Keeping the Record Tidy for Bradford's Kinetic Sculpture (Pre-Art Car Era).

“Scrap Daddy” – Houston artist Mark David Bradford – is being honored with a 20-year retrospective at The Art Car Museum now. Art critic Douglas Britt wrote this past week:

Bradford’s 20-year survey is an unqualified triumph for a master of the art form the museum was born to celebrate — and whose emergence influenced him to increase the scale and ambition of his work. Combining motors with treasures of the scrap heap, Bradford’s art cars depict fantastical creatures and totemic figures with majesty and ferocity.

Bradford’s also known as “prolific.” I bet nobody knows that his scrap art began with different idea forms – including the four pieces in our own collection.

“Hurricane Chimes” here is the largest of the works. Mark told us years back that he imagined the drillpipe sections would swing back and forth in a high wind.

I first wrote about it in the Houston Chronicle Stormwatchers blog, when Rita came our way; the post is still on line here. I am sorry to report that HC never performed as we hoped: It didn’t ring no matter how hard the wind blew, even when Ike came through.

Doing a post about pieces purchased 20-plus years ago has its drawbacks, one of which is that no amount of writing can make these works compare with the fire-breathing motorized dragons Bradford’s been constructing the past decade or two. And even though the outdoor pieces have been repainted, they clearly can use another refurb. We have been thrilled to have them, though – our own showy art for outdoors Spring Branch.

Shown: Mark David Bradford, “Hurricane Chimes.” Steel pipe. Houston, 1989.

After Refreshments, Lucy Moves from Drafty Studio into Good Home.

Howard Sherman scored a residency several months back at Vermont Studio Center, the self-described “…largest international artists’ and writers’ Residency Program in the United States.”

Off he went to the northern Green Mountains (having been awarded a grant by the Dedalus Foundation). When he came back he had a whole new line of works: Blind Contour Lines, Marker on Paper 2010.

Which he showed off in early October at his studio. His invitation pronounced:

My recent residency gave me an opportunity to grow and experiment in unusual ways. My intention was to spend my time there painting. Upon arrival, my plans changed. Using the figure as a point of departure, I ended up investigating drawing in new ways. I'd love for you to stop by my studio to see the results. Refreshments will be served.

We went to see. Consumed refreshments. And enjoyed the work – so much that we purchased one, which apparently is a hard habit to break; it reinforces our status as “multiple Sherman collectors.” (Maybe some day he’ll list The Baron Collection on his Biography page, huh?)

“Lucy,” just arrived via the McMurtrey Gallery frame shop, is now at home. The black-and-white effect is a departure from Sherman’s advancing work which is filled with color explosions. But the line is all the artist’s. Pretty soon, we’ll figure out just where she’ll be hanging. Meantime we’re enjoying the new piece, thank you Howard!

Sherman by White: Portrait of the Artist as a Young(ish) Man.

 

Great minds think alike, I don’t remember whether you said it first or I did, “That’s a photo!”

I’d seen artist Howard Sherman in his working duds. Frank White the Photographer, whose studio is next to Sherman’s at the Docks here, has seen Howard paint-covered as well. Still, when Howard walked out onto the loading dock with us, I guess we had to be together for the idea to pop.

We both knew it. White went on to take the photo:

There are many different approaches to capturing expressions of people. When I shoot people for myself, I go for the toe-in-the-water shot. I have found that if I am ready when the person comes in the studio, and can immediately capture an image, the first shot is usually the best…the cutting edge expression has to be quick.

This was the first image that I took of Howard. I probably shot about 30 images, but after this one, none of the others had this cocky, “Aren't I hot” look. They all looked too nice. We had fun, but those subsequent captures could not compete with the first one.

Photo: Copyright © 2009, Frank White Photography. All rights reserved.

Part 2: A 2009 Letscher Collage Made for Richard’s Big Surprise.

It was like opening a giant box of Cracker Jacks.You’ve seen the “jaw-dropping effect” in cartoons (like this Roger Rabbit), but hardly ever in real life. My case offers the most important visual concerning this big surprise; no one was at the McMurtrey Gallery to capture it with a camera.

You’ll have to imagine it. I go with Barbara Nytes-Baron to pick up the large new photo discussed in the previous post. While the new piece was being wrapped, Liz Ashabraner casually handed up this jewel of a collage – above – and Barbara says, “Happy birthday. Happy anniversary. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.”

Barbara smiles this big. Liz smiles this big. The penny drops.

Barbara has not only purchased the Lance Letscher piece “Duck Walk” for me as a surprise; she’d been secretly planning it for months with Liz and gallery owner Roni McMurtrey. The conspirators dropped this excellent bombshell right on target.

My intrigue with Letscher’s work started because he’s a cut-up – of books. The Austin Chronicle described what the artist has been doing for years:

…poetic collages concocted from “found” papers – album covers, books, handwritten recipes, notes, and magazine clippings among them – which are meticulously cut and arranged into intriguing patterns and textures that open up worlds of thoughts and associations.

I have been admiring Letscher’s work for a long time. I examined his work repeatedly, not just here but in Galveston and Austin. I window-shopped his collages over and over again at McMurtrey Gallery, the artist’s Houston presenters since 2002. I wanted one of his pieces. Barbara got it for me. I do say my jaw dropped to the floor. And stayed there until I picked it and “Duck Walk” up and took everything back to Spring Branch.

Look closely at the piece and you'll see the illustrated yellow duckie walking on the bottom layer of board. Thank you: Roni, Liz and especially Barbara. How wonderful.

