Stitched together with pieces that seem otherworldly, the work of Patrick Turk collides collage with cosmic notions that stir both curiosity and creativity within the viewer. In his latest work on display at Mystic Lyon, The Demiurg, there is something intriguing yet jarring that seems to resonate between the parts used to create this momentous piece. Perhaps the reason the work includes such all encompassing, almost scientific materials yet holds back on its true nature allows for such vague questions to be raised and explored. The vagueness is all wanted though, for as a viewer you are tuned into the actual visual of colorful complexity, noticing the sharpness of every edge and the symmetry involved with this artistic puzzle. The work is enchanting, especially at night. Best of all? You can view the piece at any time.

“The pulsating lights attract from afar like a moth to a flame, then the closer one gets the more finely the beauty is realized,” states Emily Sloan, owner and curator of Mystic Lyon. “It’s enthralling. It has been such a great experience seeing this project come to fruition. A lot of time, effort and thought has gone into it, and now it’s here and we’re savoring it. Neighbors are excited — people began stopping by to peek as we installed the work and sending messages of excitement — including a request to shoot a music video here.”

The Demiurg is made possible by an Individual Artist Grant Award, funded by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. Patrick answered some questions for us about his cosmic journey as an artist and what the new work means to him.

Patrick Turk

Free Press Houston: Did the love of science fiction and things other-worldly happen at a young age?

Patrick Turk: I think so. I mean, I wasn’t a hardcore sci-fi/fantasy kid but I think I always liked and related to it at some level. I got more into it as a teenager but I still think I like the idea of science fiction more than I like a lot of actual science fiction.

FPH: Seeing you have been a part of various opportunities and residencies, what are some of the experiences through these things that have impacted you as an artist the most?

Turk: I think one of the most important things we can do as artists is work continuously and consistently which is not always easy to do when you have to balance everything else life throws at you. Any time an artist is awarded time and space to concentrate their focus into their craft you can expect growth and learning that may not necessarily come about solely from an artist’s regular studio practice. Special projects and residencies are really validating because you have somebody saying: “it’s ok to dive into this whole heartedly and put everything you can into it. This frees up a lot of head space and allows artists to stretch out creatively and ultimately drives a concentrated growth in skills and techniques that might otherwise take a longer time to figure out.

Patrick Turk, “The Demiurg”

FPH: In your latest work, you have chosen to center around a main form that is both mystical and physical. Tell me about how you developed this concept and how it reflects in the work:

Turk: The initial concept for this show was to make a representation of God creating the universe and sort of oozing or sweating all of life into it. From this idea, I started doing research on early Greek and Gnostic creator beings and creation stories and I came across the demiurge. The idea reflects in the work by the fact that the Being is entirely composed of tiny plants, animals, protozoa, parts of people, and all types of other biological materials that appear to be dripping off the body. It is placed in the middle of a “space cave” that is covered in repeating images of nebulae and galaxies and other cosmic elements and lit by color changing flood lights. The result is a sculptural creator being that is kind of walking/floating through this breathing, glowing, color changing universe, creating and casting off life into its surroundings.

FPH: What are some of the materials you have used over the years to make your work and are they still present today?

Turk: Early on working with collage, I had this idea of keeping things as simple as possible. The thought was to explore collage techniques more than collage materials and always trying to keep the material side of things very pure and uncomplicated but doing complicated things with them. The physical materials remain largely the same, it’s basically just books, paper, and glue. I also think the visual language of materials I use is still very similar to what I have been using for the last twenty years. I’m always looking for all types of illustration; be it medical, scientific, religious, advertising, botanical, instructional, etc. What has changed over time are the techniques I use to re-structure and manipulate these materials. For example, I find it more and more rare to be making 2-D collage these days, instead focusing nearly all my attention on 3-D collage. To do this requires completely different processes which I develop as I go along.

Patrick Turk

FPH: I found a quote recently that made me think of your work:
“Science fiction is any idea that occurs in the head and doesn’t exist yet, but soon will, and will change everything for everybody, and nothing will ever be the same again. As soon as you have an idea that changes some small part of the world you are writing science fiction. It is always the art of the possible, never the impossible.”
How does your art work within your life and mind? What are some of the magical elements you hope others absorb through your work?

Turk: I love the manifest destiny element of science fiction. Nearly every technological invention since the 30’s and 40’s existed in fantasy in science fiction literature before becoming a reality in our lives. That idea is amazing to me because it means that we as humans are capable of shaping and creating absolutely anything we want to. If we can think it can become reality, that is magic to me. This is exactly what artists do, we invent something in our minds and then set about finding ways to make that thought into something real and tangible. That is one thing I hope people take from my work is the understanding that this thing they are looking at did not exist before. When people start to think like this I think it can extend to their lives and help them think about making something that has not existed before.

FPH: What’s in the works for you this fall?

Turk: I’ll be communing with the demiurge at The Mystic Lyon from now until the end of September in an effort to keep a psychic portal open between its plane of existence and our own so that it may return home when its work is finished here. I’ll also be doing a show with Apama Mackey this December. It’s going to be a black light poster bonanza! Think 60’s basements and vans, spiritual awakenings, astral travelling, and mystical rites of passage and lots of stuff that glows in the dark.

“Patrick Turk: The Demiurge” is on view through October 17, 2024 at Mystic Lion (5017 Lyons Avenue). The piece is on view 24 hours a day from the outside of the venue, lit up after sunset.

Amongst the many artistically talented and conceptually strong artists in our city, one particular artist is about to show forth her lasting and lyrical work through a special exhibition downtown through Arts Brookfield, Wing It! Effervescent and elegant, thoughtful in both application and meaning, Roberta Harris will showcase a variety of work dating from 1995 to the present. She has created work in the times of dramatic artistic changes during the 1970s, when famous artists walk amongst her studio and other creatives such as Phillip Glass invited Harris and other artists to his rehearsals. Over the years, Harris has cultivated a visual voice all her own, ethereal and joyful in nature while paying close attention to magical details. The work on display at Two Allen Center, curated by Sally Reynolds, lends itself to winged creatures in a kaleidoscope of colors. Harris was kind enough to answer a few questions for Free Press Houston to reflect on her career and her recent show.

Free Press Houston: Within the workings of your aesthetic, when did you begin to become attracted to such subjects as vines, birds, particular colors, etc?

Roberta Harris: When I was a young girl, I lived next to a forest. This was the first place where I journeyed alone. There, in that wilderness, I discovered great mystery: above me, below me, to my right and to my left — a 360-degree cacophony of life.

Before a banquet set for senses, amid…

the sounds of insects and birds
the smells of bark, leaves, moss and wildflowers

the sensation of wind, rain, and humidity,
the visions of color, texture, light through dense trees, and life

teeming in swampy puddles, I became sensuous.

Although I have thought of that experience often, I am just now paying attention to how this “nest” shaped my soul and my work.

