Caviar Dreams and a Fishstick Budget

Bill Arning, new CAMH director and Muppet extraordinaire



Britt from the Chron has a quick blurb of status quo from the new Contemporary Arts Museum director, but this bit of a Boston blog from 2006 seems more enlightening. Maybe Arning will keep up the pencil scratchin' down here in Screwston.




...I'm stalking Bill Arning. I've never asked him, but I think Bill just loves art. He doesn't curate exhibitions or write about exhibitions because the market demands it, he writes and curates because when he sees something he likes, he reacts to it by having to do something ie. curate it into a show, write about it, talk about it, do a dance, something, anything.

That's why the work he does is so intelligent and well done. It's genuine; it's not forced like some other critics and curators who you can tell are working because they want recognition for how smart they are, not because they are actually reacting to the artwork. I love going to hear Bill talk because you can tell he's so excited to talk about artwork that he can barely contain himself. Like a vampire, I feed off of that excitement and it makes me have to go make more of my own work.

-Steve Aishman


Arning theme song

Galveston Architecture (Walking Around in the Sun)

=Don't forget Galveston=

Isabella Court: A Grand 'Ol Enigma

pic by LU




Isabella Court Theme Song

Cathy Matusow says the Chron's Corilynn Shropshire's got a little 'splainin' to do when it somes to romanticizing the merits of Isabella Court in Midtown. Let's juxtapose, shall we?

When Vernon Caldera walked through Isabella Court’s ornate wrought-iron gates and spotted the courtyard that seemed magically transplanted from his grandmother’s hometown in Nicaragua, he gasped.

Then he fell in love.

The picturesque 80-year-old building in Midtown, a Spanish Colonial with original porcelain sinks and no-two-are-the-same apartments, “had me at hello,” he said.

When I first heard the Chronicle was doing a story on the building I live in, Isabella Court, I thought, "Oh great, is rent going up now?"

For years, the weekend scene in the courtyard might be tango dancers or mariachis, costumed guests grooving to live music with chatter and liquor flowing into the wee hours.

But in the spirit of full disclosure, just so people know what they're getting into, here's a few things I've seen simply looking out my very window:

-- A person smoking what appeared to be crack (twice);

-- Drunk men lounging by the Dumpster, one of them seemingly dead (he wasn't, he was just extremely wasted, as the cops ascertained);

Or talk to artist Amanda De Rosario, who moved out in 2005 after four years of throwing rocking bashes, including the “treintañera, or quinceañera times two” she hosted for her 30th birthday. The party featured a piñata; De Rosario, decked out in a pale-blue dress and tiara, danced all night to a live band.

“My parties got too big,” she said, giggling. “It got to the point that maybe it was a good idea that I left.”

-- A rotund little man banging on a green Ford Explorer with a shovel (I called the cops and he was arrested; I felt bad because I realized he was mentally ill); and

-- A couple in a domestic dispute pulling over to scream and shove at each other (hey, this was just last night!).

There have also been homeless people sleeping in the front doorway, and, in the area, an insane masturbating man outside the downstairs galleries, anal sex in the park across the street, and a couple of drug deals done quite out in the open.

Weekends now are more a movable feast — cocktails before an evening out, well-appointed dinner parties for 10 or casual evenings in, spent popping from one apartment to the next. There’s a natural sense of community among Isabella residents, who say they share a special connection.

With many of the windows and doors of the 15-unit residence overlooking the courtyard (and, in some cases, offering peeks into neighbors’ apartments) everyone knows everyone else, and they always know when someone’s home. With residents frequently calling on one another, Isabella is a haven for a certain type of animal — a social one. Hermits and introverts need not apply.

Not to mention the recent graffiti problem.

The building long has been home to dancers and opera singers, artists and architects. They’re drawn to its retro glamour: peeling paint on the walls, arched doorways in the arcade, winding staircases and diminutive iron balconies that look down on the courtyard’s broken-tile mosaic floor. Designed by architect William Bordeaux in 1929, the building is tucked away between Main and Fannin, the apartments sitting above two art galleries and some vacant commercial space.

Yesterday, after the story appeared, I was accosted by a nice family on my way to run an errand. "We read about this place in the Chronicle," the mom told me as I was walking to my car. "We were wondering, could you let us in?"