Part 1: New Doherty Photo Finds a Home in Spring Branch

We collect a photographer who combines art and science. It looks like a view from monochromatic kaleidoscope, but it’s a collaged photo…of an x-ray of…seeds. The artist, photographer Dornith Doherty, titled it “May.” (Barbara Nytes-Baron is in the middle here; art’s on your left and the photographer’s on your right.)

The piece did not arrive in our collection in the title month, the same May 2009 in which the photographer had her new show. We purchased it on a late spring evening at the McMurtrey Gallery, but did not bring it home until now. Which gave Barbara time to plan a bit of a surprise as well, for me. (You’ll be able to read about that in Part 2, ‘kay?)

Barbara has admired Doherty’s work for years – we have her “Apache Plume” in the living room; as you can see here, it’s completely different than “May.”

In fact, the entire “Archiving Eden” show demonstrates Doherty’s continual engagement not only with nature, but with technology too. The artist herself has written, “Eden” is a…photographic project that takes tiny forms of life – seeds – as its most basic subject.” And so it does: All the subjects of her new pieces come from the 500,000-seed storage vaults at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, CO. This is where the stuff of life (ag division) is kept safe, to preserve diversity; although a less involving website than that of the USDA/NGCRP would be difficult to discover.

The basic technique is x-ray photography – x-rays of bean sprouts, the seeds of ash trees and bananas and capers. While Doherty appears to focus narrowly on the tissue samples and the germinated seed varieties, viewers (like us) can’t ignore the technology she’s used to make art. She photographed the biological materials with the Center’s compact x-ray equipment and then aggregated those images into photos with singular images and collages.

We’re faced with (and charmed by) visions of literally seminal plant life moderated through Doherty’s “technoscopic vision.” An inch-long banana seed clone takes on a different meaning when it’s 15-by-15-inches square. Her pictures swirl about it in the printed spaces or collect in patterns in the middle of the photographic paper. It’s just odd to me that Wired magazine hasn’t featured Doherty for her convergences of life, art and technology.

Thanks to the artist and the McMurtrey Gallery for the chance to own a piece like “May.” Our new archival pigment photograph is not as big as “Apache Plume,” but measuring a yard square, it’s a whole lot larger than life.

PS: Watch of “Richard's wonderful surprise” coming in Part 2 of this story.

New Fielder

We’ve just finished watching artist Garland Fielder install this commissioned piece here at the house – outstanding!

“Untitled 2009” is a 17-inch poplar cube, six colors of automotive lacquer clear-coated. Barbara Nytes-Baron selected the colors and the location: In the space above the stairwell between our first and second floors. See other examples of Fielder work here. Many thanks to the artist and to Anya Tish of the Anya Tish Gallery. More photos soon.

Big Show

Brief note on the annual Lawndale Art Center Big Show, which opened last evening; Barbara and I attended. For this year’s event, the organization received 1,014 submissions by 407 artists and showed just under a hundred of them, from Adelman (John) to Zeigler (Paul S).

It was a full house, livened by people we knew: Hugh McDonnold had two paintings selected; the aforementioned John Adelman; Garland Fielder, Larry McEntire, Howard Sherman, Frances Thiel and many more; way more we did not know at all of course.

I thought two Allen Rodewald pieces were particularly fine – similar to the one pictured above. In fact, I thought this year the Show demonstrated a higher level of technical accomplishment overall. Still, with such a crowd, such an array of art, there’s no doubt that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

It’s not comprehensively eye-popping (though some pieces are). It is a damned good overview of the state of art in Houston. I suggest a visit to 4912 Main Street. Then out for a couple of drinks to absorb the images. We did; used a 2006 Argentine Malbec for this purpose. No advertising - lovely evening.

Painting: “White Black,” acrylic on canvas, 42” x 68” – Expressive Design Studios.

“Downsizing” Home

This is “Downsizing at the Call Center” by Howard Sherman, mixed media on canvas. Now it’s been added it to the Baron collection. At 60” x 50” it is the largest piece we’ve every acquired.

Howard has said, “In my recent artwork, I have surged between abstraction and representation. More specifically, I have integrated biting comedy, social criticism, and gestural expressiveness.”

You want to see gestural expressiveness? You should have watched me trying to get this painting back to West Houston from The McMurtrey Gallery.

A surprising number of vehicles have a 48”-wide diagonal opening – I measured Barbara’s Prius, the neighbors’ Ford Explorer and a colleague’s SUV. Howard’s painting is 2” wider (wildly expressive gestures here). I was finally able to borrow the same neighbors’ giant Chevy pick-‘em-up.

If there is one thing more ridiculous than watching me drive a stick-shift reinforced half-ton across town and back, it’s showing up at a high-toned art gallery. And then bringing out the huge, contoured bed sheet with the daffodil pattern to use as a dust cover for the painting on the way home.

Roni McMurtrey was perfectly ladylike about the whole thing (achieved by ignoring the sheet altogether). Pick-up truck, sheet and painting finally rattled home. One of these objects will be hung once I get some picture hooks, etc.

The neighbors from whom I borrowed the pick-up are extra nice - we’ve known them a long time - but I could see they were baffled by the painting. (I can almost hear Debbie telling Joe, “If you ever bring that kind of thing into our house..!”)

Nevertheless, it’s here and I’m getting the hooks today (and possibly a derrick to lift it onto the wall). Pleased to have another Sherman. I have been standing in front of it and making…expressive gestures. Drop by and make your own.

Thanks and a tip of the Hatlo hat to the Houghtalings for “Rolling Thunder.”