biennial time

A preview of Russia's art secrets: Fotofest shows off pieces, includinghand-carried treasures

Mark Klett, Dusk .357, 2004, toned silver gelatin print, printed in 2010,Edition 12/20, signed and titled on front and signed on back, $1,200, donationof the artist
Evgeny Mokhorev, Dina and Misha, 2001, silver gelatin print, Edition 5/20,signed and titled in pencil on back, $2,500, donation of the artist
Richard Mosse, Cigarette at Al Faw Palace, 2009, digital C-print face-mounted toPlexiglas, Edition 1/5, signed and titled in pencil on front, $9,500, donationof the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, N.Y.
Manuel (Ed Hill and Suzanne Bloom), Oliver Twist, 2010, archival pigment print,Edition 4/5, initialed in pencil on front, $1,300, donation of the artists andMoody Gallery
Alexey Titarenko, Untitled (Prison Windows) from the series Time Standing Still,1998, silver gelatin print, Edition 9/15, signed and dated on back, $3,000,donation of the artist and Nailya Alexander Gallery, New York, N.Y.
Andy Freeberg, Stroganov Palace, Russian State Museum, 2008, archival pigmentink, printed in 2011, signed and titled in pencil on back, $4,800, donation ofthe artist and Anya Tish Gallery
Louis Faurer, New York, New York, c. 1947, silver gelatin print, printed in1981, signed and titled in pencil on back, $5,000, anonymous donation
David Levinthal, Untitled from the series Wild West, 1989, archival pigmentprint on Hahnemühle fine art paper, printed in 2009, Edition 8/10, signed inpencil on front, $1,500, donation of the artist

As its 2012 Biennial creeps closer and closer, FotoFest is now offering a sneak peek of work that will be available at its renowned International Fine Art Prints Auction on March 20.

Covering two floors of the Gremillion & Company galleries in Rice Village, the preview show (which runs through March 13) concentrates on Russian photo artists as well photographers from Asia, the Americas and other portions of Europe.

Along with FotoFest founders Wendy Watriss and Fred Baldwin, photography curators Anne Tucker of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Irina Chmyreva from the Russian Academy of Arts, led a group of more than two dozen collectors on a tour of highlights from the upcoming prints auction last Thursday.

"Fred [Baldwin] and I have been working in Russia for a long time," FotoFest co-founder Wendy Watriss said, "and we feel there is extremely good work that never makes it to the market."

"These are all handpicked prints, mostly from artists we have shown in the past or have commissioned in some way," Watriss told the crowd, noting that a number of works actually were hand-carried from Russia.

Though the Internet has allowed international cultural trends to permeate the Russian art scene, many artists of the former Soviet countries find it challenging to have their work shown outside their own country, primarily due to the high cost of travel.

"Fred and I have been working in Russia for a long time," Watriss said, "and we feel there is extremely good work that never makes it to the market.

"More than half of the work here is international and many pieces you simply never would get except through FotoFest. A number of these artists work through rather obscure galleries while others don't have galleries at all."

Revenues and proceeds from the Fine Print Auction benefit FotoFest's outreach efforts like Literacy Through Photography (LTP), a classroom-based education program for Houston-area public schools. Each year, LTP provides more than 1,000 cameras for use in a FotoFest-design curriculum aimed at improving communication skills.

In most cases, Watriss notes, the prints have been donated by the artists themselves as a gesture of support for the organization's broader commitment to photography and the photo-related arts.

The auction preview will be on display at Gremillion through March 13, when the works will be transported in preparation for the International Fine Art Prints Auction at the downtown Houston DoubleTree on March 20. Click for details.

This year's Biennial opens with a public reception March 16, 2012 at FotoFest’s Vine Street building. Visit the organization's website for more information on programming, including the 60-plus additional Biennial exhibits spaces located throughout the city this spring.

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howling for you

Houston's interdimensional art exhibit books 4 local acts for summer concerts

The four members of Swimwear Department hugging

Photo provided by Meow Wolf

Swimwear Department is heading to Meow Wolf

Things are heating up this summer at Meow Wolf as they host their first ever summer concert series. Four hometown bands will take the stage at the immersive art complex for a series of shows in June and July.

“Houston’s music scene has always been bold, genre-defying, and deeply original, so it felt natural to bring that same energy into our Radio Tave world,” said Aaron Johnson, general manager of Meow Wolf Houston. “This concert series is about celebrating the artists who define Texas' sound and give guests a new reason to experience Meow Wolf in a whole new way.”

Ever since Meow Wolf first opened during Halloween last year in Fifth Ward, the collection of artistic spaces has wowed, delighted, and sometimes confused audiences. Cowboix Hevvven, the venue's "dive bar" with possible links to extraterrestrials, was designed by fifth generation Texan Cole Wilson and features a jukebox of 30 original songs Wilson created in collaboration with other Texas artists. Radio Tave, Meow Wolf's name for the exhibit as a whole, has been a huge critical and popular hit for Meow Wolf, winning two Webby Awards last month.

It's also the perfect place to show off some of the more esoteric bands that make up the Houston sound. The odd four-piece rock band Swimwear Department burst onto the scene in 2023, winning over audiences with their songs about pools and malls as well as a series of stellar music videos shot around the city. Their potent mix of quirk and early-alternative music has made them one of the best novelty acts in Houston.

Meanwhile, The Mighty Orq and Mango Punch have been mainstays for more than a decade. Orq is swamp blues royalty, and always adds a sense of the strange to his concerts thanks to his near-mystical aura. Mango Punch is almost custom built for Meow Wolf thanks to a hectic swirl of Top 40, disco and cumbia.

The schedule for the concerts is below with links to tickets.

Though Houston has never hurt for places weird bands can play, wedding the popular immersive art space at Meow Wolf with concerts is an opportunity to reframe music as performance art rather than just something to listen to while having a drink (though you can still do that at Meow Wolf). Should the summer concert series prove a success, it could quickly become one of the prime venues in the city, at least for groups looking to be a little out there.

meow wolf concerts