January 17, 2009 Friday Openings:
Beam Me Up
Well fellow art sluts, I had an amazing night. Friday was my evneing to attend an opening at the New Gallery, a hoity after party, and the CAM puppet opening. I met many artists, a few patrons, some well behaved gallery owners, some collectors, a patron of the arts, an upstart museum
curator (Toby Camps, with actual curiosity), is that why we call them curators? No, but curiosity should be a main trait for curators. It was a fun evening of wine and gallerinas (I prefer to regard them a minions to the art worlddemons.) These demons tend to be cruel task masters.
I’ve been lurking in the Houston art scene for many years now. Prowling about the galleries, drinking their wine and scoffing at the audacity of art dealers and curators alike. They act like they are the important
people of the art world. They are mere stewards, caretakers. Dearler and curators (Gallerisits) should be regarded as servants to the work. But that not how it is. Galleriest rule the art world. Whoring out the artists, trying to shape their work to better fit the market. Market? They want contracts in blood. They want artists to be slaves to their single master. Art dealers are more like demons brokering deals for the artist's soul, hoping they die in time to send prices through the roof.
I spoke with artist Wendy Wagner. She's pretty tall and slim.
She spoke in the voice of a little girl and my first reaction was not to like her. I talked to her about her paintings, and found myself being won ever by the substance of her work. Initially I was only looking at the superficial aspects of the paintings: one of those little old lady dogs, which normally drive me nuts. Wendy had the deck stacked against her in my mind. I was put off by the subject matter and was caught unprepared to be won over as she told me about her paintings. Wendy was very charming as she described the series of work as part of a narrative depicting her dog’s intergalactic travels. Visisting strange worlds and even stranger beings. Something flipped in my mind and I could see this little dog as heroic and adventurous visiting strange inter-dimensional worlds across the galaxy. I asked Wendy why she choose to paint this little dog so obsessively. She said she paints what she loves. How can you argue with this. I was able 
to see her little dog the way Wendy must feel about this subject matter, a real acomplishment and credit to the painter. The paintings are executed very skillfully, with a good mix of precise brush work and loose spontaneous gestures. The works are playful and full of color. I could easily imagine a narrative of the little white dog traveling among the stranger parts of the universe and finding acceptance and even understanding. I imagine the alien friends communicating with and appreciating a bold little earth dog free of any sense of alienation.
Well fellow art sluts, I had an amazing night. Friday was my evneing to attend an opening at the New Gallery, a hoity after party, and the CAM puppet opening. I met many artists, a few patrons, some well behaved gallery owners, some collectors, a patron of the arts, an upstart museum
curator (Toby Camps, with actual curiosity), is that why we call them curators? No, but curiosity should be a main trait for curators. It was a fun evening of wine and gallerinas (I prefer to regard them a minions to the art worlddemons.) These demons tend to be cruel task masters.I’ve been lurking in the Houston art scene for many years now. Prowling about the galleries, drinking their wine and scoffing at the audacity of art dealers and curators alike. They act like they are the important
people of the art world. They are mere stewards, caretakers. Dearler and curators (Gallerisits) should be regarded as servants to the work. But that not how it is. Galleriest rule the art world. Whoring out the artists, trying to shape their work to better fit the market. Market? They want contracts in blood. They want artists to be slaves to their single master. Art dealers are more like demons brokering deals for the artist's soul, hoping they die in time to send prices through the roof.I spoke with artist Wendy Wagner. She's pretty tall and slim.
