Help Out

A fundraiser for Texas artist Bob Fowler will take place 1-5 p.m. Sunday, at Chapel in the Hills Fellowship Hall, 14601 Ranch Road 12, in Wimberley.

Fowler suffered third-degree burns on Dec. 15, when his clothing caught fire while he was welding components of a new sculpture in his Wimberley studio. He has been hospitalized since, currently in the rehabilitation stage of recovery from his burns.

For more information, contact the event's organizer, Shiila Safer at 512-847-0134.

Contributions may be mailed to:
All About Image
14500 Ranch Road 12,
Suite 16

Wimberley, TX 78676

DIY

Easiest way I've seen a home biodiesel set up...

via Chron

Jenni-beck sez:

Nova Crew

NOVA ARTS PROJECT is holding auditions for the first play of its third season:

LOVE LOVES A PORNOGRAPHER
By Jeff Goode
Directed by Rob Kimbro

AUDITIONS:
February 23rd (2-6PM)
@ Barnevelder Movement Arts Complex
(2201 Preston St. Houston, TX 77003- across HWY 59 from Minute Made Park, just outside downtown)

NEED 4 ACTORS: 2M 2F, ages ranging from 20ish to 50ish.

Rehearsals will begin on or about March 12 and we'll work in the evenings Sun-Fri (probably 5 nights a week).

Production dates: April 10-26th @ Barnevelder

More info on the show itself can be found at the playwright's website (www.jeffgoode.com)

Information about Nova Arts Project may be found at www.novaartsproject.com.

Call (713) 623-4033 to schedule an audition time between 2 pm and 6 pm, or email at info@novaartsproject.com for more information.

Please come with a prepared one to two minute monologue and be ready cold read from the script, if necessary.

We are also interested in meeting individuals interested in production staff opportunities. Board operators and stage managers please email the artistic director at clinton@novaartsproject.com.

Swap-O-Rama-Rama sez:

from Gaia Tree House

Swap-O-Rama-Rama - Artist Open Call
Sunday April 20th (12 to 5pm)
Super Happy Fun Land, Houston TX

"There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness." Gandhi

You are invited to participate in Swap-O-Rama-Rama and be your our bosses. Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a giant clothing swap and DIY workshops exploring abstract and surreal reuse and creativity through the recycling of used clothing.

At Swap-O-Rama-Rama consumers are taught to be creators and this transformation takes place through the local talent in the community.

Swap-O-Rama-Rama is seeking artists of all calibers, recyclers and creatives of all kinds for the following roles: artist taught DIY workshops, designer run sewing stations, silk screening, reuse designers for a recycled fashion show, and sorters (get first dibs on clothes). Volunteers would also be greatly appreciated.

DIY Workshops: If you have a unique skill that transforms would-be trash into a figures, environments, objects or wearable items (clothing/jewelry/handbag etc) please consider bringing your project this to Swap-O-Rama-Rama in the form of a DIY workshop.

Sewing Station: If your a whiz behind a sewing machine, consider being a Swap-O-Rama-Rama designer helping people learn to modify the used clothing they find at the swap.

Silk Screen Crew: If your a silk screener and would like to join the silk screening crew, offering your fresh designs to bring used clothes back to life, please get in touch!

Examples: Artists/workshops at previous events:
Maker Faire
Gaia Tree House

Some roles pay a stipend and all materials are supplied by Swap-O-Rama-Rama.

If you're interested in participating, please email houstonswaporamarama@gmail.com. You can also visit the Swap-O-Rama-Rama web site to find out more info.

Can You Dig It?

What's Up at the Menil?

where's the grass?




what's wit the boards?


zig zags?



It's just not the same without that well manicured lawn... the Menil Collection tore up their front porch to install two new Michael Heizer ditches. Boards on the ground show where they'll dig, slated to open in May.

Not that I'm obsessed with the place (I might be) but the Menil has finally rotated out a large collection of African sculpture for the first time in a decade to dig up never before seen pieces from the depths of their vaults. They won't be out til May either.

Designing in the Darke

leopard carpet!!!

tags by spacetaker

over Joanne's shoulder

Chocolate and cheese at Darke Gallery

Kelli Vance on the 4th Floor

Kelli Vance and Two Dudes


Kelli Vance, UH Art Grad, on view through Feb 21

so what did you think of this work?

