Saturday, February 23, 2008

Raise the Rent, eh? We'll Raise the Roof.

Man, I had hoped to go to Dallas yesterday. Me and Maria Elena were going to stop by the CAA conference at the Adam's Mark and sweet talk our way in with fake press passes then hop down the street to the Dallas Public Library and upload videos and blog shit about their "Can Anyone Be a Critic? The Collision between Traditional Criticism and Blogging" panel. I don't know what the appropriate response would have been- singing Imagine or I Wanna Be Sedated.




The Imagine response would go something like "Wouldn't it be great if there weren't any art critics so we could all talk and what we said would be critically relevant?" Sadly there are art critics, and we are all second string to the men who wield the swords and pull the strings.

Without possessions- art's objecthood question- then what are we calling art? The only reference would be tribal societies, where there is no separate concept of art, it is part of the rest of our lives. What is a critic then? A bullshitter or a peer who has the right to say something about your method and materials. You've got to stick up for yourself then- it's a confidence game. A con man and a mark. Who gets one over first?



The I Wanna Be Sedated response would be "Fuck it, artists are artists and you critics can't tell us who is one or isn't anymore." All the air spent on the artworld scam of exploiting artists' work for rich patrons' gain is fake-ass shit 'cause it's just Warhol's "business art". He wasn't saying that this was a new concept, just that he wanted to lift the veil on the others who are making art in their own lives, hustlin' and dealin', making a living. We couldn't have our current concept of art without the business, so lets just let hustlin' be part of art. All the writers and bloggers are doing is the same thing as the drawers and the painters- not to mention the curators and patrons- making a living. And that is art.

Please let me know how it went if you were there- I hope someone made a loud disturbance during such a production of Much Ado About Nothing. Who was a Hero? Maybe it was more like Dorian Gray. Be careful what you wish for.

Anyway it would have been nice to have met Tyler "Sticky-Icky" Green, the boss hog on the panel, and wandered the Deep Ellum gallery walk last night.

Instead of heading for the balmy shores of DFW I stayed home and did some work on a big paper project and devoted the rainy afternoon to spending god-awful amounts of money at copy.com.



In the down time I stopped by McClain Gallery and saw Ann-Marie and Kelli Vance. I totally insulted Ann-Marie, I'm such a douche. Aaron Parazette's latest 'surfinary' work was a little amped up on high-contrast pin striping that lent a little more Op Art to the proceedings. It was cool to see Aaron in this respectable context, but I wasn't stoned enough to really get stoked on his shit. There was some sweet candy in the back left over from the last show- especially Mel Chin's barbed wire saddle.


Insect Warfare, World Extermination, Sawblade

After another trip to the copy shop I ran over to Sound Exchange for the grindcore scene art exhibit of Ms. Rosa and Sawblade. It was metal. Cooler full of Lone Star on the floor and photos and ink drawings tacked up wherever there was room. Sawblade has been doing the gore and guts fliers for Houston bands for the last fifteen years, and his Iron Maiden/Slayer style drawings were fucking refreshing. Ms. Rosa's photos from Super Happy Fun Land and Southmore House were so vital 'cause Gulf Coast grindcore is it's own seething mass of bloodied and vicious kids without a public face.

Then I stopped for pizza and wings at Texas Pizza. It's cheap, but Texas Pizza kinda sucks.

After they raised the rent on Lucas he threw up a call for an Epic Haus Party- 12 hours notice- and he fucking got it. With fake band names and the simple tagline 'all welcome' the place was packed in an hour. Indian Jewelry spit out a healthy set of electro-fuck dance music in a tiny ass bedroom where we stood on top of the band in the disturbing glow of a point blank strobe light. Steven's Unnamed Band started up without missing a beat, launching into a three-chord riff that made several spliffs spontaneously combust. With a whiskey bottle or three getting passed around like accusations of plagiarism they channeled Black Sabbath and sent Paula into a ball-busting dance swinging her fists and her camera. Grindcore kids riped through a 15-minute set, and then PersephOne proceeded to own the living room with a flow over hip London dubstep, Kanye West beats and Roni Size house. It was sick to see her owning the crowd and a good group of girls owning the pit on the rug.


