PaperCity Magazine

April 2019- Houston

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74 M ove over, Duane Hanson. For more than half a century, Carole A. Feuerman has sculpted figures from bronze,steel, and resin that are as astonishing in verisimilitude as they are in beauty. Her subjects are typically female swimmers wardrobed in sleek 20th-century suits with Esther Williams-style retro bathing caps. The monumental bathing beauties were most recently seen on the international stage in 2017: Posing languidly, these idealized aqua women became emblematic of the 57th Venice Biennale. Decades before contemporary hyperrealist sculptors Ron Mueck or Patricia Piccinini, New York- and Florida- based Feuerman was among the first in the world to cast figures in the then- novel hyperrealist style, in response to the photorealist movement of the 1970s in American painting. This month, see Feuerman's latest Swimmers in "Between the Drops" at Art of the World Gallery (through May 18). Eighteen works encompassing resin and bronze sculpture, silkscreens, and oil paintings, make for a hyperreal happening. AQUA WOMEN NEW MONUMENTS, NEW MEANINGS F inally, there's an answer to the controversy swirling around the Confederate monuments that dot public buildings, courthouses, and squares, from small towns to major metropolises. A recent estimate reported that 54 have been removed, while some 700 still stand. In their place, why not put forward a new monument for our time. That's just what the High Line Network has done, with its member entity, Buffalo Bayou Partnership stepping forward to participate in a bold endeavor: "New Monuments for New Cities." Those driving down Allen Parkway can pull over to Buffalo Bayou Park to take in 25 tower-shaped light boxes with well-designed areas for seating. These "New Monuments" are prominently arrayed in the meadow surrounding the Henry Moore sculpture Spindle (Allen Parkway between Gillette and Taft Streets; on view through April 30). Houston inaugurates the project, then "New Monuments" travels to outdoor public locales in Austin (Waller Creek), followed by Chicago, Toronto, and New York, where it will be installed in a commanding site at The High Line, in September. Five artists chosen by each of the five host venues participate; Houston jurors tapped Regina Agu, Jamal Cyrus, collective Sin Huellas: Delilah Montoya and Jimmy Castillo, Phillip Pyle II, and collaborators Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin. Each response is unique, from the image of Montrose's iconic bar Mary's that speaks of gay rights, mined by Vaughan and Margolin, to Pyle's take on Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk in the Rothko Chapel plaza, outfitted with dazzling gold- plated "elbows." Another critically praised Houston- based artist for "New Monuments" is Vincent Valdez, nominated by the Austin panel; his haunting image of a limp American flag is among the most poignant and powerful. Info: artleaguehouston.org, thelostcoppinistatueproject.org, artoftheworldgallery.com, buffalobayou.org/public-art. Works in "New Monuments for New Cities" at Buffalo Bayou Park, clockwise from top: Phillip Pyle II's Broken Obelisk Elbows, 2019 Denise Prince's Monument to Hypermodern Beauty, Bette from Captivating Not Captive, 2019 Jamal Cyrus' It's All in Me, 2019 Carole A. Feuerman's Next Summer, 2012, at Art of the World Gallery Carole A. Feuerman's Midpoint II, 2019, at Art of the World Gallery "NEW MONUMENTS" ARTWORK COURTESY BUFFALO BAYOU PARTNERSHIP, AQUA WOMEN COURTESY THE ARTIST AND ART OF THE WORLD GALLERY.

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