Roberta Harris, “Welcome to the Neighborhood”

FPH: What were some of the moments that made you ponder and turn towards art?

Harris: As a young child, I remember having a blackboard on an easel. I mostly drew ballerina’s standing on point. Those ballerina’s managed to find their way into many of the collages and paintings I did in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

In regards to a connection to the “arts,” the only art we had in our home was a pair of framed prints of standing females. They were probably copies of 19th Century American Portraiture & Genre Painting. Placed over our upright piano, I looked at them all the time as I practiced my piano lessons.

In elementary school we took a field trip to the Museum of Fine Arts. I remember being most impressed with a very detailed portrait of a queen which we were told was painted with only a few hairs of a paintbrush! Her garment was truly lavish and bejeweled. Only now as I write this, am I realizing that was probably the first moment I related the idea of “time” to making art.

When I was 8 years old, we took a trip to my uncle’s home in New Jersey. He was a landscape muralist. His living room depicted a beautiful floor to ceiling landscape that covered two long walls. In his kitchen he had hand-painted apples everywhere….walls, cabinets, doors and ceiling. I was astonished to totally surrounded by hand-painted apples! At that time I told him that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. His words to me were to be a commercial artist because then I could make a living.

My father was a master craftsman who worked with glass. For many years he worked for one of the major glass companies that installed windows, mirrors and intricate installations in private and commercial spaces. He and his team installed the huge windows of the control tower at the Hobby Airport in the ’50s. As a young adult, I would go out to his studio (our one-car garage) and help him with some projects. From this experience with him, I learned one of my greatest art and life lessons: “Necessity is the mother of invention”.

My mother taught herself to be an architect and designed a number of homes, which she and my father built. She also loved ceramics and mosaics. So, between the two of them, geometric forms and the idea of construction was very much implanted in my being.

When I was in the 8th grade, I won a scholarship to the MFA. Other than my wonderful 7th grade art teacher, this was really my first experience with art and being in the museum on a regular basis.

Another huge artful influence in my teen years, was my infatuation with the Neiman Marcus ads in the Houston Post and Chronicle. Every Sunday there would be a full page of an avant garde drawing of a figure, showing the fashions of the moment. I was enthralled with the line quality and freedom of expression in creating an image. I decided that I wanted to go to New York to study and learn how to do that! It’s a long story, but eventually I did go to New York after a year of studying in Texas, and was accepted at Parsons School of Design and Hunter College.

I majored in Fashion Illustration and Fine Art. This was in the mid ’60s when the art world in New York was on fire and American art history was being made. I was so privileged to see the beginning of Pop Art (Andy Warhol and the soup cans), the art of the action painters such as DeKooning (who all my classmates emulated in life painting class) as well as new art of Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Jasper Johns, Lee Bontecou, Louise Nevelson, Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Lewis, Marisol, James Rosenquist, and Phillip Pearlstein. This was an education up close.

Returning to Houston, I got a job at Dillard’s when they opened the new store in the Galleria. My job, a full page in both papers, was to create an avant garde figure showing the fashions of the moment (After a couple of years, the management decided they wanted to show more salable, recognizable imagery and my job there was over). After my daughter was born, I returned to the University of Houston and majored in Fine Art.

Roberta Harris, “Sky Chair”

FPH: Over the course of your career, what were some of the breakthroughs and/or milestones that still run through your current work today?

Harris: Being accepted into the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1972 was a very important milestone in my life.

Again, this was a time of history-making art in America. My equipment at that time was a compressor, an air gun, glass, natural pigments, Rhoplex, chalk and canvas. My assigned studio was on the edge of Chinatown, in a large room plus the vault, in the basement of a bank, which was now being used as an off-track betting company (I was told to not fool around with the enormous vault door because no one knew where the key was). After making a heroic size painting that was about 16 feet wide, I decided to stop everything I was doing and just absorb, learn and grow as an artist while I was there. Just few of the artists who came to the studio were Lucas Samaras, Yvonne Rainer, Robert Smithson, and Chuck Close. One of the comments that stands out from Lucas Samaras was “Making art is like making a salad. It’s not enough to have the ingredients….everything depends on what you do with them.” Another great memory is being in Chuck Close’s studio and seeing him work, with all his accoutrement neatly around him at the end wall of a large loft. Phillip Glass, the musician, was another memorable person who talked with our group. We got invited to his private practice sessions with his ensemble. They met on an empty floor of a gutted out loft building. Beautiful rugs were spread out in the middle of the room and we sat on the floor and listened to these extraordinary musicians, making sounds we had never heard before.

I think that the thread that runs through my work is about an experiential experience. This goes back to the forest where I grew up and the sensation of experiencing everything around me all at once. I have, for most of my life, believed that just as everything exists in the world simultaneously, so can it all exist in what I do. It’s my salad. The vocabulary I’ve used has included numerous iconic forms such as birds, sticks, hearts, figures, plants as well as geometric forms. I am mostly interested in the experience of seeing and feeling and being left with an uplifted spirit.

Roberta Harris, “Process”

FPH: Tell me about how you came up with the title of your recent show and how it reflects in your work?

Harris: Sally Reynolds curated this show and decided to use some of my available bird images…or works that relate to birds and nests and other winged forms. As I understand, choosing the name of the exhibition was a spontaneous idea that occurred to Sally and the Brookfield Arts group when they knew birds were the theme. I thought it was a perfect title. I love what Sally said in the essay she wrote for the show. Just a few lines:

“What do we do when we wing it? Well, sometimes we trust ourselves to fate, we let go, probably unprepared, and we do the best we can. We improvise as if we were an understudy in the the wings of the theatre who didn’t quite learn all the lines, we push on. We try to fly! We join our feathered friends and at times get a new perspective an elevated look at a broader landscape. And the birds, sitting, hovering, flying, beckon each of us to courageously take wing as they do.”

FPH: What has it been like to work with Sally Reynolds and Arts Brookfield?

Harris: Working with Sally Reynolds and Brookfield Arts has been totally pure pleasure. Sally is a magnificent person and a real art professional who has a brilliant eye, a big heart and a beautiful soul.

FPH: What are some thoughts or concepts you hope appear in between the lines of the exhibition?

Harris: Throughout my career, through a variety of media, my mission as an artist has been to inspire hope and its corollaries – dialogue, joy, encouragement, strategy, peace, kindness and imagination. The feeling of “UP” is what I hope to convey. Given the challenges that we face, hope demands courage, commitment, endurance and renewal. If I can contribute to that, then I’m doing the job I was sent here to do.

Roberta Harris’ exhibition “Wing It!,” curated by Sally Reynolds and presented by Arts Brookfield, runs through September 7, 2024 at Two Allen Center located at 1200 Smith Street, 2nd Floor.

