I articulate how the artist Brandon Ballengée’s work fits within the definition of bioart today.
A review of the exhibition at Jonathan Hopson Gallery in Houston, featuring work by Liz Rodda, Lauren Moya Ford, Hong Hong, Guadalupe Hernandez, Brandon Tho Harris, and Troy Dugas.
Arts Funding in Pandemic Texas, Part 1 by Henry G. Sanchez November 23, 2020
Part 1 of this two-part series called “Arts Funding in Pandemic Texas” portrays how the arts and culture communities of El Paso, Odessa, Austin, San Antonio, Waco and Corpus Christi have fared since the initial Covid shutdowns. Each of those arts and cultural affairs agencies had to scramble, invent, innovate, improvise and expedite plans, some long-intended, to help their arts communities survive during what is now described as the pandemic’s “double black swan” circumstances.
Arts Funding in Pandemic Texas, Part 2: Houston. by Henry G. Sanchez December 1, 2020
Part 2 of the series, “Arts Funding in Pandemic Texas”. focuses on the Houston story. How have Houston’s art agencies, the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, and the Houston Arts Alliance responded to the Covid economic crisis? What these entities’ relationship to Houston’s arts community? And I take a look at the formation of Arts Accountability Houston.
Slow down and listen. This is not often the advice one reads for an art review. Typically one spends an average of five to fifteen seconds looking at any artwork. The routine is: Look at one piece and then go to the next one, have a free drink at the opening, catch up with friends, talk the night up or attend the next opening, and repeat. Lina Dib’s show North to South and Back at Space HL in Houston challenges visitors to do the opposite. There is not much to see here. It is dark and the walls are painted black. The floors are covered in charcoal-colored carpeting, small speakers dangle from the ceiling, a lone spotlight against the black wall is pretty much the only source of light (it represents the Sun), and a visitors’ silence is needed to understand the work.
A Vision for a New Houston Museum. by Henry G. Sanchez June 3, 2019
The time for this has come. We are 45% of the population.
My fellow Houston artists: Allow me to offer a proposal for creating a new museum for Hispanic, Latino/a/x, Mexican-American art (for the sake of this short essay, I will alternate between various self-identifying terms). This new museum would be where I live now, in Houston. Why Houston? Unlike other major cities in Texas and around the country, Houston does not have an art museum or institution dedicated to our culture, despite the fact that our peoples make up 45% of Houston/Harris County region’s population.
Para leer este artículo en español, por favor vaya aquí. To read this article in Spanish, please go here.
Una visión de un nuevo museo para Houston. by Henry G. Sanchez June 21, 2019
El momento para hacerlo ha llegado. Somos el 45% de la población.
A mis compañeros artistas de Houston: permítanme ofrecerles una propuesta para la creación de un nuevo museo de arte hispano, latino y mexicano-estadounidense (para los propósitos de este ensayo, alternaré los términos con los que se identifica la gente). Este nuevo museo se ubicaría en donde vivo ahora, en Houston. A diferencia de otras ciudades grandes en Texas y en todo el país, Houston no tiene un museo o una institución de arte que se dedica a nuestra cultura, a pesar de que nuestra gente constituye el 45% de la población en la región de los condados de Houston y Harris.
Traducción de Yolanda Chichester Fauvet
Who are the Houston Bio-Artists?
by Henry G. Sanchez May 27, 2019
Details from the works of (clockwise from right) Sarah Sudhoff, Francis Almendárez, and Angel Lartigue
Personal history, heritage, and cultural practice — combined with an ethical concern for the bio-material — contribute to expanding definitions of bio-art.