Robert Boyd
Continued from part 2.
Art I Liked, continued
It was interesting to see a pair of Louise Nevelsons (born 1899) and a Romare Bearden (born 1911) in among all the contemporary work.
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Romare Bearden, Baptism, 1964, collage, 10 x 6 i/2 inches at ACA Galleries
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Louise Nevelson, Untitled (40791), 1976, wood painted black, 57 x 44.5 x 9 inches at Timothy Yarger fine art
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Skylar Fein at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
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Skylar Fein at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
These Skylar Fein matchbook covers are freaking huge, by the way.
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H.J. Bott, Oh-Gee!, 2014, glazed acrylics on canvas, 24 x 24 inches at Anya Tish Gallery
H.J. Bott is one of Houston's oldest practicing artists (born 1933). But when I see his work--always so jazzy and yet so precise--it seems like the work of ageless soul. I guess you could call Oh-Gee! a work of geometric abstraction, but that phrase somehow suggests a kind of austere coldness that is simply not a feature of Bott's work. Oh-Gee! is isn't a formal arrangement of color and line--Oh Gee! is an ecstatic dance. I was very glad to see it at TCAF.
My Favorite Art
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Ibsen Espada, Yellow Zebra, ink on billboard canvas, 54 x 40 inches at Zoya Tommy Gallery
I've always liked Ibsen Espada's painting. But the veteran Houston abstractionist is an old dog who has learned a new trick. He made an agreement with a billboard company to salvage their old Tyvek billboards. He would then stretch a section of the printed Tyvek over stretcher rods as if it were canvas. But unlike canvas, this material already head colors and shapes on it. Little fragments of words and photos, once part of a larger billboard image.
What Espada has done is let these bits of found art act as the base for his painting. His painting responds to the fragments of printed billboard graphics. This dialogue between painter and urban visual blight turns out to be quite wonderful. What Espada does with these old billboard fragments feels right. Sometimes he almost obliterates the image underneath, and sometimes he barely alters it (as in the painting above). It's a very fresh visual approach from one of Houston's old masters.
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Jeffrey Vallance at Edward Cella Art & Architecture
This big silkscreen caught my eye first. It's hard for artists not from Texas to play with the idea of Texas in a convincing way, but Jeffrey Vallance succeeds with this fun piece. Edward Cella Art & Architecture brought a bunch of art by the Los Angeles artist. I've always thought of Vallance as being part of the generation of L.A. artists that includes people like Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw. But his humor also reminds me of the Art Guys.
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Jeffrey Vallence, Rock in the Shape of Texas, 2006, rock in the shape of Texas, reliquary, 17 x 13 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches
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Jeffrey Vallence, Rock in the Shape of Texas (details), 2006, rock in the shape of Texas, reliquary, 17 x 13 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches
I love the fact that the rock in Rock in the Shape of Texas isonly vaguely shaped like Texas.
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Jeffrey Vallance Blinky reliquary
They also had a couple of Blinky reliquaries. Blinky was a frozen chicken that Vallance bought as an art student and had buried at a per cemetery. This triggered a lifetime of Blinky-related artworks, which he explains in the video below.
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Sandow Birk, Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the Imaginary Monuments series, 2013, direct garvure etching on handmade gampi paper, backed with Sekishu kozo paper, 62 1/2 x 48 inches, edition of 25 at Catharine Clark Gallery
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Sandow Birk, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (detail) from the Imaginary Monuments series , 2013, direct garvure etching on handmade gampi paper, backed with Sekishu kozo paper, 62 1/2 x 48 inches, edition of 25 at Catharine Clark Gallery
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Sandow Birk, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (detail) from the Imaginary Monuments series , 2013, direct garvure etching on handmade gampi paper, backed with Sekishu kozo paper, 62 1/2 x 48 inches, edition of 25 at Catharine Clark Gallery
When I saw Sandow Birk's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it reminded me strongly of American Newspaper political cartoons from the early 20th century, particularly those of Winsor McCay. What really makes it are the obsessive, finely-etched details, like the shanty-town at tge base of the monument. On one hand, it communicates a kind of cheap irony--the utter failure of the nations of the world to live up to these lofty goals. But somehow the labor intensive artistry on display here combined with the deliberate pastiche of an older style of expression prevent me from seeing it as a piece of cheap irony. I think Birk meant it. In any case, I feel it. I was, in the end, quite moved by this piece of art.
Art I Hated
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Carole Feuerman, Kendall Island, 2014, Oil on Resin, 70 x 21 x 25 inches
People loved Kendall Island. And you could take it home for a mere $148,000. (Or you could hire a girl to come sit around in a bathing suit in your house for three or four years.) There is a pretty interesting video about the making of this sculpture. Personally, I don't get it.
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Colin Christian, Batgirl, fiberglass and mixed media, 2014, 35 x 22 x 25 inches
That said, it is a model of good taste next to Colin Christian's Batgirl. Seriously, what kind of douchebag would collect this?
