Ron Hoover - Art Car Museum

RON HOOVER A RETROSPECTIVE: 1972-2006

Opens Saturday January 9, 2010 from 7-10pm

Ron Hoover was one of the most gifted artists of his generation and one of the few painters in Houston, Texas to achieve an original style. His death in 2008 was a terrible loss to the Houston community. Hoover was a man with a mission. His abstract paintings and drawings expose little known hypocrisies and injustices that were instigated by government and big business. In many cases, Hoover was ahead of the press and painted about these issues before the general public was aware. Hoover was opinionated, would get in your face and challenge you and it was this passion that showed in his work and made it so strong. Hoover’s Everything’s Included series involves the excesses of home builders and developers and his SUV series depicts the SUV purchaser as irresponsible gasoline/ fossil fuel consumers. Our goal for this exhibition is to reveal Ron Hoover’s importance as a great painter and major figure in American art of the twentieth century.

Exhibit will be on view through March 5, 2010

David Bates since 1982 @ the AMOA

David Bates since 1982: From the Everyday to the Epic opens with the wit and honesty of Bates' early narrative paintings. His stunning landscapes and still lives are an inventive synthesis of approaches from sources as diverse as folk art and modern masters. The bold recent work confronts personal loss and the human toll of Hurricane Katrina.
Austin Museum of Art -Downtown

Pinky+ installation

“Pinky Diablo works along with one candy topped donut by Franco Mondini-Ruiz”

Lisa Ludwig at Moody Gallery

Lisa Ludwig
collected
December 5, 2009 - January 9, 2010

untitled, 2009cast bronze, unique (13 parts) 4" x 19 3/4" x 1 1/2" installed

MOODY GALLERY
2815 COLQUITT
HOUSTON, TX 77098
TEL 713-526-9911
info@moodygallery.com

Untitled

UNTITLED: Movie Trailer - Funny home videos are a click away

Susan Giller @ VAL

To cap off Saturday was the opening reception for Susan Giller's thought provoking and, to some frustrating, exquisite work. The exhibition at VAL titled "You and Me and Everybody We Know" is not for the faint hearted nor those looking for work to hang on their refrigerator.


“Gardening is My Hobby”


“Deborah Ballard and Susan Giller”


“VAL's Front Gallery”


“Raul Flores and Bruce Schiefelbein”

Tom and Judy Show

On December 5th, we stopped by Judy Vetter's studio in the Goodyear Building near Fair Park to "participate" in the latest from Tom Sale and Judy Vetter.


Tom Sale (a.k.a. Pinky Diablo) and Judy Vetter


Probably my favorite Tom and Judy work.

Vernon Fisher: Dead Reckoning

On December 5th, Stacey and I stopped by the Dallas Contemporary on Swiss Avenue to see the last exhibition at this space. I have been familiar with Vernon's work for many years and my first gallery experience in Dallas was a Vernon Fisher installation at Barry Whistler Gallery, I believe in 1994 or 1995. I was thrilled to see "To Hundred Numbered Rectangles" in person.

DALLAS CONTEMPORARY LEGENDS 2009
Vernon Fisher: Dead Reckoning

Rock Paper Scissors 2

ONCE AGAIN, Susan Giller hosts a sale of affordable art and decorative items by 6 Dallas artists. Drop by this Open House art sale to find gifts for the holidays in the intimacy of her White Rock Lake home studio.

Sunday, December 13
11:00am to 6:00pm
8239 Barbaree Blvd
Dallas, TX 75228
214-660-9339
(east of White Rock Lake between Garland & Ferguson Roads, and between Highland & St. Francis)


Susan Giller Sculpture & drawings

Charlotte Lindsey Handmade jewelry

Rebecca Swann Fine metal art jewelry, flatware and sculpture

Alison Starr Recycled plastic sculpture & functional items

Larry Enge & James Michael Starr Vintage prints, framed & unframed

You and Me and Everybody We Know, new work by Susan Giller

Visual Art League of Lewisville is pleased to present "You and Me and Everybody We Know" new work by Dallas artist Susan Giller. Susan is an artist who loves many disciplines of art. Having devoted many years to figure drawing and clay sculpture she feels a close connection with the importance of self discovery in art making. Her first professional job in art was as a tapestry weaver with Scheur Tapestry Studio in Manhattan. There she made corporate tapestries for IBM, RJR Nabisco, Lakewood Wineries as well as private collectors. Her love of drawing developed during this time having the experience of attending the Art Students League, The School of Art and Design and Parsons School of Design, taking many drawing classes. In addition to teaching drawing and clay with the different schools in the area, she has worked with children and seniors on large scale mural installations. Susan shows her figurative clay sculpture at Goldesberry Gallery in Houston and participates in different shows in the area. In 2009, she was chosen for New Texas Talent through the Craighead Greene Gallery in Dallas Susan's exhibition at VAL "You and Me and Everybody We know" opens Saturday, December 5th with a reception at 7pm that is open to the public.


