CATS, DOGS, BIENNIALS: A CONVERSATION WITH THE TX13 CURATORS GROUP SURVEY CURATOR BIOS COMMISSIONED PROJECT PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS TEAM / VENUES SPONSORS THANKS
3 5 145 147 151 157 159 161
INTRODUCTION STATE OF THE ART-STATE NEW AND GREATEST HITS TEXAS BIENNIAL INVITATIONAL A CLEAN, WELL-LIGHTED PLACE TEXAS BIENNIAL 2005-2011 TEAM / VENUES SPONSORS THANKS
2 2 3 31 49 51 57 59 61
v
Ten years ago, a group of friends and colleagues set out to promote the thriving but underrecognized arts community in Austin by providing an exhibition opportunity open to all Texas artists. From the start, this project has aimed to help connect artists with audiences, and to connect arts communities within the state, and beyond. There have been attempts by more established organizations to mount a statewide survey of contemporary art, but this Texas Biennial began as a grassroots effort. Put “Texas” and “Biennial” together and things begin to happen—with a lot of help and hard work. The Biennial continues to explore its role in the art community, but upon the occasion of the fifth edition of the project, some celebration and a look back seemed to be in order. We were truly thrilled to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Texas Biennial in 2013 with a range of programming across the state, including special exhibitions, performance events, panel discussions, and artist talks. And looking forward, we are honored and excited to continue to help bring more of the outstanding work of Texas artists and arts organizations to a growing audience. — Shea Little, Director
STATE OF THE ART-STATE After TX09, I returned to Los Angeles excited about the mind-blowing art I’d encountered across the state. Artists like Lee Baxter Davis, Katie Pell, Kelly Fearing, Celia Eberle, Heyd Fontenot, Jayne Lawrence, Jules Buck Jones, Christie Blizard, and Kelli Vance had defied all expectations. Happy with the contrast to the hype of LA and its Eurotrash invasion, I enthused to everyone about the fresh inventiveness and earnest creativity of what I had seen in the Lone Star State. But when I opened my mouth, I could see the eyes of artworld colleagues glaze over and a glass dome descend. They had stopped listening at the Capital T. (Thank Bush, Perry, and the State Congress for creating this behemoth of a PR problem.) I realized that my idea of organizing a traveling show called “TEXAS!!!” wasn’t likely to debut any time soon at the Whitney. Most American museums and public art spaces were more likely to take an exhibition of work by Blind Uzbekistan Photographers. Meanwhile, Texas artists go on—and that’s the point of the grassroots, low-budget, now-expanded extravaganza called the Texas Biennial. The show at Big Medium in Austin, New and Greatest Hits, presented recent and previously exhibited works by twenty-six alums nominated by former curators and jurors. The Texas Biennial Invitational at Lawndale Arts Center in Houston presented four radically different approaches to abstraction in new works by stellar Biennial artists from Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
These two fifth anniversary exhibitions celebrate great artists from the first four Texas Biennials who prove that in terms of quality, an art-state is a perfectly good substitute for an art-world. A state might not have the money or press that a world gets but it has its own rewards. States rights advocates preach the benefits of thinking locally and addressing the real interests and needs of constituents. Which is not to say that Texas artists don’t speak of things relevant to everybody. But the Texan artists we are highlighting operate on the ground, this ground, without the market, illusions, or copycat-global-speak of New York, Berlin, London, and LA. For the most part, they do their thing in order to do their thing, not to be on trend or to address the dialogue. Spreading the word in venues all over the state, TX13 affirms the unflappable presence of art against the mainstream grain, surviving despite all odds for the sake of the making. The Lone Star is a symbol of independence. And given the current state of the art world, that’s a good thing.
– Michael Duncan
2
New and Greatest Hits: Texas Biennial 2005–2011 was presented at Big Medium in Austin, August 24 – September 28, 2013.
New and Greatest Hits: Texas Biennial 2005–2011 Frances Bagley (TX07) Joshua Bienko (TX11) Justin Boyd (TX09) Susi Brister (TX11) Bill Davenport (TX09) Peat Duggins (TX05, TX07) Celia Eberle (TX05, TX09) Jonathan Faber (TX11) Heyd Fontenot (TX05, TX07, TX09) Rigoberto A. Gonzalez (TX11) Hana Hillerova (TX11) TJ Hunt (TX11) Jules Buck Jones (TX09) Baseera Khan (TX07) Jayne Lawrence (TX09) Ivan Lozano (TX09) Jonathan Marshall (TX05) Carolyn Zacharias McAdams (TX09) Linda Pace (TX07) Katie Pell (TX09) Jason Reed (TX11) Matthew Rodriguez (TX05) Anthony Sonnenberg (TX11) Shane Tolbert (TX11) Kelli Vance (TX09) Jade Walker (TX09, TX11)
CURATORS
Michael Duncan Virginia Rutledge
4
Mirror Mirror (2007); mixed media; 48 x 102 x 102” TX07
LINDA PACE
Born 1945, San Antonio, TX (d. 2007) BA Trinity University, San Antonio TX, 1980 Founded Artpace 1993 Founded Linda Pace Foundation 2003
In an artist statement written in 2005, Pace noted: “I have always been interested in how the ordinary can become extraordinary.” According to Pace, this sculpture “employ[s] mirrors as a metaphor for reflection and the multifaceted nature of self.”
Daedalus Nine: Peninsula Dead (2013); video, with sound, TV monitor, canvas, styrofoam, latex paint, PVC piping; 156 x 144 x 108�
JULES BUCK JONES Born 1981, Northampton, MA BFA Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 2005 MFA University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 2008 Teaches at TX State University, San Marcos, TX Represented by DUTTON Gallery, Austin TX; Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX; and McMurtrey Gallery, Houston, TX
I make paintings, drawings, sculpture, and video. The works I create are attempts to simulate, mirror, observe, and abstract the natural world. I draw inspiration primarily from biology and mythology. I am interested in the parallels and divergences shared by these two fields of study.
6
The Sound of Silence (2013); oil on canvas; 42 x 54�
KELLI VANCE Born 1983 in Garland, TX Lives in Houston, TX BFA University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 2005 MFA University of Houston, TX, 2008 Teaches at University of Houston, TX Represented by McCalin Gallery, Houston TX and Sam Freeman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
I am interested in the emotions we experience as human beings and how painting can lend itself to the exploration of this psychological realm. The anxieties and uncertainties we live with are a catalyst for creating unstable and often nervous narratives where the story is never quite given whole.
Vibrational-1 (2013); bucket from beneath Roosevelt Bridge, sound of bells from Uzes Cathedral and English sparrows from Austin, brass bell from my mother, amplifier, speaker wire, transducers; installation variable
JUSTIN BOYD Born 1974 in Irving, TX Lives in San Antonio, TX BFA University of Texas at San Antonio, TX MFA California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA, 2003 Chair of Sculpture and Integrated Media at the Southwest School of Art, San Antonio, TX
Through installations, sculptures, videos and sound pieces, my work explores rural and urban landscapes in search of moments of inspiration and manifestations of our collective spirit. My work hopes to expand upon our histories and the places we call home, seeking to highlight our exploration and participation in the landscapes we’ve created.
8
Black Trees (2012); archival pigment print on Hahnemühle photorag; 44 x 44”
SUSI BRISTER Born 1979 in San Marcos, TX Lives in Austin, TX BA Studio Art, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2001 BA Cultural Anthropology, The University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2001 MFA Concordia University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada, 2008 Teaches at St. Edward’s University, Austin, TX
These photographs depict anonymous figures covered in synthetic textiles and inserted into various landscapes as mysterious organic forms. Recent images from this series situate these ambiguous figures within unearthly landscapes of the American Southwest, enhancing the strangeness of the figure/environment relationship and introducing further slippage between the real and the imaginary.
