My Condolences

There is quite a debate raging on the comments from the original article here, but it seems like the 16-year old Houston graffiti writer MUNIK from the "TV crew" was run over by a NOPD SUV at 4 in the afternoon as he ran between the leevee wall and an exit to the leevee system.

From the Times-Picayune today:

Relatives of a 16-year-old graffiti painter who was hit and killed by an East Jefferson Levee District police vehicle said Friday that they were struggling to grapple with the sudden loss of a teenager they described as warm and creative.

Police identified the teenager as Victor Montano, a Houston resident who in recent weeks was visiting family members in the New Orleans area. Kenner police are investigating the death as an accident, and they declined to identify the Levee District police officer who was driving the vehicle that hit Montano.

"He was a really good kid, just like any typical teenager," said Sandra Montano of Marrero, the teenager's aunt. "He loved to paint. He'd been doing that since he was the age of 8. He was very, very good. He's talented."

Montano said she couldn't condone his spray-painting on the Parish Line Canal wall in Kenner, which is what police said he was doing Thursday when he caught the attention of the officer and a chase ensued, but she said he did not deserve a tragic death.

Kenner Police Chief Steve Caraway said Thursday that Montano ran when the Levee District officer spotted him. And as he tried to climb a fence, Caraway said, Montano appeared to trip and fall into the path of the officer's sport utility vehicle.

Along the cement levee wall were yellow letters outlined with red paint that appeared to say "MURK" or "MUNIK." Caraway said Friday that he didn't know what the letters mean.

Fran Campbell, executive director of the East Jefferson Levee District, also declined to identify the Levee District police officer on Friday. "We'll make a statement when we get the police report" from Kenner Police, Campbell said.

Family members said Montano lived with his mother in Houston but was visiting his father in Harvey, his grandparents in Marrero, his sister in Kenner and other relatives in the past few weeks.

His grandmother, Mary Henry Montano of Marrero, said Friday she remembered him saying, "Grandma, I love you," the last time she saw him several days ago.

"That child was so sweet," she said. On Thursday night, she said: "I cried all night. It hurts. It really hurts."

In addition to painting, Sandra Montano said her nephew loved skateboarding and break-dancing.

"He was a good little boy," said his stepmother, Joanne Montano of Harvey. "He wasn't harming anyone."

Apparently...

Apparently Houston tagger Munik was killed yesterday by NOPD... developing...

Up in Brooklyn

Texas Expats!!!

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11th
8:00pm
FEATURING THE ARTWORK OF

Betsy Odom
David Choi
Seth Mittag
Peter Beste
Alison Ward
Faryal Maroof
Elaine Bradford
Nathan Skiles
Jon Elliott

and MUSICAL PERFORMANCE BY
Unipigeon

DJing by a Selection of Texans

www.texasfirehouse.org

I'll kill an artforum editor, if I have to

Last year I signed up for the Andy Warhol Arts Writer Grant Program with the firm conviction that you only get anywhere in this game if you personally know someone on the board (or committee or whatever) and now that is being confirmed by blogger The Expanded Field, and seconded by Modern Art Notes. Oh, the nepotism and self-serving short-sightedness of the good 'ol boys system! Good thing I'll never have to worry about burning through all that money!

Here's Andrew's take on it: Though nearly every project given in the last round of this grant project is legitimate and deserving, the grantees are hardly an undistinguished bunch. Every single one has a university affiliation (except for the director of the Drawing Center), a quarter of them are editors at Artforum, and though I can't be positive, I don't think a single one is under 30, most over 40. One might conjecture that the under 30 crowd is hardly doing a lick of legitimate writing about art, but that's of course nonsense. Somehow I remember the original press material for the grants giving lipservice about helping young arts writers who hadn't become famous, but of course I may be mistaken. One of the grantees leaked to me that it was an inside job, they were good friends with one of the jurors. But I'm sure that the jurors are blind and judge purely on the merit of the project rather than on fame or friendship, except of course when they're not.

doubling up on the ridiculous

Terracotta or concrete? From the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuangdi comes the real thing- set to be at the Science Museum in 2009. From the imagination of Ira P. H. Poon, AKA "Mr. Poon," (a Hong Kong real estate mogul) comes the 1/3 replica of the tomb out I-10 in Katy along with versions of the Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven, The Calming of the Heart Lodge, and the canal city of Suzhou. Can you tell the difference? What would be better, seeing the real thing detached from its' environment and surrounded by advertisements for Starbucks and McDonalds or a faker tourist trap that does weddings?

