Vibrant fall colors arrive this month, in the form of some blockbuster art exhibitions, shows, and a festival. We’ve got Impressionism, math as art, the insect world in glass, mid-century photographs, and a giant puppet on our list of must-see events this month. Plus, the Contemporary Arts Museum celebrates its 75th birthday with a monumental show that explores the past to inspire a dynamic future.
“Max Adrian: RIPSTOP” at Center for Contemporary Craft (now through January 6)
This new solo exhibition of work by the Ohio-based fiber artist features sculptures made from patchwork faux fur, satin, pleather, fringe, and ripstop — the show’s namesake — a woven nylon material that allows the pieces to inflate and hold air. Adrian's monumentally scaled works on view physically respond to patrons' presence by filling with air. The artist's patchwork textiles and inflatable sculptures promise to "transport viewers into a realm of artifice, desire, and imaginative worldbuilding," organizers say.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents "Rembrandt to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the Armand Hammer Collection"
“Robert Frank and Todd Webb: Across America, 1955” at Museum of Fine Arts (now through January 7)
The faces and landscapes of mid-20th century United States became subjects for two of the greatest photographers of the era, Robert Frank and Todd Webb. This is the first exhibit of their work together. In April 1955, both photographers were awarded grants by the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation for U.S. survey projects. Frank took a cross-country trip that would lead to his celebrated book The Americans, while Webb traveled the country by boat, bike, and on food.
Though they worked in different styles and were interested in different aspects of American culture, this exhibition reveals some of their similarities, including the tendency to capture images of bars, cowboys, crowds, and more. The display includes 100 images – 50 by each artist.
“It’s eye-opening to put these projects side-by-side for the first time,” says exhibition organizer Lisa Volpe, MFAH curator of photography. “It reveals the humanity in Webb’s work, and the underrecognized but profound hope in Frank’s photographs.”
“Rembrandt to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the Armand Hammer Collection” at Museum of Fine Arts (October 13-January 21)
The MFAH brings in a collection of masterworks that rarely leave their renowned home in the Hammer Museum at UCLA. In fact, this show feels Hollywood influenced as it’s filled with many timeless stars of the art world, including Titian’s Portrait of a Man in Armor and Rembrandt van Rijn's Juno. The exhibition also showcases works from the 19th-century French Barbizon School, symbolist, and realist artists, including paintings by artists Camille Corot, Gustave Moreau, and Honoré Daumier.
Look also for an impressive array of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings by Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, as well as three works by Vincent van Gogh.
“Armand Hammer had a fascinating career as a businessman and art collector that spanned most of the 20th century,” says MFAH director Gary Tinterow of the exhibition. “The museum he founded in Los Angeles boasts some of the most important European and American paintings among all the museums in the country. We are pleased to present to our audiences the highlights of that collection, shown together outside Los Angeles for the very first time in this century.”
Bayou City Art Festival at Sam Houston Park, Downtown (October 14 & 15)
Not to be eclipsed by the eclipse, art brightens downtown Houston this weekend at the Bayou City Arts Festival. Part multi-block outdoor art gallery, part art party, it will feature artwork from 19 disciplines, including world-class paintings, prints, jewelry, and sculptures from 250 artist from around the country.
This year's featured artist is Michelle McDowell Smith, a mixed media artist from Roanoke, Virginia. Look for her work while also enjoying performing arts entertainment and a culinary tasting experience with some of Houston’s top chefs; each will demonstrate a signature recipe and pass out samples to attendees.
Little Amal “The Walk” events across Houston (October 19)
Visual and performing arts organizations across town are welcoming Little Amal as she walks across the city as part of her 6,000-mile journey across the United States. Little Amal is the 12-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee created by Handspring Puppet Company, who created puppets for the hit play War Horse.
"She" has become a global symbol of human rights, especially those of refugees, and she’ll bring her message of hope to Glufton (with special programing from Diverse Works) Downtown (with programing from the Alley Theatre) and the Third Ward (with programing from Ensemble Theatre).
“Glass in Flight” at Houston Botanic Garden (October 21-April 14)
New art installations soar amid the vibrant natural landscapes at the Botanic Garden. Tucson artist Alex Heveri depicts the insect world on a mammoth scale by adding 21 steel and hand-cut Dalle de Verre glass sculptures of gigantic, realistic insects — including butterflies, dragonflies, and beetles — in the Susan Garver Family Discovery Garden. Sunlight through the colored glass mimics the transparency and iridescence of insect wings, intensifying the illusion of movement and life.
“Hanne Darboven — Writing Time” at Menil Drawing Institute (October 27-February 11)
Art meets mathematics in the new exhibition featuring the work by acclaimed German conceptual artist Hanne Darboven (1941-2009). She is best known for her immersive installations of individually framed sheets filled with text formulations and collaged images. Darboven’s practice became a questioning of how to picture the unfolding of history, the passage of time, and one’s experience within both.
Organized around three critical phases in her artistic career — abstract drawings, date calculations, and her large-scale installations, the exhibition spans the whole of Darboven’s career with a focus on the role of line, text, and drawing in her practice, organizers say.
“What brought me to Hanne Darboven’s work is how she enigmatically created an image of living through time,” says MDI assistant curator Kelly Montana. “The act of drawing, in its immediacy, is already closely entangled with time; Darboven’s work allows for an expanded consideration of the relationship between line, drawing, and duration. These works are an elegant, immersive, and inscrutable puzzle, and I cannot help but be moved by the intensity of her vision when I look at them.”
“Six Scenes From Our Future” at Contemporary Arts Museum (October 27-March 17)
To celebrate its 75th anniversary, CAMH asked six acclaimed contemporary artists to look back and respond to the inaugural exhibition “This is Contemporary Art (1948).” The artists are either Texas-based or have close ties to the museum. While keeping with their own unique visions and chosen mediums, Mel Chin, JooYoung Choi, Leslie Hewitt, Lisa Lapinski, Jill Magid, and Leslie Martinez will reflect on CAMH’s history.
They'll especially focus on art in everyday life to create new work or reframe extant work. Together the works in the exhibition will also reaffirm the institution’s ongoing commitment to commissioning artwork.
From three-dimensional photographs to performative jewelry to hybrid television sets and institutional installation, these artists’ works will expand on the blurred hierarchies of that first CAMH exhibition, further complicating the boundaries between disciplines and artistic mediums, organizers say.
“CAMH was founded by six artists and architects from Houston and we are proud to maintain their community-centric and boundary- pushing ethos 75 years later,” says CAMH executive director Hesse McGraw. “'Six Scenes From Our Future' invites local and innovative artists to once again envision the possibilities of contemporary art. This is only the beginning of what will be a landmark year for the museum, where we continue to invent the future.”
Art on the Avenue at Spring Street Studios (November 2 & 4)
One of Houston art lovers' favorite parties and art-buying extravaganzas moves to early November after an December date last year. It also moves a few blocks over to the Spring Street Studios, as its usual Winter Street home is still under repair after the fire last December. Featuring works from more than 250 local artists, the event benefits Avenue’s work to build and preserve affordable housing and revitalize distressed neighborhoods.
The event kicks off with a Day of the Dead-themed preview party on Thursday, and the opportunity to shop early. Saturday brings open exhibition hours in the day; a Student Exhibition featuring works from Northside High School + YES Prep Northline; and then the party and auction fun begins Saturday evening.
