Eye Candy
By Megan McIlwain
FRIDAY
Join the David Shelton Gallery from 6-8 for the opening reception of Liz Rodda’s Impressions. The works in Impressions are the result of considering the hazy border between self-preservation and self-destruction. Painted onto posters of exotic, barren landscapes, household materials like hair dye stains the paper in a pattern that mimics a chain-link fence or a trellis. The issue of hair appears again in the video Bob & Weave, which features endlessly scrolling waves of blonde locks. The audio for the piece takes its cue from Chopped and Screwed, a technique that involves remixing hip-hop music by slowing the tempo dramatically. In this case, Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off is reduced to half of the original speed. The works in Impressions are intended to destabilize modes of representation and challenge entrenched social conventions surrounding common definitions of beauty, femininity and the search for affirmation.
Then hop over to Art Palace for two opening receptions: Susan Whyne’s Entrances and Raychael Stine’s Chuparrosa from 6-8pm.
Entrances is a selection of work made when Whyne was living in the San Francisco Bay area between 1969-1977. A transplant from New York at the time, she was stirred by the new experience of blocks of endless front yards with unexpected arrangements of forms, patterns, and color. The small-scale works on paper combine landscape and architecture to the effect of mysterious sculptural associations.
In Chuparrosa, paintings on canvas and paper confidently propose that no event is truly unique. By layering abstract painterly gesture and deft representation, Stine creates scenarios where perception and perspective get confused. The work articulates the transitive relationship between form and material with an aim to create more space, and more looking. Stine defends the value of feeling in the context of contemporary art, as well as the importance of tenderness in everyday life.
Avis Frank Gallery is showing an exhibition of sculpture by Dylan Conner. Where Two Become One explores material, form and process in a direct way. Concrete, steel and plaster are familiar and humble materials, yet they are the ones examined by Conner. He investigates the dualities of liquid and solid, rigid and fluid, movement and rest. This series employs unique casting techniques that Conner has honed through years of trial and error. The work evokes a sense of delicate balance. Fabrication is complemented by an allowance for the materials to behave according to their physical properties. Join the opening reception from 6:30-8:30.
SATURDAY
Mystic Multiples is hosting an open house at their new location (1311 Sterrett Street) from 5-9pm. Stop by and check out their Kluge letterpress firsthand, shop printed art and comics, and hang out!
Join Voices Breaking Boundaries at Baker Ripley Center (Chase Opportunity Room, 6500 Rookin) from 7-8:30 for Monitor 10: South Asian Experimental Film + Video. Curated by SAVAC (South Asian Visual Arts Centre) in Toronto, Canada, Monitor is dedicated to the presentation of experimental short films and videos by/and/or/about South Asians from all around the world. From found footage to performance video, reality television to observational documentary, the works in Monitor 10 engage various forms of melodrama to produce wry, highly entertaining and complex political commentaries.
Monitor 10 features mature content not suitable for children. There will be staff on site to watch children under 10 so parents can enjoy the film and snacks donated by Whole Foods-Montrose.
After the screening, there will be a panel discussion, moderated by Marian Luntz (MFAH’s Curator of Film and Video), that includes Dr. Sucheta Choudhuri (UH-D), Danielle Dean (Core Fellow in Residence at the MFAH Glassell School of Art), and Michael Sicinski (UH). The panel will discuss the socio-cultural atmosphere informing the short pieces as well as the experimental film conventions being used or subverted by the filmmakers.
Lazybit Collective is hosting Circuits 3, an arts and music exhibition at Alley Kat Bar starting at 8 ($3 cover). This annual tradition consists of a chiptune concert, a videogame-inspired art show, and classic games set up for people to play. For the unaware, chiptune is music made with Gameboys and other old videogame hardware; awesomely named musicians include: Datafix, Goombotic, Broken Satellite, Ten Pixels Tall, and Floattune. Local artists participating: Matt Rivas, Jeremy Buzek, Jay Higginbotham, Dom Bam, Kevin Clifford, Chance Houston, John Dickey, JAR, Clingbot, Mark Anthony, Alex Nguyen, Alex Ramos, Scott Allen, Lauren McManus & Honeybones.
SUNDAY
Everything is Terrible! is coming to Auroua Picture Show for one night only with an all-new, interactive video and live show. Everything Is Terrible! is a popular video website whose creators use the VHS detritus of society to created mix-ups, mash-ups and reconstructions that satirize popular culture in some innovative, surprising and very funny ways. Beginning at 7pm, $15, get your tickets here.
