Curtis Gannon

Is there an era, a cutoff point for an era of comics that interest you from which you tend to work?
Good question. Primarily the ’60s and the ’70s, I guess even the ’50s. What they would call the “Golden Age” is kind of ’50s, ’60s, and the “Silver Age” is primarily ’70s. They’ve been making reprints for quite a bit of these comics for about 10–15 years, and I make my work from these reprints. I love the colors they use. I love the way they were drawn back then, the simplicity of the printing… now, with digital, they’re almost photographic they’re so well printed. Plus, there’s something about the comics from that day and age. You know, you always knew the good guy was gonna win, no one ever really got killed, there was no cussing, there was no… a very latent sexuality – and comics today, it’s pretty much like cable television. They’re pretty over the top. So I like that innocence, you know?

Did you grow up reading comics actively? Were you really into it?
Oh, definitely. I grew up in a small South Texas oil town with nothing going on… little Alice, Texas. No one’s ever even heard of it unless you broke down there or got relatives. And I just ran into this guy down the street who had boxes of comics and before I knew it, I had a couple of boxes of my own and… I don’t know, I just read comics all the time. I just loved it. Always tried to find people who had stashes of them, would always try to go to garage sales and for a while even thought about being a comic book artist.

There’s something about comics that can’t be reproduced in film, etc. People either get comics or they don’t, but it’s difficult to explain that ‘it’ that comics has, isn’t it?
Definitely. It’s interesting you mention film, because film and comics are probably two of the closest-related medias.

Because of the panels.
Yeah, and the sense of… the first panel on the left is going to be the first scene, and then the next, and there’s this kind of sequence of events and time… it just happens a lot faster in film. Those images are going by very quickly. Where in comics, it’s all still moments with time in between, and you know, the gutters are a very big element in my work – the white lines that separate the panels on a page – and from one panel to another; it can be the time of a breath or it could be literally a million years. The first panel could be dinosaurs fighting, and the next one could be a guy getting into a spaceship. Anything can happen. Time and space … you know, you can start on Earth, you can end up on Mars in the second panel. Anything can happen, and that sense of this perpetual time machine, almost, with limitless possibilities between panels is something that’s very attractive to me. I’m always kind of rediscovering that tool of this media.

Your work is sort of a commentary on how everything is being reappropriated these days – especially in digital form. How do you feel about that versus what you do, which is very physical, very craftlike with the material?
It’s so easy to walk that line between what is appropriating, what is using something legally and what is stealing it or misusing it, which is the worst of all possibilities. And that question always comes up about my work, and there’re two things: one, I’m actually using the comics books, which – they’re public property. Everything I use, you could go to Barnes & Noble or to Third Planet Comics, and find the exact same thing, and I like that about it. And also, these things are very much kind of an homage to these artists and writers of this time. I love Jack Kirby; I love Stan Lee. Stan Lee is my Mark Twain. And so these pieces are very much just kind of a nerdy, fanboy love of this material.

Is your Plexiglas stuff going to be in the show
coming up?
I’ve got a couple for this show, and this will be the first time these have been shown in an exhibition, the Plexi pieces. I’m also making some new pieces that have never been shown that I call “page mosaics,” where I’m cutting all the pages out of a comic… the first layer is just pages, and then I put layers in front of that that are the pages with the windows, overlapping and overlapping. But they’re just pinned to the walls, pinned over and over … so every time I reinstall the piece, it’s a new piece. I’m trying to break out of this rigidness of the system, and making something organic that I have to reinterpret every time. And then I’m also making these pieces that I’m calling “plot weaves,” where I’m cutting the comics into strips, and then I’m weaving the pages back together, and making almost like these little mats. It’s totally goofy. I just thought about simple childhood projects and what you do with paper. The projects you would have done in Sunday School or even the second grade. I try to keep my hands in multiple formats. I find that interesting. You go to an art show and you see one piece and they all look the same, just different sizes. And I try to keep reinterpreting it. It keeps me sharp, and I think it keeps the viewers interested.

“and everything in between.” is on view through March 2, and will also be open to the public on Saturday, February 11, from 2 to 5pm, in conjunction with Winter Street Studios Second Saturday Open Studios. Closing reception on Friday, March 2, 6-8pm.