During a time when the arts are be to championed and protected, Art League Houston is fortunate to have Dr. Willetts as someone who can continue this electric connection the organization has to its surrounding community. Through her previous work as the the Executive Director of Community Folk Art Center (CFAC) and Professor of Practice of African American Art History and Film in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, Dr. Willetts has tirelessly worked with a number of arts organizations including Real Art Ways, the Studio Museum of Harlem, the Wadsworth Athenaeum, the Connecticut Historical Society and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.

She has also aided in helping the arts flourish as a board member of such organizations as the New York Consortium of Museums and Art Centers (NYMACC). Currently, Dr. Willetts sits on the board of the Association of African American Museums (AAAM), and is a grants panelist for the Institution of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Her knowledge paired with her charisma and kindness is something our entire arts culture can rally behind, and Dr. Willetts spoke to Free Press Houston about her previous experiences that led her to Houston.

Free Press Houston: What were some experiences or interactions that lead you into arts leadership?

Dr. Kheli Willetts: I have always gone to museums and galleries, and even when I was little, I found myself looking for reflection of my culture and communities in the artists and exhibitions. However, it was during my first African American Art History class in college when I learned about the history and contributions by people of African descent, I began to explore why this aspect of American art history had been rendered virtually invisible. Although I understood that race and culture were critical elements of this virtual erasure, I had also discovered creative spaces where Black artists were nurtured and celebrated.

What I realized was that what made this possible was because of the people in positions of leadership. When I begin my training in Museum Studies, I learned about the “who” and “how” of the arts. More specifically, by studying the role of arts administrators, gallery owners, art historians and cultural critics, I began to understand their impact. That is when I decided to pursue a career in arts administration because of the opportunity to make a difference and ultimately create an artistic environment, opportunity or experience where people could see themselves and the artistic contributions of their culture and communities.

FPH: You have served as a board member, guided as an arts consultant, and also lead as an instructor. How have each of these roles shaped your eye and your mission?

Willetts: Actually, for me it was my mission that shaped how I serve as a board member, consult in the arts and engage as an arts educator and administrator.

FPH: What attracted you to Art League Houston?

Willetts: Art League Houston’s mission statement “to connect the community through diverse, dynamic, and creative experiences that bring people together to see, make, and talk about contemporary visual art,” is what initially attracted me. Additionally, when I learned more about the institution and how their core values of inclusivity, creativity, learning, service and evolution were literally reflected in their exhibition and education programming, I was hooked. What they do reflects my personal values and belief systems for the arts.

FPH: What are some aspects of Houston’s arts scene that you admire?

Willetts: I admire the creativity, ingenuity and diversity of the artists, institutions and programming. There is always something creative to do or see here.

FPH: How does Art League Houston fit into the future of serving artists and the community here moving forward?

Willetts: I believe Art League Houston represents the future. We are the first W.A.G.E certified arts institution in the state, actively seek to create exhibitions that address issues that impact society and practice arts engagement in the diverse communities. I believe these elements are not just a representation of ALH, but the cross section of Houston’s community who include us a part of their creative lives.

FPH: Any dream projects/exhibitions for this organization?

Willetts: Yes, but I’ve only just begun to dream, so I’m not prepared to share just yet.

Currently on view at Art League Houston includes Suspended Memory by Shane Allbritton & Peter Bernick-Allbritton in the main gallery and Speak of the Devil by Edward Kelley in the front gallery is also on view. Thingness by Benjamin Terry is featured in the Hallway space. All three shows run through July 22, 2024 at Art League Houston (1953 Montrose).

A lyrical collision of pigments, form, and poetry come together in the latest exhibition at Cindy Lisica Gallery. Masterful manipulator of wood, concrete, and metal, artist Anthony Suber weaves together definitions of contemporary America and African diaspora through a presentation that is both raw and pristine. Association of both the spiritual and the social nature come together throughout the gallery, displaying a reverence for material and concept, strong in visual display and internal meaning. Friday, June 2, the opening night of his exhibition Ritual Redux, features a special performance at 7 pm in collaboration with dancer/choreographer Harrison Guy.

What promises to be an encompassing experience for an audience includes wearable artwork, video, and sound coming together for a piece entitled “Griot Gospel.” As gallerist and curator, Cindy Lisica offers yet again an exhibition that goes beyond the work to include the entire thoughtfulness and concept of an artist. Suber’s work has been featured in a multitude of exhibitions including Project Row Houses, Sculpture Month Houston, and the Houston Museum of African American Culture. He holds a BFA from the University of Houston and teaches Studio Art and Art History at The Kinkaid School. While installing his exhibition at Cindy Lisica Gallery, Suber spoke with Free Press Houston about his background, creative process and the cultural influences in his work.

Free Press Houston: Which people in your life introduced you to art? Is there a particular experience in the arts that made you want to choose that as a profession?

Anthony Suber: I was raised in a home where the arts were definitely appreciated. My grandfather was a woodworker and my father was a painter and a bit of a sculptor. My mother was one of my main cheerleaders and tried to make sure that I had every opportunity to develop my talents and interests in the arts possible. My main experience that solidified my passion for the arts was the time that I spent at HSPVA here in Houston. I’m not sure if, without having that experience, I would have progressed as far as I had by the time I was ready for college, which allowed me to have a more mature perspective of what it meant to be an artist.

Anthony Suber, “Griot Gospel #3,” 2024

FPH: Tell me about your experience as a student in arts education and how it developed you as an artist.

Suber: So again, my more my formal foundation began at an earlier age, attending the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Though I loved making art — mainly drawing and painting at the time — and tinkering, I did not initially know if I’d be a good fit for the school. I wanted to study art but I was also really into science and architecture which back then, I did not see a clear connection. Over the years that I spent in those halls, I met and was mentored by some really insightful and encouraging teachers and working artists. I have often looked back on that time as not only the foundation that set me on a course to be a maker of art but also one who helps young artists realize their potential in the arts, either as patrons or artists themselves.

FPH: What are some mediums that interest you the most and what are some topics that are at the core of your artistic concept?

Suber: I consider myself to be multidisciplinary and a multimedia artist, mainly because I am drawn to various types of mediums and methods dealing with the creative process. Connected to the formal aspect of making, I am attracted to materials that either have a latent history to them, or materials that I can give a history to through processing them. I also have a deep affinity for reclaimed materials and the symbolic significance behind giving something new life. In the same breath, I find connection to topics that have a balance of history, and weight of cultural significance.

Anthony Suber, “Medium (Shaman),” 2024

FPH: Your upcoming show at Cindy Lisica Gallery offers visual commentary on time, culture, and experience. What is the premise of the show and some of the work that will be featured?

Suber: So the premise of this show is connected to an ongoing conversation that I’m attempting to have with the audience dealing with the different aspects of social interaction but from a cultural viewpoint. Specifically I have been dealing with microaggressions and their deeper impact on how we view race and deal with established cultural norms. When I began my research for this current series, I was drawn to the implicit cultural stereotypes that people of color have to process in order to navigate life. I was also, at the same time, drawn to the connections and parallels with choreographed dance movement and daily routine. Since my work already has an anthropological slant, it was a natural choice for me to work with the idea of masks and vestments as a vehicle for these conversations. There is one piece in particular that drives the show, a wearable sculpture that utilizes arduino technology and sensors to create another layer of experience via sound and light.

