address the topic of reproductive freedom.”
3. River on Fire
DiverseWorks (Houston)
September 27 – November 16, 2024
From DiverseWorks:
“DiverseWorks is pleased to announce the presentation of River on Fire, an exhibition and symposium that explores artists’ responses to the impacts and effects of environmental crisis and climate change. River on Fire is a multidisciplinary exhibition showcasing the work of 14 artists who respond to environmental crises and climate change. The featured artists: Carolina Aranibar-Fernández (San Francisco, CA), Brandon Ballengée (New Orleans, LA), Alana Bartol (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), Christina Battle (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), Hannah Chalew (New Orleans, LA), Lili Chin (New York, NY), Willow Naomi Curry (Houston, TX), Morel Doucet (Miami, FL), Heather L. Johnson (Houston, TX), Ayanna Jolivet Mccloud (Houston, TX), Laura Napier (Ann Arbor, MI), Joe Robles IV (Pasadena, TX), Manuel Alejandro Rodríguez-Delgado (Roswell, NM/Puerto Rico), and Zuyva Sevilla (Albuquerque, NM) bring attention to pressing ecological issues. Through artistic research and lived experience, they highlight the unique environmental challenges facing local, regional, and national landscapes.”
Leigh Anne Lester, “The Eternal Series of Destruction and Resurrection,” 2024, wood, drafting film, acrylic paint, shadow, map flags
4. Leigh Anne Lester: Vain Fictions of Our Own Devising
Ruiz-Healy Art (San Antonio)
September 18 – October 19, 2024
From Ruiz-Healy Art:
“Vain Fictions of Our Own Devising is a continuation of an extensive body of work that explores bioengineering and the genetic modification of plants. In her works, Lester confronts the audience with the allure of ‘playing god’ by manipulating natural occurrences through technology. The viewer is left to wonder if the power to change nature outweighs the possibility of toppling the balance of individual environments and the planet’s natural order.”
5. Reflection & Renewal: Chican(x)Futurism in Texas
Austin Community Center
September 24 – December 12, 2024
From Austin Community College:
“Building on the history of Chicano/a artworks of past decades, the four artists in this exhibition blend Indigenous cultural references with sci-fi and tech-based narratives to relocate Mexican-American identities. In this exhibition and elsewhere, Chican(x)Futurism investigates topics of mass consumption, technological impacts, land rights and usage, dual identities, and belonging. This generation of artists has brought new perspectives to the project of Chicano/a cultural reclamation (el movimiento). The Texas-based artists featured in this exhibition employ futurism to explore specific issues related to the Mexico-U.S. border, systematic marginalization, and histories of displacement, colonization, and resistance through a process of reflection and renewal.”