Spacetaker ARC Gallery
2101 Winter Street, B11
Houston, TX 77007
www.spacetaker.org

Interview by Lance Scott Walker
Photography by Cody Bess

JAPAN365: A Drawing-A-Day in 2011
A winning project for Japan relief efforts, for the sake of art, and for you!

Houston artist and teacher J Muzacz, teaching English and internationalization to schoolchildren for the past year in Japan, opted to document his time in Japan with daily sketches created solely by ballpoint pen (hence the birth of JAPAN365: A Drawing-A-Day in 2011, a Japanese/English book compilation that will feature all of his sketches in Japan for the past year) – a project largely inspired by his Australian friend Joel Brewster, who previously recorded 365 electronic music tracks daily during his time spent in Korea. Muzacz’s desire to share his humble interpretations of the wondrous beauty and mystery of Japan took on new meaning after the March 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, which triggered powerful tsunami waves resulting in a vast number of fatalities, a number of nuclear accidents at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant and exorbitant devastation to Japan’s infrastructure and communities. Although Muzacz’s residence in Japan was located far from the destruction, the aftermath and shock that headlined daily news made it difficult for him to draw anything other than still-life drawings of his breakfast.

“I pledged to document each day (i.e., a drawing a day starting January 1, 2011), initially, as part of a New Year’s Postcard project, yet my enterprise took on new meaning in the wake of the natural disaster,” said Muzacz. “After letting the shock of the disaster subside, I began to explore the web for the most illustrative photos. I realized that if my project should remain an authentic retrospective, I would have to draw some of these current events. It was difficult seeing so much wreckage and thinking of the millions of people affected by this tragedy.”
Yet, as Muzacz moved forward, inevitably capturing iconic images of destruction, a fresher sequence of events began to unfold in Japan. “I have sought to find the most inspirational and comforting images that both capture the humanity of the situation and the incredible spirit of the Japanese.” Leaning on support of local people, colleagues, Japanese friends and oftentimes total strangers, Muzacz meticulously chooses his subjects. Images range from folk in Japanese history to current events to ancient straw huts, Bento food, wild plants, pop culture, landscapes, graffiti – the list goes on. “My work is partly a visual learning process with thorough meditation and research to depict each drawing with accuracy and care. I solely use ballpoint pens to find freedom in simplicity with my artistry and as an attempt to master a medium that is perfect for long-term backpack traveling due to its accessibility, light weight and sportability for wherever my travels take me,” shares Muzacz.

Talk about “WIN” appeal!

JAPAN365 will transcend far beyond the creation of an art book compilation. Seeking online pledges to support self-publication of the first edition, coupled with his lofty goal of selling 1,000,000 books, Muzacz anticipates gifting approximately $6,000,000 of the proceeds to support the Japan Red Cross and ongoing relief efforts there.

“New Year’s Eve 2011 will mark my last drawing of the year. Completing this journey is a WIN-WIN-WIN situation. Through pledge support, I anticipate successful self-publication, marketing and promotion of JAPAN365 and its paperless e-book download and print purchase availability in early 2012. YOU win, by pledging and receiving a really cool book. I win by becoming a published artist/author. Most importantly, JAPAN wins by getting $6,000,000 for ongoing relief efforts when we meet our goal! It is my hope that my drawings and efforts to compile an attractive volume for purchase will make enough money to pay for the project itself AND have a few million dollars left to extend to Japan.”

Check out Muzacz’s work on his blog at jmuzacz.posterous.com.
To make your online pledge to JAPAN365: A Drawing-A-Day in 2011 Project, learn of the amazing perks available for your monetary gift, please visit the
JAPAN365 campaign website: www.indiegogo.com/
JAPAN365-Drawing-A-Day-Project.

By Susan M. Bynam

PATRICK TURK

How has being from Galveston, a place really shaped by nature’s plans, informed your own work?
Galveston is such an enigma to me. I find it morbid, cynical, mystical, depressing, proud, arrogant, resilient and optimistic, among other things. I’m not sure if those attributes are instilled in the populace of the island through some sort of cosmic communion with nature’s plans or not. The distinction of being the home to the most deadly natural disaster in American history is certainly emblazoned in every Galvestonian’s heart and soul from birth. The juxtaposition between the destruction of the [1900 Storm] and the spirit involved in the subsequent rebuilding of the island is indicative of the attitude and identity of the island and people from there. I don’t think the actual historical events of the island are reflected in my work in a literal way, but I do think that some of the recurring themes I explore can be attributed to the attitudes of the island that are a result of those events.

