Not Artful, But Funny

The Houston Astros traded 5 players for Miguel Tejada yesterday- and today he was named in the Mitchell Report federal indictment of baseball's steroid users. Smart. Real smart.

A/V Swap and Automatisms Now

Sean Landers @ the Contemporary Arts Museum

Opening tonight, the A/V Swap has a screening of collaborative films at the Angelika Theater downtown at 7 pm and Superconscious, Automatisms Now at the CAMH!

cody sez:

Composition

There's the Southwest... and then there's SCREWSTON

Artforum's Artguide is an underused resource for artists and galleries who think locally, and listing on the international website is as easy as pie. There are only 21 listings for Houston- and if you run a space or want your new show up on Artforum's site DO IT FOR FREE. Click the link HERE.

On the site Houston is included in the Southwest, the funny bit being that Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Marfa, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Tuscon and Albuquerque are on the same page, while when you scroll past Houston we have our own page for listings. Well I guess they expect more out of us then, give it to 'em!

Tonight!

Operaskia Repeat Performance
Wednesday, December 12, 2007, 7:00PM
Room 317
Julie De Vries and Heather Shore
University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for The Arts Studio Residency

Lawndale Art Center and the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts present a repeat performance of Operaskia, a performative work-in-progress by visual artist Julie De Vries and classical musician and singer Heather Shore. With free studio space provided by Lawndale, Operaskia is the result of the University of Houston Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts Studio Residency, part of an ongoing collaboration between Lawndale and the Mitchell Center.

"Silhouettes, through abstraction, amplify the meaning of recognizable objects and allow a viewer to identify with characters and images through an economy of means. Opera is similar in its power to romanticize through music and voice causing an audience to identify with a character." - De Vries and Shore.

See a sneak peak on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25De5hevZbc

The new new Southmore House

Ever since its first incarnation on Southmore Street in the Museum District [sic] Third Ward, the Southmore House has been in clear and present danger of being run out by upscale development. First on Southmore, then at the corner of La Branch and Wheeler, over to Leeland Street in the Warehouse District and now down off Telephone Road Southmore has always been a large part of the punk rock, death metal, hardcore and noise music scenes in Houston. In its first few years in I saw a vibrant scene develop around the place and Southmore Dave; its art events, improv music sessions, the band The Day After Yesterday, Naked Tuesdays (debauchery), and theater experiments. After the Warehouse District move Edd took over and focused attention on noise and hardcore music, providing a steady spot of young bands and out-of-towners. Holding it together these days, Southmore is looking to move into new digs.

"edd is moving out of state, and 2915 delafield is not doing shows. corey, harris, and andrew are looking for a new place, and a lot of the same people are still booking shows. we will have a few shows in temporary locations: PUNXMAS will be held at patchs and mirandas house. (we will put the address up in the show section later... its down the street from the leeland warehouse. ) we are still working on a location for CRUSTMAS, but we think we will figure it out in the next few days (we're still open for suggestions though). we've looked at a few new warehouses already and the future looks promising.

more details will be forthcoming
call corey 281-690-0295
or harris 713-822-8280
or andrew (we dont want to put his number up without permission. just call corey and tell him youd rather talk to andrew)

we are going to make this work. dont worry guys."

Everett Taasevigen Photos From Jena Rally

Exhibited last weekend at Robert Pruitt's house, presented with Voices Breaking Boundaries











and some more photos from Everett!


"This is the very site of The Lower 9th Ward Levee break in New Orleans, Louisiana. This was one of a few levee breaks AFTER Katrina, 2005, was over. Hindsight. A "taller levee" the levee wall is only about 1 foot taller now, however, NOW its made with steel reinforcements that go deep enough down into the ground to actually hold during a hurricane or, hold back the water after one. Years ago in an effort for the City of New Orleans to save money the building contractors were instructed NOT to build the Lower 9th ward levee walls as strong as the ones in the "wealthy areas"." -e.t.







y mas...


from behind the bar at G Gallery


at the MFAH Party


Shirley C. at the local convenience store: USA, Texas, Fayetteville County


July 13th, 2007


Hi Everett!

Cure for the Holiday Cheer

Hahahaha... click the pic!

Christmas Wraper

Christmas Wraper

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Reply to: job-506044094@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-12-11, 1:33PM CST


I will rape all of your Christmas presents!!!!! Email for details.