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Mads Christensen, What Are You Blinking About?, 2013, acrylic, wood, LEDs, 40.5 x 40.5 inches at Timothy Yarger Fine Art
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Mads Christensen, What Are You Blinking About?, 2013, acrylic, wood, LEDs, 40.5 x 40.5 inches at Timothy Yarger Fine Art
This supremely irritating piece of glowy art by Mads Christensen could be seen at the most recent Burning Man Festival. Nuff said!
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Stanley Casselman, Luminor-1-11, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 65 x 65 inches at Timothy Yarger Fine Art
This colorful Gerhard Richter pastiche was terrible. I don't mind someone being unoriginal--after all, if an artist develops a technique, it's fair game for other artists to use it. Twas ever thus. The thing is that you have to use it well. Matthew Couper reminded me that Jerry Saltz commissioned a faux Richter squeegee painting. And what do you know--it's the same guy! Saltz seemed quite pleased with his fake Richter, and I guess working in this style has given Stanley Casselman a career (or at least a Beverly Hills gallery).
Art I Bought
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Nathaniel Donnett, History Boxers, 2013 silk-screened boxer shorts at Darke Gallery
I mentioned these boxers in part 1 of this series. Nathaniel Donnett had a little clothing store within Darke Gallery that was doing a brisk trade. At $10, they were the best bargain at the fair.
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Nathaniel Donnett. Orangeburg, synthetic hair and graphite on paper
This piece was in the CAMH booth. I'm not totally sure if it is in the current CAMH exhibit featuring a large installation by Donnett (I mean, would the CAMH have taken work off the wall of an exhibit to show at an art fair) or if it's merely similar to the work hanging at the CAMH. In either case, Darke Gallery was handling the sales. I loved it, I could afford it, and so I bought it.
Matthew Couper pointed out that it was the second piece I have related to African American hair (I have a Rabéa Ballin drawing of an African American braid as well). Now I'm worried that I've accidentally become one of those white people obsessed with black hair.
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Taro-Kun baseball card at The Public Trust
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Taro-Kun football card
Taro-Kun is a Dallas artist. The Public Trust had a bunch of these trading cards that Taro-Kun has carefully defaced, and I found them very funny. They were cheap, too! Depicting Dave LaPoint as a big pussy was perhaps a bit unfair, but it was hilarious. Former Oiler Jerry Gray gets turned into a goat-like creature--appropriate for the Rams. But I chose this card because it reminded me of my favorite deceased Greek deity.
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I got this at the Big Texas Train Show next door to the Texas Contemporary Art Fair. I will display it in my home proudly!
Continued from part 2.
Art I Liked, continued
It was interesting to see a pair of Louise Nevelsons (born 1899) and a Romare Bearden (born 1911) in among all the contemporary work.
Romare Bearden, Baptism, 1964, collage, 10 x 6 i/2 inches at ACA Galleries
Louise Nevelson, Untitled (40791), 1976, wood painted black, 57 x 44.5 x 9 inches at Timothy Yarger fine art
Skylar Fein at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
Skylar Fein at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery
These Skylar Fein matchbook covers are freaking huge, by the way.
H.J. Bott, Oh-Gee!, 2014, glazed acrylics on canvas, 24 x 24 inches at Anya Tish Gallery
H.J. Bott is one of Houston's oldest practicing artists (born 1933). But when I see his work--always so jazzy and yet so precise--it seems like the work of ageless soul. I guess you could call Oh-Gee! a work of geometric abstraction, but that phrase somehow suggests a kind of austere coldness that is simply not a feature of Bott's work. Oh-Gee! is isn't a formal arrangement of color and line--Oh Gee! is an ecstatic dance. I was very glad to see it at TCAF.
My Favorite Art
Ibsen Espada, Yellow Zebra, ink on billboard canvas, 54 x 40 inches at Zoya Tommy Gallery
I've always liked Ibsen Espada's painting. But the veteran Houston abstractionist is an old dog who has learned a new trick. He made an agreement with a billboard company to salvage their old Tyvek billboards. He would then stretch a section of the printed Tyvek over stretcher rods as if it were canvas. But unlike canvas, this material already head colors and shapes on it. Little fragments of words and photos, once part of a larger billboard image.
What Espada has done is let these bits of found art act as the base for his painting. His painting responds to the fragments of printed billboard graphics. This dialogue between painter and urban visual blight turns out to be quite wonderful. What Espada does with these old billboard fragments feels right. Sometimes he almost obliterates the image underneath, and sometimes he barely alters it (as in the painting above). It's a very fresh visual approach from one of Houston's old masters.
Jeffrey Vallance at Edward Cella Art & Architecture
This big silkscreen caught my eye first. It's hard for artists not from Texas to play with the idea of Texas in a convincing way, but Jeffrey Vallance succeeds with this fun piece. Edward Cella Art & Architecture brought a bunch of art by the Los Angeles artist. I've always thought of Vallance as being part of the generation of L.A. artists that includes people like Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw. But his humor also reminds me of the Art Guys.
