PAST EXHIBITIONS
2012
HOLIDAY MINI-MART & PARTY
DECEMBER 15, 2012
6:00 - 9:00 PM
Art League Houston is excited to host its first curated Holiday Mini-mART & Party on Saturday, which will feature holiday inspired drinks and food, a fantastic live DJ, as well as an exciting collection of uniquely made small works by some of Houston’s most significant and innovative artists all costing under $100 each!
Participating artists include:
ACK!, Autumn Knight, Beth Secor, Bill Davenport, Chuy Benitez, Claire Webb, Cody Ledvina, Daniel Anguilu, David Salinas, Emily Sloan, Fernando Ramirez, Heather Bause, Jason Villegas, Kelly Alison, Lisa Marie Hunter, Lovie Olivia, Magid Salmi, Marisa R. Miller, Mark Harold Ponder, Michael C. Rodriguez, M'kina Tapsott, Nathaniel Donnett, Naomi Song Bear, Nick Davis, Nicky Davis, Patrick Turk, Paul Middendorf, Phillip Pyle II, Rahul Mitra, Regina Agu, Robert Hodge, Robert Pruitt, Sandy Tramel, UNIT
The Holiday Mini-mART & Party is a new initiative hosted by ALH to specifically tap into and nurture the growth of Houston’s most exciting emerging artists by providing an exhibition platform where talent can be showcased and supported. The event will create a place for artistic discovery that can spotlight a new generation of artists, dealers, and collectors in Houston, and is just in time for holiday gift buying!
FLYING SOLO
Daniel Anguilu I Chuy Benitez I Lovie Olivia I Fernando Ramirez I Emily Sloan | Patrick Turk I Ann Wood
November 16, 2012 -January 4, 2013 I ALH Front Gallery
Flying Solo is a group exhibition organized by ALH’s Visual Arts Director Jennie Ash. This exhibition highlights seven emerging and un-represented artists who are on the rise; making major contributions to the Houston art scene but not represented by a commercial gallery. The show features works in collage, sculpture, painting, and photography by artists; Daniel Anguilu, Chuy Benitez, Lovie Olivia, Fernando Ramirez, Emily Sloan, Patrick Turk, and Ann Wood.
Identified as the nation's single most ethnically and culturally diverse metropolitan city to live in by Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research, and rated by the Huffington Post as the most moved-to city in America for people ages 25 - 34, Houston is currently in an exciting state of flux. This is especially true for Houston’s art community, which is continually reinventing itself; growing in size and strength. According to Guidestar, Houston has the largest number of small to mid-sized nonprofit arts organizations in Texas (35) with Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin all coming in under 20. If you look at that on a per capita basis; Houston in terms of density of art organizations is closer to New York city with a total of 163 small to mid-sized nonprofit art organizations.
With such a strong network of support specifically for emerging artists in Houston, why is there a growing phenomena of artists who, despite making extremely progressive work, are not represented by a commercial gallery? One answer is that many of today's emerging artists are choosing instead to become free agents; using social media tools to market their work in exhibitions/performances at nonprofit, alternative and commercial galleries, as well as their studios. As a result, an increasing number of these emerging artists are rejecting local gallery representation for out-of-state representation, as a way of having more control over their work locally, and reaching a wider audience of people outside of Houston. Meanwhile, there is also a burgeoning group of emerging artists in Houston who are extremely eager to find local representation, but have been unable to find an interested gallery.
STACKS
Jamal Cyrus I Nathaniel Donnett I Autumn Knight I Phillip Pyle | M’kina Tapscott I Garry Reece
November 16, 2012 -January 4, 2013 I ALH Main Gallery
STACKS is a group exhibition curated by Robert Pruitt. 5 week-long laboratory residencies will occupy the Main Gallery as a site of transformation addressing themes of Black imagination, creativity, and commodification. The exhibition features a series of performances and installations by five emerging artists:Jamal Cyrus, Nathaniel Donnett, Autumn Knight, Phillip Pyle II, and M'kina Tapscott. Writer Garry Reece provides an online narrative component tracking and examining each artist's project, offering his thoughts on possible meanings of the work.
On STACKS opening night, the artists invite the audience to participate by donating items and objects that are loaded with cultural stigmas, represent a negative stereotype, demeaning, poorly crafted, low budget, antiquated Black memorabilia and paraphernalia. As part of a performance the artists will destroy these materials.
STACKS looks at the relationship between cultural tropes and the notion of an authentic black experience. As a cathartic act, these five artists will use the exhibition's opening to publicly deconstruct, destroy, and de-power materials that impede the construction and reception of Black imaginative power.