Did they have a hot tub?

Tomorrow is the last day for the faux reality show that takes over Diverseworks in the summer, they're getting press on spacetaker and artshound, but no glasstire? You guys dissapprove or sumthin'? 6-9pm

Come for the art, stay for the free polyester blazers...

Bomit sez:

"A.K.A." - A Bandana Art Show - Houston, Texas 2007:


Featuring the work of Shepard Fairey, Logan Hicks, Daryll Peirce, Evil Design, DAVe, Uneek, Sleep ZZZ, Hazchem, 20 mg/Visual Narcotics, Lindsey Kuhn, Matt Siren, Toy Eater, REMED, Fefe, Zach McDonald, Billi Kid, Failure, NO/FI, Discoshit, FARO, Peat Wollaeger, Billy Bishop, Arrrgh!, Ethos, Cieto ATV, Nomad, Eyeskull, The Killer Gerbil, LukeDaDuke, Fear The Ripper, Robots Will Kill, FERG

Local Artists Abel, ack!, Christian Azul, CUTTHROAT, Death Head, Dual, Sara Eudy, Give Up, Lisa Marie Godfrey, GONZO247, Meat, Derek Shumate, Verb, YAR!


"Bandana" defined: A kerchief (from the French couvre-chef, "cover the head") is a triangular or square piece of cloth tied around the head or around the neck for protective or decorative purposes. The bandana has been used by artists worldwide to conceal their identities. When worn over the mouth and nose, bandannas are also used to lessen inhalation of fumes so we thought it would be a good idea for a show.

Not to mention the fact that a bandana makes a perfect small canvas that can be folded up and mailed easily. With all of the cameras spying on our daily lives these days the show seems like a small way to make a statement to the man as well.

Images from the punk era come to mind like The Clash rockin' bandanas in the Rock the Casbah video. The bandana was originally used by banditos and bank robbers in the Old West. Bandanas are also worn around the neck by cowboys, farmers, bakers, and railroad engineers to wipe the sweat off their faces, and keep dust out of their collars.

Anarchists and political activists have been known to wear black bandanas and hoodies to keep their faces from being photographed. Of course we all know about the whole Bloods vs. Crips thing which this show is to have nothing do with. In certain cities non-violent bicycle clubs may wear black and white bandanas to show their association.

We are calling the show "A.K.A" (Also Known As) since many artists go under aliases.

Now, medium-based exhibit do tend to suck, but the simplicity of a small square rag makes this idea for a show a little better than most.

Art Car War Revue

OPEN CALL @ THE ART CAR MUSEUM, ACCEPTING THE FIRST 200 PIECES RECEIVED.

• "WAR"
• ONE PIECE PER ARTIST
  
• 3' x 3' OR SMALLER

• SCULPTURES, VIDEOS, MOBILES, PERFORMANCE OR ANY OTHER WORK THAT REQUIRES SPECIAL ATTENTION PLEASE CALL THE MUSEUM & INFORM US SO WE CAN MAKE THE NECESSARY ACCOMODATIONS.

• DROP OFF WORK ON SEPTEMBER 1 & 2 BETWEEN 11 am & 6 pm, AT THE MUSEUM. OUT OF TOWN ENTRIES, MAIL TO THE ART CAR MUSEUM 140 HEIGHTS BLVD. HOUSTON, TX 77007, QUESTIONS CALL 713.861.5526 INFO@ARTCARMUSEUM.COM

OPENING: SEPTEMBER 8, 2007, 7 - 10pm

Trashed

I'm having a reaction to something, and I'm trashed on allergy meds. I'll be back after a Benadryl nap with two calls for artwork due September 1st!!!

silly shit

Tonight at 10:30 pm on HGTV check out the retarded host of "What's with that House?" ridicule and wonder at Houston gallerist Wayne Gilbert's "Hansel and Gretel Cottage" up in the Heights.

