July 3, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

CALENDAR ( COMMUNITY SPORTS ARTS FILM MUSIC) L I STI N G S‘The Lining of Forgetting:Internal and ExternalMemoryin Art’The way I remember it, I’m 3 years old, standing in the denof our house in Longview, watching my brother Ken, who’s threeyears my elder, go out the back door to catch the school bus.And I’m thinking: “Why does he get to go toschool? He’s only one year older than me.”A silly memory, but I’ve long thought of itas my earliest one, and I hold onto it, eventhough it isn’t something I can confirm ashaving actually happened. No one else inmy family remembers the event – and whyshould they? I’m not even sure why I rememberit – so there’s no way for me to confirm:Was I really 3? Was I in Dr. Dentons, as Irecall it sometimes, or pajamas, as I pictureit at others? Was my brother Ray, who wouldhave been 9, leaving for school with Ken ornot? The sensation of the moment is vivid,but the details blur and shift. In trying to pindown this memory, I might as well be tryingto hold a stream of water.My personal experience of memory asfluid may be why the works that drew me themost deeply into “The Lining of Forgetting:Internal and External Memory in Art” werethe ones that play off memory’s elusive, everfluctuatingnature. David Rokeby’s Machinefor Taking Time (Boul. Saint-Laurent) presentsside-by-side screens that run footage capturedby a pair of surveillance cameras indowntown Montreal over a year’s time. OnlyRokeby has edited the video so that, as thecameras languidly pan past rooftops andtrees, the images subtly shift across time,through different times of day and seasonsof the year. Shadows melt then reappear;leafy trees magically shed their foliage andgrow it back, and not in the caffeinated jitterof time-lapse photography but in a smooth,instantaneous shifting like the double imageof a lenticular cover. It’s as if you’re lookingat a place and have become lost in recallingits appearance at other times, the memoriesflowing in a steady, ceaseless, dreamlikestream. Was it early morning or twilight,late autumn or midsummer? “It all blurstogether,” we’ll say when struggling to recall amoment from the past, and here it truly does.The images by Dinh Q. Lê from his FromVietnam to Hollywood series do something66 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E JULY 3, 2009 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o mAustin Museum ofArt – Downtownthrough Aug. 8similar, though what’s being blurred in themisn’t just personal recollections but fact andfiction. He’s taken large-scale photographs ofboth the Vietnam War and cinematic representationsof it and literally has woven themtogether, employing the techniques for weavinggrass mats in his homeland of Vietnam.The results pixelate and fragment history,rendered here in black and white, and fuse itwith film’s lush romantic drama, saturated infiery oranges and reds. You can get some ofthe impact from reproductions such as theone running with this review, but it pales incomparison to what you feel standing beforethe real thing, 3 feet tall and 6 feet long,where the intricacy of the work and painstakingcraftsmanship are inescapable. Beingconscious of every strip and the constantoverlapping on this outsized scale makesthe work at once epic and deeply personal,a sense of an individual’s past being swallowedin a mass culture fantasy of history.Not surprisingly, being a drama geek, I wasmightily amused by Emma Kay’s ShakespeareFrom Memory, in which she attempted to pensynopses of the Bard’s plays without resortingto any reference works or prompts. The results,typed out formally on 26 separate sheetsof bone-white paper, range from pagelong,detailed accounts (Romeo and Juliet) to vague,single-sentence summations (Coriolanus),with a few plays that she apparently couldn’tremember anything about; below the titles, thepages are blank. Of course, Kay’s memory tripsher up in quite a few places, leading her tomash up characters and put lines in the wrongplays, which can be fun for those in the know.But whether or not you’re a Bardophile, it’sone more example that this thought-provokingexhibition from the Weatherspoon Art Museumprovides of memory’s shape-shifting nature, itsability to morph and change what we think weknow into something else. “Remember me!”the ghost of Hamlet’s father urged his son.Based on this show, Dad, that’s easier saidthan done.