Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/549779
Going, Going: Internationally exhibited Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler, Austin-based video masters of Swiss descent, have taken over the Blaffer Art Museum all summer. See why "Sound Speed Marker" is generating buzz for its elusive narrative spun around the tiny Texas hamlets of Paris, Sierra Blanca and Ryan. The installation hovers between poetry and cinema (through September 5). A Whale of a Production: Prepare for the ultimate theatrical pop-up: the world premiere of Houston-raised playwright/actor Timothy N. Evers' latest project. Evers trained at the Royal Conservatoire in Scotland and performed at Shakespeare's Globe in London, as well as with Houston companies ranging from Mildred's Umbrella to the Alley Theatre and Houston Grand Opera. The Whale; or, Moby-Dick is a one-man show produced by Horse Head Theatre Co. and directed by Alley veteran Jacey Little that stars Evers' co-writer, Phillip Hays, a performer who honed his acting skills at the Prague Shakespeare Company. Expect an avant-garde domed whale to serve as stage and seating — the 44-foot behemoth was designed by Troy Stanley, who is in the stable of Barbara Davis Gallery. Head to the Eastside to take in the production at Buffalo Bayou Partnership Silos (351 N. St. Charles St.), where Melville's classic provides loose inspiration for a unique evening of theater. (Through August 15; tickets getswallowed.bpt.me; details getswallowed.com.) Changing of the Guard: Is it a coincidence that there are vacancies at three important arts entities? The most significant news is the departure of The Menil Collection director Josef Helfenstein for the Kunstmuseum Basel, which is opening an ambitious new building next spring. For our take on the transformative tenure of Helfenstein, head to papercitymag. com. Lawndale Art Center and Houston Center for Contemporary Craft are also seeking new executive directors following the departures, respectively, of Christine West and Julie Farr, who both left to undertake independent projects. In a Nutshell: Here's what you need to know about this fall: There's a Rothko retrospective at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (opening September 20; Houston is the only American venue) and two art fairs. Pick up our September issue for an exclusive Q&A with Rothko Chapel board chair Christopher Rothko and the first peek at the Houston Fine Art Fair (September 9 – 12 at NRG Center) and the Texas Contemporary Art Fair (October 1 – 4 at the George R. Brown Convention Center). Whew! For more hot topics, follow our arts channel online, papercitymag.com. Catherine D. Anspon Art Notes Phillips Hays in Horse Head's The Whale; or, Moby-Dick, to be performed at Buffalo Bayou Partnership Silos I n many ways, the exhibition "Texas Design Now" signals a return to the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston's roots, while also fearlessly taking a chance on a pair of industry professionals who have never before curated a museum show. The boldly titled exhibit opens Friday night, August 21, in the museum's prestigious upstairs galleries (through November 29). Like the Whitney Biennial, this show spins a gutsy promise around the premise of a survey whose title posits a broad geographic swath — none other than the state of Texas. Then there's the open- ended, seemingly endless topic: design. First, some background. About a year ago, CAMH curator Dean Daderko began cooking up the idea of a design show. "The popularity of our recent exhibition 'Graphic Design: Now In Production' (which traveled to us from the Walker Art Center in 2013) piqued our interest in presenting an exhibition targeting other design aficionados," he says. CAMH regulars will also recall the seminal 2008 exhibit "Design Life Now: National Design Triennial," while students of Houston's art history will know that the museum's very first show, "This Is Contemporary Art," mounted in 1948, showcased Russell Wright ceramics, Eames chairs and architectural renderings by Frank Lloyd Wright and Walter Gropius. A year later, the inaugural show in its A-frame downtown space, "Contemporary Art in the Home," was a Bauhaus-inspired roundup that included textiles, tables, lamps and chairs. The CAMH even has a history of tapping design professionals as guest curators, as it did in 1953 with the late Houston designer Herbert Wells, who organized "The Complexion of Interiors: An Interim of Color and Light" for the then- fledgling museum. "Since we hadn't presented fashion or furniture design recently," Daderko says, "we realized THE POWER OF THREE P orcelanosa, one of Europe's most luxurious tile, bath, kitchen and hardwood companies, opened its first Houston showroom on Richmond Avenue in July. Porcelanosa is known for pushing