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CINCO : A QUINTET OF NEW ART SPACES REMAP THE SCENE GRISAILLE AND GRAVITAS ON MONTROSE "T he new, larger space allows us to expand our programming and mount more robust and unexpected presentations," says David Shelton, whose arrival in town nearly four years ago marked the most significant addition to Houston's gallery scene within the past decade. With stints at Nina Ricci, Max Factor and Netscape in, respectively, NY, L.A. and San Francisco, as well as significant time in San Antonio, where he incubated a gallery known for its risk taking and intelligent dialogue, Shelton took a leap of faith this spring and moved from smallish digs in Isabella Court to one of 4411 Montrose's anchor spaces (originally occupied by Wade Wilson, before his move to Santa Fe). Recently on view was Dallas-based Stephen Lapthisophon's commentary upon the beauty of natural materials and the passage of time, somber paintings flavored with ingredients that could be from a chef's kitchen — from turmeric and cinnamon to paprika and dill, as F ROM SHOWS FOR SPICE-SPRINKLED CANVASES TO SERVING UP SURREAL, CENSORABLE NUDES, HERE ARE FOUR DEALERS AND ONE REVAMPED NONPROFIT YOU NEED TO KNOW, PLUS A GUIDE TO THEIR BEST TALENT. TAKE NOTE OF THE MOTORCYCLE-RIDING Ph.D. FROM PITTSBURGH WHO ONCE RAIDED WARHOL'S TIME CAPSULES. FROM STEEL CITY TO HOUSTON MUSEUM DISTRICT THIS NONPROFIT HAS MET ITS MATCH W hen DiverseWorks decamped to Midtown in 2012, it was because its previous home along the East Freeway's historic warehouses had lost its currency and become cut off from new energy and residents in the Main Street corridor. The move was also in preparation for the unfurling of MATCH (Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston) and DW making its home there. Fait accompli — and the best decision the nonprofit has ever made. This spring, DiverseWorks — one of Houston's most storied performance and visual nonprofits, dating back to the wild, freewheeling early '80s scene — has a light-filled new home, pairing spacious exhibition galleries in the new Lake/Flato- and Studio Red-designed arts Mecca with auditoriums for performance that are cleverly titled Matchboxes. The inaugural show, organized by newly promoted curator Rachel Cook, won raves for its smart examination of new technology and advertising and its effect on consumerism and our bodies, while including some captivating fashion-influenced work that nodded to Versace. Cook works alongside other savvy, plugged-in arts administrators, significantly female-led, to steer the nonprofit helmed by Xandra Eden. Planned for late April: "The School for the Movement of the Technicolor People" pairs installation with performance, tapping L.A.-based Taisha Paggett and WXPT in collaboration with Ashley Hunt and Kim Zumpfe. Recreating a dance rehearsal studio, photo shoot and experimental classroom, the exhibition probes the question "What is a Black dance curriculum today?" (April 30 – May 28). Collectors ,take note: Wednesday, April 20, DW's celebrated Luck of the Draw returns; Golden and Silver tickets plus a Benjamin insure you'll come home with a wall-worthy work of art. DiverseWorks, 3400 Main St., info@diverseworks.org; diverseworks.org. CATHERINE D. ANSPON REPORTS. PHOTOGRAPHED AND PRODUCED BY JENNY ANTILL CLIFTON. well as traditional oil stick and charcoal. Now up: one of the most watched talents in Shelton's stable, MFAH Core Fellow Rodrigo Valenzuela, in conjunction with FotoFest, presenting an amalgamation of architecture, photography and installation that addresses a new topic for the artist: the concept of roadside shrines (through April 16). Post Valenzuela, Shelton presents Pop-feminist collagist Kelly O'Connor, then adroit abstract painter Jonathan Faber, recipient of a Pollock Krasner Fellowship. But it's September's lineup that has collectors already lining up, with a solo planned for the master of graphite, grisaille and gravitas Vincent Valdez. The San Antonio-based, Rhode Island School of Design-educated talent is at work on a series based on the Ku Klux Klan; The New York Times just did a studio visit and penned a profile, but not for the art section — for its election year coverage, underscoring that Valdez's work addresses subjects that are more profound than the art market. David Shelton Gallery, 4411 Montrose Blvd., 713.393.7319, davidsheltongallery.com. A nother recent addition to the 4411 Montrose gallery building is Cindy Lisica Gallery. Its owner has an intriguing, international pedigree: She wields a Ph.D. from University of the Arts London, paired with curatorial stints that encompass the Tate Britain and Tate London, independent projects in Paris, then time at The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh (in the archives), where she raided Warhol's Time Capsules to curate displays in the museum and at international venues from the Power Station of Art in Shanghai to the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. In Houston, she divides her time between the registrar's department at The Menil Collection, teaching at the University of Houston and her gallery — a rebranded iteration of the one she launched two years ago in her hometown, Pittsburgh. Notwithstanding intellectual chops and an impressive CV, Lisica is warm and approachable. This motorcycle-riding, Mandarin-speaking global gallerist — the daughter of a Croatian and English father and a Shanghai-born Chinese mother — is initially mounting shows for artists she exhibited in Pennsylvania. She's putting Steel City talents in the limelight, including this month's solo, "Plastics" for Travis K. Schwab, whose languid and cool realist portraits capture fame, fandom and celebrity culture in the best tradition of Warhol (April 22 – May 28). The self-taught Schwab, an alum of a New American Paintings volume, has exhibited in the Pop king's museum. Lisica's summer solo will be design oriented: Carnegie Mellon-grad Jamie Earnest's collage- based paintings mine the luxe interiors and home decor of Warhol, Hockney and Mr. Chow (unveiling Friday, June 3). Cindy Lisica Gallery, 4411 Montrose, 713.807.7760, cindy-lisica.squarespace.com. RODRIGO VALENZUELA COURTESY THE ARTIST AND DAVID SHELTON GALLERY COURTESY THE ARTIST AND CINDY LISICA GALLERY Taisha Paggett and WXPT in collaboration with Ashley Hunt and Kim Zumpfe's "The School for the Movement of the Technicolor People," 2016, coming to DiverseWorks April 30 – May 28 COURTESY THE ARTISTS AND DIVERSEWORKS Clockwise from top: DiverseWorks' quartet Rachel Cook, Xandra Eden, Taylor Hoblitzell, and Jennifer Gardner, with an installation by Versace Versace Versace David Shelton with Vincent Valdez's The Strangest Fruit 2, 2013 Rodrigo Valenzuela's Animita #1, 2016, at David Shelton Gallery Cindy Lisica with Fabrizio Gerbino's Purge, 2012-2016 Travis K. Schwab's Wig (III), 2015, at Cindy Lisica Gallery