Your work comments on time travel. Are you a science fiction fan?
I really like a lot of sci-fi, fantasy and horror especially in terms of the illustration related to those genres from the late 40’s through the early 70’s or so. I especially gravitate towards the pulp cover art being produced during that time. 

Do you have favorite books on time travel?
”The Holographic Universe” by Michael Talbot. It’s not just about time travel, it really covers all sort of hypothetical phenomena like out of body/near death experiences, along with astral traveling and psychic stuff. There’s a lot of “questionable science” in there, but it’s a pretty good read nonetheless.

Duchamp once said that the worst compliment someone could give him was that his work was beautiful. What’s the worst compliment someone could give you?
I really can’t think of one, not something offensive at any rate. I want people to see my art as they do. If they think it’s beautiful, so be it. I hope people enjoy my work; I strive to create things that cause delight and curiosity. Some of my subject matter is a little dark, but ultimately, I am not trying to put people off with it.

You’ve worked with light, LED and otherwise; what is next for you?
I feel like I’m still really just getting started with the lights, and the more sculptural elements of some of my recent work, so I would like to continue exploring those avenues to see where they go as well as experimenting with reflection and optical magnification applied, and how those things interact with the collage.

How did you become interested in quantum mechanics and atomic science? Drugs.

www.pturk.com

By Lance Scott Walker
Photography by Sofia van der Dys

Artist Mark Masterson Is Under Repair

Should you pass by the dock of Winter Street Studios some evening, you’d likely spot a quiet figure in the shadows, catching fresh air before immersing himself in his workspace for the night. Painter and printmaker Mark Masterson may be a bit shy, but there’s nothing bashful about the bold new body of work making up his debut solo show, Under Repair: New Works on Paper, this October at the Spacetaker ARC Gallery.

“While others are aspiring to high art, I’d rather smack you in the face.” Not a shocking statement from your typical artist, but nonetheless surprising coming from this docile telecommunications salesman-by-day. “Art should be provocative.”

If provocation is Masterson’s aim, he achieves it with his latest series of paintings and lithographs inspired by 16th-century Flemish Renaissance painter and printmaker Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The work toys with Bruegel’s satirical depictions of peasantry, exposing the absurd and vulgar aspects of the era’s common life. Beginning with Masterson’s boyish impulse to recreate a wicked battle scene, Under Repair’s first piece, Battle of Strong Boxes and Money Bags, was completed in 2009 as present-day economic tidings went sour. Only afterwards did he realize its pertinence to modern social and political issues – abandoning his initial inclination to reject politics as his work’s motivation. Vivid and unsentimental, “grime, spoilage, waste, excess, violence and sloth are all wantonly laid out on the canvas, displaying harsh reality.”

the thin kitchen

As interesting as the work’s content is Masterson’s process. Shredding and crumpling heavy linen paper, he reconstructs the fragments to build irregular three-dimensional canvases. “Paper, like metal, has a memory.” Evocative of decaying frescos, the paintings fuse 16th-century style and 21st-century sensibility with sophisticated, but biting commentary on the contemporary human condition.

Masterson hasn’t followed the normal trajectory of a promising artist: He actually enjoys the structure of his day job with GraybaR, where he’s been employed for 15 years since he graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in printmaking. However, it’s his “evil twin” (his words), Patrick Masterson, who has made art his sole career and recently made news with his involvement in a new printmaking venture, the Burning Bones Press. While the brothers may playfully quibble over who’s the better printer, Mark’s first love has always been painting. He was fascinated with printmaking’s technology and the mystery shrouding an image until the proof is pulled. He once mixed colors for six months at the Houston Fine Art Press. “It was the best job I’ve had…holding colors up to the light all day,” he ruminates. “I learned their secrets, then left.”

