Glasstire counts down the top five art events in Texas.
For last week’s picks, please go here.
1. John Sparagana: Projectile
Basket Books & Art (Houston)
October 26 – December 7, 2024
From Basket Books & Art:
“Basket Books & Art, in collaboration with Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino and Corbett vs. Dempsey, is pleased to present John Sparagana’s Projectile, a body of work born of a book and originating in a single source image: a news photograph documenting a dyspeptic outburst in the wake of a canceled rock concert. The works that form Projectile were first exhibited in 2021 in Chicago at Soccer Club Club, the exhibition space offspring of the ever-vibrant Drag City record label. The project itself stems from a collaboration with the musician-poet David Grubbs, who cannily pointed Sparagana towards the inciting image. The collaboration was further extended in the form of an eponymously named small-format paperback book, designed by Reto Gieser and accompanied by a 2,100-word sentence authored by Grubbs.”
A piece from “Bernardo Vallarino: Size Matters – The Golden Rule”
2. Carmen Menza: Patterns of Disturbance and Bernardo Vallarino: Size Matters – The Golden Rule
Ro2 Art, Tin District (Dallas)
November 2 – December 7, 2024
From Ro2 Art:
“Carmen Menza is an interdisciplinary artist creating works with light, video, software, music composition, and sound design, exploring themes of time, space, perception, and human connection. Her installations have been featured at venues such as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Perot Museum, Meow Wolf, and the Dallas Aurora Light & Sound Festival. Her films have screened at the Dallas International Film Festival and Austin Film Festival. A TACA New Works Fund and Arts Activate Grant recipient, Menza is also a founding member of Texas Vignette, advocating for women artists in Texas.
Bernardo Vallarino is a Colombian-American mixed-media sculptor and installation artist interested in geopolitical issues of violence and human suffering. His works reflect his observations on the hypocrisy he perceives existing between the rhetoric of human life and the violent behavior of humanity. With his artworks, Vallarino strives to engage his audience visually but also morally and philosophically, finding inspiration in history, the media, his personal experiences, and his lifelong interest in insects and entomology. Vallarino, a NALAC (National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures) fellow, graduated with a BFA in sculpture from Texas Christian University, an MFA in the same field from Texas Woman’s University.”
Gladys Poorte, “Amazonia IV,” 2024, graphite and colored pencil on paper, 16 x 22 inches
3. Gladys Poorte: Amazon
Davis Gallery (Austin)
October 26 – November 23, 2024
From Davis Gallery:
“Creatures of the deep, translucent and otherworldly, swaying in the abyss where no human eye has ever peered. As shafts of light pierce the inky darkness, they shimmer with iridescent hues, a fleeting beauty in a world of perpetual twilight. They’re disappearing, the success of a species, ours, affecting another and in turn affecting its own chances of survival. Inspired by these elusive beings, Gladys Poorte crafted her own sea creatures from Amazon cardboard boxes. She shaped and painted them with iridescent colors, grouping them together to form vibrant colonies. These cardboard creations became the foundation for a new world, a world the artist captured in paintings, drawings, and photographs.”
Lindsey Hurd, “Virgin Mary.”
4. Lindsey Hurd: At Home
MBS Gallery (San Antonio)
September 6 – November 23, 2024
From MBS Gallery:
“Artist’s Statement: My photographic arrangements seek to enshrine the ephemeral and bestow respect upon lost things, and in this way enshrine the resilience of our private lives and the natural world in which we live. This is my search for the love and hope of the world and for what it means to be at home here.”
A work by Alonsa Guevara
5. Alonsa Guevara: Frutos del Tiempo
Brownsville Museum of Fine Art
November 2 – December 11, 2024
From the Brownsville Museum of Fine Art:
“This solo exhibition delves into the artistic and spiritual ‘fruits’ that have emerged from Guevara’s creative journey over the years. The exhibition showcases paintings and sculptures created from 2018 to the present. It invites viewers to celebrate the beauty and complexity of the natural world while exploring the profound connections between nature, humanity, and spirituality.
As a Latin-American woman whose life has unfolded across Chile, Ecuador, and the USA, Guevara uses her art to explore identity, belonging, and womanhood. Her works offer a personal understanding of beauty, blending reality with fantasy to create an immersive, multi-sensory experience. With a ceremonial and ritualistic ambiance, her pieces pay homage to fertility, spirituality, and life cycles, commemorating the enduring connection between humankind and nature—one that has evolved and adapted through time.”
