Glasstire

Brandon Zech and Gabriel Martinez discuss memorable art events, exhibitions, and changes in the Texas art scene from 2024. "When budgets need to be cut the arts are always seen as expendable and even though the money that's funding the arts both locally in different cities across Texas and nationally through the National Endowment for the Arts is pennies compared to the overall budget, to the publ...

Jessica Fuentes and Gabriel Martinez talk about the cultural and political potential of Latinx Futurism. "A key component of Latinx Futurism is connecting back to past and ancestral knowledge – pre-colonial cultural ways of knowing. Seeing how different artists infuse that into their work is interesting to take note of...It's an acknowledgment of the knowledge and technology that existed." See rel...

William Sarradet and Gabriel Martinez review the photography, painting, and installation exhibitions that stood out this season. "This is one of the magical things about photography. It can be completely constructed and artificial or it can be as close to a document of reality as humanly possible." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2024/12/01/art-dirt-fall-roundup/ If you enjoy Glas...

William Sarradet talks with artist Jacqueline Overby about developing affordable art studios and their significance in building community. "MotherShip's presence there has helped solidify the scene in a way. By creating the San Marcos studio tour we've given the art community something that everybody gets to participate in. Everybody gets to come together and celebrate and it's something to be pro...

Brandon Zech and Gabriel Martinez discuss their experience visiting "Radio Tave," the new Houston branch of the Meow Wolf franchise. "One of the things about Meow Wolf and about the individual, but ultimately collective, authorship is that in someone's room, it doesn't say who the artist is, with a little plaque on the wall. It's about the experience — it's about the feeling that the room creates....

Jessica Fuentes talks with Christian Cruz about the challenges of performance work and the difficulties of its documentation. "I'm interested in investigating invisible labor, as opposed to any physical labor. Lately my work has been closer to what I call pink collar instead of blue collar which means it is the work of those that are caretakers." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/20...

Jessica Fuentes and Gabriel Martinez discuss the Surrealist century and the slate of upcoming shows celebrating this influential movement. "It was important for María Elena Ortiz (curator of "Surrealism and Us") to use the term surreal because she was talking about this worldwide conversation. This is a movement that spanned great distances across the world." See related readings here: https://gla...

Gabriel Martinez talks with Robert Boyd about Charles Burns, Gary Panter, and the art of underground comics.  "The publishing industry doesn't work the way the art industry does. You have a royalty system. Whereas if you resell a painting, unless you're in California, the artist doesn't get anything." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2024/09/22/art-dirt-robert-boyd-on-the-art-of-un...

William Sarradet talks with Brian David Johnson about his time in Austin's robust art scene and his experience running Cloud Tree Gallery. "There's more art-making than there's ever been in the history of the world and I feel like that's only going to continue towards this notion that we'll all be artists someday." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2024/09/08/art-dirt-talking-with-b...

Jessica Fuentes and Gabriel Martinez discuss this summer's group exhibitions and upcoming fall shows. "Altering photographs has always been a possibility and a practice. I think sometimes people forget that or only think about the seemingly limitless possibilities now in the digital age and with AI, but photographers since the beginning of the camera have been altering images in different ways. "...

William Sarradet and Gabriel Martinez discuss the links between a critical history of Latin America, a fictionalized account of a military coup, and our robotic future as depicted in animated sci-fi cinema. "Short War is a bildungsroman with the setting of the dissolution of a political regime. It's funny and charming and sweet and dramatic." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2024/0...

Leslie Moody Castro and Gabriel Martinez discuss the growing number of residencies in Texas and beyond. "It's important to see how other people are solving similar problems in the studio. We learn by example and by seeing people's thought processes and studio techniques. Some of the most rewarding parts of residencies are spending time with people and making connections." See related readings here...

Leslie Moody Castro and William Sarradet talk about recent events in the art world including the beheading of a public sculpture, the discovery of the oldest cave art, and fake Picassos in a Tasmanian Museum. "I connect with the sentiment of exhibitions as being a site of experimentation and play. I appreciate at some level vaunting art canon as the be-all-end-all record of what is important and a...