Perseph One, 2crooked2sleep

There must have been sixty people in the yard when I walked outside. I saw Lawndale resident Danny Kerschen and his filmmaker brother Travis. All the graff kids and Numbers party-goers and DJs and bike messengers and bands and artists and underage girls and photogs and hipsters dressed like Blake Civil-Fielder. One cop stopped in the middle of the road, shoved through the crowd to tell them to politely "turn down the music" and then he left. Guess he had bigger fish to fry. A crew of gutter punk bikers on stripped down matte-black Kawasakis parked in front of the townhouses across the street. Another cop came and left. The keg ran dry. All the furniture was in the front yard covered in bottles and trash and debris. We went to Tapatia for tortas. That shit was sweet.

Friday, February 22, 2008

EPIC HOUSE PARTY






Lucas sez:



1510 Nevada 77006

Black Congo
American Farts
White Indians
Mixed Rappers

Bands @ 10!

bands in different rooms playing one right after the other

BYO WHATEVER!!

all welcome


i'll be there.

WTD

Be the Best That You Are!

The Best That I Can Give You

and Less Than Half of What You Deserve

Saturday, February 23rd

3:00 pm -5:00 pm




"Surround yourself in the beauty of the animals of the forest. Katie Pell's
installation in the Mezzanine Gallery, The Best That I Can Give You and Less Than
Half of What You Deserve, is in your honor. Stop by Lawndale on Saturday,
February 23, 2008 between 3:00 and 5:00 PM to visit with Katie and have your
pohoto taken in her installation. Keepsake photos will be given to the first 100 visitors."

Sweet. Gulf Coast Grindcore.


Southmore, Rosa Guerrero

Even vinyl vendors Sound Exchange are getting into the Fotofest business with a double bill of Rosa Guerrero and Daniel "Sawblade" Shaw. Rosa's documentation and Sawblade's fliers have been around the block a few times, migrating with the grindcore house shows and spaces like Super Happy and Southmore House as they attempt to find a home for their particularly toxic blend of culture.

Show opens tonight, February 22nd, at Sound Exchange at the corner of Richmond Ave and Hazard St.


"Sawblade"


via Free Press

Thursday, February 21, 2008

D-Works Needs Your Help

Jon sez:

I need volunteer help needed at DIVERSEWORKS artspace on monday/tuesday of next week.. We will be painting the main gallery black from 10-6.. if you are interested contact me(Jon) at 713-223-8346 or email me on mysapce... -jon

Break It Down

Blaffer Gallery Area Show participants:

8 1/2 Houston artists:

Seth Alverson- Houston artist, marshmallow fluff addict
William Betts- Houston artist, old man
Gabriela Trzebinski- Kenyan, studied in Britain, Houston artist
Hana Hillerova- Czech, former UT professor, Houston artist
Mindy Kober- Houston artist
Lynne McCabe- Houston artist
Ariane Roesch- Houston artist, daughter of gallery owner
Jonathan Leach- Houston artist, art handler at Crateworks
Hedwige Jacobs- Houston artist, since when?

3 1/2 Not Houston artists:

Julie Spielman- photographer from Oklahoma City-Los Angeles, friend of CORE member Janacua
Nicholas Kersulis- lives and works in Los Angeles, occasionally shows up to work at Rice, former CORE
Jonathan Durham- Lives in New York, New York, former CORE
Hedwige Jacobs- Houston artist, since when?

CORE residents:

Andres Janacua- CORE member
Jeff Williams- CORE member
Sasha Dela- former CORE




Eight women and seven men? Great!
With curator Claudia Schmuckli at the helm it is great to see gender equality in the show.

One African artist and one Hispanic artist? What can I say?

