The big fall art season arrives this month with mammoth magical creatures, geometric explorations, and extraordinary painted and cinematic landscapes from the heights and depths of the Earth. A “Big Bang” creates anime worlds at the Asia Society, while the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston wears street fashion jewelry, sometimes literally. Then at the end of September, Houston gets ready for an art fair to remember.
“Radiant Geometries” at Rice Moody Center (now through December 19)
Art, history, and science intersect and converge in this exhibition of work by contemporary Indigenous and Latin American artists. Working in a diverse set of mediums and media, including paintings, sculptures, textiles, video, and site-specific commissions, these artists draw threads between ancient knowledge and our current understanding of the world. It features renowned national and international artists, including Nanibah Chacon, Melissa Cody, Jordan Ann Craig, Patricia Domínguez, Sara Flores, Natalia Montoya Lecaros, Patrick Martinez, Cisco Merel, Caroline Monnet, and Eamon Ore-Giron, among others.
“By reconsidering the histories of mathematics, architecture, and science through Indigenous perspectives, the exhibition invites viewers to consider the enduring connections between cosmology, technology, and the living world,” explains Noor Alé, Moody Center associate curator.
“Going Underground: The Jewels of Bernhard Schobinger” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (now through January 3, 2027)
Jewelry gets punk in this first U.S. exhibition to examine the career of Swiss avant-garde artist Bernhard Schobinger. “Underground” will showcase 53 pivotal pieces of Schobinger’s experimental jewelry and selected sculptures from 1968 to the present. During that time period, Schobinger redefined ideas of what jewelry can be by using scavenged and alternative materials to reveal their hidden histories. From diving to the bottom of Lake Zürich for fishing lures and wedding rings to picking up metal and asphalt shards on the streets of New York City, Schobinger used material from the world around him to create the most radical of wearable art.
“His works operate as complex assemblages in which found and precious materials coexist, challenging traditional hierarchies of value and inviting critical reflection on the cultural and physical histories embedded within each object,” explains MFAH curator Cindi Strauss.
“Fragility" at Menil Drawing Institute (September 10-January 24, 2027)
The beauty and versatility of paper is the focus of this exhibition featuring an array of artists who found possibility and inspiration from paper’s dynamic nature. The exhibition will highlight work that illustrate paper’s fragility and resilience.
Look for pieces from mid-20th century artist Lee Krasner, who sometimes destroyed her own drawings on paper to then reconstruct them into abstract collages, and Czech artist Adriena Šimotová, who during the height of Soviet censorship layered tissue paper into sculptures by pressing and smoothing the material against her body. Also on view will be Ann Hamilton’s collaborative piece “poche,”consisting of soft wool stitched between sheets of handmade paper to reflect on the pocket as both storage and protection for the body, and artist Zarina’s compositions created from puncturing paper with needle to represent loss.
“Lorenzo Pace: Never Forget Life and Art is to Play” at Houston Museum of African American Culture (September 11-December 10)
This first institutional solo presentation of the multidisciplinary artist, musician, and storyteller will examine Pace’s mixed-media textile work within the broader tradition of Black quilt-making in America. Working with textiles and found materials, Pace extends the language of quilting through cutting, layering, piecing, and assemblage. The title of the exhibition comes from Pace’s creative practice and his role as an artist and musician. Engaging with textiles and found materials, Pace allows objects and fragments to accumulate, shift, and take on new meaning. The exhibition will also showcase quilts made by Pace’s mother, Mary Alice Pace, in order to offer an intergenerational conversation about Black quilt-making, inheritance, and invention.
“Fantastic Animals from Mexico: Nahuales and Alebrijes” at Discovery Green (September 15-October 11)
As part of its celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Discovery Green welcomes visitors to this monumental installation of eight towering, 20-foot sculptures. Whether a giant coyote, armadillo, catbird, or happy alien, different contemporary Mexican artists created each sculpture that represents powerful animal guardian spirits rooted in Mesoamerican folk literature. The artists drew initial inspiration from the work of Mexico City artist Pedro Linares, who is credited with popularizing the fantastical creatures known as alebrijes. Look for special events and programming in conjunction with the installations this month.
“Texas Contemporary” at Opera Gallery (September 17-October 8)
Last spring, the international network of galleries specializing in Modern and Contemporary art, Opera Galley, made a big Texas splash by opening its second U.S space in Houston. Now, perhaps in celebration of putting down Lone Star roots, Opera Galley has organized a new exhibition focused on Texas as one of the most compelling sites of artistic production in the country.
The show will offer works from eight of the most exciting contemporary artists with Texas connections, including: Rick Lowe, Mark Flood, Preston Douglas Boyer, Bradley Kerl, Virginia L. Montgomery, Lovie Olivia, Eric DePan, and Reynier Leyva Novo. Several of the artists also have significant Houston links. Lowe, of course, is one the founders of and igniting force behind Project Row Houses. Reynier Leyva Novo’s “Dust Paintings” transform collected dust from culturally significant sites, like the Astrodome, into meditations on memory, history, and place.
“Texas has become one of the most compelling places in the country for artists to develop ambitious, deeply considered practices,” states Kara Przybyl McIver, deputy director of Opera Gallery Houston. “Rather than presenting a singular narrative, this exhibition brings together artists whose work is rooted in place while engaging universal conversations around memory, identity, landscape, architecture, and social change.”
