Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery
Fri. 06/01 | 10:00AM - Sun. 08/12 @ Blanton Museum of Art (Campus)
ScheduleJune 1 - August 12, 2007. Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat 10am - 5pm, Thurs 10am - 8pm, Sun 1pm - 5pm AA-S Best Bet: "Master Drawings from the Yale University Art Gallery," the Blan…more»
Cantaker/us: The Cantanker Magazine Staff Show
Fri. 06/01 | 10:00AM - Fri. 07/06 @ Else Madsen Gallery (Downtown)
Schedule June 1 - July 6. Mon. - Fri. 10 am - 5 pm, Sat. by appointment From Austin360:AA-S Best Bet: In honor of its one-year anniversary, Ca…more»
Sterling Allen: Writesy Drawsy
Sat. 06/09 | 7:00PM - Sat. 07/07 @ Art Palace
Schedule June 9 - July 7, 2007. Saturdays 12-5pm, Wednesdays 7-9pm, and by appointment. XL Recommended - 'Sterling Allen: Writesy Drawsy': Seems long over…more»
Figure Drawing
Every Wednesday 6:30PM @ Pump Project Art Complex (East Side)
Cost: $5 model fee (required) plus $5 instructor fee (optional) The Night Moves Figure Ensemble sets up camp at Pump Project every Monday and Wednesday evening for figure drawing commencin…more»
New American Talent: The Twenty-Second Exhibition
Fri. 06/15 | 7:00PM - Sun. 08/19 @ Arthouse at the Jones Center (West Sixth)
The twenty-second in a series of annual juried exhibitions, New American Talent features the work of emerging national artists working in a variety of media including sculpture, painting, phot…more»
Dali & the Surrealists: The Argillet Era
Sat. 06/02 | 7:00PM - Sat. 06/30 @ Russell Collection Fine Art Gallery
Schedule June 2 - 30, 2007. Tues. - Fri. 11am - 6pm, Sat. 10am - 5pm. Opening reception Saturday, June 2nd from 6pm - 9pm From Austin360:AA-S Best Bet: Seize the…more»
Will van Overbeek: Photographs of Barton Springs
Sat. 05/19 | 7:00PM - Wed. 08/22 @ Austin Museum of Art (Downtown location) (West Sixth)
Will van Overbeek graduated in 1978 from the University of Texas where he studied under photographer Garry Winogrand. Van Overbeek's first major project was a photo documentary book entitl…more»
Testimonio
Thu. 03/08 | 7:00PM - Fri. 08/31 @ La Pena
Testimonio La Peña Gallery 227 Congress Ave Austin, TX 78701 March 8 – August 31, 2007 La Peña proudly presents “Testimonio…more»
Between the Body and the Soul
Thu. 05/24 | 12:00PM - Sat. 06/30 @ Las Manitas Avenue Cafe
Between the Body and the Soul Artwork by Alberto Padilla Exhibit: May 24 – June 30, 2007 Reception: Friday, June 1, 2007 Las Manitas Avenue Café 211 Congress Ave…more»
Way Down in New Orleans
Every Wednesday 7:00PM @ Super! Alright Creative Studio
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“So, everything’s pretty much back to normal down there, right?” The ignorance behind such a question is stunning, and less likely to be heard in Austin, which established itself as a sister city to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. more at austinist.com
'An Almost Holy Picture'
Fri. 05/18 | 7:00PM - Sun. 08/05 @ ZACH Scott Theatre (South Austin)
Schedule July 19 - August 26, 2007. Thursdays - Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 2:30 pmrofile XL Recommended - 'An Almost Holy Picture': In Heather…more»
The Target Collection of American Photography: A Century in Pictures
Sat. 05/19 | 12:00AM - Sun. 08/12 @ Austin Museum of Art (Downtown location) (West Sixth)
A Century in Pictures presents a selection of approximately 80 photographs by American photographers from the Target Collection of American Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The…more»
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Will van Overbeek’s photos from Barton Springs are going to be showing in the front gallery. This link is to a KUT blog. There is an audio link at the bottom of the page.