FPH: I greatly appreciate the fact that you are incorporating a performance aspect to the work on opening night. How do you hope this performance will resonate with the work present, along with bouncing back from a live audience in attendance?

Suber: Since this has been a part of the concept of this particular series from inception, I sincerely hope that the audience experiences a deep connection with the “activation” of the work through the choreographed movement and the wearable sculpture. Harrison Guy is an amazing choreographer and dancer, and I hope the audience is able to get the full magnitude of the collaboration between him and myself. There will also be a film installation that aides the anthropological aspect of the work, a piece that I have been working on in collaboration to a filmmaker here in Houston named Marlon Hall.

Anthony Suber,”No. 29,” 2024

FPH: How has having children affected your work and outlook on the arts, especially in interesting cultural/political times like these?

Suber: Having children presents its own interesting set of challenges and gives you a different perspective on things. It does not matter who you are. As an artist, it has increased my appreciation of the role that the arts play in the shaping of our culture and in the way that our minds think. I think that my daughters are inheriting a world that in many ways is evolving faster artistically than the world that I inherited from my parents. I think that this is largely due to the role of politics in culture, but also to the way that technology bridges so many expanses and makes instant access, which translates to exposure, such a basic thing.

FPH: What is coming up for you in the near future?

Suber: I’m always cooking up various projects that I’d like to work on but currently I’ve been focusing time on a project entitled FREE. It is an outdoor, community based installation that focuses on the characteristics of stress and how individuals from different economic strata and diverse backgrounds handle — or not handle — it. The project is a scaled up version of my wearables and includes a lot of the same technology that I’m using in Ritual Redux via light, sound, and sensors to cultivate a particular experience for the viewer.

Anthony Suber’s exhibition “Ritual Redux” is on view at Cindy Lisica Gallery (4411 Montrose) from June 2, 2024 through July 1, 2024.

An otherworldly exploration of color, form, light, and surface all vibrantly resonate in the latest exhibition at McClain Gallery. The dimensionality, the layering, and the quiet beauty combined by artist Gisela Colon all speak to her vast understanding of the balance of the masculine and the feminine through her impressive sculptural work. As one moves around the pieces, each tuned to a different vibration in colors and feel, one can see the subtle changes within the blow-molded acrylic that show forth both a luminous glow and thoughtful mystery.

These pods, which both hang on the wall and stand by themselves within the light-filled gallery, draw you in to look at the work from all angles but at a slow, purposeful movement. At the rate you traverse around Colon’s work, you truly are led by the hand, the heart, and the mind while pondering the effects these pieces have in a physical and conceptual form. Colon graciously answered questions about her background, her work and her creative process.

Free Press Houston: Do you have any particular memories from your youth that pushed you into the direction of art?

Gisela Colon: I had quite a few moments in the early years of my childhood — from around the age of 4 to 10 — that were seminal to the realization that art was something special and transcendental. My mother was a painter and I spent a lot of time working hands-on as her young assistant. We spend many long hours creating oil paintings of quotidian subjects my mother would lay out for us, such as sugarcane fields, tropical flowers, maracas, guiros, clay pots, ceramics, bohios, rolling green country landscapes, the rainforest, and numerous other natural subjects indigenous to Puerto Rico. We would frequently use as a source of study and inspiration master painters such as Van Gogh, Renoir, Rembrandt, Matisse, Monet, Gaugin, Picasso, Miro, Calder, etcetera. As a young child I was taken by the colors of Gaugin, the movement of Van Gogh, the light of Renoir, the humanity of Rembrandt, the poetry of Miro, the intensity of Picasso, and many more feelings of wonder, as we studied how all these were different and how we could make our own worlds with paint. I learned that knowledge to create comes from within, that what they all had in common was their own language, their own unique way of seeing the world, and I could see the world my way, too. I learned the power of being an autodidact, which to this day has positively permeated my whole life.

I was particularly mesmerized by how the colors in many of Gaugin’s paintings did not match the reality of what the eye might see, but rather what the mind might see, or choose to see from a variety of options. There was a painting of two women sitting in a field with flowers in their hair and vividly colored dresses, on a grassy meadow with a backdrop of purple-blue mountains and trees. The painting is titled “When will you marry,” 1892. I remember thinking, “why are the mountains painted purple and blue,” when I knew mountains were not really purple or blue, but they looked fantastic in these hues of purple-blue to convey to the mind of the viewer a feeling that the mountains were of significance because they were of such an unusual color.

The purple conveyed a feeling of monumentality, of physical presence beyond the earth. The choice of the color purple made a big difference. It made them special, unusual and almost other-worldly. Then I focused on the grassy meadows, and I noticed that they were all painted wild colors of oranges, bright yellows, and even a large section of an indigo blue. They looked so radically different to me than what I knew to be real grass colors, which then led me to ask, “why would he choose those colors?” And then in my young child’s mind I thought to myself, “because they look real to him, the painter.” I realized they looked real to the mind of Gaugin and they were drawn from an extrapolation of reality. In addition, they were converted into the artist’s reality, which is then conveyed to the viewer as an alternate reality, that is just as good and perhaps in some instances even better than the actual reality that exists before you.

That was the turning point for me, the realization at the age of about 5, that magic could be made. That an artist could possess that special ability to change the world, one person at a time, one perceptual experience at a time, one moment of connecting to another human mind through time. And this connection would be a deeper connection that might not be expressed in words, but in feelings. Color, material, space, light, everything that an artist uses can be twisted, turned, altered, changed, morphed, to convey a feeling, an idea of an alternate reality, an alternative reality that people might not possess individually, but can be communicated as an artist outward. I realized that an artist had the power to alter reality and the alteration of reality could become a meaningful thing.

Courtesy of McClain Gallery

FPH: How did you come to love working with light and sculpture in a minimalist fashion?

Colon: Minimalism is a misnomer because the term is used broadly to imply that the art is devoid of elements or pared down. However, most minimal art is quite complex and possesses numerous qualities that act together to provide an experience of purity. Minimalism provides an antidote to turmoil, noise, information overload. The key point for me is to invoke an experience of simplicity, silence, calmness, clarity of thought, complex thought, principled thought. Each individual ultimately lives in his own mind. Art is for the individual. That moment when the individual can reckon with his own thoughts, and have a moment of awareness and clarity onto itself. I strive to create objects that invoke some form of rational order, alignment, balance, aesthetic beauty, activating a person’s inner discourse.

