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    on view now

    The jury's in: Big art show reveals bold new winners, including a stunned 15-year-old

    Tyler Rudick
    Jul 13, 2013 | 2:39 pm

    The Lawndale Art Center revealed the winners of its annual Big Show, anointing three new visual artists in what has become a sort of Hall of Fame for regional talent.

    Perry Chandler, Avril Falgout and Bryan Forrester — a painter, sculptor and photographer/video artist, respectively — officially join the ranks of past champs like Texas Prize recipient Eileen Maxson and Whitney Biennial participant Robert Pruitt, who kicks off a solo exhibit at New York's Studio Museum Harlem this month.

    Selected by guest juror Duncan Mackenzie, co-founder of Chicago's Bad at Sports art blog and podcast, the trio of inductees were culled from a group of 366 artists who collectively submitted nearly 1,000 works to the 2013 competition.

    "I've been making images non-stop for the past decade — first as more of a commercial filmmaker and, in recent years, as an artist," Forrester told CultureMap after Friday night's announcement at the Big Show opening. His Imogene photo-print earned him one of the three $1,000 cash prizes.

    "Getting recognition like this is exciting and feels hugely validating," Forrester says.

    "Getting recognition like this is exciting and feels hugely validating."

    Beaumont-area native Avril Falgout has only recently found herself in the art world . . . mainly because she's still in high school. Her life-sized papier-mâchéhomage to the Hollywood glam-punk band Black Veil Brides holds court at the center of the Lawndale's main gallery.

    "I'm only 15, so I've just gotten into doing this. The Brides are actually the first large piece I've done," she laughed, still somewhat stunned from the award.

    Chandler's painting Scene 74 - Fear through the Eyes of Madness finished up the winner's circle. The captivating image features two disembodied male heads staring each other down amidst a sea of smeared paint and carefully-crafted geometric shapes.

    Other entries to this year's Big Show demonstrate a rather interesting preoccupation with animals, covering everything from household pets, as in Bradley Kerl'sFish Tank and Sarah Hamilton's cat portrait Waiting, to comically surreal human hybrids like Kari Breitigam'sHorn Head.

    The Big Show is on view at the Lawndale Art Center (4912 Main) through Aug. 10.

    Kari Breitigam, Horn Head, 2012, stretched embroidery.

    lawndale big show 2013 Kari Breitigam
      
    Photo by Tyler Rudick
    Kari Breitigam, Horn Head, 2012, stretched embroidery.
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    Movie Review

    Houston native Wes Anderson shows off comedic side in The Phoenician Scheme

    Alex Bentley
    Jun 6, 2025 | 4:00 pm
    Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme
    Photo courtesy of TPS Productions/Focus Features
    Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, and Michael Cera in The Phoenician Scheme.

    If you were to do a poll of the best comedy filmmakers of the 21st century, writer/director Wes Anderson is not the obvious choice to come out on top, but there’s an argument to be made for him. His quirky style doesn’t yield the guffaws that more broad comedies do, but the absurd situations he creates in his films are often more consistently funny than anything else.

    Anderson’s inimitable approach is once again on full display in The Phoenician Scheme. At its center is Zsa-Zsa Gorda (Benicio Del Toro), a much-hated businessman who’s looking to complete a number of big projects in the fictional country of Phoenicia. As he seems to be the target of multiple assassination attempts, he appoints his daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton), as his heir to try to ensure his legacy.

    Both she and his new assistant, Bjorn (Michael Cera), accompany him around the country as he tries to enact a scheme to have others cover the bulk of the cost for the various projects. Those he attempts to convince include Phoenician Prince Farouk (Riz Ahmed), brothers Leland (Tom Hanks) and Reagan (Bryan Cranston), fellow businessman Marseille Bob (Mathieu Amalric), ship captain Marty (Jeffrey Wright), his Cousin Hilda (Scarlett Johansson), and Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch).

    Put in Andersonian terms, the film is a mix between the madcap antics from The Grand Budapest Hotel and the impenetrable storytelling of Asteroid City. If you were to try to understand every detail of what’s going on in the story of The Phoenician Scheme, it might take three or more viewings to do so. But the film is still highly entertaining because Anderson fills its frames with his typical visual delights, great wordplay, and his particular version of slapstick.

    Much of the comedy of the film derives from Anderson inserting moments that initially come as a surprise and then utilizing them as running jokes. The film features more blood than usual for the filmmaker, but each time a character gets wounded (or worse), it gets funnier. The assassination attempts get broader as the film goes along, and the matter-of-fact way in which they’re treated by Gorda and others is also hilarious.

    Of course, Anderson is the cinephile’s comedy director, so the film is also full of high-brow things like allusions to paintings, tributes to other filmmakers, and classical music. Each time Gorda has an attempt on his life, he briefly finds himself in a version of limbo, depicted in black-and-white by Anderson. The cast of characters Gorda finds there - including Bill Murray as God - could come straight out of a 1950s Ingmar Bergman movie.

    Del Toro has delivered some great performances over the years, but this one is near the top for him. This is his second Anderson film (following The French Dispatch) and he nails the deadpan method. Also great is Cera, who uses a ridiculous accent to make a big impression. Threapleton, the daughter of Kate Winslet, makes the most of her first big film role. The list of supporting actors is too deep to properly laud everyone, but they all fit in seamlessly.

    Opinions will differ, but for this critic’s money, Anderson is at his best when he fully leans into the comedy of his films. He does just that in The Phoenician Scheme, to the point that it doesn’t matter that the story is overly complex. The combination of his eye for visual detail, a witty script, and committed performances make it a success.

    ---

    The Phoenician Scheme is now playing in theaters.

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