http://www.kut.org/items/show/8335
Austin Art Seen
Tue. 10/03 | 12:00PM - Sun. 09/23 @ Austin Museum of Art (Laguna Gloria location)
Austin Art Seen, circa 1961 reexamines the Modernist movement in Texas art, the art form that gained popularity during the time AMOA-Laguna Gloria (formerly Laguna Gloria Art Museum) was chart…more»
Shelley Tate Garner
Fri. 12/01 | 7:00PM - Mon. 12/31 @ Art on 5th (Downtown)
Garner is a talented multi-media artist from Oklahoma. Her love for art as a child has turned into a quest for knowledge and skill. Enjoy this ongoing exhibit of this fabulous artist.Tickets: …more»
Twitter Box: Spatial Illusions Of All Kinds--The Art of Jeanne Stern
Fri. 06/01 | 12:00PM - Sat. 06/30 @ The Opera House (South Austin)
The word "twitter", mostly employed by delicate English septuagenarians, has been reclaimed by local artist and cinematographer Jeanne Stern. She presents her work at The Opera House…more»
Happy Hour Yoga with Pamela Brewer
Every Wednesday 5:30PM @ Ruta Maya (South Austin)
Starting January 22, Happy Hour Yoga will be changing times to 5:30 - 6:30 every Monday and Wednesday! Come decompress after work with Hatha Flow Yoga! Free with a purchase. Bring a mat if yo…more»
Carol Flax: memoria/memoir
Thu. 05/10 | 7:00PM - Sat. 08/04 @ Volitant Gallery
Carol Flax: memoria/memoir Volitant Gallery Through August 4. 512-236-1240 …more»
A.R. Valentien's Botanicals Art Exhibit
Sun. 04/01 | 9:00AM - Sat. 06/30 @ Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
http://www.wildflower.org Contact: Michelle Bryant mbryant@wildflower.org 512-292-4200 ext. 105 Cost: Free with admission A.R. Valentien&…more»
Five Changing Identities: Vietnamese Women of Today
Sat. 05/19 | 7:00PM - Sat. 06/30 @ Fielding Lecht Gallery
Spring 2007 Five Changing Identities: Vietnamese Women of Today | May 19 - June 30, 2007 Opening reception Saturday, May 19, 6-9 pm
Artists Wanted for EAST AUSTIN ART TOUR
Every Wednesday 7:00PM @ Creative Visions Art Studio
Come on out and join Creative Visions Art Studio as we prepare for this great event, we are looking for creative artists to help fill a 40x40 warehouse space. The EAST Austin art tour is a maj…more»
A Century of Grace: 19th Century Masterworks
Fri. 05/18 | 7:00PM - Sun. 08/05 @ Blanton Museum of Art (Campus)
A Century of Grace: 19th-Century Masterworks Blanton Museum of Art May 18 - August 5, 2007 A Century of Grace…more»
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There are many great events in conjunction with this opening. To find out more about them visit http://blantonmuseum.org/works_of_art/exhibitions/a_century_of_grace/programs_and_events.cfm
Kate Breakey
Sat. 05/19 | 6:00PM - Sat. 06/30 @ Stephen Clark Gallery
Kate Breakey was born in 1957 in Adelaide, South Australia. She has a undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from University of South Australia and a Masters of Fine Art from the University of Texa…more»
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Kate Breakey’s photographs are stunning! The ones I’ve seen before at Stephen Clark were breath taking.
A.R. Valentien's Botanicals Art Exhibit
Mon. 05/14 | 9:00PM - Sat. 06/30 @ Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Event Website: http://www.wildflower.orgCost: Free with admissionA.R. Valentien's Botanicals Art Exhibit features paintings from the early 1900's of California wildflowers by one of th…more»
Austin Children's Museum - Community Night
Every Wednesday 5:00PM @ Austin Children's Museum (Downtown)
Austin Children's Museum- Community Night is EVERY Wednesday night to enjoy our exhibit galleries and a variety of hands-on activities.
by Andrew Long
August 2007
A noticeable shift in this year’s New American Talent (NAT) exhibition, at Arthouse in Austin through August, is the curator’s exacting attention to photography. Digital technology is increasing the amount of photography being created and presented today.
Image
Dave Woody
Amelia
2006
Digital print
38 × 30 inches
While photography is intermittently included in survey exhibitions, NAT would suggest that the kids are now being allowed to sit at the grown-ups’ (i.e., the painters’) table. Although the photography in NAT often feels like an afterthought, curator Anne Ellegood of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., has made a bold move in bringing the medium front and center. The overall quality of the photographic works from the 850 applicants is surprising, given that many photographers are reluctant to apply to this annual juried exhibition due to its exclusion of this medium in past years.