Eight 1/2 non-CORE Houston artists? Boo.
The CORE dominates the galleries in Houston, especially Inman who have monopolized the market in holding onto CORE residents after they leave town for greener pastures. If Jeff Williams and Jonathan Durham can resist the urge to be boring as fuck the CORE might look good in their home away from home (buddy, buddy yo. wink wink nudge nudge) Who else is in? 4 older artists, 3 with good connections and 4 young artists, 1 with good connections.

Four people who don't even live here? Bullshit.
Jacobs is represented by CTRL Gallery- Bryan Miller must have shuffled those feet to get her ass in the door. Julie Spielman? Are we playing 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon? Nicholas Kersulis is gonna suck balls anyway, so why bash on him. Durham used to teach at UH but he already moved on up the totem pole.


Not that it won't be a good show- I just hope it's a GREAT show. opens in May.

UPDATE: Well Gabriela Trzebinski is a white African, so really there is one Hispanic artist from Los Angeles in the show, and besides that it's 14 ethnically European artists.

Not very diverse... are they the best?

Persepolis Review



Catch it while you can!

Medium Deco Art Review HERE.





Persepolis

1hr 35min - Rated PG-13 - Animation - Trailer - IMDb


Angelika Film Center & Cafe - Houston
510 Texas Avenue, Houston, TX, USA - Map
5:45 8:00 10:15

Edwards Greenway Palace Stadium 24
3839 Weslayan Street, Houston, TX, USA - Map
2:10 4:35 7:05 9:35

Aerosol Political Warfare





Obama Mural

Painted by: GONZO247, Christian Azul, Mr. Bristle & Reginald Adams.

Artwork by: Shepard Fairey

Documented by: LecheQuemada

Location: Alabama @ Travis, Houston Texas



via Dirty Third Streets

Daily-Ist Parazette

Well lookie here, Aaron's movin' on up with a solo show at McClain this Friday!

Daily-Ist: Surfer Dude


Flyaway, 2008

Kooky site HERE

TSU Influence On Display


Earlie Hundall Jr.


Texas Southern University photographer Earlie Hudnall Jr. is at
the University of Southern Mississippi's Museum of Art.

"He is a very well-known artist, an artist of the American South," said Jan Siesling, the museum's art director. "I thought it was a good thing to make it clear to Hattiesburg that there was a good artist, the fact that he was from Hattiesburg, there is too much to say."



James Biggers and friends at Gaston College


John Biggers' nephew brings the TSU Art Department's driving force back to his hometown of Gastonia, North Carolina.

"
He spent the last years of his life as the Chair of the Art Department at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, where he directed a program that has produced many of America's most prominent black artists, art historians and teachers. His last art exhibit was in collaboration with his nephew James Biggers at Gaston College in 2001."

Kelly On Chantal


From the Other Side


Get your mind out of the gutter! Review HERE.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

I Wuz In Your House

fox local news houston- 9pm

It's not exactly art, but it was fun.

CLICK HERE



blake sez:

i passed the local fox news studio where they have a large electronic sign that advertises one of the night's top stories. last night at about midnight it said: "Flash Mob: Tonight, 9 p.m."

huh?

so i guess everyone check it out....i'll be at work.. let me know what they say...

What To Do Online; tags: art artist Houston blog boredom success hate love sculpture gallery art painting contemporary post-modern modern pencil

Ever read 'Bout What I Sees?

Austin Old Decrepit Soul Makes Good On Promise Of Usable (Not Salable) List


jpegs, blogs, flickr, ass kissing, talking trash and keeping cool...
Click HERE.

Then go start a blog.

Frank and Jane


Jane South, NC Yellow, 2007

Jane South and John Sparagana will be exhibiting at CTRL Gallery
Feb. 29 (opening 7pm) - Apr. 5.

Frank had a chance to virtually sit down with Jane while she waited at the DMV.


via Artshouston

Billy the Cougar

Press Release:

Former President Bill Clinton
will appear at Hofheinz Pavilion this evening
at a political rally in behalf of Sen. Hillary Clinton's Democratic
presidential nomination campaign. The event, which begins at 8 p.m., is
free and open to the public. No ticket is required for admission, but if
you care to RSVP visit
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/actioncenter/event/view/?id=9485 .