Texas on an even Keel

Texas Gallery's opening last night was alright- a solid show of drawings with a couple of weak link paintings... The small Julie Mehretu piece was not really worth it, Sharon Engelstein's computer aided drawings were a bit stiff compared to her sculptural work, Jeff Elrod's die cut CAD drawing on color field canvas were interestingly manufactured but visually flat. Kristen Calabrese painted a picture of hanging paper link decorations- the only representational painting in the show- that had WAY too prominent placement and interrupted the flow of the show.

Curator Susie Rosemarin (can you be a curator and an exhibiting artist?) put together a good sampling of Houston and Houston-related artists for this summer show but dealing with the oddly gargantuan main gallery of the gallery by hanging at 60" leaves so much to be desired (and so much white space)... It was nice to see artist Jeff Yerger come out to check on one of his favorite subjects, "Lines"... CAMH Interim Director Linda Shearer was an early bird at the show chatting up the town...

Get used to It

New Jersey today

Houston 2001

New York today

New York looks like Houston today...

Next year, it's on

So the Artadia kids have made themselves scarce these days, handing out $15,000 and $1,500 awards in Boston and San Francisco, but next year they're back in Houston! Even better, the other city involved is Chicago, so it's a World Series rematch and a Midwest throwdown--- Houston vs. Chicago!!! We'll kick their ass. For August they have 5 openings, we have 7 or 8. (do you count A+M or Galveston?) There are about a hundred galleries in Chicago and there's about that many here. They have 2,842,000 people, we have 2,016,000; we grew 20% in the last ten years, they grew 4%. Let's take their lunch money.

Adickes Addict

lots of people take photos of David Adickes' sculptures up on Summer Street (you can see it on Google maps too), here's some by Notsuoh Photography...

Tuesday Opening?

Carl Suddath This Time, 2004

Jeff Elrod Untitled (Red), 2005

For some bizarre reason- maybe to avoid the rats that crawl the openings on weekends- Texas Gallery has decided to open their "Lines" show tonight from 6-8pm. Curated by Op artist Susie Rosemarin (aka "conceptual artist" photog Susan Rosemarin...haha) the show features representational painter Kristin Calabrese, Jeff Elrod's pathetic computer art, Sharon Engelstein, super sweet Julie Mehretu, Aaron Parazette, James Siena's urban versions of aboriginal paintings, and the pathetic little sculptures of Carl Suddath. Look for old men sipping white wine like its prune juice and not a hipster in sight. Texas Gallery is behind the River Oaks Theatre, next door to the Blue Door.

Stephanie St. Sanchez sez:

15 Minutes or Less Film Festival (if you're hispanic and have a vagina)

La Chicana Laundry Pictures and Lawndale Art Center Present
The Lone Star State's very first ALL LATINA Film Festival!

We are seeking films and videos by Latina Filmakers and Video Artists for an exclusive exhibition at The Lawndale Art Center. This is a juried show with awards. Senorita Cinema will be a part of Lawndale’s Dia De Los Muertos. Film Festival nights are October 12 and 13th with a possible extended run as an installation.

Since we want to spotlight as many Artists as possible this year we will be concentrating on short works. Any genre 15 minutes or less will be considered. This includes trailers for larger works and even music videos. Multiple entries accepted as long as the total running time does not exceed 15 minutes and they are on one disk.

Formats accepted: VHS, DVD, MINI DV, DIGITAL 8

ENTRY FEE: $15.00 JUL. 30th - SEPT. 21st
LATE ENTRY: $25.00 SEPT. 22nd - OCT. 2nd
Make Check or Money Order Out to La Chicana Laundry Pictures.
FINAL DEADLINE POSTMARKED by OCT. 2nd.!

for more information please email me at senoritacinema@yahoo.com
or check out our myspace page

Ick

Here is an ugly article about Houston from the rag "New York Resident", apparently we have the Fresh Arts Coalition to thank for it: "Article inspired by Fresh Arts Media weekend, bringing several freelance journalists to Houston to see the best art scene, the best hotels and the best restaurants Houston has to offer." Flying New York journalists down to hobnob with the rich in Houston and only getting one piddly article about it? Sad. Flying those same usual suspects to Ibiza? Boring and bizarre. This redundant organization gets a whole lotta funding from the city in the form of Houston Arts Alliance and Houston Endowment as well as The Brown Foundation and The Meadows Foundation and they pretty much print flyers, copy the content already covered by glasstire, spacetaker and artshound and mirror their member organizations' websites... where's the beef?

