LOCAL Houston | The City Guide May 2017 | Page 39

1. Barry Stone: Daily in a Nimble Sea | Art Palace | Through June 3 The pictures in this collection were taken on Bailey Island, Maine, on a stretch of shoreline that Austin photographer Barry Stone has visited for many years. He says of this body of work, “photographs put up a feeble defense against the passage of time. Still images halt the waves from breaking only to paradoxically heighten our awareness of their inevitable movement forward.“ In some of these images, Stone has manipulated the computer code that makes up a digital photograph, rearranging lines of code to distort the image. The artist is interested in, as he says, drawing our attention to the way we filter our world through a digi- tal sieve before it reaches our senses. www.artpalacegallery.com 2. Jules Buck Jones: Gardens and Graveyards; Calder Kamin: Plastic Planet, James Talambas: 2,524 Earthquakes This Past Year | Galveston Art Center Through May 28 Making his curatorial debut at the Galveston Art Center, Dennis Nance has organized three exhibitions dealing with animals and the environment. In the shows, all of which opened on Earth Day, Austin artist Jules Buck Jones creates a sensory overload of paintings, sculptures and scenic backdrops; Calder Kamin displays her animals made of up-cycled plastic bags; and James Talambas presents a sound installation referencing earthquakes caused by frack- ing. The shows promise to be colorful, educational, immersive, and great for the whole family. www.contemporaryartgalveston.org 3. HJ Bott: Thick and Thin and Back Again | Anya Tish Gallery | Through May 27 For his exhibition at Anya Tish Gallery, Houston legend HJ Bott is showing a series of new wire sculptures alongside monochromatic, overly textured paintings he created in the 1970s. In his 70 years of art making, Bott has pioneered both concepts and materials. In 1972, he adopted his Displacement of Volume System, a mathematical concept that has guided how he organizes his compositions. Also, the works in the exhibition were created using Bott‘s own special combination of titanium mica flakes with acrylic paints and gels. This is a must-see chapter of Houston‘s art history. www.anyatishgallery.com 4. Prince Varughese Thomas: The Space Between Grief and Morning | Art League Houston Through May 6 For his exhibition at Art League Houston, local artist Prince Thomas explores how we observe and experience grief through images taken from news media. His spare charcoal drawings are rendered from news reports of terrorist attacks, deaths of political leaders and natural disasters. In each, Thomas has removed the background and facial expressions beyond people‘s mouths – leaving just enough suggestive detail for the image to remain familiar and evocative. It‘s a lyrical, somber show that echoes the vacillation between release and restraint inherent in the experience of grief, and the sense of both empathy and detachment as we encounter the grief of others. www.artleaguehouston.org 5. Gisela Colon: Atmospheres | McClain Gallery | Through June 17 Strongly influenced by the ethereal nature of California‘s Light and Space movement, Los Angeles-based artist Gisela Colon creates biomorphic Pods that shift in color when viewed from different angles. This means, of course, that pictures don't do them justice – you have to see them in person and let the sculptures‘ lush surfaces envelop you. Colon's exhibition at McClain Gallery comes fresh on the heels of her 2016 show at the International Museum of Art & Science in McAllen, Texas. www.mcclaingallery.com may 17 | L O C A L 39