I got to where I am today by making objects I want to live with, by making art for my own inner self. Throughout this pathway of discovery, the function of light became more important. Light, actually, is the most essential aspect of any work of art. Light is material, matter, and substance and it makes everything real. Without light we would not be here. It is that elemental. To be able to see something requires light. We take it for granted. We assume light is a given. Light is an essential primeval element that surrounds us all and makes life what it is: Light in its most basic form is the provider of existence. Light through the eyes tickles the brain and provides quasi-tactile functions and sensory pathways that are activated, creating the feeling of being alive. Light is an essential part of my work as it works synergistically with the other sculptural materials to generate a feeling of life-like qualities in the work.

FPH: Seeing that you have heavy influences from both Puerto Rico and California, how have you merged different design aspects from both worlds?

Colon: Both worlds embrace dynamic energies that can be channeled to effectuate growth and transformation. Puerto Rico provides the original spark, a vital, visceral source of energy. Southern California has an ethos of freedom and creativity; with hard work and perseverance, it is the perfect place to pursue your dreams —anything is possible and everything is achievable. Los Angeles has a long history of being a land of opportunity and freedom of expression from the pre-columbian days of the Cahullia Indians, through the early days of pioneers in the Wild West, to the golden era of Hollywood, this bountiful land has allowed people from all over the world to settle here and become part of the significant and growing creative milieu. I merge both sources of energy, applying a philosophy of transformation to my life and my art, conceptualizing and creating sculptures with chameleon-like qualities, exemplifying the female power of creation and embodying the spirit of renewal and re-invention that is part of the history of Southern California life.

Courtesy of McClain Gallery

FPH: Pondering on the title Atmospheres, how does this show encompass some of the pillars of your work and what new techniques did you use for this exhibition?

Colon: The word atmospheres comes from the Greek word vapor, and is generally defined as layers of gases surrounding a spherical celestial body. It denotes something soft pervading into its surrounding space. My work in this show embodies some of those subtle, ephemeral qualities that cause the works to radiate into space. The sculptures contain multiple layers of materials that absorb, reflect, and refract light outwards into the surrounding space, creating an extended atmospheric feel. Also through a unique pigmentation process I developed, they posses the ability to shift color depending on the external lighting conditions, the position of the viewer, the time of day, the orientation of the work, etcetera. They are active mutable objects in symbiotic relationship with their environments, which brings the concept of movement into play.

The concrete aspects of my work are actually not concrete at all. There is no place to rest the eye — the pieces continue in an unabated line of discovery — fluid movement, active change, variability of color, mutability of form, resulting in an experiential object — a present tense object that is always moving into the future. The sculptures are free-form, constantly moving yet still possess an outer vessel that is self-contained. There is a juxtaposition of push and pull, of dematerializing the object and re-materializing the color, light, and form into an autonomous activated object. There is a feeling that nothing is stable, there is no stasis, always in constant movement to the eye. They create a dialogue of permanence vs. impermanence. The work seeks resonance with the human condition, which is one of constant change and movement in different directions; always moving into the future into an ever-evolving self, into a changing identity, into something new; seeking authenticity throughout time.

FPH: Seeing that there is a heavy fabrication side to your pieces, how involved are you in the process and what is that process like for you as an artist?

Colon: My studio is a repurposed plastics factory where I have an inordinate amount of fun! I am personally very involved in the fabrication process, and really enjoy the technical and engineering aspects of the job. I work hand-in-hand with my studio assistants and other aerospace industry fabricators, approving every minute detail every step of the way. When I’m working there, getting down and dirty, is when I feel most alive, vibrant and dynamic. It is extremely liberating, and I experience creative freedom at its best, when I am in the throes of the industrial aspects of making the works.

Courtesy of McClain Gallery

FPH: In our culture, the perception of beauty seems to constantly be in flux. How do you as an artist extract a concept of beautiful, especially in the use of color, and how do you hope this translates to a viewer?

Colon: I approach the concept of beauty from a visceral, almost biological, place. I think aesthetics and the appreciation of beauty is something inherent in our genetic make up. We have a capacity biologically to crave beauty, to appreciate beauty, to want to be surrounded by an environment that possesses beauty. But again what is aesthetic beauty? In my experience, there has to be some form of order, not necessarily a rational order, but a sequence, progression, formula of organizing the world around you, which yields balance, colors, forms, a conglomeration of aspects that come together to produce some form of harmony, something that the human eye can see and the entire body can sense and recognize as as a sublime feeling. We find beauty in nature because of its inherent, sometimes invisible order, but it is always ordered. There is always some underlying predetermined order that formulates how things are created, grown, and made in nature.

There is always a code of life that rules everything organic on the planet. That underlying order possesses an inherent beauty, an aesthetic capability of pleasing the eye. Or maybe it is that we just recognize as humans something that is part and parcel of our own formulation, a genetic code that is inside each of our cells that forms our body that allows us to be able to appreciate and recognize the orderly formulation of life. And by orderly it does not necessarily mean symmetrical. You can have orderly asymmetries that also create meaningful aesthetic language. For example, when you look at all of the leaves on a tree changing color in the fall, the fantastic burst of colors blend together such as poppy orange, tomato red, sunset yellows mixed with lemon yellows, and they’re all asymmetrically clustered in a cloud of texture, forming an amorphous form that flutters in the wind with such breathtaking aesthetic pleasure, that you find yourself being alive in the moment, and that’s where the real game is.

Even non-organic life on the planet possesses some form of organized beauty. For example, when you’re hiking in the stark desert of California, with its monumental jagged-edge mountains and huge clustered boulders, you feel the power of the space you are in, recognizing you are in some gigantic cratered form created by the power of earth. That form has such beauty in its stream of creation, the force that was required to create it and the magnitude of the explosion that required its creation, makes it breathtakingly beautiful. Then you look at all of the scattered boulders, rocks, and pebbles, although they appear randomly placed, the laws of physics created them, and generated their placement.

The laws of physics positioned them in their spot and those laws of physics possess order and an underlying rationale for where every little piece of earth crust, rock, sand, ash and dust was laid. Inorganic nature operating at its best. Therein lies aesthetic pleasure, in the marvel of the energy that this planet possesses at its core. The planet has life inside it, whether organic or inorganic. We live on this floating, moving ball of earth that is traveling through the stars, and has a life force that rules everything on this planet. We are part of that greater life force that wants us to seek aesthetic pleasure, to pursue beauty, balance and order, and if we are lucky we can tap into that life force for a feeling of the sublime.

FPH: What upcoming projects do you have coming up?

Colon: Lots of things. In terms of exhibitions, there are solo presentations of my work coming up at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, Texas (December 15, 2024 – February 4, 2024); South Dakota Art Museum, Brookings, South Dakota (March – July 2024); Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri (September – December 2024); Hilliard Art Museum, Lafayette, Louisiana (January – August 2024); Foosaner Art Museum, Melbourne, Florida (September 2024 – January 2024). My work is also featured in a thematic exhibition titled: Plastic Entanglements: Ecology, Aesthetics, Materials, opening at the Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania (February 2024 – June 2024), traveling to Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (September 22–December 30, 2024), Smith College Museum of Art (February 8–July 28, 2024), and Chazen Museum of Art (September 13, 2024–January 5, 2024).

