Forever Unfinished: The Hidden Agenda

Film still from Andy Warhol’s “Sunset,” 1967. Courtesy The Andy Warhol Museum

This week brings in discussions and opening receptions at BLUEorange, Capsule Gallery and Matchbox Gallery, as well as the start of an ongoing series of screenings of Andy Warhol’s unfinished film Sunset at The Menil Collection.

Ongoing

Screening — Andy Warhol’s Sunset at The Menil Collection

From now through January 8, 2024, The Menil Collection (1533 Sul Ross) is hosting 6 pm screenings every Wednesday through Sunday of Andy Warhol’s rare unfinished film, Sunset. Warhol was commissioned to make the film in 1964 by the museum’s founders John and Dominique de Menil and the film depicts a sunset over the Pacific Ocean in California as the light colorfully shifts at dusk, accompanied by a poetry reading by Nico of The Velvet Underground, a frequent Warhol muse. The museum is also hosting various performances and discussions in conjunction with the regular screenings.

Tuesday, August 23

Discussion — 7 Years and Counting: A Farewell Conversation with Claudia Schmuckli at Blaffer Art Museum

At 7 pm, Blaffer Art Museum (4173 Elgin) is hosting a discussion with outgoing Director and Chief Curator Claudia Schmuckli, soon departing to join the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco as Curator-in-Charge, Contemporary Art and Programing. The conversation will be led by with Katherine Veneman, Curator of Education at Blaffer, and Schmuckli will reflect upon the program she’s led at the museum over her seven years as chief curator and how she has shaped its direction.

Wednesday, August 24

Discussion — Conversation with Kathryn Hall and THIRST Artists at Capsule Gallery

From 6 to 8 pm, Capsule Gallery (3909 Main) is hosting a conversation with Houston Center for Contemporary Craft curator Kathryn Hall and artists Jan Harrell, Jessica Phillips, Heidi Gerstacker, Susan Budge, and Corey Ackelmire to discuss their work in the gallery’s current exhibition, THIRST.

Discussion — Visionary and Self-Taught Art in the Community at The Menil Collection

Starting at 7 pm, The Menil Collection is hosting a discussion led by Susanne Theis, programming director of Discovery Green, as she moderates a panel on the intersections of art and community with Smither Park designer Dan Phillips, author Pete Gershon, and curator William Fagaly. The discussion, co-presented by the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, is part of the programming for the museum’s current exhibition, As Essential as Dreams: Self-Taught Art from the Collection of Stephanie and John Smither.

Thursday, August 25

Opening Reception — Meagan Dwyer: Inner Light at Matchbox Gallery

Starting at 7 pm, Matchbox Gallery (6100 Main), the petite student-run art gallery and exhibition space at Rice University, is hosting the opening reception for Meagan Dwyer’s solo exhibition, Inner Light. The installation “explores the power and complexity of one’s own emotions and manifests them in fluid, organic glowing forms that engulf the viewer in an ethereal cave-like space.” The opening will feature beer and live music and the exhibition will be on view through September 20.

Saturday, August 27

Discussion — Homelife Gallery Talk with Dana Frankfort and Gael Stack at Inman Gallery

From 1 to 2 pm, Inman Gallery (3901 Main) is hosting a discussion with painters Dana Frankfort and Gael Stack, the organizers of Homelife, the gallery’s current group exhibition featuring selected works by 16 artists. Saturday is the last day to catch the exhibition, so take the chance to hear the organizers speak as well as catch the works before closing.

Opening Reception — Amber Kaiser and Camila Labarca-Linaweaver: Found in Translation at BLUEorange

From 6 to 9 pm, join BLUEorange (1208 W. Gray) and Duende Art Project for the opening reception of Amber Kaiser and Camila Labarca-Linaweaver’s collaborative exhibition Found in Translation. The two artists created a body of work inspired by the landscape, buildings and people the two have come in contact with through their global travels. “As the two exchanged stories of travel, they began to compare similarities between the cities, people, landscapes, even down to the doors, windows, clotheslines, and telephone wires,” and these exchanges led to the creation of the narrative and tone for the exhibition’s installations. The exhibition will be on view through September 28.

Opening Reception — Caitlin G. McCollom: Interior Mortification at BLUEorange

Also with an opening reception from 6 to 9 pm at BLUEorange is Caitlin G. McCollom’s solo exhibition Interior Mortification. The exhibition presents fifteen of the artist’s vibrantly colored paintings on paper, all created over the past two years. The exhibition — characterized as “a wandering through the physical and metaphysical revolution of the self from infectious disease and mental illness to a surrender to spiritual communion and greater mysteries of existence beyond the body” — will be on view through September 28.

by Elizabeth Rhodes