This event is expected to draw a large number of visitors to the campus.
They will be directed to park in Lots 15D, 12A and 16B. If you usually park
in those areas in the evening, please be advised that space may be limited,
and you may want to consider alternative parking sites on campus. A parking
map is available at: http://www.uh.edu/cgi-bin/campusmap

There will likely be heavier than usual traffic near Hofheinz Pavilion this
evening, particularly along Scott and Cullen. You may wish to travel
alternate routes.

Winter Street Hot Road


Come lick butter off Michael Bise! Throw Lisa Marie Godfrey in the Pit of Despair!
Eat Smitty's Tacos!

Fotoblog Blogfest







art supplys [sic]



Reply to: comm-580112145@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-02-19, 11:29PM CST


I have 25 winsor newton water colors brand new
And 7 other oil tubes

oner 200 dollars worth of supplys
All I want is 40 dollars
I'm not gonna use them I know someone out there can
Thanks

Count 'Em


Greg Davis @ Texas Collaborative
opens March 8th

Eleven galleries in the Heights? I'm surprised.

Wayne Gilbert breaks it down with his 'Northwest Corridor' list; sounds too much like Oregon Trail for me, but eh- words is words.

They'll all be participating in Fotofest for sure, so if you're tired of Downtown - Midtown traffic and/or like to hang out in galleries where people are engaging and talkative hop on up to Washington Ave and take a trip to the quickly gentrifying (ahem) Northwest Corridor.

Screw that. Call it the Heights.

Barack In Toyota

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We parked downtown..

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and skipped most of the line around the block

lots of people waited for 4 hours or more in a line around the stadium,
but in the office we doctored an email so everyone could have a 'ticket'- it worked!


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to the left

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to the right

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lots of bored photogs
(they're going to Ohio tomorrow)

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Candy Crowley's camera guy looked like a drunkard fishmonger

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yup, that sez Texas.

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the view from the floor

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this photo is so fucking cheezy.

Montrose Hillary Rally

Last Saturday between Westheimer and Hawthorne on Montrose Boulevard.










Tuesday, February 19, 2008

B.G. on T.V.



So they were talking about the new Blaffer Gallery show in glowing terms on ABC sunday morning
and decided to show Chantal Ackerman's From the Other Side.

Looked great from where I was sitting, I bet it stopped a lot of mothers and families and old men drinking coffee in their boxers in their tracks.


Just So You Know...

Gather with us this Wednesday at the SILO as we gaze at a TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE!

ArTistS include:
SPACE CITY GAMELAN
AUDIO TELEPATHY
SASHA BRAVERMAN
KELLY HERTz


Things to bring:

Food
Beverages
Binoculars
Telescope

FREE KEG BEER
BYOB!

ONLY $5

There will be PYRAMIDS,ART CARS, POI dancers and SKY LANTERNS.

DOORS OPEN at 7pm!
GET THERE EARLY!!!!!!!!


The moon begins moving into Earth's shadow at 7:43 pm. Totality begins 78 minutes later at 9:01 pm and lasts for 51 minutes.

Let's Do It!!!


who should be the crotchety critic?
the stupid-joke cute-face host?

who wants to foot the bill?

what would be the prize?

Well That Sounds Easy

Admin assistant


Reply to: job-578053913@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-02-18, 10:56AM CST


In need of candidate to take pic of cars to post online. Photoshop skill needed.






  • Compensation: 10/hr

Tuesday Morning Cartoons

A little Smith for ya!

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Not Artful, But Funny.



seeing Bill Clinton's boner at the Hyatt Regency

in Downtown Houston today

$1000



seeing Barack Obama's cowboy hat at the Toyota Center
nine blocks away tonight

$0

Remember Good Words




Always Cite Your Sources!

Huey Newton Bio

Monday, February 18, 2008

Noise Comes From France, Too.

Science!


