Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1420847
ART TOPICS H ot Topics at FotoFest: For the latest Texas Biennial, FotoFest enters the mix, serving as both venue and host and also contributing curatorial chops via the astute eye of Max Fields, who joins co-curators Ryan N. Dennis (formerly of Project Row Houses, now with the Mississippi Museum of Art) and Fulbright scholar Evan Garza. This art-smart trio forges a Biennial, themed "In Place of an Index," which is conceptually rigorous, deeply layered, and both intimate and globally political at the same time. On the human scale, it speaks to issues of belonging, family, migration, and identity. Many of the artists are either currently or recently based in Houston, including Autumn Knight, Ryan Hawk, Regina Agu, and Stephanie Concepcion Ramirez (through November 13). Creepy Cool Silos: Who needs a haunted-house attraction when you have the Silos. One of the high points of fall is Sculpture Month Houston's installations curated by Volker Eisele at the revamped former rice silos at Sawyer Yards. This autumn's motif, "Altamira," references the Paleolithic art of Spain's Altamira cave. Experience works by talents including Elaine Bradshaw + Emily Link, Allison Hunter, and Anthony Suber in these agrarian-industrial relics (through December 4). Linda Hofheinz's Magic Kingdom: At Heidi Vaughan Fine Art, "Linda Hofheinz: Artifacts, Images, and Tales from the Ripaängi Expeditions" features paintings and sculpture that evoke a fantastical voyage and a whiff of the Wunderkammer. Hofheinz along the way reveals herself to be a mistress of myth, fable, and enchantment, as well as a skilled recorder of the beauty of the natural world (through November 27). The Dirty South Rises: Former Contemporary Arts Museum Houston senior curator Valerie Cassel Oliver returns to town for the headline-generating exhibition she organized for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where she is modern and contemporary curator. Catch "The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse" at CAMH — an epic, sprawling exhibition that includes Houston greats Jamal Cyrus, Robert Hodge, El Franco Lee II, and Nathaniel Donnett (November 4 – February 6, 2022). The Brilliant Bott: Wrap the month with the obsessive pleasure of deciphering the painting and sculpture of H.J. Bott, the wizard of the DoV (Displacement of Volume) principle. His exhibition at Anya Tish Gallery, "A Baroque Minimalist," is the latest installment in a brilliant, idiosyncratic practice that spans six decades (through November 27). FROM FOTOFEST'S TEXAS BIENNIAL TO THE OBSESSIVE H.J. BOTT AND SURREAL SILOS, HERE'S A FAB FIVE OF WHAT TO SEE AND WHERE TO BE AS THE MONTH OF THANKS ROLLS AROUND. By Catherine D. Anspon ALL IMAGES COURTESY THE ARTISTS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE GALLERIES Clockwise from top left: Linda Hofheinz's Respite in the Garden of Memory, 2021, at Heidi Vaughan Fine Art. H.J. Bott's Candy's Dandy, But ..., 2010, at Anya Tish Gallery. Elaine Bradford and Emily Link's Summoners Cavern, 2021, at the Silos at Sawyer Yards. El Franco Lee II's DJ Screw in Heaven 2, 2016, at CAMH. 26