GFX Punk Bitches

Bad picture. I should be shot.

Tagger crew GFX decided to draw some bullshit crap over the murals at Emancipation Park by Elgin at La Branch. If you feel the need to go over someone good, please don't be lazy little cunts who can't hold a candle to a 14 year old toy. I thought Article was in GFX? Maybe he had a lobotomy.


What does GFX mean?

Girly Feelings eXplosion

Good Fart, Xavier!

Genital Farmer XXX

Got Formaldehyde?

Good Foreign eXtacy

God-awful Fashion Xcessories

Little Bitch Pussies

TSU is Inept, but They'll Throw a Good Show

Art Official Intelligence
named after a De La Soul album

Michael Kahlil Taylor, Shannon Duckworth, Charles Cringer, John Biggers, Jason Woods, Annie Moore, Eric Blaylock, Nathaniel Donnett, Robert Hodge

Texas Southern University Museum
Opening Tonight
7-12 midnight
or
6-9pm
(depending on who you talk to)

Dude, the TSU website is a list of dead pages.
THIS convoluted, nine exhibit press release doesn't help matters.
I didn't hear about the show until the day of- on myspace? weak, y'all.
Still, good young artists and a chance to spend a little time with Biggers' The Web of Life?
Sweet.

Austin In Our House

In Your House, Austin

New Domy Store in Austin soon...

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MORE INFO COMING SOON

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Hills Has A Plan For Art

"American Style Magazine has ranked Buffalo as the number one arts destination in our country"

Easy to just use the same document she plies on upstate New York than write a new one right? Click HERE for a Buffalo-centric list of things she might get around too.

via ArtsVote

Even though I may grit my teeth and spit whenever I say sumthin' nice about W I must take issue with Hills' sentence "As President Hillary will reverse the course of the Bush administration and increase funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities."

Ummm... NEA budgets went up over the past eight years. "The NEA's budget was severely cut in 1995." There, I said it. Spit. Spit.

TexasMade

Robert Rauschenberg, Narcissus / ROCI USA (Wax Fire Works), 1990

Why don't they have a space btw the words in the title ofthe show? Too internety over at McClain? Whatever, here's a review of their premium stash show.

Blah Blah Boobs

So the Boston Globe has a big article about Robyn O'Neil's artistic influences and propensity to send inane emails to Howard Stern. No offense to large corporations attempting to hold onto their market shares, but a Beantown paper writing about bloggers in Houston and their target du jour just seems a little desperate to me. Geoff Edwards is a pussy.

Useless article highlights?

Some Bloggers are assholes

I find this shirt-lifting photo situation confusing. What happened to the photo on the Stern site, and then the photos put in other places? Do you regret lifting your shirt? Were there other things the Stern folks wanted you to do but you turned down?

Yes, Bababooey asked me to masturbate on air and they asked me to show my breasts. I said, "No", and they didn't push it. I did show the crew my bra, and it was no big deal to me until these art obsessed bloggers decided THAT was the biggest thing to happen in the Texas art world. That's why I got the images removed. The funniest part of that is that the Stern folks were MORE than happy to oblige when I asked to remove the picture from their site even though they legally had every right to keep the photos up, but artists with blogs almost refused. Why? I have NO CLUE. It's bizarre.

I Thought I Had Heroes Who Were Fucked In The Head

Are there any artists you look to as role models or people who look up to?

Oddly enough, no. My creative role model is Werner Herzog.

(Herzog quote- "Modern documentaries are as close to the truth as glaciers to farting.")

The Best Reason To Post This Bullshit Once More

You might not believe it, but this girl's a drawer.

Soul Not Included

Seeking Illustrator(s) in Houston, Texas

---

Reply to: jobs@imediait.com
Date: 2008-01-23, 11:37AM CST


Imedia.it is a rapidly growing business based in Houston, Texas, with additional offices located in Arizona, North Carolina, and Virginia. We specialize in the design and development of highly engaging web-based training of people who kill people, including award winning game-based learning programs about how to kill people used by the U.S. military.

