Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1544028
OBSESSIONS. DECORATION. SALIENT FACTS. T his spring, Museum o f F i n e A r t s , Houston continues i t s t r a d i t i o n o f m o u n t i n g immersive crowd pleasers with "Ernesto Neto: SunForceOceanLife." The six- years-in-the-making MFAH commission is more experience than exhibition — a suspended hand-woven crochet creation that was sparked in 2012 when Wortham Curator of Latin American Art Mari Carmen Ramírez and museum group Latin Maecenas visited the Faena Art Center in Buenos Aires. There, they climbed through the original work in this monumental series and envisioned a similar piece for the vast spaces of Cullinan Hall. First debuted in May 2021 and brought back in 2026 for a fresh stream of visitors, Neto's masterpiece of polypropylene and polyester crochet filled with plastic balls — measuring 30 by 53 by 35 feet, weighing three tons, and levitating 12 feet off the ground — invites Not Your Grandma's Crochet O ne of Houston's most significant, yet under- the-radar art spaces is hidden in plain sight, blocks from the Menil: the by-appointment Transart Foundation. This month, visitors will be rewarded with Cuban émigré Reynier Leyva Novo's site- specific installation "Gut It, Forget It. Invisible Houston." The three-part exhibition is inspired by Novo's recent move to the Third Ward, the historic Black community where he spent time during his 2024 Blaffer Art Museum solo. Included are a series that pays homage to Houston's rich traditions of spiritual spaces, Sacred Dust; and a monumental 9-by-13-foot monochrome canvas that bears, beneath its surface, a painted-over scene of a street-art astronaut that dominated the now defunct Graffiti Park. The showstopper is a floor-to-ceiling assemblage where charred household furniture — notably, a ghostly piano whose keys still play — is paired with gilded sculptures of local birds. Transart founder/ curator Surpik Angelini says, "This piece invokes a personal poiesis of Novo's experiential daily wanderings through Houston's Third Ward." Through Saturday, April 18; by appointment Thursday through Saturday, contact the artist, novo83@gmail.com or 305.509.1428. See more of Novo's work at his gallery, Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino. Catherine D. Anspon Reynier Leyva Novo, Gut it, Forget it. False Calm, 2026, at Transart Foundation museum-goers to journey through the belly of a metaphoric spider, a physical task that requires balance, focus, and agility. The Rio de Janeiro-based talent, a veteran of international biennials, was taught to crochet by his grandmother; the traditional Brazilian craft medium, typically women's work, is supersized and subverted in his practice. Ramírez says, "Neto notes that the sensation of floating, the body cradled by the crocheted fruits of our labor, brings to mind a hammock, the quintessential indigenous invention that uplifts us and connects us to the wisdom and traditions of our ancestors … SunForceOceanLife also unites the disciplines of art and culture with biology and cosmology; it directly engages the body as it does a joyful dance or meditation." Through September 7, timed tickets recommended, mfah.org. Catherine D. Anspon History Reclaimed Ernesto Neto, SunForceOceanLife (installation view), 2020, at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston ALAN PEREZ 30