Nike, Adidas, Reebok (or, Little Bangs in a Big Bang) (2009); acrylic on paper mounted on panel; 46 x 84” (Private Collection)
JONATHAN MARSHALL Born 1981 in Morgantown, WV Lives in Brooklyn, NY BFA University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2003 MFA Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 2010 Represented by Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
I left Texas in 2008, and now live and work in Brooklyn, New York. The years I spent as a young Texas artist encouraged me to pursue my work as a way of life and a way of making a living. I’m eternally grateful to the ever supportive Texas art community.
10
Glasstire Write-a-Thon (2013); interactive public performance
BILL DAVENPORT Born 1962 in Houston, TX Lives in Houston, TX BFA Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 1986 MFA University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, 1990 Editor, Glasstire.com
“New and Greatest Hits: Texas Biennial 2005-2011” opened yesterday at Big Medium‘s slick new space at the Canopy building in Austin. As part of the opening festivities, Glasstire was there, inciting people to make snap judgments, write them down, and publish them for all the world to see via our Instagram feed. — Bill Davenport, “Everyone’s a (Glasstire) Critic at the Texas Biennial,” Glasstire.com
Looking with Your Eyes Closed (2009); stop motion animation, 1:15 minutes; presentation variable
BASEERA KHAN Born 1980 in Denton, TX Lives in Brooklyn, NY BFA University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 2005 MFA Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 2012 Represented by Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Ruptures exist where identities merge, and art surfaces at these edges. Painting, writing, and moving images document and translate these rifts. Artwork fails when it is sequestered to the market of contemporary art; my work happens wherever I have the privilege to think. Its presentation occurs in what I find equitable.
12
Captain Dirty Bear and His Dirty Cub Cadets Contemplate the Impossibility of Physical Permanence in the Merciless March of Time (2013); performance; duration and presentation variable Beauty is Not Benign (2010); bear skin rug, brass sheeting, brass piping; 24 x 67 x 60” (Collection of Bonnie Gammill, Austin, TX) TX11
ANTHONY SONNENBERG Born 1986 in Graham TX Lives in Seattle, WA BFA University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2009 MFA University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2012 Some people look at the annals of art history and marvel at how far we’ve come. All I can think about is how little we’ve changed. I transform items and ideas from the past with actions and craft in the present, and make work that firmly looks to the future.
13
St. Boniface’s Last Day (2010); HD video projection, with sound, 8:22 minutes; installation variable The Gathering: II Evening (2003); acrylic on canvas; 72 x 100” (Collection of Nicole Blair, Austin, TX) TX05
PEAT DUGGINS Born 1977 in Omaha, NE Lives in Boston, MA Represented by Art Palace Gallery, Houston, TX In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Romantics emerged from a milieu of rapid industrialization to re-envision humanity’s relationship with nature, connecting their idea of wilderness to the sublime and the spiritual. My recent work investigates how their fetishizing of nature laid the framework for modern environmental discourse.
14
Comb (2012); turtle shell; 8.5 x 6.5 x 3” (Collection of Karol Howard and George Morton, Plano, TX) Plenty (2012); bone, wire; 17 x 5.5 x 3.5” (Collection of Sherry Owens, Dallas, TX) Shadow (2008); bone, coral, jet; 7 x 4.25 x 3.5” (Collection of Pauline Hudel-Smith, Dallas, TX) TX09
CELIA EBERLE
Born 1950 in Sulphur Springs, TX Lives in Ennis, TX BFA Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX, 1974 Represented by Cris Worley Fine Arts, Dallas, TX
Since my first appearance in the 2005 Biennial, my use of materials has evolved a great deal, while my core interest in the changeless aspects of the human condition has been reinforced by national and world events.
Ancla (Anchor) (2012); oil on linen; 36 x 48”
RIGOBERTO A. GONZALEZ Lives in Harlingen, TX Born 1973 in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico BFA The University of Texas Pan American, Edinburg, TX, 1999 MFA The New York Academy of Art, New York, NY, 2004 Represented by Gallery Rigoberto A Gonzalez Studio, Harlingen, TX
The sublime beauty of the West, of the frontier, of the border... “La Frontera”: its beauty hides many tragedies. My current work grapples with the genocide inflicted on its indigenous people and the victims of our current immigration policies.
16
Figure 7 (2012); exercise bike, fabric, pillow, thread, chair parts; installation variable
JADE WALKER Born 1977 in Tampa, FL Lives in Austin, TX BFA University of Florida Gainesville, FL, 2000 MFA University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2005 Director of the Visual Arts Center, University of Texas at Austin, TX
My work is born of a personal struggle with spectatorship, binaries within gender, abstraction, narrative, desire, and the body as a temporal form. The macro of the body and the micro of organ or skin features are present in each work, evident in stuffed bulbous forms and small stitches.
Big Lori/Big Tony (2007); tinted gesso and oil on canvas; 60 x 48” TX09 Justin After Rodin’s Stinker (2013); graphite and ink on paper; 24 x 18” Buck, After Courbet’s l’Origine du Monde (2013); graphite and ink on colored paper; 23 x 28.5”
HEYD FONTENOT Born 1964 in Lake Charles, LA Lives in Dallas, TX BFA Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, LA, 1986 Director of CentralTrak, University of Texas, Dallas, TX Represented by Inman Gallery in Houston and Conduit Gallery in Dallas, TX
It’s not my intention to make specifically erotic or non-erotic paintings. Intimacy is the focus, rather than titillation. Sexual expression is a metaphor for communication. Social politics, personalities and relationships, either actual or fictionalized—he concentration of the work is on the intricacies of human interaction.
18
One Square Block (2013); graphite on paper; 49 x 84” Huntress (2008); mixed media; 48 x 56 x 24” TX09
JAYNE LAWRENCE Born 1956 in Elmhurst, IL Lives in San Antonio, TX BFA University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, 1993 MFA University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, 2000 Represented by David Shelton Gallery, Houston, TX My work continues to examine the social and cultural inconsistencies I find in the paradigms that affect identity and behavior. My visual vocabulary includes three recurring symbols: the insect, which represents our alter ego or instinctual behavior; the human form, representing our physical selves; and architecture representing location, structure and environment.
19
Silent Witness (2012); oil on panel; 12 x 9� Evidence Field (2012); oil on panel; 16 x 26�
CAROLYN ZACHARIAS MCADAMS Born 1957 in Wichita Falls, TX Lives in Valley View, TX BFA University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 1996 Represented by Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas, TX and LeMieux Gallery, New Orleans, LA I am a storyteller. My paintings are fantasy, rooted in the natural world. The most significant change in my work since exhibiting in the 2009 Biennial has been my palette. I have traded unnatural oranges and acid greens for the more subtle colors of nature that surround me.
20
21
Custom House (2013); archival inkjet print; 16 x 20” (from the series Without Being Seen) Border (2010); HD video projection; 6:15 minutes; presentation variable TX11
JASON REED Born 1980 in Edmond, OK Lives in New Braunfels, TX BA University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2003 MFA Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 2007 Assistant Professor, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX Represented by Galerie Reinthaler, Vienna, Austria My work is driven by a sustained fascination with the interplay between culture and the land, in particular the outlying spaces and places of West Texas and the U.S./Mexico border. This work is a part of an ongoing, long-term investment in picturing this complex social geography.
still from SUB ROSA (2013); GIF; presentation variable PAUL (FOR PETER AND LUKE) (2007); digital video projection, with sound, 3:32 minutes; presentation variable TX09
IVAN LOZANO Born 1981 in Guadalajara, Mexico Lives in Chicago, IL BS Radio, Television and Film University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2005 MFA School of the Art Institute Chicago, IL, 2011 Teaches at School of the Art Institute Chicago, IL I grew up in Mexico, where the colonially imposed Catholic faith was hijacked by native traditions. This creolized identity has provided me with a model for my investigations into the erotics of digital images and the scars that technologies of reproduction manifest on them.
