Christopher Blay and Brandon Zech on the last few days of a great show in San Antonio, the first days of FotoFest, and the final show at Texas’ longest-lived art collective space.
“Sad to see you go, guys. Hope there is a future 500X… somewhere.”
To view last week’s Top 5 Picks with guest Mark Bradford at the Fort Worth Modern, please go here.
1. More is More: The 2020 Plainview Biennial
March 14 – June 13
Opening Reception: March 14, 6 -10 PM
Contemporary Art Museum, Plainview
CAMP announces the second major exhibition curated by Co-Director Kelly Alison as part of the museum’s BIG ART in small town PROJECT. The exhibition called MORE is MORE features BIG TIME artists coming in from all over the world to install their work and experience some small-town charm.
Artists are Thedra Cullar-Ledford, Terry Hays, Wayne Gilbert, Rahul Mitra, Patrick Mcgrath Muñiz, Patrick Asiamah Quarm, Leandra Di Buelna Jr., Hillerbrand+Magsamen, Elaine Bradford, Ana Fernandez, Ann Wood, and Amita Bhatt.
2. Joe Harjo: The Only Certain Way
December 13 – March 13
Sala Diaz, San Antonio
The Only Certain Way is a collection of works that speak to the forced assimilation of Indigenous Peoples to Christianity. The 16th century, Spanish explorer and conqueror Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca kept a journal of his experiences as the first European to step foot in the Southwest. Therein he is quoted saying, in reference to religious conversion and assimilation, Indians “must be won by kindness, the only certain way.” Kindness was thus weaponized as a tool against Natives in order to shift their beliefs.
Read our review of the show here.
3. Letitia Huckaby: Beautiful Blackness
March 6 – May 10
Foto Relevance, Houston
Beautiful Blackness, a solo exhibition opened in conjunction with the Houston-wide FotoFest 2020 Biennial: AFRICAN COSMOLOGIES—Photography, Time, and the Other. In keeping with the Biennial’s theme, Huckaby’s Beautiful Blackness taps deep into the historical entanglements surrounding African American life in the rural American south. Photographs framed in embroidery hoops, reproduced on patterned flour sacks, and sewn into patchwork quilts serve as an elegy for a lost promised land. Landscapes and figurative works combine to depict a people and an unfulfilled legacy.
4. Round 51: Local Impact II
March 14 – June 7
Project Row Houses, Houston
NOTE: The opening on March 14 for this event has been cancelled. Please read the story here.
Project Row Houses (PRH) unveils its latest Artist Round, Round 51: Local Impact II. Curated by PRH Curator and Programs Director Ryan N. Dennis, Round 51 is a continuation of PRH’s Round 45: Local Impact (2016), which highlighted the distinctive interests and social justice issues from the perspectives of seven artists deeply ingrained in Houston’s arts community.
Participating artists include Colby Deal, Junior Fernandez, Alexis Pye, Mich Stevenson, Lanecia A. Tinsley, and Jasmine Zelaya.
5. 500XIT
March 14 – April 4
Opening Reception: March 14, 6 -10 PM
Closing Reception: April 4, 6 -10 PM
500X Gallery, Dallas
“We will be displaying a condensed show in order to feature work by 500X members who were scheduled to have their solo exhibitions and project spaces from March, April, and May as well as some collaborative projects with outside artists. We will also have pop-up shop with $41 limited-edition prints by current members, 500X t-shirts, stickers, and more! Former 500X members will be present in order to deliver their sentiments on the loss of the 500 Exposition Avenue space, where the gallery was started and continued for 41 years.”