OUTTA SPACE II
Rudolph Blume Fine Art / Artscan Gallery

November 3 – December 15, 2018
Opening Reception:
Sat., November 3, 2018 – 6:00 – 8:00pm

Outta Space II is one of six exhibitions sponsored by Sculpture Month Houston during its 2018 Biennial. It is also part of a larger dialogue that is currently winding its way through the national and international art world. The subject of these discussions is the breathtaking re-definition of sculpture and space, its expansion into virtual space, social space, kinetic space and an entire cast of newly minted definitions.
It is the journey from the classical, singular sculpture like Rodin’s Thinker or Giacometti’s slender figures into the realm of multi-sensorial installation work as one can see at the current SITE Gallery Houston show at the “Silos” titled Peak Shift. The title “Outta Space” for this exhibition is taken from another space exploration – this time the virtual antics of a space crew hurling into outer space in a Van Halen song from 2012. They are sporting a bumper sticker on their rocket saying: “The Earth is Full”. Outta Space.
The artists in this exhibition have their own ideas about the malleability of space and their visions couldn’t be more different.

Alicia Eggert, who teaches Sculpture at the University of North Texas in Denton, uses kinetic neon signs, often in a synthesis with selected environments as site-specific installations. Her lenticular prints, too, convey the kinetic fluidity of her larger installations.

Liss LaFleur teaches New Media at UNT Denton and her immersive installations often combine visual prompts with performance and video. She is interested in exploring identity as it relates to pop, queerness, and Future Feminism.

Patrick Turk’s installation Uncle Roscoe is in many ways reminiscent of a claustrophobic – and often grotesque – Ed Kienholz tableau. Yet this artist’s meticulously crafted figure, which is set in a funky, psychedelic urban home environment, provides a light-hearted approach to the serious business of re-defining spatial concepts.

Rudolph Blume Fine Art / Artscan Gallery
1836 Richmond Ave.
Houston, TX 77098
rudolphblume.com

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New Artwork by Houstonian Founder James Glassman Now On View at Main Street Marquee

Sam Houston Style – on view through April 2019

On October 28, the Houston Downtown Management District (Downtown District) installed the latest rotation of the Main Street Marquee, a billboard-sized canvas on the Main Street Market in Downtown Houston. Sam Houston Style, a work by James Glassman, will remain on view through April of next year.

The Main Street Marquee is a cornerstone of Art Blocks at Main Street Square, a public art initiative that has activated the three-block pedestrian plaza with a series of site-specific installations since March 2016. Glassman’s work for the marquee, titled Sam Houston Style, is a portrait of the city’s namesake wearing contemporary sunglasses. Glassman digitally altered the original 1850s Matthew Brady photograph as a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the famed governor and military leader, who looms large in Houston’s history. Sam Houston’s heroic acts and unwavering confidence embody the Houston ethos, and his example continues to inspire the city’s citizens.

“The Main Street Marquee has been a extraordinary canvas to showcase local and regional artists as well as a diversity of types of art,” said Angie Bertinot, director of marketing and communications. “James’ graphic of Sam Houston caught our attention right away—it’s definitely different than anything we’ve exhibited to date. We love the cheekiness of his work and believe passersby will get a kick out of it, whether they are on foot or on the rail.”

A fifth-generation Houstonian and an architectural project manager by trade, Glassman founded the history advocacy group Houstorian in 2006 in response to the perceived public indifference to preserving the city’s history. The group uses education, preservation advocacy and Houston-inspired art and design to change the way that locals and visitors look at Houston. Glassman published The Houstorian Dictionary: An Insider’s Index to Houston in 2015. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Kenyon College and his Master of Architecture from the University of Houston.

Art Blocks is curated by the Downtown District with the help of community leadership and project consultation by Weingarten Art Group. Other projects currently on view include Trumpet Flower, a sculpture and shade structure by Patrick Renner and Flying Carpet, at Main Street Square; and Open House, an interactive public sculpture by Dan Havel and Dean Ruck, at Sam Houston Park. For more information about Art Blocks and programming updates, please visit www.downtownhouston.org/art-blocks. For a press kit, please visit bit.ly/ArtBlocksHou.

About Downtown District:

The Downtown District was formed in 1995 for the purpose of revitalizing the urban core of the country’s fourth largest city. Over the past decade, the Downtown District has used a combination of public funds and private resources to catalyze area improvements focusing on the city blocks bordered by Interstate 10, Highway 59 and Interstate 45.

The Downtown District operates under the leadership of a 30-person board of directors who oversee the implementation of the District’s strategic initiatives. Funding for the Downtown District comes from a special assessment on all downtown property owners.

For more information visit DowntownDistrict.org or DowntownHouston.org.

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BILLY HASSELL| SHADOWS
Reaves | Foltz Fine Art

November 10 – December 22, 2018
Opening Reception:
Sat., November 10, 2018 – 6:00 – 8:00pm
Artist’s Talk at 6pm

Reaves | Foltz Fine Art is pleased to present SHADOWS, an exhibition of new works by contemporary artist Billy Hassell. This marks the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. In this newest series, he turns a more direct approach to bringing to our attention an ecological consciousness involving issues of wildlife conservation that have always been present in his work.

The show will feature new oil paintings, watercolors and lithographs. Some of the new paintings will feature extinct birds of Texas along with several species that are endangered or are on the brink of extinction. Other paintings will have a broader cultural reference. The exhibition will also feature the recently-completed five-part lithograph series printed in collaboration with Texas Parks and Wildlife and Master Printer Peter Webb at Lucky Strike Press in Austin, Texas. The series celebrates and promotes awareness for wildlife habitat conservation statewide. A catalogue will be produced to accompany the exhibition, with a catalogue essay by Poet Laureate Robin Davidson. The catalogue will be available after the exhibition opening.

Reaves | Foltz Fine Art
2143 Westheimer
Houston, TX 77098
reavesart.com