As a killer illustrator for Imedia.it, you will create illustrations that depict the concept or theory of the torture techniques being taught. A successful candidate must be able to demonstrate technical design skills that include storyboard illustrations of successful air raids and moving illustrations of families running for their lives for animated projects. The successful candidate will have no qualms about aiding the military-industrial complex, an enthusiasm for creative, challenging, deadly and innovative work and be able to multi-task, prioritize victims, and work well independently and within teams. You should also demonstrate a willingness to teach others how to kill people, learn new technologies and an ability to produce extremely professional, detail-oriented designs that will impress high-ranking sexually-repressed military bureaucrats. Successful candidates will possess exceptional communication skills for interacting with our customers, cuddling and spooningwith our design and production teams.

Qualifications
•Able to show a diverse portfolio of work, including business illustrations, graphs, people, cartoons, objects and environments
•Proficient with PC/Windows based software programs
•Self motivated, able to work with minimal supervision, and exhibits excellent initiative
•Ability to work under a tight production schedule, to handle multiple projects simultaneously, and meet deadlines
•Must be a team player, work well with others, and be committed to the deadly goals of the team and the company
•Lack of Understanding that you are helping kill people
•Lack of Caring about hurting the world economy

Benefits
Imedia.it offers an exceptional benefits and compensation package including:
•100% company paid employee health insurance premium
•Complete soul replacement

Black Hole Hutto

Come see a short film about T. Don Hutto immigrant detention center, a private prison holding immigrant families including children as young as newborns in Taylor, Texas. The film makes a powerful argument against the detention of children and their families. After the film hear from of those who have been terrorized by our immigration system and learn how to become involved in the campaign to close Hutto. Proceeds from the event will go to benefit families who have been detained at the Hutto family detention center.

More children's art from the prison HERE.

Rabble Rabble

Artforum picks up the patriot pole with an attempt at speaking about a night on the gallery circuit in New Spork, New York;

"To sing Barack Obama’s praises, Jerry Saltz was taking prisoners. “The Clintons just bring chaos,” he said at the Johns show, sounding more like Kenneth Starr than even Hilton Kramer. Saltz was surprised to hear I felt so torn between Obama and Hillary Clinton that I had joined the swollen ranks of the undecided. (Not my usual position.) He asked where I stood on Johns. Choosing to keep my powder dry, I related what had happened a few moments before, when I caught the seventy-seven-year-old artist smiling so broadly it prompted me to ask whether he had always enjoyed his openings this much. Not really, he responded, then reversed himself. “I like other people’s openings,” he joked. “But I probably enjoy my own a bit more.”

"[Jerry] Saltz compared Clinton to MoMA (the status quo) and Obama to the New Museum (the challenger). It makes me nervous to see art-world friends and colleagues speak of a politician in messianic terms. Still, it was heartening to see art critics and curators trade on their “celebrity,” as it were, to promote their candidate. The more people spoke up for Obama, the more I wanted to vote for Hillary just to keep the race going, to keep people talking and asking questions instead of sermonizing. Maybe painting never died, but the art of public discourse sure did. It has been nothing short of exciting to see it come back. It’s the exchange of ideas and values, not an individual candidate, that could really elevate the level of discussion."

Hills doesn't have a plan for the arts ('cuz she's a looser) but B does!

All My Heroes Are Dead

New blog from Houston/San Fran artist Adrian Landon Brooks!

What to do Tonight

Dude, fuck this cleaning shit. I'm just gonna cry and spill water on my head.
I don't even care that the fridge is open. Screw it.

Kelli Vance: Surface
University of Houston, School of Art Gallery aka The Walk-In Closet on the 4th Floor

Tonight, Thursday, February 7, 5-9 pm or so

on view February 7 - February 21, 2008

Want In On the Big Moneeeeeeey?

Artadia Awards Information Session at Lawndale

Saturday, February 9, 2008 (This Saturday!)
3:00 PM

Artadia and Lawndale Art Center are co-hosting an information session about the Artadia Awards on Saturday, February 9th at 3 PM. Lila Kanner, Artadia’s Director of Programs will be present to discuss the Artadia Awards process and answer questions about Artadia’s first online application for the Houston program. Artadia implemented an online application system in fall 2006. The Lawndale Art Center is located at 4912 Main St, Houston, TX 77002.

