PLATFORM

ABOUT PLATFORM

Art League Houston is excited to present PLATFORM, a new, ongoing opportunity for artists to exhibit new works of temporary public art on a billboard-like platform on the exterior of the ALH building. This program grew out of ALH’s strong history of presenting public art projects such as Insta11ations (2019-21); 360 Degrees Vanishing by Selven Jarmon (2014-19); The Funnel Tunnel by Patrick Renner (2012-13), and Inversion by Havel Ruck projects (2005-06).

The platform was originally designed for a monumental, site-responsive paper artwork by artist Hong Hong which was installed on the façade of ALH’s building adjacent to the Sculpture Garden from April through July 2021. In response to the continued pandemic, ALH opted to keep the wall installed as part of the organization's ongoing effort to create new opportunities for the community to engage with art in a safe way. The program commissions new work and encourages artists to grapple with the challenges of presenting artwork in the public realm, in an outdoor environment, and at a large scale while offering an exciting and important opportunity for artists to exhibit temporary public artwork outdoors.

This project is generously funded in part by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, Mid-America Arts Alliance, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the state arts agencies of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.

I’m always Here for You

Thomas Tran

Art League Houston (ALH) is pleased to present our sixth and final PLATFORM installation, I’m Always Here for You, by Thomas Tran. Through the large-scale acrylic painting, Tran transports the viewer into the imagined space he dubs the Only World, where  individualism is juxtaposed with the forces that cannot be controlled. 

Pulling from past experiences, relationships, and thoughts for the imagery, the Only World is not too far off from Tran’s reality. He is interested in the self-preserving nature of Self and its relentless determination to believe it is independent, despite the fact there are so many factors outside of one’s choosing.  I’m Always Here for You is inspired by Tran’s relationship between Self and Universe, and comes to the conclusion that all things are connected.

Through personal anecdotal symbolism, a world that does not have to make sense is shown, and its inherent chaos is contrasted by the helplessness of one who resists it. When one makes the choice to open up and be vulnerable, they can then communicate with the world around them.

About the Artist

Thomas Tran is an artist from Alief-Houston, Texas. He is Vietnamese-American, 26-years-old, and likes to make art simply around his everyday thoughts and feelings. He enjoys getting to know people, psychology, manga & anime, video games, sad music, and traveling. He creates illustrations, comics, and murals. 

Tran earned his BFA in illustration at the Columbus College of Art and Design. His book, Bubba Stories, was published in 2018 and features a story told through graphite illustrations and comics of a character named Bubba exploring a subconscious-inspired world in order to find a feeling he can't describe. Illustrations from this book won Honorable Mention at the AOI (Art of Illustration) show in 2018. Tran’s work has also been featured in Bonfire’s 2019 annual anthology, Victory Road, and Cactus Juice. In 2019, he was a recipient of the Support Artist and Creative Individuals grant from the City of Houston. This led to the creation of the New Alief Community Mural 2019 at Universal Plaza in Vietnam/Chinatown in Bellaire, the first mural in the area celebrating the Alief community. In 2022, he also created the Longevity mural in Houston's Asiatown.

Artist Website | Instagram: @artbythomas

Wall of wonder and wishing

Isela Aguirre

On View: April 15, 2023 – May 20, 2023

Opening Reception and Artist Talk: 2 – 4 PM Saturday, April 15, 2023 | PLATFORM

Art League Houston (ALH) proudly presents Wall of wonder and wishing, a public art installation by Houston-based artist Isela Aguirre. Using nature as a key part of her practice, Aguirre infuses cyanotype photography, thread, vinyl, lights, and found materials to leave behind a visual snapshot of the diary of her life experiences. As the project weathers the Houston climate, the ephemerality of the piece reflects the ever-fleeting memories that evolve over time.

Wall of wonder and wishing embraces light and color both naturally and synthetically by capturing shadows and silhouettes through a cyanotype process and through the usage of LED lights. Since the presence of natural light creates a duality to the piece, Aguirre encourages the viewer to visit the installation at different times of the day. Wall of wonder and wishing breathes life into Aguirre’s experiences as she returns the piece back to nature to fully actualize the work.

About the Artist
Isela Aguirre is a multi-disciplinary artist born and raised in Houston, Texas. She uses camera-less photography, textiles, color, and installation in her work. Her work is colorful, playful, and portable, with an air of the ephemeral and non-precious. Aguirre is interested in the exciting freewheeling feeling that comes along with not knowing exactly how a painting will evolve. Aguirre uses nature as her muse and captures what she can with light and color. The process of physically making an idea materialize is a complete spiritual experience that is at times exciting and celebratory, but it is always healing.