The major weakness of NAT is the presentation of too many subsections, resulting in the feeling of a clump of work here, a clump of work there. This is true of theme (race and alienation), medium (ink, found materials and works on paper) and style (juxtaposition, overlay and sparseness). The unifying factor is the very lack of resonance — not one part jumps out or tends to be all that exciting.
NAT artists ask more questions than they provide answers to the exhibition’s question of what is new. To paraphrase choreographer Martha Graham, You can’t make up work, you have to discover it. But it seems as if many of the artists are mimicking one another’s styles rather then forging new ground. (This may simply reflect a national trend as more and more artists are graduating from MFA programs.) What you get here is fewer tour de force, whizbang pieces and more of a slow burn. While the former can sometimes be too much sugar, not enough substance, there are several exceptions.
Image
Mark Schatz
Moving Gehry
2007
Cardboard Installation
Dimensions vary
Dave Woody’s large, meditative photographic portraits are a rare treat. Their power lies in their simplicity: you carry away only what is present. With so much recent attention garnered by European photographers like Rineke Dijkstra and Thomas Ruff, the portrait is hard to make fresh. But Woody conveys a newness through a reduced color palette and the positioning of his subject, thus encouraging us to look full on. Allison Wermager’s BEEEEP, a sound installation of found answering machines, is perfectly done. Most of the messages are trivial and inconsequential, lacking any real interpersonal connection, although at times a more emotional message surfaces. Wermager serves up these vestiges of late technology in a huge jumbled pile, where distorted voices, power cords, and telephone wires have been preserved in a bizarre chasm of posterity. Roberto Bellini’s video work Landscape Theory captures the artist at work attempting to tape a horde of black grackles gathering at sunset. An older man approaches off-camera and warns Bellini at garrulous length that he can’t tape the birds: “People are on edge. Looks like you’re videotaping that overpass. The police have been making arrests for things like that.” The whole interaction is heard as a voiceover to other sunset images. Normally difficult to pull off, Bellini’s post-9/11 discourse speaks brilliantly to our collective loss of innocence and public space.
Image
Rebecca Rothfus
Untitled (highway one)
2006
Gouache, pencil and paper on panel
14 × 11 inches
The setup to Damien Gilley’s Parking Lot Miracle video piece starts off predictably –– a man walks across a deserted parking lot, sees a boombox on the ground, then continues on. Seconds later he returns to look around, and realizing he is alone, he presses play and begins to dance. The payoff to this short video is a memorable section halfway through: As the dancer is in the middle of a midair barrel turn, Gilley suspends the tape and jogs the frame back and forth a number of times, mimicking the break-beat scratching of a cheesy Casio keyboard loop. The gravity-defying choreography is charming and humorous and fresh even upon multiple viewings. Equally engaging is Elizabeth Axtman’s video American Classic, which effectively moves the race discussion forward in a cunning, yet direct manner. Framed by her hair, Axtman faces the camera directly and lip-syncs lines lifted from old movies about racial passing. Although we see her underlying torment, Axtman could also break out laughing at any moment as the joke is on the viewer, or at least on those viewers with bigoted perceptions. There are several other strong race-based works present, including Sonseree Verdise Gibson’s Let’s Discuss the Word “Nigger” and Brad Farwell’s An African Mask Looks at Sites of American Blackness: New Orleans Superdome.
Image
William Hundley
Checkers
2006
Digital print mounted on Plexiglas
22 1/2 × 30 inches
Several works of note for their material investigation include William Hundley’s photographs of suspended fabrics; Jonathon Durham’s Foreskin, composed of tobacco, oil clay and a remote control helicopter; Suzanne Wright’s large-scale colorful drawing “Rainbow Highway” (G.W.B.); Wonjung Choi’s delightful mixed-media installation evoking a kindred spirit to the fish imagery of Lee Bontecou; and Ansen Seale’s crafted screenprint Oil for Food, with its purposeful substitution of the artist’s blood for ink.
Relational works in NAT abound: Jenene Nagy’s topologically themed sculptures; Joseph Phillips’ works on paper; Miguel-Angel Avila and Michael Cambre’s use of collaged imagery; the sparse nature of both Jennifer Nelson and Wura-Natasha Ogunji’s works on paper; Felice Grodin and Elwyn Palmerton’s migrating Mylar ink drawings; and the organized line qualities of work by Tom Mueske and Kirk Stoller.
On first view, NAT seemed exciting in its new commitment to photography, but subsequent viewing revealed an overall palette that felt gray, both in tone and vision. But this is the current state of the union, is it not?