Jessica Fuentes and William Sarradet discuss the redesign and expansion of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art and the upcoming "Delta Triennial." "Traditionally, the Delta is a juried exhibition. This year AMFA decided to also have an invitational component. It still functioned as a juried exhibition, anybody could apply that fell within that geographic region, but the jurors also selected one artist...

Brandon Zech talks with Erin Dorn about her experiences working in Houston's art institutions and starting her own gallery, Seven Sisters. "It's a relationship-based industry, and being able to anticipate what your clients would like or would respond to and introducing them to new material is part of the cycle that comes with the territory." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2024/06...

Inspired by recently unveiled controversial portraits of King Charles III and Catherine, Princess of Wales, Brandon Zech and Gabriel Martinez discuss portraiture's privileged place in art history. "For the entire history of portraiture, the goal has been to depict the person as they are because it has been the only way for us to be able to tell how people looked. But now that images of famous peop...

William Sarradet and Gabriel Martinez discuss the Julio Torres film Problemista and its depiction of the difficulties of succeeding in the contemporary art world. "One of my favorite things about art film is that it certainly can follow a conventional narrative arc; it doesn't just have to be talking about Snow White and Prince Charming." If you enjoy Glasstire and would like to support our work,...

Leslie Moody Castro and Jessica Fuentes discuss new art organizations, the appeal of non-urban spaces, and the many changes occurring at art institutions across the state. "There might be more opportunities in these smaller places because there are less restrictions and more space. It will be interesting to see how they continue to build, and develop, and how they find ways to sustain themselves."...

Brandon Zech talks with Texas artist Paul Hester about his over 50-year career taking photographs. "There are photographs that I look at and say 'that just feels right,' but there are others that bug the hell out of me, and those are the ones that stick with me." See related readings here:https://glasstire.com/2024/04/21/art-dirt-talking-art-architecture-photography-with-paul-hester If you enjoy G...

Brandon Zech, Leslie Moody Castro, and Gabriel Martinez talk about the 2024 editions of the Dallas Art Fair and the Dallas Invitational. "The opening night party was kind of sparse. Normally it's a zoo; you can't walk through the lobby, the valet line is a mess. There was a nice crowd, but nothing like I have experienced in the past." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2024/04/07/art...

Brandon Zech and Gabriel Martinez talk about the changing state of Houston's art scene and what the future may bring. "I think we're seeing one of the most significant changes in the Houston museum landscape in the last ten years. Galleries come and go, artist-run spaces come and go, smaller nonprofits come and go, but the places that we think of as our museums generally don't tend to come and go....

Brandon Zech talks with actor, comedian, and art collector Cheech Marin about how he came to collect Chicano art, the Texas artists he's looking at today, and his museum, The Cheech, in Riverside, California. "The other great center of Chicano art was San Antonio, because they had a lot of artists and they supported them, but there was no director of any major museum that wanted to put their neck...

Leslie Moody Castro talks with artist, musician, and podcaster Barry Stone about how he engages with local artists, performers, and photography through his long-running project, Porch Swing Orchestra. “The relation of image and sound is, at its core, really what Porch Swing Orchestra and 'Vast is the Sea' is about. So, all the artists are bound, in diverse ways, through explorations of image, soun...

William Sarradet talks with Natalia Padilla about making art in Dallas, her work as a designer, and tips on applying to grants in the city. "My project, 'Yellow,' is a poem to the Dallas community. I love this city. It has taken care of me and allowed me to have a practice and explore my creativity." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2024/02/11/art-dirt-talking-with-natalia-padilla...

Brandon Zech talks with the Blaffer Art Museum's outgoing director, Steven Matijcio, about his approach to curating in peripheral art cities, engaging with local communities, and what he'll miss about Houston. "I have really come to love working in the unexpected place. Because in a lot of ways, I feel like you can spread your wings, you can oftentimes have more of an impact, you can get to know t...