Coral Star, Michael Field

An article from Science News explores a recent exhibit at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Diego in January, featuring top billing for University of Houston professor Michael Field! His Gallery of Symmetric Chaos featuring recent fractal work brings up Damien Hirst splatter paintings, Nancy Graves and Terry Winters, but science-ier.

Spare a Moment?


typical night at Notsuoh (note background nudity)



The Panhandler's Chapbook Release Party is this Wednesday, 9pm at Notsuoh. Chapbook award winner will be reading her poetry at this one time only event!

Come hear a wonderful new Texas artist, buy our new chapbook, and support the revival of the Panhandler! Free admission, Open reading to follow event.


For more information, check out the Panhandler's Myspace page!

Panhandler Myspace


Be there!

-The Panhandler

El Oeste de Tejas

from Frank @ the Artshouston blog:



How (and when) did your collaboration with Kent begin?

Back in 1999 Kent had a reading of his novel Plainsong at Brazos Bookstore here in Houston. I’d read the book and thought it was one of the best things I’d seen on the High Plains, the country that I’d been photographing for over twenty years. I also thought that his writing transcended regionalism – that Plainsong simply was one of the best novels I’d read period, and that the man who wrote it and I seemed to have a similar take, not only on the High Plains, but also generally on life. He seemed a kindred spirit of sorts.

...

There was a lot of time standing around, and it quickly became clear that we had much in common. Both of our fathers were ministers: Kent’s Methodist, mine Presbyterian. We had similar tastes in literature, politics and humor and oddest of all, we were dressed almost identically – down to the same boots.

...

Kent sent Duke a writing sample and I sent photos – we drew up a proposal and got to work. And we decided to proceed whether or not we got the award. So I shipped him up work that I had done recently on the Llano Estacado of Texas (Kent lives in Salida, Colorado). And Kent sent me small bits of writing, pieces that were evocative of the Plains - the place, its history, human relations, weather, current issues, overheard remarks — wonderful and multidimensional bits of writing that often were very visual.

I read a review of the book that says: “West of Last Chance is a book for people who are in on the secret of the Great Plains.” What’s the secret?

There is a wonderful secret. And one of the reasons I wanted to publish this book and my earlier book On the Plains, was to share that secret. It is a resonant place. The mantra for West of Last Chance is the following;

“You have to know how to look at this country. You have to slow down.
It isn’t pretty, but it’s beautiful.”

...

There is a quiet beauty, a scale of space that exists nowhere else, a set of colors and a quality of light that I have come to love and a subtlety that merges with grand space in a way that for me is intoxicating. I love being out there. I love those struggling, tenacious little towns. I’ve come to have great respect and affection for the people I’ve come to know – and it’s a nice thing to share.


Them kids'll be out offering a reading at Harris Gallery this Tuesday (2/19) from 5-7 pm
and then also at Brazos Bookstore on Thursday (2/21), 7 pm

Troy Likes My Metaphors

Thanks Troy, for the backhanded compliment of stealing my most prevalent metaphor (the title of my Houston Free Press articles for the past five years) and also for providing a pivotal article in this week's Houston Press. Taking Londoners to task for being hackneyed versions of Houston artists is so Houstocentric I have to give you props, man! Fight the big artworld man, yo.

I'll take my props for this sentence;

"This is the debris of now."


DEBRIS article 2/1/08

DEBRIS article 4/1/07

et al.




Adam Humphries, Free Dirt 2, 2008


Oh, and this really doesn't work for me;
"How far can a sculpture of a boulder go in terms of collectible value?"

Um, sculptures of boulders are all over America.
The part you missed is that sculptures made out of styrofoam have no collectible value.


Oh yeah, this sentence sucks too.
You sure did read your own Calvinist metaphor into Shane Bradford;
"There's no such thing as freedom of choice; there is only fate."


Don't hold your breath for this, but someone else should take you up on the free exhibit title;
"Maybe CTRL should organize a homegrown show and call it "The Bayou Trawlers." It would be an interesting counterpoint to these Londoners' quest for treasures buried in the urban muck."

Any takers? Free titular reference and precedent!