He then turned to painting, for which he’s had no formal training since the age of eight. (Despite the twins’ predilection for it, a career in art was not encouraged in the Masterson household and he changed his major to art in secret.) It’s not as though Masterson’s work hasn’t been recognized – he’s been a regular in group shows at Lawndale Art Center and the Art League for years. And as one of the longest standing tenants of Winter Street Studios, his practice has been deliberate. Yet, while painting was once only therapy after a long day’s work, he’s recently come to grips with his desire to emerge. Having willingly removed himself from the game for years, his drive is now to overcome his reticence and be more aggressive about exhibiting his work. But he’s quick to add, “The day it stops being fun is the day I stop doing art.”

Under Repair: New Works on Paper by Mark Masterson

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 1, 5–9pm

Open Studio: Saturday, October 8, 2–5pm

Spacetaker ARC

2101 Winter Street, Studio B11, Houston, TX 77007

Free and open to the public; Gallery visits by appointment.

By Jenni Rebecca Stephenson | Photography by Kennon Evett

Sharon Kopriva brings Cathedrals, Phantoms and Naked Dogs to Colton & Farb Gallery

At first glance, the words Naked Dogs might seem like another kooky piece of imagery meant to garner attention for an otherwise lusterless art show, but this is, in fact, about naked dogs. The Peruvian Hairless kind. And the show is far from lacking in luster.

While perro sin pelo are not the sole attraction in Sharon Kopriva’s massive artworks, they are key to both the aesthetic and the themes. “I am in love with my dogs,” she says of the canines, renowned for their healing powers by the Incan cultures of Peru. Kopriva currently has three of these beloved pets. She has been breeding them since returning from a life-altering trek through Machu Picchu some years ago, while completing her art thesis at the University of Houston. In addition to the symbolism of basic human frailties they provide and to the spiritual powers ascribed to them, hairless dogs make excellent models: With their obvious musculature, they are akin to the naked forms of classical nude paintings.

“Frida Kahlo loved them too!” Carolyn Farb chimes in. A legendary art collector and now Creative Director for the Colton & Farb Gallery, Farb is one to know. She owns a Frida Kahlo. She also owns a few Koprivas. “Sharon’s vision is universal. She deals with challenging subjects of life, death and after life. She transcends any limitations or boundaries,” extols Farb. The socialite and philanthropist commissioned Kopriva to create a pair of nuns sitting on a church pew about twenty years ago, and a bevy of serious collectors have since gravitated towards Kopriva upon seeing the sculptures in Farb’s home. “Other artists touch on similar themes, but I have never seen her experience with her work duplicated,” she explains.

Architectural photographs printed on canvas (by Dan Allison of Texas Collaborative Arts) served as backgrounds and starting points for the roughly 29 large-scale works that make up Cathedrals, Phantoms and Naked Dogs. Digitally enhanced images of cathedrals are superimposed with rocks, trees and dogs resulting in a kind of surrealism/romanticism. “It’s definitely a combination of the spiritual knowledge I gathered in Peru and the spiritual knowledge that gathered me in my childhood, Catholicism,” explains Kopriva who grew up in a Sicilian-American family. “I’m putting religion in the background and putting nature and dogs in the forefront,” she muses.

Fueled by early morning cans of Diet Coke, Kopriva has taken an already successful idea and supersized it, replete with her signature 3D built-up relief at the bottom of the images, masterfully constructed from chunks of concrete and wood debris. “Sharon‘s work touches the deepest depths of our souls, referencing our own personal journeys while also conveying a sense of history, place and society. Even in this exhibition, with works that reference tragic events like Tiananmen Square and 9/11, there is no dwelling on sadness,” says Deborah Colton, Director of the Colton & Farb Gallery in Texas and the Managing Director of Deborah Colton Gallery (which is still the “parent company” of Colton & Farb Gallery).

Colton’s eye for art is well established. Since opening her gallery in 2004, she has continually presented national and international contemporary art exhibitions and become a must on any serious art collector’s itinerary. “My inspiration has always been the vision that art can make a positive difference in the world,” she says. Kopriva’s latest oeuvre is another notch in Colton’s belt.

Having her art in several museum collections, including the Menil, is serious street cred for this artist. Having Carolyn Farb as a friend doesn’t hurt, either. “People are buying them right out of the studio before the paint is even dry,” says Farb. “It’s a magnificent show. Collectors wouldn’t feel like ‘Oh, I already have a Sharon Kopriva!’ There is yet another vista.”