She spoke in the voice of a little girl and my first reaction was not to like her. I talked to her about her paintings, and found myself being won ever by the substance of her work. Initially I was only looking at the superficial aspects of the paintings: one of those little old lady dogs, which normally drive me nuts. Wendy had the deck stacked against her in my mind. I was put off by the subject matter and was caught unprepared to be won over as she told me about her paintings. Wendy was very charming as she described the series of work as part of a narrative depicting her dog’s intergalactic travels. Visisting strange worlds and even stranger beings. Something flipped in my mind and I could see this little dog as heroic and adventurous visiting strange inter-dimensional worlds across the galaxy. I asked Wendy why she choose to paint this little dog so obsessively. She said she paints what she loves. How can you argue with this. I was able 
to see her little dog the way Wendy must feel about this subject matter, a real acomplishment and credit to the painter. The paintings are executed very skillfully, with a good mix of precise brush work and loose spontaneous gestures. The works are playful and full of color. I could easily imagine a narrative of the little white dog traveling among the stranger parts of the universe and finding acceptance and even understanding. I imagine the alien friends communicating with and appreciating a bold little earth dog free of any sense of alienation.Punishing Beauty
Terry Thomas, I only saw three pieces by this artist but felt very moved. I grabbed Terry as she was leaving the gallery and exhorted her to speak with me about her work. She conceded and started by explaining that one of the pieces had been mislabeled. I found Terry to be some what tall slim and pretty. The images were created from beads and crystals. Reminiscent of Tibeten sand
paintings of Mandalas. When asked why she would make such beautiful images of such horrific tortur devices, Terry spoke at length about the how beauty can be very punishing. Terry is new to the New Gallery and I’m looking forward to seeing her first exhibition with the gallery.
Terry Thomas, I only saw three pieces by this artist but felt very moved. I grabbed Terry as she was leaving the gallery and exhorted her to speak with me about her work. She conceded and started by explaining that one of the pieces had been mislabeled. I found Terry to be some what tall slim and pretty. The images were created from beads and crystals. Reminiscent of Tibeten sand
paintings of Mandalas. When asked why she would make such beautiful images of such horrific tortur devices, Terry spoke at length about the how beauty can be very punishing. Terry is new to the New Gallery and I’m looking forward to seeing her first exhibition with the gallery. I spoke with Tom Andriola the particular demon in charge of The New Gallery. He reminds me of Diego Rivera, but slim and smiling. I’ve been going to
The New Gallery for over ten years, and have usually found it to represent fairly strong art work. I put it too him (my question when I confront the Demons of the art worlds) how does it feel to be an arch-demon holding the keys to the art world? He laughed off my question (as demons often do) and said it wasn’t like that. He went on about being professional and loving art. Did I expect him to haul out a bloodstain contract? Tom came across as very affable and happy to talk about his artists. In the end, he called me out! inviting me to comeback without so many witnsses so that we could speak at lengnth. Perhaps we'll se an interview with Tom Andriola, assuming i survice the ordeal. Capturing demons in photos can be difficult, for some arcane reason demons appear fuzzy in photographs.
The Gallerinas/Minions were willowy thin, bright, pretty and helpful and very abundant in the New Gallery. These minions of the gallery serving wine, smile, talk up the artists and paintings and gernarly try to be helpful.Later myself and some friends of mine manager to wrangle an invitation to the after party a block down the street at the palatial
home of Jay Rusovich, full of interesting paintings and photographs. (No photos of the private home.) The after party was great. There I ran into one of Barbara Davis' artists, Joe Mancuso a real artist and long time veteran of the Houston art world. He seemed a little haggard and tired, like he’s been hard at work in his studio bring new work into the world. I was dying to write about our conversation, but felt it unfair divulge (gossip) about him after he was so genuine and open in speaking with me. I’m certain this encounter will make it into the book, but that will be a long time coming. Suffice to say I liked Mancuso and have admired his work for many years. It’s refreshing to run into whose main concern is their current art work.Later I cruised on over the CAM for the late night puppet exhibition. I found it refreshing to find
the CAM full of people close to 11pm on a Friday night. Much of the crowd was very young, still in high school with audio recording conducting interviews throughout the gallery.Down stairs at the pay-bar I had a chance to talk with Toby Camps, you might remember him from the Evil panel some weeks before, he was the curator who remarked that the art world is a carnival with a casino attached. Toby was very friendly and happy to talk about the art world.
Dennis Oppenheim, Theme for a Major Hit, 1974
I recomend visiting the New Gallery, 2639 Colquitt St. Houston, Tx 77098, as well as the exhibition at the CAM, 5216 Montrose Blvd. Houston, Texas 77006.
No comments:
Post a Comment