By Anna Cave By Anna Cave | September 21, 2021 | culture, Culture Feature, Art,
Immerse yourself in these art openings in Houston.
Ernesto Neto, “SunForceOceanLife” (2020, crocheted textile and plastic balls), installation view at The Museum of Fine Arts. “SUNFORCEOCEANLIFE,” THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON, MUSEUM PURCHASE FUNDED BY THE CAROLINE WIESS LAW ACCESSIONS ENDOWMENT FUND, ©2020 ERNESTO NETO, PHOTO BY ALBERT SANCHEZ
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will continue its summer series of immersive exhibitions this fall with a grand installation of Ernesto Neto: SunForceOceanLife. The work of this Brazilian artist will suspend viewers in the air with an elaborate walkway above ground. Handwoven, from colors of green, orange and yellow, the labyrinth of a sculpture will showcase complex patterns within the crochet work and captivate the audience through the multisensory exhibition inspired by Brazilian culture and tradition. Through Sept. 26, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet St., mfah.org
Through the use of drawing, film, video, textiles, sculpture and installation, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston’s exhibition Cauleen Smith: We Already Have What We Need serves as a reminder that the planet and the people on it are all that sustain us. The Los Angeles-based artist uses her art to show that acts of caring can serve as antidotes for the injustices and inequalities that have shaped our world. By exploring basic human needs on a variety of scales, Smith encourages us to see that We Already Have What We Need and how the impact of loss, erasure and separation from culture can be rediscovered and reconnected through the redemptive power of text, music and art. Through Oct. 3, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston’s Brown Foundation Gallery, 5216 Montrose Blvd., camh.org
Lorena Morales, “Still Here” (2020, sharpie markers on six-pack rings), 80 by 72 inches; all on display at Holocaust Museum Houston. STILL HERE” PHOTO BY LIGHT42STUDIO
In an exploration of human rights and social justice through 100 pieces of art from Houston Latinx artists, the Holocaust Museum Houston’s exhibit Withstand: Latinx Art in Times of Conflict will challenge viewers to build a dialogue upon issues within the community. Themes of gender roles, domestic violence, immigration and border relations will be featured among the pieces with the intention of invoking important social change through these works of art. Through Oct. 17, Holocaust Museum Houston, 5401 Caroline St., hmh.org
Tina Hernandez, “La Cempacihuatl” (2020, photo ink-jet print in a vintage frame), 31 by 26 ½ by 3 inches. PHOTO COURTESY OF HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOUSTON
The Menil Collection will be featuring the debut exhibition in the States of the French American artist in its upcoming exhibit Niki de Saint Phalle in the 1960s. The 1960s were a transformational era for Saint Phalle, in which she commenced two major projects. The first, “Tirs,” was a series of “shooting paintings,” while the second, “Nanas,” depicted female sculptures. Saint Phalle was instrumental in postwar art history, and her role is highlighted in her feminist and transatlantic arts. The exhibition will feature paintings, assemblages and sculptures from the 1960s in conjunction with documentation in the form of photographs and film from the Menil Collection Archives. Sept. 10-Jan. 23, The Menil Collection, 1533 Sul Ross St., menil.org
A permanent exhibition in the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Cabinet of Curiosities plays to a museum’s purpose to encourage creative thought. By capturing the natural desire to collect, the exhibit features phenomenal personal collections of the past. Collections of curious objects gained popularity through the Renaissance and reached their peak in the Victorian era and were displayed in cabinets to play to the desire of man to find his place within a larger worldly context. The museum will feature its interpretation of these cabinets since many of the more extravagant private cabinets of the past became some of the first public museums. The Houston Museum of Natural Science, 5555 Hermann Park Drive, hmns.org
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