This past year, I promoted well over 500 art shows at galleries and museums in Houston. When selecting and writing my weekly Houston art recommendations, my intent is to promote only those that I plan to attend, but sometimes life get in the way or but time slips away. However, it is safe to guess that I saw at least 300 of the art shows I promoted this year (whew!). So many great presentations from which to choose when I created this list, but the following 10 shows were at the top of my mind.
(1) “JooYoung Choi: Discovering Truth Will Make Me Free” at Inman Gallery
Astro-futurist world builder and multi-disciplinary artist JooYoung Choi documents the interconnecting narratives of an expansive fictional land she has created and named the Cosmic Womb. Her practice is highly varied, utilizing painting, video, soft sculpture, animation, puppetry, music, interactive community projects, and installation art as interwoven vehicles for storytelling. Inspired by the teachings of Fred Rogers, Choi captures this imaginary world with a spotlight on its many characters, story arcs, and interpersonal relationships guided by an ethos of unconditional love and radical imagination.
(2) “Vincent Valdez | Texas Artist of the Year” at Art League Houston
Vincent Valdez’s installation piece Siete Dias/Seven Days featured 21 banners suspended from the gallery’s ceiling to showcase a handful of the over 150,000 individuals who have disappeared in Central and South America since the 1970s.
(3) “Once & Future Architecture | Patrick Renner” at AIA Architecture Center Houston
Paying tribute to one of nature’s chief builders and architects, the mud dauber and constructed from architecture refuse collected by Patrick Renner over the years, the installation was a patchwork of found materials that wrapped around the gallery, providing viewers an immersive experience of the labor and craftsmanship.
(4) “Frank X. Tolbert 2: Selections from the Studio” at Andrew Durham Gallery
Celebrating the life and work of this late, great artist, the exhibition featured a diverse range of artwork by Frank X. Tolbert 2, including paintings, drawings, and ephemera. I especially love his magical way of interpreting the world with line and color. He explored the birds of Texas in paintings, etchings and drawings — these works were my favorites.
(5) “David McGee: The Tarot Cards and The Gloria Paintings” at Inman Gallery
Rooted in a rich visual juxtaposition of image and text , the 160 small works on paper by David McGee formally recalled the playing cards that gave the series its name. The images pulled from the art historical canon with varying degrees of popular recognition, from Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers to Cy Twombly’s Thermopylae, Gaeta. The artist cleverly blurred the distinction between ‘reading’ and ‘viewing’ through his pairings, using language text evocative of US American history, with the Civil War as the focal point.
(6) “Karen Navarro: Somos Millones” at Foto Relevance (now Koslov Larsen as of 2024)
This solo exhibition of works was a visual expression of identity though the artist’s uniquely deconstructed and reconstructed portraits of first, second and third generation American immigrants.
(7) “Life’s Blueprint: Sesse Elangwe” at Mitochondria Gallery
Working in acrylic, Sesse Elangwe employed a variety of transcendent figures to interpret lifes’ lessons, words of encouragement, and humility. He used sharply contrasted colors to represent topics in life, such as how individuals from diverse origins can coexist and function effectively. Elangwe drew on lessons and experiences he gained in America to encourage viewers to consider how a positive attitude can get you to your desired destination in life.
(8) “Round 55: The Drive By II” at Project Row Houses
Artists participating in this Round included Gregory Michael Carter, Israel McCloud, Cat Martinez, Danielle Fanfair, Earlie Hudnall Jr., Ray Carrington, Irene Antonia Diane Reece, and Jesse Sifuentes.
(9) “Wayne Gilbert: Tomorrow’s Unknown” at Redbud Arts Center
This was one of the most poignant exhibitions I attended this year. Wayne Gilbert knew he was near the end of his life, and his opening reception felt like a living memorial, with lots of hugs and conversation. With his life’s work, Wayne Gilbert tackled political and social issues in his paintings to which he added unclaimed funerary ashes mixed with a gel medium and spread with a palette knife into forms and positions according to his vision.
(10) “Didier Mayés: El Patio de Mi Casa” by Serrano Gallery at The Silos of Sawyer Yards
This collection of colorful, vibrant abstracts and character pieces showcased Mexico-born Didier Mayés‘ childhood memories, celebrating life and filled with his past’s rich hues and exuberant energy. The artist is known for his unique artistic style of creating characters with disproportionately large heads, often referred to as “Cabezones.”