LOCAL Houston | The City Guide December 2017 | Page 40

THIS MONTH’S
TOP EXHIBITS
Presented by
1. HOME—So Different, So Appealing
Glasstire is the source for visual art in Texas. Our weekly Top 5 video
rounds up the best art events in the state. Find us on Facebook or
the web for events, news, reviews and more! www.glasstire.com
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston | Through January 21, 2018
Co-curated by Houston‘s own Mari Carmen Ramírez, curator of Latin American art at the
MFAH, HOME—So Different, So Appealing takes a look at how people's ideas of "home"
are impacted by their surroundings. The show debuted at the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art earlier this year to rave reviews and was included in 2017's Pacific Standard Time: LA/
LA, a program that sought to highlight the connections between Latin American and Latino
art and Los Angeles.
www.mfah.org
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2. Hills Snyder: Altered States
Gallery Sonja Roesch | Through December 31
For the past year and a half, San Antonio artist Hills Snyder has been road-tripping across
America and taking photos of the sights and scenes he encounters. After his travels, which
take him to towns with odd or funny names like Nowhere, Happy, and Bonanza, he creates
drawings that capture the memory of the now faraway places. This show is part three of his
travels — parts one and two were shown in San Antonio and Lubbock. Snyder also created
a travelogue for his trips — you can read it on www.Glasstire.com.
3. Gabriel Martinez: Everything Turns Away Quite Leisurely
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Blaffer Art Museum | Through January 27, 2018
Houston artist Gabriel Martinez works on the streets of the city. His artistic practice involves
collecting trash, sweeping up broken glass and turning privately owned spaces into public
areas by posting official-looking signage. In Everything Turns Away Quite Leisurely, Martinez
transforms the museum into his studio — handmade faux trash is scattered near the stairwell
and broken glass from car windows is arranged on the floor in minimalist compositions.
Everything in the exhibition is abstracted but familiar — things we normally ignore are given
center stage.
www.blafferartmuseum.org
4. Alejandro Diaz: Paintings
David Shelton Gallery | Through December 23
Alejandro Diaz, originally from San Antonio but now a longtime resident of New York, has
been known for his consummately clever art that was large, high production value, and
often made by others. But in a statement for these new works, he explains that after his last
show, he fell into a deep depression and returned to the craft of making small paintings in
an effort to pull himself out of it. These works, widely different in style, were made by Diaz
over the course of two years in his New York apartment, where he says he was able to
recapture the “sheer joy of the act of painting.“
www.davidsheltongallery.com
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5. The Telling and the Told: The art of David McGee
Houston Museum of African American Culture | Through January 6, 2018
This survey of over 20 years of works on paper by longtime Houston artist David McGee
ranges from small drawn portraits in the style of Renaissance masters to large-scale watercol-
ors of freakishly stylized figures. There are several works from his Ready Made Africans series,
which pairs portraits of imaginary hip hop stars with the written name of European artists
and writers. McGee‘s deft use of watercolor is always a pleasure to see in person, but his
weaving of contemporary culture into the traditional canon to discover unexpected, incisive
points of connection is his great achievement in this body of work.
www.hmaac.org
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L O C A L | 12 . 2017
12 . 2017 | L O C A L
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