Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1195863
Art, celebrates year one in its modernist digs off West Alabama. Its anniversary show serves up paintings by Cuban-born Enrique Martínez Celaya. Based now in L.A., the artist of portraits, flora, and fauna is also an author, a former scientist, and a provost professor at USC (January 18 – February 22). Catherine D. Anspon OBSESSIONS. DECORATION. SALIENT FACTS. 14 A s the University of Houston System stakes its claim as one of the seminal universities in the country to embrace and commission public art of diversity, significance, and visual impact (the wow factor), a book that proves the collection's cultural currency arrives. Public Art Collection director and chief curator Dr. María C. Gaztambide oversaw the publication of the volume, E arly this year, The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa will temporarily shutter its luxe Trellis Spa for a multi-million- dollar facelift — adding an extensive water experience, we're told. Loyalists, fear not: A second spa opens in Highland Village Shopping Center in February, just as the Trellis temporarily closes. Perched above Escalante's restaurant, the new Solaya Spa & Salon by The Houstonian is created by Huitt-Zollars design firm with interior design by Nina Magon of Contour Interior Design. Highlights include 12-foot French doors salvaged from a period building on rue François in Paris; and crystal chandeliers designed by Charles Winston, brother of jeweler Harry Winston, which originally hung in the ballroom of The Plaza hotel in New York;. Solaya Spa & Salon by The Houstonian, 4059 Westheimer Road, 713.685.6790, solayahouston.com. Laurann Claridge SPA DAY On Site: 50 Years of Public Art of the University of Houston System. Serving as essential guide to the nearly 700 artworks housed across five campuses, On Site was published by Scala in time for the collection's 50th-anniversary celebration. Spanning the early days of public art at UHS to today and detailing 42 works reflecting the depth and range of its holdings, the book is immersive and compelling. $60, through area booksellers and Amazon. Catherine D. Anspon GLOBAL TO LOCAL: 2020'S MUST-HAVE ART BOOK N ew Year, New D e c a d e : F o r H o u s t o n 's a r t world, one of the most positive additions of the last decade has been the arrival of Rice University's Moody Center for the Arts. The immersive think tank/art space brings on porous programming that matches its buoyant building by L.A. architect Michael Maltzan. The Moody inaugurates 2020 with a compelling group show that aligns with FotoFest's biennial focus on Africa. "Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past and Present" rounds up riveting photographs (mostly portraits), sculpture, mixed media, a site-specific installation, and even virtual reality. Of the 10 artists featured, culled from Africa and the African Diaspora, only one is familiar: British-Nigerian art star Yinka Shonibare CBE, whose sculpture conflates Dutch wax-printed fabric, a staple of West African fashion, with European post-colonialism (January 24 – May 16) … Another newcomer, the re-minted Nancy Littlejohn Fine ART NOTES Omar Victor Diop's Omar Ibn Said, 2015, at Rice's Moody Center Jacob Hashimoto's Cloud Deck, 2010, at UH-Downtown COURTESY PUBLIC ART OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON SYSTEM AND SCALA ARTS & HERITAGE COURTESY GALERIE MAGNIN-A, PARIS Luury PROPERTIES. Utm DISCRETION. M E C O M P R O P E R T I E S . C O M | 7 13 . 5 5 8 . 3 3 18 LOOKING FORWARD TO BEING YOUR REALTOR IN 2020!