Artist Website | Instagram

The Secret Society of Grief

Royal Sumikat

On View: February 24 - April 8, 2023

Opening Reception: 6 - 8 PM, Friday, February 24, 2023

Artist Talk: 2 PM, Saturday, February 25, 2023 | PLATFORM

Art League Houston (ALH) proudly presents The Secret Society of Grief, a public art installation by artist Royal Sumikat. In an era where the COVID pandemic forced grieving loved ones to find alternative avenues for processing emotions and finding comfort, Sumikat offers the viewer a space to feel connected and understood. This piece is the visual accompaniment for Sumikat’'s poem written after losing their father unexpectedly in the summer of 2022:

Grief is a secret society.

A mystery school of initiates

Who gather

To hold each other up

And 

Only speak of it discreetly to

Protect the comforts of the uninitiated.

Grief members gather around in support of a new initiate to the Grief Society. Each of them carries a crystal representing the rarity and beauty of the love they had for the person who passed away. The new initiate struggles to lift themself up from the floor as they bear the immense weight of the gigantic crystal symbolizing love's double-edged sword: the deeper the connection, the heavier the loss. As time passes, the crystal, still rare and beautiful, reduces in size and the seasoned initiates take on the duty of supporting new members as grief becomes more manageable to carry. Everyone eventually becomes initiated.

ABOUT

Born in the Philippines and currently residing in Houston, Texas – multimedia artist Royal Sumikat is a dynamic human and a futuristic artist. They work with spray paint, gouache, acrylic paints, markers, and illustrates with Procreate. The images in their works come off as if they’re contradicting each other but are intentionally done to highlight contrast and juxtapositions in colors, textures, and ideas.

Royal’s work is informed by their experience as an immigrant, organizer, and priestess – taking inspiration from the spaces afforded by these different identities. Storytelling and mythology is prevalent in their work as they aim to strengthen the connection they have with their ancestors.

We gon put it on the Hood, before we put it on God

Gregory Michael Carter

On View: Dec 16, 2022 - February 11, 2023

Art League Houston (ALH) is proud to present We gon put it on the Hood, before we put it on God, an exhibition by artist Gregory Michael Carter. In this third presentation in ALH’s newest public art initiative Platform, Carter investigates the current political climate by referencing a range of influences including product and graphic design, mecha anime, West African and Renaissance sculpture, and American television culture, among others.

Carter draws inspiration from the poetry of Lucille Clifton (1936 – 2010) and her deep engagement with history as a subject and its potential reframing through literature and the arts. For this exhibition, the artist references an excerpt of Clifton’s renowned poem i am accused of tending to the past: 

i am accused of tending to the past 

as if i made it, 

as if i sculpted it 

with my own hands. i did not.

-Lucile Clifton 

Carter’s research-based practice also deeply engages with current political events. The artist states: “In April, the governor of Florida signed into law a bill that is designed to restrict the discussion of race and privilege in classrooms and in the workplace. Much of the work I’ve done over the past few years deals with the idea of gathering true history, wherever it may hide, and creating new relics based on those truths, to replace the ones stolen by the Europeans and the Americans during the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. In many instances these works seem to repair the damage to the collective black image, due to a consistent attack by the inherently racist American media. This particular work is an interactive one that addresses some of my views on the current political climate here in the U.S.”

Morning Fields

Julie DeVries

On View: August 19 - December 4, 2022

Morning Fields is a large-scale painting from my Fields series,” says the artist. “It consists of various lines, patterns, colors, and transparencies that are made in spontaneous and improvisational ways to create an allover image informed by the visual environment around Houston, a visually layered city with uncontrollable growth, saturated color, and light, in a constant humidity induced state of decay.” Morning Fields is inspired by a walking path in a small section of forest in the local park near her neighborhood. This park is not a pristine natural environment, it’s a small wild respite wedged against Houston’s urban and suburban sprawl, something rare in that area of town. Julie walks there several times a week, usually around sunrise when patches of warm light dot the canopy and illuminate the depths of the dense flora. The imagery is memory-based and is meant to evoke the overwhelming and moving sensation of being surrounded by various patterns of leaves, endless greens, and warm dappled sunlight.

READING THE WEATHER

Hong Hong

On View: April 23 - July, 16 2021

PRESS
Houstonia - Take a Closer Look at Hong Hong’s Textural Masterpieces

Art League Houston (ALH) is proud to present Reading the Weather, an installation of work by Artist Hong Hong, currently based in Houston, Texas. Organized by the artist and Sarah Beth Wilson, former ALH Director of Exhibitions and Curatorial Projects, Reading the Weather is a monumental, site-responsive paper-work installed on the façade of ALH’s building adjacent to the Sculpture Garden. Hong creates her large-scale paper-works outside due to their size, often incorporating parts of the natural environment into her process. This will be the first time, however, for her work to be physically installed in an outdoor setting for an extended duration of time. Reading the Weather will change and interact/react with the environment while it is on view outside at ALH, visually evidencing shifts in our environmental atmosphere and recording the passage of time.