22
Breaking Ground II (2013); earth taken from private property sites, mirrors, photographs; installation variable
TJ HUNT
Born 1985 in Abilene, TX Lives in Austin, TX BFA University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2010
My work investigates what it means to self-identify as an artist in the current age of ever-expanding artistic pluralism. This extends to an interest in the intersection of daily life with the lofty and, by some perspectives, largely inaccessible qualities of much modern and contemporary art.
Blanket (2012); oil on canvas; 48 x 42.5�
JONATHAN FABER Born 1970 in New Orleans, LA Lives in Austin, TX BFA Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 1994 MFA University of Texas at Austin, TX, 2003 Represented by David Shelton Gallery, Houston, TX
My work involves the paradox of memory and observation, seeking out subjects that co-exist between the expansive and the intimate, the recognizable and the ambiguous. Subjects are drawn from domestic and landscape settings as they manifest from memories of places or things observed, lived with, or passed through.
24
Mirror (2010); sodium chlorine solution on commercially dyed fiber; 79 x 79 x 1.75” TX11 Untitled (2) (2013); acrylic on canvas; 19 x 16” Untitled (5) (2013); acrylic on canvas; 19 x 16”
SHANE TOLBERT Born 1985 in Corsicana, TX Lives in Houston, TX BFA University of Houston, TX, 2008 MFA University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 2010 Represented by McClain Gallery, Houston, TX
Many artists claim to be democratic, but Shane Tolbert truly is a democratic artist. He understands the power of giving in to himself in order to give outward to others. In his most democratic moments, he indulges the sexier surfaces and raunchier moments of painting, and thus allows viewers to get off on the act without actually committing to it. – Keith J. Varadi
Unvoiced Question (2010); fabric, epoxy resin, steel; 48 x 27 x 29” Braided Rug (2006); human hair in one continuous 644 ft. braid; 99 x 72” TX07
FRANCES BAGLEY Born 1946 in Fayetteville, TN Lives in Dallas, TX MFA Sculpture, University of North Texas, Denton TX, 1980 Apprenticeship in Ceramics, Michael Leach, Yelland Pottery, Devon, England, 1971-72 MA Art Education, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 1971 BFA Painting, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 1969
I find my voice in the process of searching. Informed by situations of social concern and experiences I have excavated from my past, I use all aspects of form, sometimes human, sometimes animal, to investigate questions of our relationship to each other, to other beings, and to our environment.
26
Untitled (Networks of Light) (2013); watercolor on paper; 26”x 40” Untitled (Networks of Light 2) (2013); watercolor on paper; 26”x 40”
HANA HILLEROVA Born 1975 Prague, Czechoslovakia Lives in Houston, TX MGR Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, 2000 MFA University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 2004 Represented by Hiram Butler Gallery, Houston, TX
My drawings, sculptures and installations relate to complex, expanding networks in physical and spiritual dimensions. I am interested in the non-stop flux of energy and information in systems, the tipping point between order and chaos, and parallel non-linear spaces. How to express the total, vibrant connectedness between each particle of the universe?
ARTRAPS, TehChing Hsieh (2009) and ARTRAPS, Lewitt, Sol (2010); video, with sound, looped; presentation variable (Private Collection) TX11 To Work (2013); video, with sound, 2:17 minutes; presentation variable
JOSHUA BIENKO Born 1978 in Dunkirk, NY Lives in Knoxville, TN MFA Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 2008 Teaches at University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN Collective member of Ortega y Gasset Projects, Queens, NY
I’m working on a quicker crossover. I’m also adjusting the position of my hands when I shoot. I think the ball gets too high, so I’m trying to bring it down closer to my forehead. I want a quicker release and a higher trajectory. I’m trying to play instinctively. It’s more difficult than it sounds.
28
Storm Raining Down Love and Concern (2009); oil on PVC; 132 x 140 x 120� Reverse Mask Templates (2013); paper and varied media; 72 x 120�
KATIE PELL Born 1965 Wilmington Delaware Lives in San Antonio, TX BFA Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 1987 MFA University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, 2010 Teaches at University of Texas at San Antonio
I am inspired by the boardwalk, congregating teenagers, hopeless (therefore all) love, furious disappointment, operatic and dramatic music, and the hilarity of playing it cool. You write your own creation myth out of your environment, your desire, and some justifiable fury aimed at your genetic mediocrity. I hope my work can describe the excitement of our pointless and forgettable lives and create a physical record of our gorgeous uselessness.
Austin, Don’t Waste Your Waiting, Solemnly Sailing, Valentino, Cereal (2012); mixed media installation
BRIAR BONIFACIO
Born in Austin, TX Lives in Austin TX Self taught
My art hasn’t changed much since I was three years old. I recently got a box from my dad of colored drawings and artful letters I made when I was three, four, and five years old. I discovered I was drawing all these things thirty years ago and signing them “Bonifacio”.
30
The Texas Biennial Invitational was presented at Lawndale Art Center in Houston, August 24 – September 28, 2013.
TEXAS BIENNIAL INVITATIONAL: CHRISTIE BLIZARD, MARCELYN MCNEIL, TOM ORR AND BRAD TUCKER
CURATORS Michael Duncan Virginia Rutledge
32
Walk Project (my last four weeks living in Lubbock, TX), 5/20/13, 6/1/13, 6/15/13, 6/22/13 (2013); photo documentation of performance; mixed media installation including acrylic paintings on canvas, nylon rope Glow painting (Lubbock facsimile) (2013); glow pigment on vinyl banner with black lights; 72 x 72�
CHRISTIE BLIZARD
works in a variety of media focusing on the convergence of painting and drawing and socially engaged practices. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include the 2009 and 2011 Texas Biennials; New American Paintings 96 West Edition and 108 West Edition; and solo exhibitions at Lawndale Art Center, Houston, and Women & Their Work, Austin. She has been a visiting artist at numerous universities across the United States. Recent residencies and fellowships include the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, NH; CentralTrak–The Artist Residency of the University of Texas at Dallas; and the SIM Artist Residency in Reykjavik, Iceland. Born 1978 in Indianapolis, IN Lives in San Antonio, TX BFA Herron School of Art and Design, Indianapolis, IN, 2001 MFA Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 2005 Teaches at the University of Texas, San Antonio, TX
Walk Project (visiting where I grew up in Columbus, IN), 7/4/13 (2013); video animation of performance documentation, looped
34
Michael Duncan: Where are “The Walks” going? Christie Blizard: Overall, they are not going anywhere in particular, I am just trying to have a different perspective on my surroundings while interacting with people in a more overt way. I am also gradually trying to increase the distance. My first one was about 16 miles, and the longest one so far was about 19 miles. I’d like to do one around 25 miles or more if I can make it. I view the walks in a very general way as showing a work of art to people when they are not expecting it. They are also about the burden one carries around, or even a kind of penance. I am not religious, but my dad’s side of the family is Catholic. I think I inherited something of that, and it is showing up here. I began the project by going around my driving route to work and back plus a few detours, but then I got a bit more ambitious and started exploring other parts of Lubbock, where I used to live until moving recently to San Antonio. Over the summer I did some walks in New York and in Indiana, where I grew up. I plan to go on. MD: Do your paintings change on the road? CB: Most haven’t really changed so far on the road, other than a few dirt marks and bumps. Perhaps the exposure to the West Texas sun has faded them a bit as well. But I have built a camera attachment for the paintings, so I can paint as I walk and document it every 30 seconds or so. MD: Is this land art? CB: I can see the project as land art in a certain way. It is dependent on the landscape for its meaning. The paintings are paintings, but other facets of the project, such as some of the photo collages and flip books I have made, explore not only the act of being seen in a place, but the landscape as a kind of unfolding panorama that changes me during various phases of the performance. By the end, I am definitely in a different state of mind, exhausted but pleasantly so. The walks make me feel embedded into the space, one that I often feel somewhat detached from, and whether people honk or don’t even notice what I am doing, something about the absurdity of it keeps me going.
michaEL DUNCAN is an independent curator and critic living in Los Angeles. His numerous exhibitions and publications include most recently Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent (2013) and Jess: O! Tricky Cad and Other Jessoterica (2012). Duncan is also a corresponding editor for Art in America. He was the curator of the 2009 Texas Biennial.