Gisela Colon’s exhibition “Atmospheres” runs through June 17, 2024 at McClain Gallery (2242 Richmond). Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday from 12 pm to 5 pm.

A native Houstonian and a 23 year resident of the Houston Heights, artist and organizer Mitch Cohen holds the magical talents uniting those who create to help make lasting events. Someone who has been diligent in his own work, mastering a multitude of creative forms, Cohen has handled his art career with knowhow and humor. Known for his work with Houston Vintage Festival, White Linen Night in the Heights, as well as with the First Saturday Arts Market (now in its 13th year), he rounds up both talent and a supportive audience in order to help our cultural scene thrive. A similar concept to the monthly event in the Heights has expanded into another arts district that has been booming for the past few years with Cohen aiding The Market at Sawyer Yards. Cohen spoke with Free Press Houston to explain his own personal background and how he became involved with artistic event planning.

Free Press Houston: You have an excellent viewpoint on how artists often portray their first encounters with art. How did you find that you had a great hand for creating visuals?

Mitch Cohen: I always shake my head when I read an artist’s biography that begins with a statement something like, “I’ve been an artist since I could hold a crayon.” Weren’t we all artists as children? I will always remember that in second grade, my teacher singles out my renderings of famous historic figures like Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln to the class as good examples of art. I quickly became known as the “best artist” in class. Later that same year I learned all about curse words and demonstrated with my newfound fame by illustrating in pencil, the definition of the word “shit.” Turns out that was an easy way to get out of school early too. Regardless, I’ve thought of myself as an artist ever since, although my rendering of the Benjamin Franklin looks like a balloon with a bad haircut to my adult eyes.

FPH: What are some of the nontraditional ways you were creative in your college days?

Cohen: My higher education experience was, for lack of a better word, fleeting. I excelled in the art classes I took, but quickly devolved into a post-high school, free-to-be-me party animal. Despite my lack of academic interests at the tender age of 18, I still found ways to be creative. I sold t-shirts with a cartoon I created that I called “Studley,” designed album covers for friends — I was at the best music school in the south, University of North Texas State. It wasn’t until I finally came home that I really learned a thing or two about art.

Mitch Cohen, “Hello!” 2024

FPH: What are some of the influential moments that impacted your art practice?

Cohen: The biggest influence on me as an artist came from what I thought would be a summer job after dropping out of college. I went to work as an apprentice sign painter at a billboard company. I literally was taught how to paint anything they gave me, cars, baseball bats, giant cleavers even, with artist oils, and of course all the methods for sign painting. I was the youngest in the field and a fast study. I loved it. I was admonished by my colleagues for painting too fast and making them look bad!

Around 1989, I was recruited by the editor of University of Houston Downtown’s newspaper, a former high school friend, to draw the weekly editorial cartoon and my own strip. I learned the value of consistency, and fast. Unbeknown to me, the second year editor entered my work in the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Press Association’s annual competition — and my cartoon won 1st place over universities and colleges from 13 states. When I found out Matt Groening was a judge my ego grew nearly to the size of my second grade proportions before being deflated by the “shit” demonstration. This led me to my next big influence — it was time to return to school.

To increase my value at the sign companies I took what I would guess was Houston Community College’s last class in graphic design sans computers. My instructor, artist Sharon Hendry, must have shown great patience with my short attention span and penchant for incorporating my cartoons into all of her assignments.

It’s ironic that two of my biggest skills that are mostly forgotten arts now, sign painting and traditional graphic design, then shaped the next 15 years of my life. About two years after leaving the sign painting business, I started painting faux and decorative finishes. I said yes to every job and taught myself how after. The first big job, which included restoring and duplicating a 130-year-old mural, was published in a national design and antiques magazine and our career was set.

FPH: What made you want to get into organizing artists and events?

Cohen: After ten years of painting decorative finishes, I was restless. I volunteered with the Houston Heights Association’s business committee in 2024 and was organizing art crawls in the neighborhood. I think several influences hit me at once: the desire to showcase all the artists in one space, the recently opened Farmer’s Market at Onion Creek, and a well traveled friend that kept insisting I replicate the common markets he’d visited around the world. I’d hosted several successful art receptions at bars, too, and was convinced I could pull of a monthly art market, though I had little to go on. There was nothing like that in Houston at the time and no one I knew had heard of such thing.

I definitely learned from my mistakes, I’m lousy at failing. I just figure out a new way to do something, and keep going. My tenacity is what helped the market succeed, of that I’m certain. I took the advice participating artists gave me and in turn, they supported my efforts in those early years. By 2024, when I changed my market’s name to First Saturday Arts Market, we were on a roll.

There was never a time where I decided to organize events or artists, opportunities knocked and I answered propelling me further in the direction of “event coordinator.” I’ve loved every minute of it, there’s a rush about creating something that brings so many creatives together in one place and then seeing the public accept it as part of the great big artist landscape Houston supports.

First Saturday Art Market.

FPH: Tell me about your Art Market endeavor and how it has evolved over the years:

Cohen: First Saturday Arts Market has definitely evolved over the years, from a mixed art and craft show to a curated fine art and fine craft show. The most profound change was when I asked the artists themselves to help me curate the show. A little background first:

The market began as the Yale Street Arts & Flower Market on March 6, 2024. Visualizing a combination art and flower market never got off the paper as no flower vendor was willing to give up their busiest day of the week for a fledgling market place. I was not very discriminating about the art that was shown at the market either and items that I would consider to crafty today were much more prevalent then. As word spread and the applications started piling up, I started getting pickier. The first medium I asked for help on curating was jewelry. I liked the results and by 2024 I had developed a system to curate incoming applicants.

The success was amazing and almost immediate. The price points began to rise and a buying audience looking for quality art increased. In just a few years, we had established ourselves as a go to place to purchase fine art in Houston. More and more of the artists attending were recognized in other shows, too.

I did not kick anyone out, there are still a few that may not have made it in the show today if they were new. However the atmosphere is definitely inspiring and creative and demands that everyone bring their best, and they do.

There was an element of the art world that I felt I was missing out on. First Saturday Arts Market found its niche audience and is still doing well. There were a large number of applicants getting turned down that I thought should be represented that were not quite a good fit for the art market.

In 2024 I had my ah-ha moment when I was invited to present a market to Sawyer Yards, one of the largest creative campuses in the nation. My pitch was a folk art market that combined specialty foods, and the niche market of artisans that I already knew were out there. The people have been coming and the first show we did in January was an absolute success.