Insider’s Corner:

• Carolyn Farb has a deep-seated fear of cats.

• Colton & Farb has art on display at über-cool Philippe Restaurant.  Available for take-away!

• Deborah Colton also owns OUTPOST NYC DCG.

• The minimalist Gallery structure is easy to miss –keep your eyes peeled for the sign!

Through June 25,2445 North Blvd. 713.869.5151www.coltonfarbgallery.com

By Nadia Michel | Photography by Anthony Rathbun

JESSE DAYTON

Photo courtesy of “The Sinner”

If you’ve been out to see live music at any stalwart Houston venue over the last couple of decades (Rudyard’s, Fitz, Continental, Last Concert, Dan Electro’s), you’ve probably seen Jesse Dayton onstage at some point, somewhere. I know I have. He plays live a lot, and that’s real Texan of him. He’s also an actor, and this month and last he was in “Becoming Kinky,” a stage play based on the life of Texas legend Kinky Friedman.

If you’ve been out to see live music at any stalwart Houston venue over the last couple of decades (Rudyard’s, Fitz, Continental, Last Concert, Dan Electro’s), you’ve probably seen Jesse Dayton onstage at some point, somewhere. I know I have. He plays live a lot, and that’s real Texan of him. He’s also an actor, and this month and last he was in “Becoming Kinky,” a stage play based on the life of Texas legend Kinky Friedman.

Emily Johnson’s “The Thank-you Bar”

Alaskan-born and current Minnesota resident, Emily Johnson brings her own interpretation of the notion of displacement to Houston with her performances of the original dance experiment and installation, The Thank-you Bar.

Consisting of dance, live experimental music, storytelling and film, the question the project proposes is “What is a true home?” The venue, DiverseWorks ArtSpace, will feature a companion piece to the dance performance entitled, “This is Displacement: Native Artists Consider the Relationship Between Land and Identity.” Curated by Johnson, who is herself of Yup’ik descent, and Carolyn Lee Anderson, the “Displacement” show will be comprised of 50 Native artists who represent 19 tribes. It will be featured in the main gallery and the flickerlounge at DiverseWorks ArtSpace from the end of April through early June with performances of The Thank-you Bar occurring April 28-April 30 in the theater space.

An accomplished choreographer, Johnson began her own dance company, Catalyst, in Minnesota. This versatile company works in collaboration with artists, poets and the audience in a unique way. The name of the show, The Thank-you Bar, is a nod to the Que-Ana Bar Johnson’s grandmother owned while she grew up in Alaska. The word “que-ana” in Yup’ik means “thank you.” The many hours Johnson spent preparing food at the fish-cleaning hill, shelling clams, drinking Shirley Temples and hearing stories during her childhood all contribute to this intense longing she understands as “displacement.” The show also addresses the “igloo-myth,” a term coined by Johnson herself. “People ask me if I ever lived in an igloo; I am fascinated by this and horrified. Where does this igloo myth come from and how does it continue to drive the image so many people have of northern indigenous peoples?” This misunderstanding of native cultures encourages Johnson to explore different types of indigenous and urban homes, learning about the histories of the architecture of the buildings she performs in and even going as far as to build a beaver lodge one summer as research and a miniature igloo. While these are not part of the set design of The Thank-you Bar there will be paper sculptures that are presented to the audience as one particular image; however when the images change, the meaning of the sculptures becomes altered. Some of the costumes are made of fish-scales while some feature storied beadwork by Karen Beaver, a fellow native Alaskan.

The music will be reminiscent of her grandmother’s bar, where true (emphasis on the word true) country music blared from the jukebox. The experimental duo BLACKFISH actually developed alongside the creation of The Thank-you Bar and takes its name from one of the story themes that run throughout the dance. With James Everest playing nylon and steel string acoustic guitars and Joel Pickard performing on a pedal steel guitar, they explore the roots of country and give a nod to the authentic country of Johnson’s memory. With the addition of looped electronic music, BLACKFISH provides an eerie and original soundtrack for the intense performance.

