Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1433456
ART TOPICS P h o t o - F o c u s e d D o u b l e h e a d e r : C o l l e c t o r s h a v e been tracking the w o r k o f E m i l y Peacock for several y e a r s n o w. H e r photo-based images meld deadpan humor with prescient issues told powerfully through her own biographical lens; this fall, we're rewarded with a pair of exhibitions, both titled "Die Laughing." First up, catch the unflinching show at the smart bungalow-turned-art space Jonathan Hopson Gallery (through December 6). Then head to Lawndale Art Center for an ambitious installation that combines photography, sculpture, video, and performance (through January 15). Sculpture Courting Painting: At Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston's great Joe Mancuso gets a retrospective in "Get Back | 1985 – Present." Mancuso in our mind is still under-known in American art circles, and one hopes this exhibition sparks a traveling museum show. Abstract still-life paintings and a romantic chandelier installation of dried roses swathed in concrete make for poignant viewing (through January 8). Defying Craft: Two protagonists push against the definition of craft by subverting ceramics, fiber arts, embroidery, and more in multilayered bold feminist practices. Cue "Liz Cohen: The Poet" at Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, guest-curated by Phoenix Art Museum's Gilbert Vicario (through December 18), and "Later, Longer, Fewer: The Work of Jennifer Ling Datchuk," Houston Center for Contemporary Craft's 20th anniversary exhibition (through January 8). Read our extended coverage of both artists at papercitymag.com. A Date with the Past: At another bungalow art space we love, artist Sharon Engelstein's Front, f o r m e r H o u s t o n talent Robbie Austin returns in a solo entitled "Cargo." Austin's materials of choice are treasures maps to the past, reclaimed books, that in the artist's studio become vehicles for new abstract compositions (December 4 – January 8). East Africa to the Moon: At Rice University's Moody Center for the Arts, curator Ylinka Barotto organizes "The Sand Recalls the Moon's Shadow," the Houston solo debut for Kapwani Kiwanga, a Canadian-born artists of Tanzanian heritage who's also a filmmaker, A GREAT EIGHT: WE'RE GIVING THANKS FOR THESE EXHIBITIONS AND THEIR ARTIST CREATORS. By Catherine D. Anspon This page, clockwise from top: "Liz Cohen: The Poets" at Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, photographed by Paul Hester. Jennifer Ling Datchuk in "Later, Longer, Fewer," at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, photographed by Jay Clark. Joe Mancuso's Chandelier, 2014, at Barbara Davis Gallery. Facing page, from top: Robbie Austin's Ghostdancing, 2020, at Front. Emily Peacock's Die Laughing, 2021, at Jonathan Hopson Gallery. 52