35
Christie Blizard performed two walks through Houston on Saturday, September 7, 2013 and Sunday, September 15, 2013.
36
Nothing More Nothing Less (2013); oil on canvas; 62 x 58”
37
Red Herring (2012); oil on canvas; 60 x 58”
Marcelyn McNeil paints primarily in oils, using an abstract visual vocabulary. Recent exhibitions include the 2011 and 2013 Texas Biennials, and a solo show at the Galveston Art Center in 2013. McNeil has also exhibited her work frequently in Houston, Dallas and Chicago, and was selected for the Kansas Biennial in 2008. Her work has been published in multiple editions of New American Paintings. In 2011-2012, McNeil received the Milton and Sally Avery Award while in residence at the MacDowell Colony, NH. She is represented by Anya Tish Gallery, Houston, TX and Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX. Born 1965 in Wichita, KS Lives in Houston, TX BFA Pacific NW College of Art, Portland, OR, 1993 MFA University of Illinois at Chicago, IL, 1998 Teaches at the University of Houston, TX
Orange Like A Pro (2013); oil and spray paint on canvas; 63 x 58�
Virginia Rutledge: Where do your images come from? Do you see them in advance of their realization as paintings, or are they formed more through process? Marcelyn McNeil: The paintings are about identifying simple forms that embody assertiveness, a kind of awkwardness, and vulnerability at once. The masses and forms delineated are often lithe or bulbous, and subtly reference structure, architecture and human anatomy. I work with my canvas flat on the ground much of the time. This is because I pour paint directly onto the surface. I only use oils, with the occasional exception of spray paint, because of the type of staining and soiling I can get. Sometimes I pour shapes seven or eight times before I’m satisfied. VR: Many of your paintings are close to the same shape and dimension, which feels like something you’ve worked out with a particular aim in mind. How did you arrive at this format? MM: I’m trying to make a bodily connection or establish a familiarity with the viewer. This speaks to the scale of the work, roughly five or six feet, about our size as individuals.
VR: Do you see yourself as forwarding “abstract painting”? MM: A popular strategy in painting today is to introduce some type of intervention into the equation. I’m talking about the use of technology, foreign materials, objects, or by reconsidering how paint physically occupies space. For now, I am choosing to operate within a “traditional” format using oils. The pressure to make a relevant painting within traditional parameters is incredible, and honestly I don’t know that I succeed. I will say I present work that is both distilled and animated in a way that I don’t commonly see. My paintings read as bold and simple at a distance and are very vulnerable and nuanced up close. I want to suspend form between being sculptural, flat, and spatial. This is provocative to me, keeping me engaged. VR: Have you ever been asked to paint something to match a sofa? MM: Fortunately, no.
VR: When do you title the paintings? Have you ever changed a title or completely repainted a work? MM: Because I develop my work while painting, the titles most often come at the very end. For me, assigning a title is one of the most difficult parts of the whole process. And yes, if a painting is still in my studio I consider it fair game. I am fairly notorious for reworking work.
VIRGINIA RUTLEDGE is an art historian, advisor, and attorney who lives in New York and Texas. Her practice focuses on contemporary art, intellectual property, and cultural organizations. Rutledge curated the 2011 Texas Biennial and is Curator-at-Large of the 2013 Texas Biennial.
39
40
TOM ORR
makes works that often combine sculptural and imagistic elements. Throughout his career he has exhibited extensively in the United States and Japan, and has created site-specific works for several venues in both countries. His public art projects include large-scale wall installations in the international terminal at the Dallas Ft. Worth Airport; a station design for Dallas Area Rapid Transit; and a major sculptural installation for Love Field Airport in Dallas (2013). His work is represented in numerous private and public collections including the Foundation of Culture, Osaka, Japan; The El Paso Museum of Art; and the Utsukushi-Ga-Hara Open-Air Museum, Nagano, Japan. He was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2011. Orr exhibited in the 2007 and 2011 Texas Biennials. He is represented by Barry Whistler Gallery, Dallas, TX. Born 1950 in Dallas, TX Lives in Dallas, TX BFA Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, 1973
Fingerprint 5 (2007); silkscreen on wood; 81 x 81 x 3.5�
Portrait (2013); mixed media; 37 x 44 x 23�
ZZZZZZZ (2012); mixed media; 120 x 60 x 19”
Ghost Story (2011); mixed media; 67 x 96 x 51”
42
John Pomara: About a decade ago I noticed there was a distinctive change in your work. The works began to appear more casually installed, with objects and ephemera seemingly randomly placed or stacked against a wall. It seemed as if four or five works were intermingling as one, existing freely, formed with little orchestration. What happened? Tom Orr: I began to be more interested in the collection of materials, objects and experiments in my studio than I was in the more finished, deliberate, completed pieces. I was missing the natural instinctive approach I began with as an artist. In those early years, I focused on shadow, light reflection and line, making temporary installations. So, I decided to stop building structures for a while and create loose arrangements by leaning, layering and balancing materials, in order to express a sense of immediacy and necessity. It took me awhile to exhibit these pieces. They are challenging to accept but very liberating. JP: Yes, as a viewer I felt you engaged your audience in a visual interaction in the structuring of form and its unpredictable outcome. It was like improvising as an artist, and being unsure of the destination. It appeared as if you combined the formalism you grew up with, artists such as Judd, Flavin and Andre, and added materials that mucked it up, and polluted its formalism. TO: I did grow up with Judd, Flavin and Andre as major influences, but I was also appreciating Alan Shields, Alan Saret and Lynda Benglis. Those artists added a more visceral level to concepts of the day. The way Shields combined sculpture and painting and his loose use of materials always stuck in my brain.
43
JP: You found a new form in the mess or arrangements that followed. Were you conscious of these canonical artists and pushing past that? TO: I have not been as conscious of trying to go beyond all those artists as much as trying to make the work my own. I have sought to express myself as honestly and true to my nature as possible. JP: I recall being invited over to see these odd groupings of materials that seemed like rambunctious youth gangs hanging around the studio. How could you tell a work was finished? TO: The work tells me when it is finished. Sometimes that happens right away and sometimes it takes time. I do have a studio large enough to leave work up to look at and listen to. JP: Shortly after you started showing this new work you also began including abstract digital photos in the mix. TO: The digital prints are often altered images of my sculpture. I am drawn by the collaboration with the computer because in my case, I don’t have total control. My job is to know when to stop the abstraction and save the image. So the computer and I are breaking down the image of something I have physically made, into an abstract print. JP: A year or two ago you showed me a picture of one of your earliest works that you had rediscovered. It consisted of several panels of glass leaning against one another. Visually it seemed more related to your current work, almost like it was premature, perhaps even promiscuous for its time in your studio. TO: Those early seventies works are extremely important to everything I have done since. They came from a totally clear vision of what was and still is important and meaningful in my thinking. They were based on basic principles of light, shadow, line, reflection and materials, which I have never stopped thinking about. Since those early days my work has taken different tracks at different times, and has gotten more complex, but the same concerns have always been there. JP: I see that. Next time, I’ll ask about your titles, which I love.
