Art League Houston (ALH) is pleased to present Inhaling the Spore, an exhibition of new sculpture and drawing by San Antonio based artist, Chris Sauter. Using imagery pulled from parasitology and internet memes, the work touches on the role neurotransmitters and hormones play in the development of belief and how beliefs relate to notions of self and national identity. The exhibition is built around a suite of small drawings of cordyceps infected ants with the protruding fungus replaced with neurotransmitter molecules. Memes espousing problematic ideologies are reproduced using cordyceps extract while others are printed onto panels then cut up to make objects. A greatly enlarged stress hormone is sewn from material cut from US flags and TikTok trends flicker on the opposite side of a brain hemisphere. This exhibition is a culmination of a larger body of work reflecting on the current political climate in the US and is funded in part by a grant from the San Antonio office of Arts and Culture.
The exhibition runs December 15, 2023 - February 10, 2024, with reception on Friday, December 15, from 6-8 PM and artist talk Saturday, December 16 at 2 PM.
About the Artist
Chris Sauter is a visual artist based in San Antonio, TX. He works across-media primarily in sculpture, installation, drawing, and video. Pulling from varied sources such as agriculture, history, science, and religion his work addresses the links between material and meaning, biology and belief, the past and present. He has exhibited across the United States, Mexico and Europe. His works have been featured at the McNay Art Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Kohler Art Center, the Musee d’Art Moderne Saint-Etienne, France, The Drawing Center in New York, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, the Dallas Museum of Art, and MoMA PS1. Sauter has been a resident artist at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin and Artpace, San Antonio. He is a member of M12, a collective of creative practitioners focused on rural issues. Sauter is associate professor of instruction at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is a local arts advocate, volunteering at various local non-profit arts organizations. He is a long-time designer and performer for Cornyation, a yearly satirical production benefitting local LGBT and youth organizations.
Instagram: @chrissauterstudio