“Twilight Zone: Hidden Wonders of the Ocean” at Artechouse (September 18 through fall)
Dive into this latest interactive exhibition at Houston’s home for immersive art. Collaborating with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the world’s leading ocean research organization, Artechouse once again blends art, technology, and nature for an exhibition with multiple installations and digital projects, all exploring the Earth’s oceans and especially those hidden “twilight zone” realms, located approximately 650-3300 feet below the ocean’s surface. Though receiving so little sunlight they lie beyond human vision, these zones also teem with life.
A star(fish) of the exhibition will be a 24 minute filmed descent into these deep water worlds that will be projected within Artechouse's immersive, cinematic space. But also look for interactive installations and exhibits, including “Weird and Wonderful Creatures,” an aquarium-like encounter where guests activate individual twilight zone animals to learn what makes them so remarkable, and “Abundance & Bioluminescence,” where bioluminescent fields of lanternfish drift across the floor and multiply infinitely across the horizon.
“Yoshitaka Amano: Big Bang” at Asia Society (September 23-February 7, 2027)
The Asia Society journeys into the art of anime with this survey of art by pioneering animator and painter Yoshitaka Amano. Early in his career, Amano created characters for Speed Racer and later become the principal concept artist for the Final Fantasy video game franchise.
The exhibition will showcase approximately 40 of Amano’s works in oil paint, ink, and automotive paint, giving insight into his ethereal paintings, illustrations, and character designs. Highlights of “Big Bang” include the over 50 feet long, insomniac fantasy “New York Nights II,” one of Amano's first oil paintings, and the series “Mozart,” works painted onto gold leaf panels that pay homage to the famed composer. The title of the exhibition takes its name from “Big Bang,” a massive painting that emerged from his Final Fantasy XV concept art, a swirling maelstrom of characters, creatures, and worlds.
“Terry Winters: Vitalized Geometry” at Menil Collection (September 25-April 4, 2027)
For Houston's second geometry titled exhibition of the month, the Menil Collection will present a show of 44 career-spanning graphic works by Abstract painter, draughtsman, and printmaker Terry Winters. He employs woodcut, silkscreen, lithography, and a variety of other methods to depict and examine mathematical systems and nature’s structures.
The exhibition is possible because of two important selections of Winters’s work gifted to the Menil. In 2024, photographer Jack Shear and the estate of his late husband, artist Ellsworth Kelly, gifted 51 works by Winters to the museum. Earlier this year, Winters added another gift of seven additional works to the museum, and he has worked closely with curators on this presentation.
“The artist’s commitment to exploring abstraction and his inventive approach to material makes his work a vital touchstone of contemporary printmaking,” describes Menil curatorial associate, Sophie Asakura.
"What We Inherit: The Art and Legacy of Big Bend” at Foltz Fine Art (September 26-October 31)
One of Texas's most majestic landscapes is the focus of this vivid and timely gallery exhibition. Featuring the work of artists inspired by Big Bend, the show also explores human connections with this very special place and what the future may hold for that relationship. “What We Inherit” features paintings, photographs, and works on paper by acclaimed contemporary artists, but the show will also offer a selection of works by earlier artists inspired by Big Bend.
“Art teaches us to look carefully and to recognize why places matter. Through the work of these artists, we hope visitors will leave with a deeper connection to Big Bend and a renewed sense of responsibility to the places that shape our lives,” explains gallerist Sarah Foltz.
"Roaming Gnomes" at City Place Houston (September 26-November 8)
Created by internationally acclaimed, Sydney-based design studio Amigo & Amigo, this large-scale public art installation features eight, giant, illuminated gnomes. Each of these larger-than-life characters has its own name, personality, expressive pose and "fashion-forward attire," according to press materials. Already a hit from stops at the Napa Lighted Art Festival in California and the World of Winter Festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan, attendees experience the characters by walking throughout the area, taking them in from different angles and noticing details the closer they get.
“At Amigo & Amigo, we love creating artworks that spark imagination and bring people together. Roaming Gnomes transforms everyday spaces into a playful adventure, inviting visitors to roam, explore and uncover delightful surprises along the way,” the art collective said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to see these oversized gnomes find a new home at City Place and become part of the community’s shared experiences.”
Untitled Art, Houston at George R. Brown Convention Center (October 2-4)
While this list is focused on September, art lovers should get ready for the return of this fair. After its successful debut in 2025, Untitled expands to include 95 galleries from 20 countries and territories, including 17 Texas exhibitors — with 13 new and returning presenters from Houston, including Moody Gallery, Barbara Davis Gallery, Laura (the gallery), David Shelton Gallery, Mitochondria Gallery, Dimmitt Contemporary Art, Seven Sisters, F Magazine, and the Lima-based Revolver Galería.
Untitled will also bring back and expand Nest Sector, their subsidized selection of emerging galleries and first-time fair participants. Attendees should also look for 25 solo presentations and 35 two-artist presentations, including a collaborative presentation by Houston Art Car Parade legends Harrod Blank and Cody Ledvina with Nature of Things.
The fair officially kicks off with a VIP special preview on October 1, followed by another three days of events and programming. VIP ticket holders can expect additional talks and special tours in collaboration with some of the city’s leading art institutions.
“What makes this fair distinct is that it has been developed in close dialogue with the local arts community from the very beginning,” explains Untitled Art's Houston director Michael Slenske. “As we continue to expand our international reach, we remain committed to creating meaningful opportunities for galleries at every stage while highlighting the energy, diversity, and spirit of discovery that define the city of Houston itself.”
Photo courtesy of Moody Center for the Arts