John Pomara is an artist whose work has been shown extensively in solo and group exhibitions in New York, Chicago, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles and London. He is based in Dallas, where he is a professor at the University of Texas, Dallas. Pomara was a juror for the 2007 Texas Biennial.
44
BRAD TUCKER
works across media. His work has been widely exhibited at venues including P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center and SculptureCenter, New York, NY; Dallas Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Art, Houston; Old Jail Art Center, Albany, TX; Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND; Arthouse, Austin; and Sala Diaz, San Antonio; in addition to numerous shows at commercial galleries in Texas, New York, and London. Tucker has also given multi-media performances in conjunction with exhibitions at Dallas Museum of Art; the 2007 and 2011 Texas Biennials; Bard College, New Annandale, NY; Texas Christian University, Fort Worth; Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, San Antonio; and Arthouse, Austin. He is represented by Inman Gallery, Houston, TX. Born 1965 in West Covina, CA Lives in Austin, TX BFA University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 1991 MFA Bard College, Annandale, NY, 2009 Teaches at Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Body and Voice (2013); acrylic and enamel on wood, various fabrics, latex rubber, installation of 9 individual units; presentation variable
46
47
Kate Green: Your installations, and the objects you arrange in them, come off as playful. Do you give yourself rules in the studio? Brad Tucker: I remember showing at a gallery once and hearing my work described as “conceptual sculpture.” At the time, I had not yet settled on a category for my work and I felt pretty flattered by the term. However, time has passed, and when I think about it, my work is not very conceptual at all. I use loose ideas—like creating a coterie of bass players or making homemade TV trays—merely as a way to begin generating objects. I play with the language of the ideas and create new forms and eventually break the ideas because they are often flawed. If an idea still stands after I’ve abused it with clunky handiwork, then perhaps it will still be worthwhile. KG: Sometimes you perform “with” your installations and sometimes the objects in your installations invite people to do something with them. What about this performative element? BT: I use performance as a way of merging different aspects of my personality, and, in turn, my work. As much as I can, I want to put my whole self into my art. I go back and forth, though. I enjoy the private immersion I feel when I work alone in my studio and then the idea of performing in front of others is repellant. But sometimes, while I am working, some old musical idea returns to my imagination and I want to bring the music to life in front of other people and be, I don’t know, an awkward entertainer. When I include objects that invite interaction from viewers it is separate from my desire to perform. The invitation is not explicit so people seldom do physically engage my work. Even if they don’t, I want them to be aware of the suggestion and the potential use of the objects. And I want the objects to act in a way that suggests they are conscious of people. KG: Your work often involves records and instruments that are handmade or cast. Which band’s album cover would you like to design? BT: I would rather design the amps and speakers for a group like Three-Day Stubble, or any other appropriate nerdy rock group that wouldn’t be embarrassed by equipment that is more frumpy than cool. KG: If you could do a two-person show with any other person—living or dead—who would you choose? BT: I’ll go with Mondrian. His work is an inspiration to me. For some reason I feel it wouldn’t completely overpower mine. Can you make it happen? If not, put me with Malevich. KG: If you were not ridiculously busy as an artist, educator, and parent… dream side job? BT: I love what I do, and I am happy to keep on doing it. If I needed to add something to my list, I’d start a rock ’n’ roll camp for kids with disabilities. I think that might just be a good match for my own particular batch of peculiarities.
KATE GREEN is a doctoral student at the University of Texas, Austin. She has worked as a curator and educator for Artpace, San Antonio, TX, and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York, NY, and has written for numerous publications. Green was a juror for the 2007 Texas Biennial.
48
A CLEAN, WELL-LIGHTED PLACE
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is a public performance project of the Texas Biennial, launched March 10–12, 2013 in Austin, Texas and online at www.texasbiennial.org. From 6pm–midnight over three days during the SXSW festival—a time when Austin is focused on interactive media, film and music—the event staged an optimistic place for public conversation about visual art and art criticism. The performance venue was an empty street-level commercial space at 823 Congress Avenue, located in the heart of downtown Austin. Local participants including artists, critics, art historians, curators, arts administrators, educators, museum patrons, collectors and gallerists read selections from the texts they find most pertinent to their understanding of contemporary art. Readings and video of readings by remote participants were streamed live from www.texasbiennial.org. A continuous Twitter feed provided context and commentary. The project is titled after the short story by Ernest Hemingway published in 1933. “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is a provocative, complex narrative about the desire and need for public spaces for conversation. It opens in a cafe, very late at night.
Support for the launch of A Clean, Well-Lighted Place was
The story provided the inspiration for the name that Dave Hickey gave to the art gallery he and then wife Mary Jane Taylor co-founded in 1967, in Austin. While short-lived, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, the gallery, was influential in bringing attention to contemporary art being made in Texas. Hickey later became an art critic known for his commitment to talking about beauty, and his withering denunciations of certain aspects of the artworld.
provided by T. Stacy & Associates; CapRidge Partners, LLC; Tenant Solutions; Titan Datacom; Webcore Technologies; and Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Web streaming and production support was provided by Fine Blend Media and PIPE Projects.
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place is an ongoing project envisioned to exist occasionally, but always with both a physical and virtual component.
50
TEXAS BIENNIAL 2005–2011
The Texas Biennial was started in 2005 by a group of friends based in Austin. In addition to myself, the group included Jon Lawrence, Arturo Palacios, Joseph Phillips, Jana Swec and Rachel Koper. For our first catalog, juror Bill Davenport wrote an essay describing the Texas Biennial as a gripe magnet. That has certainly proven to be true. But it has also been a magnet for some terrifically creative and community-minded people. Over the years, the project has made many more friends, and we are grateful to them all. To all of the Biennial’s supporters: thank you. This catalog documents what you have helped make possible. — Shea Little, Director
2005
ARTISTS William Betts Rosalyn Bodycomb Elaine Bradford Candace Briceño Richard Budd Serena Lin Bush Jerry Chamkis Susan Cheal Jonas Criscoe Patricia Donahue Peat Duggins Celia Eberle Chris Ferebee Ali Fitzgerald Heyd Fontenot Faith Gay Christine Gray Matthew Guest Joe Ives Lance Jones Young-Min Kang Barna Kantor Jimmy Kuehnle Janaki Lennie Jason Makepeace Jonathan Marshall Richard Martinez Seth Mittag Mari Omori Nina Rizzo Matthew Rodriguez Annie Simpson Charlotte Smith Debra Sugarman Daniel Tackett
Jurors Bill Davenport Ben Fyffe Benito Huerta Sara Kellner Rachel Koper Jon Lawrence Shea Little Arturo Palacios Jimmy Peña Joseph Phillips Allison Sands Michael Sieben Hills Snyder Jana Swec Jeff Wheeler
VENUES Bolm Studios (Austin) Camp Fig (Austin) Dougherty Arts Center (Austin) Eastside Artist Co-op (Austin) Gallery Lombardi (Austin)
How dare this show call itself the Texas Biennial? Well, relax. Despite the authoritarian title, this show is not run by big institutions or the government. No one gave the organizers of this show the right to be the Texas Biennial; they found it abandoned, and simply took it. Along with the name “Texas Biennial” comes a world of trouble. It gets everyone’s hopes up. It promises continuity, implies authority, and is inevitably seen as a summing-up of Texas art. Suddenly, your innocent sprawling juried show becomes a gripe magnet. This is really the third Texas Biennial, anyway. Dallas’ DARE had one in 1993, Houston’s Contemporary Arts Museum had a Texas Triennial in 1998. Both were juried shows, each sought to present a snapshot of Texas art, neither was repeated. Now it’s Austin’s turn. It’s useful to think of the three shows, in 1998, 1993, and 2005, as a continuous tradition: a bipolar history in which peaks of ambition trail off into troughs of apathy only to regenerate again with new players. It’s the classic boom-and-bust cycle, and very Texas. Can this show present a perfectly balanced, complete and correct overview of Texas Art? Of course not. It’s more interesting than that. This third biennial draws the attention of the Texas art scene towards the burgeoning network of mostly new, mostly uncommercial artists and art spaces of Austin, making good use of the Biennial glamor to pull in over 600 entries, among them exciting new works and artists I’ve never seen before. In other art centers there’s a rigid hierarchy of prestige, wealth and tradition which confers the right to biennialize; here in Texas we have a hierarchy of energy: whoever will make the effort, gets the goods. The subterranean swell of Austin art has used the biennial idea to flex its muscles on a statewide stage, without any sanctions at all beyond the willingness to take the lumps. Bill Davenport Houston, TX
52
2007
TX07 featured several outdoor sculptures, including Tom Matthews’ Surplus IV (2007).