The Conversation

During these last years I have been absorbed with your relationships and my relationships and everybody we know relationships. The animal in man has been an ongoing obsession since I was a child. Viewing them much like seeing animals in the clouds. Somehow I am stuck on birds, cats and rabbit’s. They have come to represent you and me and everybody we know. I enjoy playing with many medias and love stepping over the boundaries of mixing them all together. The hot days of June and July this year found me scratching and sanding and drawing and scratching some more into the canvas. It was heaven and got me through the heat.


At The Gate

Laurel Nakadate

Michel Letko @ RedBud Gallery

Although my trip to Houston was short, I saw this great exhibition by Michel Letko at the RedBud Gallery on 11th Street in the Heights. I felt as though I had stumbled across a science lab experiment that may have gone bad.









Right next door I met Dan Mitchell Allison who gave me a quick tour of the Texas Collaborative Arts Studio as well as a tour of his new gallery Naü-haus Gallery where Perry House's exhibition "Happyville" was on display.

From the Naü-haus Gallery website:
For Perry House the Happyville series is another version of Vanitas. "The neighborhoods are still-lifes in a way. They are in transition like everything in our lives." The traditional vanitas painting was popular in the Netherlands in the early 1600's and contains collections of objects symbolic of the inevitability of death and the transience and vanity of earthly achievements and pleasures.

In Perry House's latest body of work the colors are indeed joyful, there is plenty of perspective, with recognizable architectural elements not evident in earlier works even while the world and worldly things are floating away and the happiness precious but fleeting. (courtesy DMA Nau-haus 2009)

I also stopped by G Gallery next door to RedBud which featured a group exhibition titled "TRANSFUSION". This exhibition featured the new "Associate Professors" for the World Famous University of Houston School of Art. Artists include; Margarita Cabrera, Sculpture, Jillian Conrad, Sculpture, Abinadi Meza, Photography and Digital Media. Introduction by Sandra Zalman Professor of Art History

Planes, Trains, Autos, Boats & Bikes @ The Art Car Museum, Houston, Texas

Visited the 5th annual open exhibition at the Art Car Museum in Houston. This year's exhibition is titled "Planes, Trains, Autos, Boats & Bikes" and occupies all galleries through December 18th of this year.

The Art Car Museum is located at 140 Heights Blvd.

Hours: Wednesday thru Sunday 11am-6pm

This was my favorite group of works that includes L to R, works by Forrest Prince, Ann Harithas, Ron Hoover, with sculpture by Jim Robertson.

"Zipper Blues" by Jim Hatchett

This work is by my great new friend, Jim Hatchett, I hope to see more of Jim's work in the near future. "It's from a series loosely refered to as the" Desert Altars," inspired by trips to Big Bend", Jim Hatchett

Natchitoches Art Guild Gallery

While in Natchitoches, Louisiana visiting this wonderful and beautiful town on the Cane River we wondered into the Natchitoches Art Guild Gallery. The most interesting and if I was an artist the most disgusting thing about this space was that there was probably about a thousand paintings and photographs stuffed into the space. There was so much tacked to the walls the work was invisible. The artist of the month was Jerry Sharplin and his work was outstanding. Being the artist of the month in this gallery meant that you could display maybe a dozen works on a four foot span of wall, however, it too was surrounded by the guild member's art.

Reflections on Darwin

Reflections on Darwin
Wright State University
Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries
November 1, 2009–January 10, 2010

2009 marks the 150th anniversay of On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin's controversial book about the theory of evolution, and is also the 200th anniversary of his birth. To commemorate Darwin and the significance of the theory of evolution on our culture, Reflections on Darwin includes artists explore through various contemporary art practices the ideas behind evolution and its impact on today’s society. JD Talasek, Director Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences (CPNAS) will present a lecture on the theory of evolution and its influence on contemporary art on Thursday, November 5th.

Curated by Benjamin Montague, Assistant Professor of Art

On the Scaffolding of Collecting by Tracy Hicks

Lesli Robertson

While visiting the University of North Texas Faculty exhibition I saw this quite piece in the corner. Among the mostly big and bold and crowded exhibition was this unassuming Lesli Robertson piece that seems so peaceful and at ease in the gallery. I look forward to seeing Lesli's work in the future.

UNT Faculty Exhibition

Took a short trip to Denton to see the University of North Texas Faculty exhibition. I wanted to see some of my friends work and the other faculty's work that I may not be familiar with.


The two framed pieces to the left are by Bryce Lafferty, adjunct faculty member - one of my new favorite pieces of art I have seen in recent months "Art Measuring Device II", 2008 the larger of the two.




A pleasant surprise was the "Trophy Skulls Collection", 2009, ceramic and mixed media by adjunct faculty member Trish Igo. I couldn't drag myself away from this piece.


Two wonderful paintings by Vincent Falsetta, Professor of Art, Painting. Both were oil on birch panel. I want these.



What can I say, I didn't recognize this person's work immediately, Ed Blackburn the great Fort Worth artist is a adjunct faculty member, who knew. This painting is titled "The Man Drove", 2009, oil on canvas.





