I need to get out more often. It’s all too easy to get wrapped up in the day-to-day operation of the gallery. Sometimes I forget that there is lots of good art beyond the borders of art251. Luckily, our friend, TCU art student and aspiring art gallery owner Logan Smith sent us a timely reminder about a new show in Ft.Worth.

“Warhol and the Shared Subject“, opened on December 19 at the Fort Worth Contemporary Arts gallery, part of The Art Galleries at TCU. I like Warhol’s work, though I’m still not  comfortable with the notion of business-driven mass-production in art or as art  (I’ll postpone discussion on this for another time).

So, back to the show. This proved to be a good opportunity to see some of the many precursors (in this case Polaroid prints) to Warhol’s works and examine these in the context of art by a handful of Warhol’s successors. Gavin Morrison, curator of the Fort Worth Contemporary Arts gallery, planned the show as a way to bring Warhol’s portraits into the present and examine cultural factors as they effect identity and our understanding of portraiture. So, using the Polaroids as a reference point he presents them alongside the finished portrait and selected works in a variety of mediums by contemporary artists Tony Scherman, CS Leigh, Rineke Dijkstra and Douglas Gordon. Each of these artists uses Warhol imagery or Warhol’s worldview as a basis for their own work.

The Warhol Polaroids on display are from a recent gift to The Art Galleries at TCU from the Warhol Foundation’s Legacy Program. The entire gift included close to 200 Polaroid prints of celebrities and others whose 15 minutes of fame has yet to unfold. Many of these prints eventually led to the instantly recognizable portraits for which Warhol is now synonymous.

The exhibition runs from December 20, 2008 to February 1, 2009. You can read a more detailed review of the show at Artdaily or more about Warhol in general.

Image: Warhol. Untitled (Patsy Nasher). Courtesy of The Art Galleries at TCU and the Warhol Foundation.

After frantic planning and preparations were ready to open our first show today. The Opening Reception for Contemporary Elements is December 4, 6-9pm. We’ll be serving wine, Italian soda and light fare. The show is free and open to all.

The Contemporary Elements show features fabulous new works by Scott Young, glass maker; Bobbie Nix, jewelry artist; and James Johnson, metalsmith. Our artists will be on hand to discuss their work and answer your questions. The show will run from Thursday, December 4 to Saturday, January 3, 2009.

For more details check out the show page.

Soon to graduate with an MFA, local artist Roma Misra presented her thesis exhibit at Texas Christian University’s (TCU) Art Gallery, opening on February 22, 2008.

The show comprised 7 works under the theme “Synapse”. The works were tightly woven into an organic whole. I didn’t get much time to speak with the artist about her work, and hence learn about her influences and subject matter. However, the works really did strike me as having a distinct influence from two very different cultures: India and the United States.

One of my favorites of Roma’s work is shown here (with apologies to the artist for having to resize the image to get it to fit my blog!). This work is very evocative - having traveled in India, the painting brings back vivid memories for me: the cacophony of diverse elements, the juxtaposed colors and even the sound.

Roma Misra, …gauging…, acrylic and glitter on canvas, 2007

One of the great pleasures of this business is discovering new talent. It is so refreshing too find new and exciting art, and to explore new ideas or find new ways of looking at world.

I recently (February 2, 2008) visited the pix2 exhibit at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). Housed in the Visual Arts Building, the exhibit featured 13 local artists.

John Pomara, a faculty member and talented local artist, curated the pix2 exhibition. The premise of the exhibit was:

Art writers and critics from the Dallas-Fort Worth were invited to pick an up-and-coming young artist who shows promise and merit, but has not been prominently showcased in area galleries. This exhibition is an opportunity for the public to view artists ‘under the radar’ in the North Texas art scene.

And, some very promising art it was. I found the works by Sara Ishii, Kevin Joseph Brown and Josephine Durkin particularly compelling - very innovative, intensely thoughtful and technically impressive. A sampling of images below (with all due respect to the artists, I took these pictures with my camera-phone):

Art is alive, well and thriving in Houston area high schools. This short video of the Video Arts Scholastic Event, sponsored by the Texas Art Education Association, will give you some idea of the breadth and depth of the young talent bubbling up from our larger neighbor to the south.

Could we, should we have something just as bright and bold in the Dallas-Ft.Worth area?

Where else in the United States could you find original Picassos, Warhols and Basquiats alongside thousands of works by emerging artists exhibited in shipping containers? Art Basel | Miami Beach, of course.

Now in its sixth year, Art Basel | Miami Beach is a 4 day long visual adventure through a vast and unprecedented collection of contemporary and modern art. In fact, the Miami Beach Convention Center is the anchor for a huge feast of art fairs, art expos and art exhibits that envelop the entire city. The catalog of galleries in the Convention Center alone, showcasing works from over 2,000 artists, is a 750 page tome comparable to a New York telephone directory!

Like most of the other attendees this year, I was there to soak in the amazing collections of art, not to buy. Unfortunately, for me, but not the artists, the prices for most art on display were well into five and six figures.

But all is not lost. Art Basel has opened up the world of contemporary art to art lovers (and buyers) beyond the previously impenetrable, sometimes elitist gallery scenes of New York, and London. and other cosmopolitan cities. As I strolled the exhibit halls, awestruck by much of the art, I could not help but be very encouraged by the record number of people doing the same - parents ambling with their kids in strollers, professionals, retirees, power couples, teenagers, groups of women, collectors from Asia and Europe.

So while Art Basel can be overwhelming, this annual event has started to crack open the doors of the contemporary art world, and the many talented artists, to the general public. Kudos Art Basel!