PS- Hey Fresh Arts, you might want to take IBP off of your website- since they're dead and all.

WHOOOOOO!!!!!!! Wasted on Sunday!!!!!

Rafer Alston, perennial steady Rockets guard, was arrested at 2:30 am in downtown after a heavy night of partying.

Walkable? C'mon, its Houston!

So you can look up your neighborhood on walkscore.com to see if you might be able to keep the car in the garage. I scored an 85 out 100 in the Montrose/ Hyde Park area, highly walkable- as long as it isn't 100 degrees and humid!

High Art

Up on the fourth floor of U of Houston is probably the highest art show you'll find in town (besides the soft-boiled fair on the top floor of the Williams Tower in the Galleria) The Daniel Radcliffe Dong Party was a good time last Friday, until UHPD decided to try and bust everyone. Cody Ledvina took the heat and kicked the Keystone Kops off the fourth floor; why would they try to bust an art show serving wine and beer? Are they unfamiliar with the concept? Anyway, I went back Sunday to catch some pics of the artwork, enjoy!

Group 925

Group 925

Group 925

Jeanne Casanova

Amye MacCarther

Jeanne Casanova

Cody's studio calling card

Nick Meriwether

Buffalo Sean

b.s.

ditto

Buffalo Sean

Norberto Gomez

Norberto

Norby!

same guy...

Norby

Norberto Gomez

Skeez sez:

So the Chinhui Ome show at CSAW yesterday went off without a hitch, or so I thought. When I was there organizer Skeez 181 even said "It was nice of Maggi to provide us with rent-a-cops", but I guess that wasn't the full story. The Mexican Arsenal had a full contingent of Aztec dancers, including many well-known dance teachers and performers from San Antonio and further afield. Apparently Maggi Battalino's motivations were not clear at the time, as Skeez has taken the time to blast CSAW's financial director for muscling everyone out of the building when she decided it was time to go. Seriously- more than half of the crowd was families with small children when I was there at 7 pm. Tack another complaint onto the growing list- only allowing artists with Masters degrees into new studio rentals, attempting to enforce a dress code and banning smoking. Here's what Skeez has to say:

On behalf of the Mexican Arsenal art crew here at CSAW , We would like to thank eveyone who helped out in yesterday's Aztec Dance & Art show. The show went on as planned with a beautiful crowd of families (which consisted of young and old) We also would like to APOLOGIZE for one of our neighbors (Maggi Battalino) who decided to hire ARMED Harris County Constables to "secure" the warehouse....since she automatically assumed we would need law enforcement for mexican families with children (who were the majority of the people here last night). There was an art show at CSAW a couple of days before....was there ARMED Harris County Constables there to "secure" the warehouse? ....of course not! ...Ms. Battalino's actions to hire ARMED officers to "secure" the premesis and kick everyone out at the "appropriate" time is a total embarrasment to us....One officer was even trying to kick ME out! ....until i told him i lived @ CSAW. When I asked Ms. Battalino about the officers here, she replied "I invited them here." Then I asked one officer if he got paid to come and he said YES! ...must be nice to get a paid invitation!! Ms. Battalino's "Power Trip" yesterday didn't fall to well in my books. She is CSAW's financal director...not our DICTATOR!!... I just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention since i smelled something funky in the air when i saw the cops here and of course Ms. Battalino trailing behind.....totally uncalled for.

our apologies,

Skeez 181

PLEASE REPOST SO EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT MS.BATTALINO!!

FIGHT THE POWER!!

Sweet

So I was driving around and saw a new piece by DUAL that was some super funny shit- right in the middle of an ad for townhomes near Westheimer and Mandel... I wonder how long it'll be up there...