For the LOFs' and other newbies' information, my father is a visual artist, and whenever he's had a show in Houston in recent years, I always invite everyone at the bbs to come on out to see (2007, 2009, 2010). And he's doing another soon, As I Live and Breathe, with a retrospective on 50 years of his painting career. The opening is on Saturday, November 16th, starting around 7 pm. But the exhibit will continue to hang for a few weeks and you can walk in whenever. It tries to be a community-integrated gallery, very down-to-earth. Not intimidating or elitist or anything. Please everyone come on and check it out. Here's my pitch from the 2010 show on why you should attend, all of which still holds true: Why should I go to a show? I'm not looking to buy any art. That's okay. Art openings are great from cheap dates. They give you free hors d'oeuvres and free wine. You can walk around and wax intellectual and make your date think you're deeper than just beer and sports. And, it's a soft-sell, a no-sell really. If you want to buy, they'll sell to you, but there's no expectation. Is he any good? Of course. [Update: the website I had in 2010 to prove my case went down from my laziness. But, trust me, he's not some hack.] How do you dress for one of these things? Is it snooty? Houston is a dress-down kinda town. And, this is a Heights eclectic sort of gallery. I suggest wearing long pants, but otherwise there's no standard to comply with. How do I know who you are if I want to say Hi? I'll be the guy with the 4 young children. I'll probably arrive and leave early (because of said children). My real name is Sam, but you can call me JuanValdez if you want. I'm sold; how do I get there? Gallery M2 http://mapq.st/18TmlAq 339 West 19th St, Houston TX 77008 (the old Heights theatre) 713-861-6070 http://www.gallerymsquared.com/ And here's the invite: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/89701520@N00/10675673616/" title="Gafford Invite 2013 by gaffordsam, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3824/10675673616_29f8f39ebe_b.jpg" width="1024" height="791" alt="Gafford Invite 2013"></a>
Shameless bump. I went to the MFAH exhibit for James Turrell in September. Some of his stuff was cool, but there were a couple of lines an hour long just to get in and see an installation. I brought children with me, so I had to just plain skip the most popular ones to avoid the line. How cool can some scrupulously cut sheetrock, carefully stretched paper and perfectly placed light projectors be in the end? The art world is an interesting marketing environment, where some guys are hanging in coffee shops and others have people queuing in a major art museum, and the difference in packaging moves the public's perception more than the difference in quality or innovation. Concert violinist Joshua Bell made $27 in tips playing in a DC subway for thousands of passersby, but 1 ticket to see him in the concert hall would cost more than that. Imagine the difference in reception if James Turrell put his installations in at Notsuoh instead of the MFAH.
I'm down. I will try to catch it. I was at M2 a while back for a party for a political candidate and met the curator and I thought some of the permanent stuff was nice. I was very fond of the permanent works at MFAH and caught many exhibits when I could, and when I had a family membership a long time ago we caught Kahlo and Rivera stuff. Of course, we catch the Mexican stuff more often than others. Congrats to El Señor Valdez padre Gafford. It's a shame that with these many museums in our town, people prefer to spend time in other places. Love the arts.
I don't think this one is in the show, but it's a sample I have on-hand. <img src="http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1041/1353407028_9243c24718.jpg" width="500" height="384" alt="Painted Bird"> Painted Bird
I caught this video a couple of days ago but wanted to post it to bump this thread. The paintings are fantastic. His color schemes are strong and yet comforting. Great stuff! <iframe width="700" height="415" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ojSC8PZMWW4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
GIGO, thanks -- I forgot about that video. I have not seen his price sheet for this show yet, and this show might be a bit different because it's a retrospective show, instead of a latest-works thing. I know a couple of pieces he'll show without selling at all. But I expect the low end will be near-$1k and the high-end maybe $10-$15k. I'll apologize in advance for being slightly wrong, since that's only an educated guess.