This year is Houston v. Chicago-
who's got the best of the Midwest?

Chicago Sucks!

More information visit: http://artadia.org/news.html

Thursday Morning Cartoons

A little Chuy Benitez for ya!

USA vs. Mexico

Landon Donovan is especially reviled in Mexico for
urinating on the field before a game in Jalisco.

No, this isn't Lou Dobbs, it's ESPN. Don't try driving on the south loop later tonight- when the home crowd at the Reliant stadium lets out. Oh yeah, and if you watch the game- expect everyone to cheer for Mexico.

UPDATE
2-2 Tie.
Pics from the chron... photog Brett Coomer

The Pink Manifesto

I think it has something to do with Doomsday, but I found a manifesto
on the street and brought it to the Electrik City party.
Megan, Emily and Veronica laughed their asses off at it and
they read the Pink Manifesto in the alley.
Megan even used her TS Eliot voice.


"All Hail Precious Jules!"

Yesterday's News

It's still all good... Houstonist Photo of the Day yesterday

blues
by sanctamonius

via Houstonist

Is There Intimacy in the Internet?

DIGITALIA: Intimacy in the Hyperreal

curated by Evan Garza

Deborah Colton Gallery

Meant for lovers and confidants, intimacy is a function of the human condition. With all the wires and waves connecting us today, many wonder if it can survive in the face of tantalizing distractions and superficial replacements for physical and emotional contact. There is a great debate ranging across philosophy, psychology and politics, but the battles are being fought with every text message and online video. In an effort to fight the pessimistic tide of those who believe we are less able to connect with others today more than ever, DIGITALIA has gathered different views of our new world which address intimacy as either facile pandering or a true and deep connection.

Through the spoken word, writing and mass media communication has successively moved away from personal touch. Steven Miller channels the disconnect that successive layers of technology bring to relationships in a series of surreal photographs. Wrapping his subjects in a vacuumous black void, Miller presents everyday figures- not models or actors- as tied in knots, their heads or bodies wrapped in thick white ropes that carry connotations of bondage, enslavement and subservience while the ropes’ ends trail off the edge of the image or between figures, linking them in a torpid stupor. In a denial of media’s ability to carry weight, Martin Creed’s FEELINGS is a neon sign of rigid sans-serif letters that fails to carry a hint of meaning in its content- with tongue firmly in cheek.

The march of technology has pushed into a new world with the advent of the internet, and common sense dictated that in this new evolution even less intimacy was to be found. Charles Cohen takes this assumption to its logical conclusion by manipulating pornographic images, removing the object of desire with surgical precision, and leaving only an evocative white hole where the phantom of sexual desire once stood. Taking the essential absurdity of instant gratification to its bitter end, Graham Guerra used CGI technology to create monsters out of breasts and legs to maximize the insatiable sexual desire that pornography fails to placate.

The investigation in 13-year-old
Megan Meyer’s 2006 suicide case
has not reached its end.

In the last decades of the 20^th century the theories of the hyperreal explained that we were moving so far away from intimacy that we “cannot tell the difference between reality and its fake.” Today we have begun to see these theories fall to pieces in the face of ever more real consequences for actions in hyperspace. Sexual encounters have a firm place in the business of popular classified advertisement website Craigslist, and the story of one teenager driven to suicide over a mean-spirited farce on Myspace has lead to calls for jail time in response to online harassment.

Sean M. Johnson, Beard Love, 2007

Breaking through the challenge of intimacy in the hyperreal is Sean M. Johnson’s Beard Love video series, which is a tantalizingly disturbing look at the digital age. Johnson spent months searching online for partners for his work, where he sits on a bed with an anonymous man that he contacted through the internet. In a charming reversal of the intent of pornography the men engage in slow and sensual mutual beard-rubbing; their vulnerability is a shock to viewers, torn between an innocuous reality and the charged emotional connotations. For the oversaturated industry of sex and fulfillment the work is a devastating rebuttal, tackling the ways we can be intimate through technology, transcending the pessimism of the hyperreal and discovering that we are still the same fleshy bodies that desire nothing more than the presence that intimacy brings. through March 1^st, 2500 Summer Street, 713.869.5151, deborahcoltongallery.com

via Artshouston Magazine