Installation shot that includes Susan Cheal's mixed media installation in the foreground. The exhibition was a little crowded. At first I was confused by the dress pieces and wondered if that was part of Susan's piece too - the wall labels for the dress pieces were very confusing - I don't know who created those pieces. The digital c-print portraits to the right of this shot are by Jenny Vogel, Assistant Professor of Art, New Media.




Paintings to the left are by Iva Zimmerman, Academic Advisor, and the video piece is by Shane Mecklenburger, Assistant Professor of Art, New Media.

There is a wonderful minimal piece by Lesli Robertson that I will post later. I believe this exhibition ends this coming weekend.

Shamrock Hotel Artists' Open Studios

4312 1/2 Elm St. Dallas, TX 75226
October 24th 5-9pm

Artists:

Lauren Gray

Lily Hanson

Eric Harvey

Peter Ligon

Brian Ryden

Noah Simblist,

Sunny Sliger

Saul Waranch

A visit with Susan Giller

Stacey and I took the opportunity to visit with with Susan Giller while on the White Rock Lake Artists' tour. We both loved her work so much that we took a couple of pieces home with us. Susan is working on a mobile that we definitely want to see when it is completed. Stacey liked the laminated works on paper and talked about them all way to And/Or Gallery. Susan will have a solo exhibition at the Visual Art League in Lewisville in December - looking forward to that show.


Susan Giller with a work in progress.


Various clay pieces in the studio. I like the pair on the lower left - the blue strips are reminiscent of the late Tre’ Arenz work.


One of Susan's many wonderful drawings.

AND/OR Moving Sale

Stacey and I visited the moving sale and to say goodbye to Paul Slocum in person. In the middle of all the items for sale was this absolute gem of a work by Lily Hanson. I was sad to hear that Lily had left Dallas.

White Rock Lake Artists Studio Tour

Saturday & Sunday
October 17 & 18, 2009
10 am - 5 pm

Stacey and I did our first White Rock Lake tour together on Saturday, October 17th. We decided to focus on a few artists and some that are familiar to us or that we have in our collection. If you have the opportunity to participate it is definitely worth the trip - just make sure you have a map.

First stop was at Marty Ray's studio where we saw lots of her very recognizable pottery. Our favorites were the darker or use of black in her work.

2nd stop at Rebecca and Ken Boatman's "place". Not being familiar with with their work it was difficult to determine whose work was whose. There were also guest artists here. The bottle trees seems to be popular.



3rd stop at Chris Lyons studio. Beautiful work.



Next the studio of Susan Giller. Susan's work in clay is unique and creative - loved her work - our favorite stop of the day.

Always a favorite - Glo Coalson's pigeons.

Absolutely one of the most beautiful backyards we have ever visited. This was our last stop of the day at Cynthia Daniel's place. Other than the beautiful backyard there was really not much to see art wise. We were definitely inspired to get back to work on our yard - I still need a nice large piece of sculpture for our yard - maybe something a little less whimsical as in this picture.

On the Scaffolding of Collecting by Tracy Hicks

"My work evolves from interpreting collecting by collecting, then interpreting the assembled collections, reordering, reassembling, reinterpreting and eventually presenting collections to be interpreted by others. Discovery from the bone-in-the-hand experience of collecting is as significant to me as the interpretation of the accumulated collection. Each element found is a new key to the overall. No element of a coherent collection is totally separate from the others. Add or remove any element and the entire collection changes. So nuances in the individual object can make profound alterations to the interpretation of the collection."

Tracy Hicks
2009

Bob Wade: 40 Years of Blood, Sweat and Beers from austinmuse on Vimeo.

Sally Wyatt with Martin Delabano

Emperors and Roosters

Stacey and I visited Ray-Mel Cornelius' "Emperors and Roosters" exhibition at Norwood-Flynn Gallery on Saturday, October 3rd. The exhibition closes this coming Saturday, October 10, it is definitely worth a trip to see Ray-Mel's work.


Stacey's favorite was "Caligula" that hung over the mantel with the silly looking out of place eggs. Come to think of it - there were a lot of distractions. I wish Norwood Flynn would just concentrate on the art and not get side tracked.




Head of a Rooster series.


This is "Claudius". My favorite was the one that appeared on the invitation "Nero".

In the back gallery was a nice exhibition of Christopher Bingham's works on paper.

Couples who Create

Stacey and I visited the Center for the Visual Arts in Denton yesterday to see a wonderful exhibition of couples who create art.


Don R Schol at left and Terri Thornton under announcement. It was nice seeing Terri's work again. It is ashame that we don't see her work more often.


Cameron Schoepp


Faith Scott Jessup and Robert Jessup


Matt Hawthorne


Mary Emma Hawthorn


Vincent Falsetta



Martha Falsetta

Couples:
Harlan Butt and Robin Butt
Martha Falsetta and Vincent Falsetta
Matt awthorne and Mary Emma Hawthorne
Faith Scott Jessup and Robert Jessup
Terri Thornton and Cameron Schoepp
Don Schol and Pam Burnley-Schol
Mark Smith and Corky Stuckenbruck
Laurie Weller and Gary Washmon