DiverseWorks is known as a space which tests new ideas and involves its audience. It is a perfect fit for a performance piece which includes the audience in experiencing sights, sounds and smells as well as the visual aspects of dance. Called “post-post-modern” by Minneapolis Star Tribune dance critic Camille LeFevre, Johnson’s intensity and physicality are intimately shared with the audience. Inviting you to wonder about the ground beneath your own feet, how it has changed over time and what architecture contributes to the concept of “home” are all especially meaningful to Houstonians who experienced two devastating storms in recent years. As a part of the performance, in her own words, “…Once we begin seeing our home towns/cities/communities as living and changing places, we respect our place in it a little more. Houston will become a part of The Thank-you Bar.”

Learning a bit of the Yup’ik language from her grandmother is a new endeavor for the accomplished dancer/choreographer. And the significance of the name “Thank-you Bar” is in reality a bit of gratitude directed towards her childhood home – its smells, textures and land which are forever an integral part of her memory.

DiverseWorks ArtSpace 1117 East Freeway, 77002. | April 28-June 11 with The Thank-you Bar performances April 28-April 30.

For more information, or to buy tickets, go to www.diverseworks.org or call 713.335.3445.­

By Sarah Gajkowski-Hill | Photography by Cameron Wittig & Jamie Long

C’est magnifique!

Lynn Wyatt shows her love for all things French at 2011 Texas French Alliance for the Arts Award and Auction

Photography by Sofia van der Dys

Lynn Wyatt’s passion for the arts may already be legendary, but her legacy is still in the making. As Honorary Chair at this month’s Texan French Alliance for the Arts Art Award and Auction, Wyatt is once again helping ensure Texas’s vibrant future as an art hub. The auction features the carefully selected works of 40 artists, twelve of whom are French. One of them will be awarded a custom-made, ten-day residency in either Paris or Texas. “It opens the door. They get to meet other artists. They get to expose themselves to collectors and they get to go to galleries,” says Wyatt. “It would take years otherwise for them to do that.”

No stranger to France’s art scene, in 1982 Wyatt was admitted to the prestigious Order of Arts and Letters, rank of Chevalier, for her significant contribution to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance. Not one to rest on her laurels, Wyatt further cultivated her relationship with France and was promoted in 2007 to the Order’s rank of Officier by the French government. When asked about what led to the endowments, Wyatt is extraordinarily modest. “I don’t know,” she says, “it’s not like I donated a lot of money!” Instead, it is her long-standing bond with the artistic community that led to the title. “I was involved in a lot of things. I was involved with Versailles,” she recalls. “I was going to the French collections for 30 years; I’m friends with all the designers,” she adds.

Her Washington, DC ceremonial meeting with France’s Ambassador, Jean-David Levitte, was to be a fortuitous one. “He personally asked me if I would be the chairman for the first TFAA Art, Auction and Award fundraiser. And who could turn down the French Ambassador, you know?” she ponders.

Wyatt’s involvement with TFAA is more than perfunctory. “I am very hands-on anytime my name is attached to anything. I like to approve things; I like to know all the details about it. That’s just the way I am,” she says. About helping to select sculptures, paintings, mixed media, drawings and photography for the auction, she adds, “I think art is very personal to the viewer and I look for balance, composition and how it appeals to me color- and design-wise. But I’m not an expert and I deferred to the gallery owner about which would sell most.”

Now in its second edition, the first TFAA Art Auction and Award in 2008 sent local artist daniel-kayne to Paris for a ten-day journey. As the organization’s biggest fundraiser, this event helps sustain collaborative projects. TFAA aims to further its mission to promote artistic and educational exchanges between Texan and French artistic institutions and artists. Founded in 2005 by the former Consul General of France, Denis Simmoneau, and the Levant Foundation, TFAA has facilitated cultural exchanges ranging from hosting a monumental sculpture exhibition by the internationally recognized artist Bernar Venet to orchestrating a collaboration between Houston’s musical ensemble Mercury Baroque and acclaimed French director Pascal Rambert on Lully’s Armide opera in 2009, marking the first time a Houston orchestra had performed in Europe in almost ten years.

2011 TFAA Art, Auction and Award Cocktail Reception

March 30, 6pm

Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery

4520 Blossom Street, Houston 77007

Tickets to attend the event may be purchased in advance for $80 per person or $150 per couple, and will be $100 per person at the door.  A percentage of the proceeds will benefit the Texas Children’s Cancer Center’s Arts in Medicine Program.

By Nadia Michel