Glasstire

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...

Brandon Zech talks with Glasstire's new Editor-in-Chief, Gabriel Martinez, about what makes a good work of art, how music, writing, and art differ, and why artists should know art history. "Every artwork is in dialog with art history, and I think it's important for artists to contextualize where their work stands in that conversation. It becomes shorthand, because you're using these past iteration...

Leslie Moody Castro talks with Harrison Guy about Houston's Fifth Ward, his Urban Souls Dance Company, and what keeps him motivated to build community in the city.  "Our projects are based on this thought process that memory builds the monument. The way that we look at it is that if you don't have a lot of assets in your community, because they're gone, for a lot of different reasons beyond your c...

Jessica Fuentes, William Sarradet, and Brandon Zech discuss memorable art happenings, exhibitions, and events from 2023. "For a long time, and even still now, the art world has been caught up in the idea of a single genius, a singular voice, and the prestige of a solo exhibition. But I think coming out of the pandemic there was this need for community and coming together, and perhaps the amount of...

William Sarradet talks with Houston's Sarah Welch and Fort Worth's Raul Rodriguez about the nature of zine festivals and the landscape of self-publishing in Texas. "I think being in Texas has actually put us at a good advantage for doing self-publishing work because there are so many major cities in the state...We've done some out of state stuff, but I think the events we do in Texas are often the...

Jessica Fuentes, William Sarradet, and Brandon Zech discuss recent shows they've seen across Texas, the opening of new galleries in Houston, Austin, and Wimberley, and the art news that's been making headlines this fall. "In a lot of ways, Jeremy Strick's retirement from the Nasher Sculpture Center isn't surprising — we've talked recently about how we're kind of at a turning point where organizati...

Jessica Fuentes talks with Dallas' Darryl Ratcliff about the rise of unions for arts and culture workers. "Ultimately, we're all served by a more engaged public, and we're all served by taking care of people. And I know that our large institutions and their supporters want to do that, and sometimes it is up to us as artists, as culture workers, as people who are more on the ground, to help lead th...

William Sarradet talks with Eric Schnell about what it's like to live, work, and run a ten-month residency program in Galveston. "Galveston is exactly the right size, where you can hold the whole island in your brain at one time. If it were bigger, that wouldn't be possible." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2023/10/22/art-dirt-talking-with-artist-galveston-artist-residency-directo...

Brandon Zech talks with special guest Jon Revett about life in the Texas Panhandle and about the 50th anniversary of artist Robert Smithson's "Amarillo Ramp." "Smithson is using the land to give you a place to re-view the land and see it from a different point of view and think about it in a different way." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2023/10/08/art-dirt-amarillo-ramp-cadillac...

Jessica Fuentes, William Sarradet, and Brandon Zech discuss exhibitions they've seen so far this fall, including shows at The Warehouse, Ruby City, Inman Gallery, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and beyond. "If you're going to use a kooky installation technique for a show, you've got to go all or nothing." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2023/09/24/art-dirt-discussing-...

To wrap up the summer, Jessica Fuentes and William Sarradet discuss what this season's hottest blockbuster says about our current moment. "The film has this incredible potency, but somehow it very neatly ties up what it aims to do...which is totally fine, but I feel like there's some need to find out what happens next, because we just spent a year waiting for this movie to come out and now it's ov...