In 2007, our multiple venue model included portable storage units used as exhibition space in a field near downtown Austin.
ARTISTS Andrew Anderson Frances Bagley Jarrod Beck Robert Bellini William Betts Candace Briceño Tiffany Carbonneau David Chien Mark Collop Erin Curtis Jeffrey Dell Peat Duggins Emilie Duval Corey Escoto Virginia Fleck Heyd Fontenot Buster Graybill Devon Grey Michele Grinstead and Nancy O’Connor Lily Hanson William Hundley Mimi Kato Baseera Khan Tom Matthews Charlie Morris Kurt Mueller Kelly O’Connor Tom Orr Linda Pace Matthew Roberts Soody Sharifi Noah Simblist Gary Sweeney Brad Tucker Michelle Gonzales Valdez Michael Velliquette Rebecca Ward David Ubias
Jurors Ursula Davila-Villa Fairfax Dorn Kate Green Valerie Cassel Oliver John Pomara
VENUES Bolm Studios (Austin) Dougherty Arts Center (Austin) Okay Mountain (Austin) Site 1808 (Austin)
53
ARTISTS Christie Blizard Justin Boyd Leigh Brodie Susan Budge Marc Burckhardt Jeanne Cassanova Susan Cheal Catherine Colangelo Beau Commeaux Andy Coolquitt Paula Cox Adrienne Cullins Celia Eberle Heyd Fontenot Angela Fox Kana Harada Jeannette Hernandez Juan Hernandez Simeen Ishaque Jules Buck Jones Kathryn Kelley Natalie Kleinecke Helen Kwiatkowski Ryan Lauderdale Peter Leighton Anne Longo Ivan Lozano Christa Mares Mona Marshall Tom Matthews Carolyn Zacharias McAdams
S Mary Morse John Mulvany Katy O’Connor Dawn Okoro Kim Cadmus Owens Harmony Padgett Jamie Panzer Justin Parr Katie Pell Gladys Poorte Olga Nicolaevna Porter Anila Quayyum Agha William Rosshirt Winter Rusiloski Cody Scrogum Charlotte Smith Morgan Sorne Keith Allyn Spencer John Spriggins Mary Stengel Raychael Stine Barry Stone John Swanger James Talbot Terri Thomas Raymond Uhlir Paul Valadez Marilyn Waligore Jade Walker Vivian Wolfe
2009
TX09 included four solo shows featuring several works by each artist. This is Lee Baxter Davis’ Sitter DeeBee from 2007 (ink wash, watercolor and collage on paper; 28 x 20”).
SOLO ARTISTS William Cannings Lee Baxter Davis Jayne Lawrence Kelli Vance
TEMPORARY OUTDOOR PROJECTS Co-commissioned by Austin’s Art in Public Places Ryah Christensen Bill Davenport Sasha Dela Buster Graybill Ken Little Colin McIntyre Jill Pangallo
With the support of Austin’s Art in Public Places program, the 2009 Biennial commissioned and presented seven works by Texas artists, including Homeland Security (2009) by Ken Little, which was installed at the Long Center, Austin.
TRIBUTE ARTIST Kelly Fearing (1918-2011)
CURATORS Michael Duncan Risa Puleo co-curator, Temporary Outdoor Projects
VENUES Big Medium (Austin) MASS Gallery (Austin) Mexican American Cultural Center (Austin) Okay Mountain (Austin) Pump Project Art Complex (Austin) Women and their Work (Austin)
Pioneering Texas modernist Kelly Fearing (1918–2011) was the subject of a tribute exhibition at Women & Their Work in Austin, where this photo of the artist with his Spirit Deer at a Yellow Edge (1970) was taken.
54
2011
Mary Ellen Carroll’s prototype 180 (2010) in Houston was one of five site-specific artworks around the state designated as part of TX11.
ARTISTS
S
Joshua Bienko Matthew Bourbon Susi Brister Shannon Cannings Bernardo Cantu Elizabeth Chiles Kristen Cochran Catherine Colangelo Clarke Curtis Gabriel Dawe Esteban Delgado Cassandra Emswiler Jonathan Faber Laurie Frick Michael Anthony García Anthony Garza Lori Giesler Rigoberto A. Gonzalez Nathan Green Timothy Harding Nicholas Hay Hillerbrand + Magsamen Hana Hillerova Katy Horan
TJ Hunt Kathryn Kelley Dion Laurent Jessica Mallios Richard Martinez Marcelyn McNeil Brandon Miller Rahul Mitra Olivia Moore Kia Neill Tom Orr Brent Ozaeta Ricardo Paniagua Jason Reed Carin Rodenborn Abby Ronaldes Sam Sanford Anthony Sonnenberg Barry Stone Shane Tolbert Brad Tucker Cathie Tyler H. David Waddell Jade Walker
INVITED ARTISTS Christie Blizard Margarita Cabrera Mary Ellen Carroll Trenton Doyle Hancock Annette Lawrence James Magee
Our participating organizations initiative began in 2011, with over 60 arts organizations and artist collectives around the state joining in with their own programming focussed on contemporary art in Texas. During our opening weekend in Austin, April 15-16, many attended a conference sponsored by the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Linda Pace Foundation. The collective Ryder Jon Piotrs Nomadic Gallery also brought their mobile venue to Austin that weekend and performed Unpacking Access, a demonstration of their portable gallery kit.
On April 16, 2011, the Blanton Museum of Art hosted “Like a Whole Other Country? The State of Contemporary Art in Texas”, a panel co-presented with the journal Art Lies and supported by Texas Humanities, featuring (L-R) Alison de Lima Greene, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Richard Shiff, David Pagel, Margarita Cabrera, and Virginia Rutledge.