Thanks, anonymous

Art collectives and spaces come and go and are always intertwined with the real estate market. CSAW is no different. Its demise will make room for new spaces in other places that will follow a similar trajectory.

New exciting work will be made in these spaces and it will attract other artists, new ventures, and ultimately more investment. Property values will increase and the artists will be squeezed out and move elsewhere. It has happened in Shoreditch in London, Chelsea and the lower east side, hell, it even happened in Soho although its hard to remember that far back.

The strategic mistake (if there was one) made by the collective known as CSAW was obvious. Unfortunately, the collective (CSAW) did not have a single master lease with the owner and so it really was no more than an apartment building with an ad-hoc tenant organization. Sadly, this does not really mean anything in the eyes of the law.

In future endeavors, a group like CSAW would be wise to find a landlord and have the organization lease the building and then allocate space/leases and manage as the organization sees fit.

You might not like her, but Maggie works for the building’s owner and manages the property as she sees fit. Her overriding concern, and rightfully so - is protecting their rent roles – period. Its her job, no different from any other job.

My guess – only a guess rumor mongers - is she is currently incented by the owners to clear the building out by a certain date for new owners. In watching this whole thing unfold, it seems obvious there have been other efforts to do this very thing under different guises (remember the guy setting up a foundation – what exactly was he doing again??? Who exactly was he working for again??? Come on folks!)

Its too bad about CSAW but the possibilities of new spaces in new places with new work being made is exciting and that’s what I will be watching for.

-anonymous

Superconscious, Automatisms Now

Rachel Harrison, Sean Landers, Oliver Payne & Nick Ralph, and Danica Phelps round out the final show at the CAMH curated by new Cleveland resident Paola Morsiani. "Stream of consciousness" is the theme, and shutting off your brain may be a good way to see the show. If anything is needed in the depths of the holiday season it is a lobotomy or something equivalent.

Sonic Youth Day, Sean Landers, 2007

A Student, Sean Landers, 1999

The slacker image of Sean Landers first garnered praise in the early 90s, and the artist's pathetic constructions and drawings have evolved into an industry of graphic designers, illustrators, artists and outsiders like Daniel Johnston. Calculating or intuitive, you decide. The drawers from Domy's Sketch Klub should be intrigued.

Nose, Rachel Harrison, 2005

Schmatte with President, Rachel Harrison, 2006

Can I start off where I just left? Calculating or intuitive? Every review seems to be glowing like a they just got out of bed with her, and the flowery foam HERE and HERE doesn't tell me shit about her career or philosophy. If humor- or pathetically constructed art with a dash of humor- is the focus of Automatisms Now they we may be in cult of personality territory instead of a show about free association- at least I free associate more wildly than this artist seems to but not as much as...

1,2, Nick Relph & Oliver Payne, 2005


Swoon Soon, Payne & Relph, 2006




Mixtape, Payne & Relph, 2002

...Payne & Relph, who are some crazy motherfuckers with both the humor and pathetic down pat. Looks like the CAMH site is intent on referring to one half of he collaboration between Oliver Payne & Nick Relph as "Mr. Ralph" which made then pretty hard to google for a minute. These young artists (in their 20s) describe their film Swoon Soon as:

"soft-focus council rhomboids and nouveau pagan triquetras taking revenge from distinctly average weather, velociraptors in leisure-mode and Wimpey homes made entirely of misspellings. Why? Why is my exclamation mark better than yours?"

Their free associations are a lush continuation of YBA art, with a pathetic and haphazard mix of Larry Clark and Luis Bunuel that seeks to dispel monumentalizing artworks based on the everyday. Fun, fucked-up review of a 2001 show HERE. Jerry Saltz weighs in HERE.

Making love with D. January 6, Danica Phelps, 2003 (5th Generation)


Artist, Collector, Curator, Spy, Danica Phelps, 2002

Danica Phelps seems to have nothing to do with either 'stream of consciousness' or 'pathetic humor'. Financial transactions and sexual acts are equivalent to the artist, she documents her exchanges with equal aplomb. Probably the best part of her practice is her integration with the artworld structure, where her tentacles extend thickly from Brooklyn through her practice of exchanging musings from writers on the themes in her artwork for 'copies' of her work- each generation is another drawing sold and then replaced on the wall.

I don't know much the title fits the bill, but down in the basement of the CAMH make sure to come out for the Landers and stay for the Relph and Payne. Will it be 'dumb' art? I hope so. I'd like that for the holidays.