“It’s the exact same people here,” said Caldera, “just different manifestations of ourselves.”

Groves said it was “like a ghost pulling them in.”

“It’s the courtyard,” he said. “It’s kind of magical. It’s like looking at another time.”

In the article's comments section online, one mother writes, "My daughter is about to start college at the Art Institute of Houston, and I think she'd fit right in there. If I put her name on the waiting list, do you think there'd be an opening by Summer 2012 when she graduates?"

Yes, it is a beautiful building, and I love it. As the story says, it's "magical," and the tenants and management are wonderful.

Uno Mas?

Looks like the Menil Collection's Drawing Institute has found an architect. I'm not sure what these illustrations show, since it looks like the Renzo Piano designed Menil Collection in Second Life, but I guess David Chipperfield will build something.

via Building

Pics From the Lawndale!

Patrick Renner + coveralls tuxedo


Renner's machinas and techman Todd





best bartenders around!


Aram Nagle's Battle Play Set


Barry Stone, Highway 71 Revisited


ditto






Kathy Kelley, In the Space of Absence




that's Menil curator Franklin Sirmans among the rubber sculpture


and Wayne Gilbert with his ever-full coffee cup


Alison Hunter 'and' Cary Wolfe
up in Kevin Curry's studio




JRS and b.s.


plus Curry videotaped everyone who came in, cual creepy!

Dignowity

Dignowity Hill Pushcart Derby

Dignowity Hill Pushcart Derby, San Antonio

Next Derby March 28, 2009

DUAL sez:

Due to many peeps asking me bout both of these...
I have continued printing more of each.

..
if interested please send
$2 for spokecard
$3 for patch
to
DUALSTREETS
1302 WAUGH #203
HOUSTON, TX 77019

thanks for the support
please repost.

2009 Texas Medal of Arts Awards

Keith Carter, Stocking, 2002

Two Texas artists will receive the 2009 Texas Medal of Arts Awards on April 7 in Austin, Robert Rauschenberg and Keith Carter.

Beaumont photographer Keith Carter and the late Port Arthur artist, Robert Rauschenberg will join past winners such as Walter Cronkite, Tommy Tune, Tommy Lee Jones, Willie Nelson and Lyle Lovett. Carter was named recipient of both the Southeast Texas Arts Foundation 2009 Artist of the Year and the Cultural Arts Council of Houston 2009 Artist of the Year; he also recently discovered that Barack Obama has one of his photographs in his collection.

Carter, a musician, writer and photographer, had two reactions. The first was realizing he was would be in the company of Willie Nelson and Walter Cronkite. The second was realizing "They give it to you, apparently, when you get close to dying."

"All kidding aside," Carter added with a laugh, "I'm very, very pleased and appreciative when anybody pays attention to my work. In my small world, this is a pretty big deal."

Rauschenberg will posthumously receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.

via Beaumont Enterprise

Jeremiah the Innocent

from AT ARMS LTD.

only 25 white, 20 green, and 20 yellow figures available

Rather Cheap, Rather Good

Valentine Photoshoot $30, no fee for prints.

---

Reply to: Mallorie@MallorieNasrallah.com ^[?]
Date: 2009-01-25, 12:47PM CST


I'm offering a one hour photo session for $30 for Valentine's Day photos, I am a young, female, professional photographer who recently moved to Houston. Thus am virtually unbooked for the days leading up to Valentine's Day. These will not be typical walmart quality or style photos, I will work with you on Ideas and make sure that your photos are unique. I like to think my work has class as well as its own recognizable style.

My portfolio can be found at www.mallorienasrallah.com I do everything from soft erotica to weddings. I encourage clients to bring a friend, my shoots are fun and casual, you will not be charged for set up time, wardrobe change time, you will be given a CD of 100-300 (depending on how fast you model) photos, 15+ Edits. These photos are print quality, and I will gladly order prints for you with no charge, photos can be formatted for cards too! I will gladly come to you for studio set up, or location shoot.

They've Got Babies!

da joanna



"Wheel of Grisham"



don't tell me you can't figure this one out (cameo by brandon)

We Have Babies In This Place
Cody Ledvina and Brian Rod
"the" the joanna
4014 Graustark
Saturday, January 31st
6 - 10 pm

Some Jackass From Houston

Dude, WTF