55
CURATOR Virginia Rutledge
VENUES 1319 Rosewood Avenue (Austin) Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (Austin) Big Medium (Austin) Pump Project Art Complex (Austin) The Visual Arts Center (Austin) Women & Their Work (Austin) BOX 13 Artspace (Houston) Blue Star Contemporary Art Center (San Antonio)
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
M
Joe Arredondo Kate Bonansinga Valerie Cassel Oliver Frances Colpitt Kimberly Davenport Fairfax Dorn Matthew Drutt Steven Evans Bill FitzGibbons Sue Graze Joseph Havel Benito Huerta
Toby Kamps Andrea Karnes Constance Lowe Laurence Miller Dennis Nance John Pomara Claudia Schmuckli David S. Rubin Wendy Watriss Clint Willour Charles Wylie
In addition to those identified in the preceding pages, there are numerous other people who have supported the Biennial in a variety of ways, writing catalog texts, constructing temporary walls, speaking at an event, offering advice, making a contact‌. We thank again:
Rachel Adams Jasmin Arce Kimberly Aubuchon Michael Auping Liliane Avalos Ryan Ayers Corey Baum Hollis Baxter Ron Berry Nicole Blair Jenna Blakely Haley Bonds Adrienne Breaux Richard Brettell Peter Briggs Jessica Bright Rhonda Brown Debra Broz Margarita Cabrera Adam Carnes Dara Carrillo Leslie Moody Castro Kelly Chambliss Aimee Chang Sarah Cobb Rachel Cook Matt Cowan Chris Cowden Megan Crigger Steve Cruz Maceo Dailey Lana Dietrich Kate Donegan Elizabeth Dunbar Kelly Eaton Monica Hernandez Eeds Daniel Escobar Laura Esparza Melissa Espinales Lindsey Ford Dana Friis-Hansen Kimberli Gant Mallory Garibay Christa Gary Sean Gaulager Theresa Gebhardt Dieter Geisler Michael L. Gillette Andrew Grimes Megan Van Groll Angali Gupta Trenton Doyle Hancock David Hermann Cindy Hill Kenny Hosch Tedra Hunt Leigh Hutchens Lisa Jenkins Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Jones Tonia Jones Dan Kaplan Michelle Kapp-Cabaniss Kelly Klaasmeyer Rainey Knudson Benjamin Lima Erin Lindley Spot Long Barbara Lugge Eric Lupfer Walter Maciel Gaye Greever McElwain Kevin McNamee-Tweed Happy Mercado Fiona Moran Adrienne Mountfield Kurt Mueller Giselle Munoz Jorge Munoz Elizabeth Murray Dennis Nance Doreen Nichols Jessica Nieri Matt Norris Patty Ortiz Julia Ott Adrian Page David Pagel Judy Paul Doug Pollard Nicole Portwood Meredith Powell Dave Rauchwerk Christina Rees Holly Reynolds Josh Rios Edith Rodriguez Gabriel Rodriguez Alli Rogers John Rosato Judith Gaskin Ross Danny Roth Stephen Ruback Jessica Nicewarner Rutledge Cindy Salome Manolo Samayoa Allison Sands Deborah Page Schneider Rebecca Scofield Katy Scull Kate Sheerin Richard Shiff Michael Sieben Noah Simblish Penelope Skliros Carissa L. Smith Tyler Stallings Terri Thornton Jason Tuggle Meghan Turner Jean Claire van Ryzin Chris Vestre Johnny Villareal Lawrence Waung Cherie Weaver Jason Webb Laura Wiegand Danny Witte Herlinda Zamora Erika Zanetti
56
TEAM / VENUES
Director Shea Little
Curator-at-Large Virginia Rutledge
Media and Development Lauren Gehrig
Operations Jana Swec Jess Jones Anastasia Colombo
Program Associates Jon Windham Kevin McNamee-Tweed Jordan Gentry Camden Torres Roze Braunstein
Christie Blizard creating one of her glow paintings for the opening of the Texas Biennial Invitational, August 23, 2013. (Visible in the background is Skywriting, a collaboration between Houston artists Daniel Anguilu and Aaron Parazette for the Lawndale Mural Project.)
Volunteer Coordination Amy Barton Meagan Smith
Exhibition Design Lawrence Waung
Art Handlers Kevin McNamee-Tweed Rhett Radon Caleb Tracy Jorge Medina
Construction Team Jon Lawrence Mano Samayoa Michael (Star) Franklin
Documentation Amanda Winkles Skylar Evans Meredi Wagner-Hoehn
Video Production Chad Nickle
Volunteers Adriรกn Mata Anaya Julia Champine Courtney DiSabato Jordan Gentry Myrriah Gossett Shawn Grona Adam Hilton Claire Lilly Melissa McGavock Ricardo Medina Joanna Moore Philip Nasday Joe Rizzo Rachel Rosenberg Mano Samayoa Brenda Schild Meagan Smith Meredi Wagner-Hoehn
One of the quieter moments at the opening of New and Greatest Hits: Texas Biennial 2005-2011, August 24, 2013
Lawndale Art Center develops local contemporary artists and the audience for their art. Lawndale is dedicated to the presentation of contemporary art with an emphasis on work by Houston artists. Lawndale presents exhibitions, lectures and events, and offers an annual residency program to further the creative exchange of ideas among Houston’s diverse artistic, cultural, and student communities. www.lawndaleartcenter.org
Christine Jelson West Dennis Nance Emily Link Kelly Montana Daniel Bertalot Andrea Rodriguez
Programs at Lawndale Art Center are supported in part by The National Endowment for the Arts; Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; The City of Houston through the Houston Museum District Association; The Texas Commission on the Arts; Houston Endowment; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; The John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation; and The John P. McGovern Foundation.
Big Medium produces visual arts programming that establishes an outlet for local and Texas artists to promote and exhibit their work, while fostering relationships with their surrounding communities. Current programming includes the East Austin Studio Tour, the West Austin Studio Tour, and the Texas Biennial. Big Medium also presents innovative, contemporary exhibitions throughout the year in two dedicated gallery spaces and provides affordable studio space to artists. www.bigmedium.org Big Medium is funded in part by the City of Austin through the Economic Growth & Redevelopment Services Office/Cultural Arts Division believing an investment in the Arts is an investment in Austin’s future. Big Medium is also supported by the Texas Commission on the Arts and by generous contributions from private donors.
Shea Little Jana Swec Jess Jones Anastasia Colombo Jon Windham Kevin McNamee-Tweed Jordan Gentry Camden Torres Roze Braunstein
58
2005–2011 SPONSORS
The Texas Biennial is a program of Big Medium, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting contemporary art throughout Texas, funded in part by the City of Austin, Cultural Arts Division. The Biennial is proud to recognize the following sponsors who supported the project’s growth from 2005 through 2011.