the envelope when it comes to designing innovative materials — so much so that it constructed the new Houston store entirely from Krion, its own patented material that resembles natural stone. Flexible enough to be molded like plastic with no visible seams or grouting, Krion is understandably a hit with designers and architects. The 3,000-square-foot showroom is open to the public, offering contemporary European-style bath and kitchen fixtures and cabinetry, porcelain tile, stone, mosaics, hardwood, laminates and state-of-the art materials suitable for architecture and building. Porcelanosa, 4006 Richmond Ave., 281.605.2770, porcelanosa-usa.com. Rebecca Sherman NO STONE UNTURNED "I'M ACTING AS THE EXHIBITION COORDINATOR … BUT REALLY, THE CURATORIAL VISION AND DIRECTION FOR 'TEXAS DESIGN NOW' COME FROM CHRIS GOINS AND GARRETT HUNTER." Teresa Hubbard / Alexander Birchler's Giant, 2014, at Blaffer Art Museum C enturies before China became the epicenter for mass reproductions, it was the center of finely crafted porcelains made for the Imperial families. Young entrepreneurs Bo Jia and Alison Alten are reviving the tarnished art of fine porcelain making in China through their company, Middle Kingdom. Founded in 1998, Middle Kingdom employs highly trained artisans whose skills go back generations to produce exquisitely handmade vases and vessels in Jingdezhen, where the imperial kilns were once located. Middle Kingdom's work is part of the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and can be seen in the Forbidden City, the former Chinese imperial palace in Beijing. But fortunately, you won't have to pay a king's ransom for them. $75 to $80, at Found, foundforthehome.com. Rebecca Sherman Blue BLOODS COURTESY THE ARTISTS, TANYA BONAKDAR GALLERY, NYC, AND LORA REYNOLDS GALLERY, AUSTIN LOGAN SEBASTIAN BECK this was an ideal time to visit the concept … We reached out to two individuals whose extensive experience in their respective fields made them ideal candidates to identify talented artists and artisans working all over the state. I'm acting as the exhibition coordinator, with the expert input of curatorial associate Patricia Restrepo, but really, the curatorial vision and direction for 'Texas Design Now' come from Chris Goins and Garrett Hunter." Cue the guest organizers. Goins, general manager of retail at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is known for her unerring aesthetic, which she both mirrored and projected at her previous post as Tootsies store director. She is joined in her visual duties by interior designer Hunter, who knows more than a thing or two about home furnishings tilted to the cutting edge. (Hunter curated the Lawndale Design Fair in one of its early iterations in 2012.) From Marfa to Houston, Dallas to San Antonio and Austin, the pair ultimately chose 35 talents, showcasing approximately 200 objects from the worlds of fashion, accessories, furnishings and industrial design. "Developing a strategy to bridge these different worlds could have been challenging," says Hunter, "but early on, Chris and I agreed to get past simply using our eye muscles. We valued designs that are exquisitely crafted and detailed. At the same time, we decided to … liberate the notion of what design really meant to us, in order to also show more conceptual/abstract forms of design." Swerving from the excesses of Baroque embellishment and united by a contemporary obsession with crisp, clean lines, the co-organizers largely eschewed established talents in favor of the new. (The only well-known fashion designers in the mix are Chloe Dao and David Peck.) More typical of their approach is up-and-comer Kate de Para, whose clothing construction — jumpsuits and cocoon smocks — are fashioned from fabric patterns based on Houston painter Shane Tolbert's canvases, or Weird Wear by Lawndale Art Center's Dennis Nance (we're hoping his extremely quirky holiday-themed costumes are included). Blaffer Museum-exhibited Andy Coolquitt's extraordinary lighting designs made the cut, as did the biomorphic ceramics of emerging Houston artist Angel Oloshove, with their beautiful Olitski-like spray-painted surfaces. Also noteworthy, Austin-based newbie Finell's cubistic purses and leather goods serve up fractals in the manner of Sol LeWitt, while Ryan Reitmeyer — a well-regarded presence with Carol Piper Rugs — brings forth his own rug creations. For more top picks from "Texas Design Now," peruse our slide show at papercitymag.com. Destination design: Guest curatorial visionaries Garrett Hunter and Chris Goins with CAMH curator Dean Daderko CATHERINE D. ANSPON PREVIEWS THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM HOUSTON'S DIVE INTO THE WORLD OF FASHION AND HOME FURNISHINGS. IS IT DEEP ENOUGH? Art direction Michelle Aviña. Portrait Clay Rodriguez. — Dean Daderko