After three years of duking it out with the Houston Fine Art Fair for a slice of the local collectors' market, Texas Contemporary Art Fair appears to be settling into its own role as the hipper cousin to the HFAF's respected stable of high-end international galleries.
Large inflatable sculptures and a homemade mini-laundromat by the Los Angeles' Clayton Brothers greet guests as they enter Hall A of the George R. Brown, setting the stage for a generally light-hearted tone throughout the fair's public spaces. In the main central aisle, a giant stuffed Bigfoot by Tara Tucker holds court alongside a furniture set covered in live plants by Hannah Chalew of New Orleans.
Texas Contemporary's cadre of 70 galleries — including 13 from Houston (compared to eight at the HFAF) — seem to veer more towards canvas work in this year's fair.
San Francisco's Catharine Clark Gallery features bold new paintings by Titus Kaphar, who reworks images and iconography from 19th-century America. The Rena Bransten Gallery, also from the Bay Area, has a compelling 2013 work by Hung Liu while Freight + Volume from New York highlights two fresh canvases by Houston's Kent Dorn.
Be sure to visit the West Collection from Pennsylvania — which has turned its booth into a quasi-rooftop deck filled with art by Philadelphia artists — as well as the Blaffer Art Museum's selection of impressively-crafted design items by students at the University of Houston, many of which are for sale.
Click through the slideshow above for more highlights and check out the third annual Texas Contemporary fair at the George R. Brown through Sunday.
Bruno Horioka and Miguel Ruiz, Uchi plate with built-in utensils, 2013. Courtesy of the artists and the Blaffer Art Museum.
Photo by Tyler Rudick
Bruno Horioka and Miguel Ruiz, Uchi plate with built-in utensils, 2013. Courtesy of the artists and the Blaffer Art Museum.
With 12 Oscar nominations in the past 12 years in multiple categories, Bradley Cooper has turned into not only an acclaimed actor, but also a touted filmmaker. Given that pedigree, it might be difficult to remember that he first gained recognition as a comedy star in movies like Wedding Crashers, Yes Man, and The Hangover series. For his latest directorial effort, he has married comedy with drama in Is This Thing On?.
Unlike the previous two films he directed, Cooper only has a supporting role, ceding the lead to Will Arnett. He plays Alex Novak, who, as the film begins, is starting the process of divorce from his wife of 20 years, Tess (Laura Dern). Forced to move to a depressing apartment in New York City and only getting limited time with his two kids, Alex finds the unexpected outlet of stand up comedy when he signs up for open mic night at the famous Comedy Cellar.
The film follows Alex as he continues to pursue comedy while still having to see Tess on a regular basis, thanks to a shared custody agreement and get-togethers with friends like Balls and Christine (Cooper and Andra Day) and Stephen and Geoffrey (real life couple Sean Hayes and Scott Icenogle). While the comedy serves as a form of counseling for Alex, truly moving on proves more difficult than expected.
The film, co-written by Cooper with Arnett and Mark Chappell, is loosely based on the real-life story of British comedian John Bishop, so one of the biggest things they needed to get right was the comedy itself. Alex’s marital situation lends his comedy more of a confessional style than actual jokes, and his evolution in that space is done well. Shooting in the actual Comedy Cellar and populating the club with real comedians like Amy Sedaris, Jordan Jensen, Reggie Conquest, and more gives those scenes an extra dose of realism.
As if to underscore the personal and emotional nature of the story, Cooper and cinematographer Matthew Libatique make liberal use of closeups with handheld cameras. The camera is constantly moving around and often seems to be right in the actors’ faces, something that is most noticeable when Alex is performing. As if the stories Alex was telling weren’t intimate enough, having Arnett's entire face fill the frame forces the audience to pay attention to what his character is saying.
If there is something to knock about the film, it’s a lack of dramatic stakes. While there’s natural tension between Alex and Tess due to the divorce, it’s way less than in a movie like, say, Marriage Story. There’s also a sneaking suspicion that Cooper was just looking to have fun with the film, casting himself as the comic sidekick and working with good friends like Arnett and Hayes. If ever there was a good hang divorce movie, this is it.
Arnett rarely gets to be in movies, much less as the lead, but he ably embodies this somewhat dramatic part. It helps that he’s given a great scene partner like Dern, who knows when to dial her acting up or down for a particular situation. Cooper and Day are also good despite their story being slightly superfluous, and Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds as Alex’s parents lend the film some extra gravitas.
Is This Thing On? is a much different type of film from Cooper’s first two directorial efforts, A Star is Born and Maestro, and it’s nice to see the filmmaker offer something new. It has a relatable story for anyone who has ever been married while offering an element of uniqueness with someone discovering an undiscovered skill late in life.
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Is This Thing On? opens wide in theaters on January 9.