Jeffrey Vallence, Rock in the Shape of Texas, 2006, rock in the shape of Texas, reliquary, 17 x 13 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches
Jeffrey Vallence, Rock in the Shape of Texas (details), 2006, rock in the shape of Texas, reliquary, 17 x 13 3/4 x 6 1/4 inches
I love the fact that the rock in Rock in the Shape of Texas isonly vaguely shaped like Texas.
Jeffrey Vallance Blinky reliquary
They also had a couple of Blinky reliquaries. Blinky was a frozen chicken that Vallance bought as an art student and had buried at a per cemetery. This triggered a lifetime of Blinky-related artworks, which he explains in the video below.
Sandow Birk, Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the Imaginary Monuments series, 2013, direct garvure etching on handmade gampi paper, backed with Sekishu kozo paper, 62 1/2 x 48 inches, edition of 25 at Catharine Clark Gallery
Sandow Birk, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (detail) from the Imaginary Monuments series , 2013, direct garvure etching on handmade gampi paper, backed with Sekishu kozo paper, 62 1/2 x 48 inches, edition of 25 at Catharine Clark Gallery
Sandow Birk, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (detail) from the Imaginary Monuments series , 2013, direct garvure etching on handmade gampi paper, backed with Sekishu kozo paper, 62 1/2 x 48 inches, edition of 25 at Catharine Clark Gallery
When I saw Sandow Birk's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it reminded me strongly of American Newspaper political cartoons from the early 20th century, particularly those of Winsor McCay. What really makes it are the obsessive, finely-etched details, like the shanty-town at tge base of the monument. On one hand, it communicates a kind of cheap irony--the utter failure of the nations of the world to live up to these lofty goals. But somehow the labor intensive artistry on display here combined with the deliberate pastiche of an older style of expression prevent me from seeing it as a piece of cheap irony. I think Birk meant it. In any case, I feel it. I was, in the end, quite moved by this piece of art.
Art I Hated
Carole Feuerman, Kendall Island, 2014, Oil on Resin, 70 x 21 x 25 inches
People loved Kendall Island. And you could take it home for a mere $148,000. (Or you could hire a girl to come sit around in a bathing suit in your house for three or four years.) There is a pretty interesting video about the making of this sculpture. Personally, I don't get it.
Colin Christian, Batgirl, fiberglass and mixed media, 2014, 35 x 22 x 25 inches
That said, it is a model of good taste next to Colin Christian's Batgirl. Seriously, what kind of douchebag would collect this?
Mads Christensen, What Are You Blinking About?, 2013, acrylic, wood, LEDs, 40.5 x 40.5 inches at Timothy Yarger Fine Art
Mads Christensen, What Are You Blinking About?, 2013, acrylic, wood, LEDs, 40.5 x 40.5 inches at Timothy Yarger Fine Art
This supremely irritating piece of glowy art by Mads Christensen could be seen at the most recent Burning Man Festival. Nuff said!
Stanley Casselman, Luminor-1-11, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 65 x 65 inches at Timothy Yarger Fine Art
This colorful Gerhard Richter pastiche was terrible. I don't mind someone being unoriginal--after all, if an artist develops a technique, it's fair game for other artists to use it. Twas ever thus. The thing is that you have to use it well. Matthew Couper reminded me that Jerry Saltz commissioned a faux Richter squeegee painting. And what do you know--it's the same guy! Saltz seemed quite pleased with his fake Richter, and I guess working in this style has given Stanley Casselman a career (or at least a Beverly Hills gallery).
Art I Bought
Nathaniel Donnett, History Boxers, 2013 silk-screened boxer shorts at Darke Gallery
I mentioned these boxers in part 1 of this series. Nathaniel Donnett had a little clothing store within Darke Gallery that was doing a brisk trade. At $10, they were the best bargain at the fair.
Nathaniel Donnett. Orangeburg, synthetic hair and graphite on paper
This piece was in the CAMH booth. I'm not totally sure if it is in the current CAMH exhibit featuring a large installation by Donnett (I mean, would the CAMH have taken work off the wall of an exhibit to show at an art fair) or if it's merely similar to the work hanging at the CAMH. In either case, Darke Gallery was handling the sales. I loved it, I could afford it, and so I bought it.
Matthew Couper pointed out that it was the second piece I have related to African American hair (I have a Rabéa Ballin drawing of an African American braid as well). Now I'm worried that I've accidentally become one of those white people obsessed with black hair.
Taro-Kun baseball card at The Public Trust
Taro-Kun football card
Taro-Kun is a Dallas artist. The Public Trust had a bunch of these trading cards that Taro-Kun has carefully defaced, and I found them very funny. They were cheap, too! Depicting Dave LaPoint as a big pussy was perhaps a bit unfair, but it was hilarious. Former Oiler Jerry Gray gets turned into a goat-like creature--appropriate for the Rams. But I chose this card because it reminded me of my favorite deceased Greek deity.
I got this at the Big Texas Train Show next door to the Texas Contemporary Art Fair. I will display it in my home proudly!