PUBLIC FUNDING Art in Public Places, City of Austin Austin Parks and Recreation Department Cultural Arts Division, City of Austin Humanities Texas National Endowment for the Arts Texas Commission on the Arts
GRANT SUPPORT Art Alliance Austin Booth Heritage Foundation Fluent~Collaborative Humanities Texas Linda Pace Foundation Susan Vaughan Foundation The Buddy Taub Foundation
DONORS Anonymous Paul and Ilene Barr Suzanne Deal Booth and David G. Booth Sheila and Colin Buechler Lisa Burgess Eva Buttacavoli Annette Carlozzi Michael Casias Jennifer Chenoweth Michael A. Chesser John Christensen Jay Cowles and Katelena Hernandez Cowles Ann Daughety Ron Deutsch Will Dibrell and Beverly Bajema Till Richter and Catherine Dossin Frames of Reference Browne and Diane Goodwin Ann Graham Greater Denton Arts Council Deborah Green Sandra Gregor Ken Hale Dana Harper and Hana Hillerova Dana Friis-Hansen and Mark Holzbach Inman Gallery Jachacles Group Drew Johnson and Elizabeth Joblin Gay Fay Kelly Rhonda Kelly and Mike Lawrence Jeanne and Michael Klein Davey and Audrey Lamb Antonio LaPastina
Virginia Lebermann Emily Little Stephanie and Scott Little Camille Lyons Fran Magee Danny Martin Leslie Martin Patrick Martin Chris Mattsson Carl McQueary Melissa Miller Laurence Miller Moody Gallery Don Mullins Marissa and Chad Nickle Charles H. Oerter Steve Redman Michael and Virginia Riley Jim and Jan Roberts Sheila Rogers Jane and Bob Rutledge Jane Scott The Screamer Company Deborah Page Schneider Reza Shirazi Sherry Smith Robert and Hillary Summers Carmen Tawil Terri Thomas and Randy Potts Julie Thornton Carol Wagner Wally Workman Gallery Michael P. Windham David Windham Anne Elizabeth Wynn
IN-KIND SUPPORT 360 Press Solutions 816 Congress American Printing Art Lies Azul Bay 11 Studio BuildaSign.com Aldo Valdés Böhm Café Mundi Central Market Clown Dog Bikes Constructive Ventures Domy Books Glasstire Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors H-E-B Hill Country Springs Water Michelle Kapp-Cabaniss Design Omni Austin Hotel Downtown Opal Divine’s Parts & Labour Real Ale Brewing Company Republic Tequila Specific Type Studio 512 Sweet Leaf Iced Teas Tito’s Handmade Vodka Trailer Space Records W Austin Hotel Whole Foods Market Wildworld Graphic
60
THANKS
The Texas Biennial could not exist without the support and collaborative spirit of many individuals and organizations. The dedicated team members, inspiringly engaged curators and jurors, wonderful partnering venues, and very generous sponsors involved in the project to date are identified in the preceding pages, and have our ongoing gratitude. Here, we recognize some individuals who made a special difference to the 2013 edition of the project and the celebration of our fifth anniversary focused on contemporary art in Texas. Thank you!
Suzanne Deal Booth, Rick Liberto, Emily Little, Lester Marks, and Judy and Scott Nyquist for hosting such extraordinary celebrations. Mike Chesser, Michael Duncan, Joseph Havel, Omar LopezChahoud, Laurence Miller, John Pomara, Dario Robleto, Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, and Laura Wiegand for your excellent advice and counsel. Jonathon Glus and Felix Padron for your enthusiasm and commitment to the entire Texas art community.
We were excited to launch our participatory public performance project, A Clean Well-Lighted Place, during SXSW. ACWLP was made possible by some very generous Austin businesses and key people at each of them who saw the point of this demonstration of community: Tom Stacy of CapRidge Partners, LLC; Fredrick Cornelius at T. Stacy & Associates; Toby Bazarte at Tenant Solutions; Will Wood at Titan Datacom; Jennifer Hodgdon and JD Gutierrez at Webcore Technologies, Inc.; and Chad Nickle at Fine Blend Media.
Bert Butler Beveridge, creator of Tito’s Handmade Vodka, for truly refreshing support of our arts community. (And Crystal Rios and P. Grant Portier for keeping logistics easy.) Matt Kramer and Megan Morrissey at Crater Art Shipping in Seattle for supreme professionalism.
And, of course, a very special thanks to all the terrific readers, local and remote—too many to list here!—who contributed by showing up with favorite texts or uploading videos and keeping us company late into the night. Our super volunteer cafe managers and bartenders did a great job of making everyone in the local audience feel they had found a good place to be.
Daryl Kunik, Abe Zimmerman, Judy and Loyd Provost, and Michael Hsu of Canopy for giving us space (literally). Mary and Bernard Arocha, Leslie and Brad Bucher, Fairfax Dorn, Nancy and Gary Fullerton, Kerry Inman, Virginia Lebermann, Stephanie and Scott Little, Arturo Palacios, and Leigh and Reggie Smith for your warm hospitality. Pamela Finkelstein, Jo Gordon, Riley Robinson, Stephen Shallcross, Nick Treviño, and Jason Tuggle and Cindy Salome for going above and beyond.
The occasion of our fifth anniversary prompted “Why a Texas Biennial?”, a series of public discussions about the biennial model and contemporary art and audiences in Texas. The talks were kicked off with the help of Joseph Havel and Mary Leclère at the Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and continued at our venue partners CentralTrak and Blue Star. Many thanks to everyone who joined the conversation and especially to our panelists: Steven Evans, Julia Barbosa Landois, Annette Lawrence, Mary Leclère, David Pagel, John Pomara, Christina Rees, Dario Robleto, David Rubin, Noah Simblist, Michelle White, and Clint Willour.
Darren Bell, Jason Olson, Kristen Regina, and Sammy for your encouragement. On the occasion of the opening of TX13, we had a blast touring the contemporary art scene in Austin, Houston, and San Antonio with some special guests, who experienced much of the best of Texas thanks to fabulous hosts: in Austin— Daryl Kunik and Shaady Ghadessy at W Austin Hotel and Charisse Sayers at Uchi Restaurants, Austin; in Houston—Jonathan Glus, Marie Jacinto, Matthew Lennon, and Diem Jones at Houston Arts Alliance; Holly Clapham and A.J. Mistretta at the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau; Laurette Cañizares at the Houston Museum District Association; Stephanie Summerall and Micheline Stephens at Hotel Derek; and the amazing owners, chefs and staff at Américas and Reef; and in San Antonio—Felix Padron and Diana Hidalgo at City of San Antonio, Department & Culture and Creative Development; Krystal Jones at the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau; Sandra Puente at Hotel Havana; and the also amazing owners, chefs and staff at Biga on the Banks and Bliss. Thanks as well to friends and colleagues who spent time with us: Kathy Armstrong (Southwest School of Art, San Antonio); René P. Barilleaux and Daniela Oliver-Portillo (McNay Art Museum, San Antonio); Annette Carlozzi (The Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin); Julie Farr and Mary Headrick (Houston Center for Contemporary Craft); Louis Grachos (The Contemporary Austin); Mary Heathcott (Artpace, San Antonio); Josef Helfenstein and Vance Muse (The Menil Collection, Houston); Vinod Hopson and Jennifer Ward (FotoFest, Houston); Debbie Morgan and Kelly O’Connor (Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio); Andy Rihn (MASS Gallery, Austin); David S. Rubin (San Antonio Museum of Art); Claudia Schmuckli (Blaffer Art Museum at The University of Houston); and Jade Walker (The University of Texas at Austin Visual Arts Center).
Our curatorial and editorial colleagues are an incredible group—it has been an honor and pleasure to work with you all. Renewed thanks to the previous Biennial curators and jurors for their nominations of artists selected for our anniversary exhibitions, and particularly to Michael Duncan, Kate Green, and John Pomara for the interviews they conducted for this catalog. Kurt Mueller was an able and heroic editor of the conversation among the TX13 curators. Finally, we are indebted to some friends and colleagues who have been involved with the Biennial for multiple iterations: Chris Cowden and Rachel Koper at Women & Their Work; Bill FitzGibbons at Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum; Fairfax Dorn and Erin Kimmel at Ballroom Marfa; Dennis Nance, first at BOX 13 ArtSpace and then again at Lawndale Art Center, with the incomparable Christine Jelson West; Steven Evans, in his roles at both Linda Pace Foundation and Blue Star; Debra Broz at Pump Projects; the OKAY Mountain collective; Megan Crigger at the Cultural Arts Division, City of Austin; and Laura Wiegand at Texas Commission on the Arts. And a very special thanks to Dr. Dennis M. Kratz, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas, for bringing the Biennial to Dallas. Catalog Concept Shea Little Specific Type Graphic Design Shea Little Jon Windham Photography All photography by the artists or Texas Biennial, except: p. 53 (top) Don Mason; p. 54 (top) Steve Hopson; p. 55 Kenny Trice; p. 57 (top) Courtesy of Lawndale Art Center; p. 57 (bottom) Matthew Irwin. Printing 360 Press Solutions
www.texasbiennial.org
61