The Market at Sawyer Yards is what we’re calling it and it’s located between The Silos on Sawyer, Winter Street and Silver Street Studios on the newly paved over former rail-line. Shows are currently only on second Saturdays coinciding with the open studios. I’ll only allow about 10% fine artists in that show. With 300 fine artists in the surrounding studios, the folk art and food is the perfect combo to draw in a big diverse audience. My goal is to make this market a folk art destination. Houston so needs that.

FPH: How has your interaction with the community affected your work?

Cohen: My interaction with the arts community has truly been a humbling experience personally. There are many unbelievably talented people in this city. I have only recently started pursing painting again after many years of dabbling every so often. The biggest influence from artists would be their encouragement not to give up, just keep going.

Community is ironically what I never expected to see come out of my efforts to create a market. I thought when I got started hosting these shows that I was providing a service for artists to reach the pubic, and I did. A community of artists also came out of my efforts. The artists are friends, they socialize and encourage each other. Many have launched businesses that help and promote other artists such as web and graphic design, marketing and a few galleries. I’m a little thick headed I guess because I’m always surprised when an artist thanks for me for their success. I hope I never get used to that.

FPH: Especially in times like these, how do you see art and positive cultural events helping us move forward and grow in understanding?

Cohen: One of the things that I love about Houston is that our vast and diverse cultures all living in the same place. There is no group more welcoming of other cultures and ideas, from my observations, than the arts communities. My shows are as diverse as our awesome City of Houston and I mean politically, too. Perhaps because my shows are only for one day, opinions of the outside world rarely make an appearance.

I’ve never allowed political groups at my shows, I don’t think that’s the place for them. We’re there to showcase our art, tell you our stories behind it and create good will and good times, not sway public opinion. That’s not to say you won’t find opinions where perhaps it has always come up first, in the art itself. To me, an art show is the perfect place to inspire community; unity and healing.

First Saturday Arts Market is located at YogaOne Studios (540 W. 19th St.) and is open year-round on the first Saturday of each month from 11 am – 6 pm. September through May and from 6pm -10pm from June through August. The Market at Sawyer Yards takes place every second Saturday of the month from 11 am – 5 pm at 1502 Sawyer. Admission is free at both markets.

Creating work with abstract autonomy, Howard Sherman consistently presents art that maintains its own dialogue within the piece. His aesthetic speaks in the manner a cartoon strip conversation bounces from frame to frame. The tradition of the abstract runs through the veracious veins of his paintings. Punches of pigments play out. Texture ripples in non-sequitur directions. The often-mammoth size of Sherman’s work is the appropriate vehicle for his style, all stemming from his background as a cartoonist.

“Life shapes you as an artist,” states Sherman. “Cartooning taught me so many things. I started out as a daily comic strip cartoonist before I moved into the contemporary art world. The newspaper daily deadline taught focus and discipline. Practice makes perfect. Also, without realizing it, I learned the economy of line due to the constraints of the format. When your art gets reduced down to the size of a postage stamp, ever mark counts.”

Colors create the boom and beat similar to those found in the music of movement. Lyrical escapades seem to vibrate in blocks often in black, pink, and yellow. The arc of a track seems to be subdue in his abstract subject of a canvas or sculpture but still felt through the scanning of the eyes as one studies from corner to corner stretched. “Sometimes, I ask myself if this painting made a sound, what would it be?” says Sherman. “My studio practice is analog. My communication is digital.”

Howard Sherman, “Feeding Off The Land Like An Animal,” 2024

A diligent studio practice is what has made Sherman’s work consistent and cognizant of social waves. In the piece “Little Tricks That Erode Your Defenses,” Sherman utilizes acrylic in punches that saturate space while marker speaks in intricate shapes, playing with the dynamic and conversation of the canvas. Similar verses are strummed through the landscape in “Feeding Off The Land Like An Animal” while geometric spots of pigment speak to the erosion of colors such as hot pink. Elaborating with dimension, Sherman is propelling the auditory nature of his work through the use of layers and collage.

“My recent work has become more sculptural,” says Sherman. “While I’m still making two-dimensional paintings, the surfaces are more tactile and have led me down a new path. Now everything has become more physical, more raw. Simultaneously, there’s a newly discovered sophistication in the way things are created. Also, I’m more considerate of color and probably less polychromatic than before.”

Through his bodies of work, the rawness of his presentation is still tinged with the academic, leaving room for a viewer’s questions amongst the collective but meditate chaos. In a sea of self-taught talent, Sherman knows that his educational experience was worth it, aiding him in his art making then and now.

“I have my Masters of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of North Texas,” says Sherman. “I also have a Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Art from the University of Texas. My graduate school experience was invaluable. As much as higher education seems to be under assault in recent years, I wouldn’t be where I am today without it. I had great faculty, great peers and great situations. Most importantly, it was both challenging to get accepted and then succeed. We created an intense environment which pushed several classmates to leave it all on the field.”

Howard Sherman, “Little Tricks That Erode Your Defenses,” 2024

His work has built him up in the local community while rocketing him into exhibitions outside the city. Sherman has been in a number of solo exhibitions across the United States, and his work has been featured in exhibitions in Texas, California, New York, Florida, Spain, India, and Peru. Names of past exhibitions ring a sense of newness and edge with such titles as Eating your Friction, Apocalyptic Wallpaper, and Feeding Off The Land Like An Animal. His work has also been recently featured on the Texas Abstract: Modern + Contemporary art history book cover. Regardless of where his work takes him, Howard still considers Houston and Texas home base.

“Houston is supportive and enthusiastic without a lot of barriers to entry,” states Sherman. “The support has been tremendous and I’m very grateful. This has allowed me to recently take a studio in New York City while keeping my space here, too.” The dance between two cities has allowed Sherman to conjure a fresh perspective, utilizing the cultural vibrations and bustle of each city to round out the ideas bouncing from frame to frame in his mind, from frame to frame of canvas and beyond. Texas serves as a homecoming this spring with his solo exhibition, Shifting Fancy of the Crowd, opening April 1, 2024 at Circuit12 Contemporary in Dallas.

Twists in technology, variance in visual velocity, lengthening light, and capturing natural conundrums are all intertwined into Adela Andea’s work. Transitioning from her work on canvas to elaborate sculptures and installations, Andea has been illuminating spaces and captivating audiences here in Houston and beyond for years. The spark seen in her eye is seen in the glow of her sculptures, otherworldly and effervescent in nature. In her latest exhibition at Anya Tish Gallery, Glacial Parallax, the artist grapples with the advancements of technology while the natural world rapidly declines, such as in the glaciers in Alaska and elsewhere.

Anya Tish has hosted Andea’s work on multiple occasions, each show luminous in its own right, but this show overwhelmingly brings together multiple concepts and materials to make for a mammoth of visual delight. This sensory experience goes beyond the materials to gracefully pin point important topics racking our society. Andea was gracious enough to elaborate on her current exhibition along with her story on how she came to make such momentous work.

Free Press Houston: What particular part of your childhood unveiled visual art as an interest for you?

