Houston
John Guzman: Flesh and Bone at Blaffer Art Museum
It is Wednesday, September 20th, 2023, and Houston is in the midst of an exciting exhibition season. I am taking a moment to pause, because the flood of events, exhibitions, and artworks is starting to become a blur. Having just resurfaced after the city’s second worst summer in recent history (2011 being the first), my head is scrambling to make sense of everything I’ve seen.
Read MoreInstallation view. Image: Amanda Powers.
Gathering What’s Tangible opened earlier this month at Flatland Gallery in Houston, Texas. I am incredibly excited about this group show, because it is my first exhibition as curator. Swimming in new waters, I was excited and nervous but kept it together despite getting sick one week prior.
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Memories at a Distance, 2021
Unlike an art book, catalog or monograph that tend to showcase artworks created in another medium, the term ‘artists’ books’ refers to publications that have been conceived as artworks in their own right.
This is an ongoing, living list of resources for artists’ books. Please comment with any suggestions or additions.
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Exhibition poster design by Amanda Powers
I joined the artist collective Open MFA in fall 2019. We–Amanda, Hillaree, Ryan, and I–hosted social events, organized artist talks, and planned a collaborative group show for 2020. Then the pandemic hit. We tried planning a few virtual events, but those quietly subsided as Zoom burn out took over. Open MFA went on a hiatus.
In January 2022, nearly two years later, Open MFA relaunched. We planned our first meet-up for February and brainstormed ideas for the new year. By March, we hosted our first group show at Raven Tower.
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After an exciting year in the studio and awkward year on Zoom, I am proud to share BLOCK XXI’s group exhibition. The exhibition features work by the 12 artists of BLOCK XXI and is on view at the Glassell School of Art through December 3, 2021.
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Yves Klein with the collaboration of Harry Shunk and John Kender, Leap into the Void, 1961
I didn’t watch the moon landing. I wasn’t alive yet. And until recently, I haven’t been very interested in learning about it.
Read MoreRoni Horn, The Dogs’ Chorus. Let Slip to the Ends of the Earth, 2016. Watercolor, pen and ink, gum arabic on paper with tape.
Roni Horn is a contemporary artist based in New York and Iceland. Horn makes use of sculpture, photography, and drawing. Unconstrained by labels and an “artistic style”, Roni Horn commits to ambiguous and challenging projects.
Last spring, I visited at the Menil Drawing Institute for the first time and viewed “Roni Horn: When I Breathe, I Draw, Part I”. The exhibition featured cut assemblages on paper. The works were large and precise. They were also oddly intuitive, natural. I enjoyed how both the deconstruction and careful reconstruction were subtly apparent.
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This past weekend, I exhibited three of my works at ARKA Art’s Inaugural Art Show. It felt momentous, and it was fun. I met 11 emerging artists based in Houston and shared my artwork with a large audience in my hometown.
White Oak’s End
2018
Acrylic
30” x 20”
Loan Tree
2019
Acrylic
36” x 24”
Museum Groceries
2018
36” x 24”
Acrylic
The most common question I received was how I got to be included in the show. I’ll share. I stumbled upon ARKA’s open call for artists for their inaugural show in late February of this year. I stumbled upon it by searching for it… I spend at least 2-3 hours per week looking for opportunities to show or develop my work. That doesn’t include the time I spend working on the actual applications.
While the idea of artists painting, drawing, sculpting and creating all of the time is romantic, it is impossible. In reality, artists spend 50% of their time funding their work with a day job or applying for grants, 10% researching/playing around with ideas, 20% administration & cataloguing, 10% making actual work. I’ve made this conclusion based on personal experience, talking with other artists, and listening to interviews of successful artists.
Back to ARKA Art. I loved showing my work alongside 11 other emerging Houston artists. I enjoyed meeting the artists and connecting with a group of individuals who were taking on similar endeavor while juggling jobs, etc.
After hanging my artwork, I met with fellow exhibitors at Axelrad.
Thank you Estefania, the Director of ARKA Art, for showing my work and organizing the show. Thank you Oluwah Akinyemi, Nala Alan, KaDavien Baylor, Kirby Gladstein, Macy Partain, Hugo Perez, Amanda Powers, Jamie Robertson, Pia Roque, Troi Speaks and Alex Zapata for showing your work alongside mine. Finally, thank you to all who came to the show!
Currently reading:
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, Dominic Smith
90s Bitch: Media, Culture, and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality, Allison Yarrow
Currently listening to:
Tapping into the Art World’s Potential to Make Us Feel Empowered, Hyperallergic
How to Zine It Yourself, Unladylike
The Remote Control Brain, Invisibilia