Adela Andea: As I was growing up in Romania, I had a close connection with the old orthodox churches. The beautifully painted icons and frescos were the only reason my grandmother was able to drag me to the church on Sundays. I remember staring at all the details of the paintings; some were more than 300 years old. I did not have artists in the family, but I found books that inspired me to draw and paint. Before I was in the first grade, before I could read and write I was already attempting to imitate artworks by Goya. These are the earliest memories I have about art.

FPH: How did you make the shift into artistic studies?

Andea: After spending some time working as a paralegal in California, I realized that my calling was art so I moved to Houston and graduated Valedictorian and Summa Cum Laude from the Painting program at the University of Houston. I continued my higher education in Studio Arts and I received my Master of Fine Arts in New Media, with a minor in Sculpture from University of North Texas, Denton, Texas.

While I was working on my degrees I was introduced to contemporary concepts, trends and theories, which influenced overall my transformation as an artist. It was a difficult experience, as I was constantly trying to better myself, absorb all the information I can possibly can and be the best at what I am doing. It was an opportunity and a luxury I did not have before in my life and I appreciate it every moment.

Adela Andea, “Ice Flare,” 2024.

FPH: What are some experiences that helped shape your artistic concept, drawing from nature and technology?

Andea: My art education has the biggest influence over my artistic life. It was during that period when my affinity to contemporary art currents crystalized and gave shape to my endeavors into installations using light.

Outside academia, there are periodical events that weight heavier in my artistic carrier. Such events can be recreational in nature – my cruise trip to Alaska a few years ago brought new awareness in me on the ecological issues – or professional – my residency in France last year immersed me in a new culture from where I drew inspiration for my art.

FPH: How did one of your first major shows at Lawndale Art Center help shape your visual voice into creating work of technology and light?

Andea: After I finished my BFA in painting at University of Houston I applied for my first solo show at Lawndale, The Green Cyber Web. I majored in painting for the love of painting. While I was in the studio program, I realized that paint or color is a perception of the eye, and it can be achieved with different materials, besides colors from a tube. When I projected the green cathode light on one of my painted objects I was startled by the effect, it was exactly what I was looking for in my art. I knew I made a leap in what I was doing. I was finished with my previous work and I moved on from painting and traditional sculpture into this new medium.

I started to research the new technologies on the market. These latest technological advancements inspired me to create the artworks I wanted. None of my works contain neon lights, it is all LED or CCFL. While I was already thinking about big installation, the show at Lawndale offered me the opportunity to create a full room installation. Environments, according to Allen Kaprow, are an extension of painting when referring to the issue of space. The spaces I am working with are a major consideration for how the installation will work and I took in consideration the architecture of the room as a component of the artwork. My proposal at Lawndale was specifically for the gallery that it was displayed in.

Also during that time, conceptually my work started to take shape and focus meaning of nature, natural vs. artificial concepts, environmental issues and technological advances. By applying the dichotomy of the concept natural vs artificial and it contemplates positively on the necessity of progress and technological advances, blending artistically the romantic notion of nature with the manmade esthetic.

Adela Andea, “A.57,” 2024.

FPH: Recently you participated in a residency in France. What was that experience like for you?

Andea: I had the honor at the end of last year to be invited by Zebra 3 Foundation with funds provided by the city of Bordeaux for a residency and show at the Crystal Palace in the old downtown of Bordeaux. It was a great experience that will stay with me for a long time. The materials were procured by the organization upon my specification upon arriving and I worked with an assistant for almost a month to finish an installation from scratch on the site. While I was working hard to finish the work, I also had the chance to experience the food, the culture and visit historic locations. My assistant there deserves all the credit for being a great liaison.

FPH: Tell me about your evolution of some of your current work on display at Anya Tish Gallery. What are some of the highlights of the show visually and conceptually that you are now expanding upon?

Andea: The new concept I wanted to discuss with this show is the technical notion of “parallax” when it becomes a metaphor of the different points of view on the environmental issues. Just like real life parallax produces different views depending of the line of sight, my arts is addressing the different positions taken in the society that vary based on the position and situation of the observer. The environmental movement became a political movement, the new religion of the popular culture, mostly supported by the mass media influence. The whole discussion gravitates around the notion that man-made pollution is the cause of environmental decay. Some of the scientific arguments are contaminated by economic and political agendas.

Formally there are three types of work that I developed simultaneously while preparing for the fourth solo show at Anya Tish. While they are all connected conceptually, my continuous concern with the destruction of the environment, formally they differ.

The large sphere, titled “A.57,” is representing an imaginary asteroid or planet where the energies of various materials translate into a plasmatic eruption of colors. The work incorporates various previous materials and experiments wrapped into a sphere that encompasses the essence of my work in the past decade. To paraphrase Otto Piene, “Light is the incarnation of visible energy.” For me this piece has a variety of energies that emulate the existence of a live planet.

The triangular shaped mirror plexiglass pieces, like “Glacial Fracture,” “Glacial Onyx,” and “Ice Flare,” maintain the simplicity of geometric shapes while allowing through multiplicity to create organic shapes for the pieces. This play between organic and geometric insists on the visual transformation of inorganic into organic matter. The aesthetic aspects of this work comment on the antithetic perception of real vs. artificial or organic vs. geometric, deconstructing the structure of nature into geometric forms.

Multiplicity is another formal element that I embrace with my work. Either it is a large installation or a small wall dependent piece. The “Ice Grain” series and “Sun Draft” focus on one type of material that I repeat a million times. They become mini universes, obsessive detailed work that takes months to finalize. However, I enjoy the process as it also allows my mind to develop new ideas.

Adela Andea, “Glacial Fracture,” 2024.

FPH: How has your interaction with the community here in Houston and beyond with large site-specific instillations affected you as an artist?

Andea: I like to interact with artists who are unique and confident on their work. I think Houston attracts these independent type of artists. To be original and different from everybody else seems to characterize what artists have in common in this area. This lack of a cohesive art scene is what I appreciate the most and I consider it an asset to this community. It is a very vibrant and diverse group of people, also very warm and welcoming.

FPH: In a time where technology is put on such a pedestal, how does art/how does your art manage to strike a balance between the digital and the visual?

Andea: My art offers opportunities to investigate the visual significance of the contemporary technologies. It provides a commentary on the individual interaction, theoretical discussion of the post-traditional self and how certain technologies are embedded in our culture. The infusion of my art with the new technologies relies on recent technological advances, which are also well received through consumer perspective.

FPH: Any upcoming projects you would like to mention?

Andea: The upcoming show from May through September at the Total Plaza in downtown Houston is curated by Sally Reynolds and will display a large installation, as well free standing and wall dependent sculptures. Also, I am working on an outdoor sculpture project that I prefer to keep it secret until the details are finalized.

Adela Andea’s exhibition “Glacial Parallax” is on view at Anya Tish Gallery (4411 Montrose) through February 4.