– Robert FairesAUSTIN GALLERIES: 20TH CENTURY MASTERSOriginal lithographs, etchings, intaglios, and screenprints by Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso,and more. 1219 W. Sixth.CORONADO STUDIOS The Serie Project, a nonprofitLatino arts organization hosted by Coronado Studios,produces, promotes, and exhibits serigraph printscreated by diverse artists. 6601 Felix, 385-3591.www.serieproject.org.PUMP PROJECT: LUCHA LIBRE MEXICANA 65original masks, memorabilia, film, photography, andart are presented by curators Gerardo Arellano andDaniel Vargas, turning the gallery into a colorful spectacleof Mexican wrestling history. Through July 18.702 Shady Ln. www.pumpproject.org.FAB GALLERY: URBAN/STREET New works forthese concrete and crumbling times by BethanyJohnson(!), Russell Burns, Tim Creswick, KrutieThakkar, Bonnie Gammill, Mala Kumar, KallistaStephenson, and others. DFA Building, 23rd & Trinity.www.thefabgallery.com.STUDIO C GALLERY: PONIES & PENGUINS Newworks by Holly Bronko and Alexandra Valenti.2309 Thornton.DOMY BOOKS: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS New paintingsby Esther Pearl Watson, mixing the fantasticwith the everyday, brighten the walls of this excellentshop. Through July 23. 913 E. Cesar Chavez.www.domystore.com/austin/index.html.VSA ARTS: 12 X 12 EXHIBITION More than 50paintings – oils, acrylics, and mixed media – by 26 artistsaffiliated with Imagine Art, dedicated to promotingthe creative power in people with disabilities. ThroughAug. 1. Access Gallery, 3701 Guadalupe #103.www.vsatx.org.HARRY RANSOM CENTER “Fritz Henle: In Search ofBeauty” encompasses a broad range of Henle’s photography,including images of 1930s New York, Mexico,and Paris; innovative nudes; and portraits of famouspersonalities. Through Aug. 2. “The Persian Sensation:The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in the West” Morethan 200 items – among them Persian manuscripts,miniature editions, and illustrated parodies – from theRansom Center’s extensive collections illustrate theRubáiyát’s storied history. Through Aug. 2.AUSTIN ART IN PUBLIC PLACES: TEXAS BIENNIALThis is the first time that AIPP has commissionedtemporary public art! Ryah Christensen’s Door/NotDoor is near the Eastside Hike and Bike Trail, justsouth of Nash Hernandez Road. Bill Davenport’sGiant Mushroom Forest is on the west end ofAuditorium Shores, near the Lady Bird Lake Hikeand Bike Trail. Sasha Dela’s Variegated Continuumis at the Mexican American Cultural Center. BusterGraybill’s Bait Box is adjacent to the boat launchon the Eastside Hike and Bike Trail. Ken Little’sHomeland Security is in the clearing between DougSahm Hill in Butler Park and the Palmer EventsCenter. Colin McIntyre’s Emergence is on a landscapedmound immediately east of the Dougherty ArtCenter’s parking lot. Through Dec. 31.EAST END GALLERY: RICK CALZADILLA AND JEFFLITTLE 1101 Navasota, 217-8043.EYE CONTACT ART showcases the work of JoshuaGarcia and others. 12400 Amherst #102, 825-8577.www.eyecontactart.com.TEXAS FOLKLIFE GALLERY: RANCH GATES OF THESOUTHWEST Photographs by UT design professorDaniel Olsen and designer Henk Van Assen. ThroughSep. 4. 1317 S. Congress, 441-9255.www.texasfolklife.org.PRO-JEX GALLERY: THE NATIVE AMERICANSStunning photography by Edward S. Curtis.Through July 31. 1710 S. Lamar, 472-7707.SPACE 12: FROM HERE TO THERE INFREDERICKSBURG The Austin Photography Grouppresents this excellent new show of images.Through July 30. 3121 E. 12th. www.ramatiru.com.ART PALACE: ICE COLD AND I AM NOT SODIFFERENT Not one but two new exhibitions from thisEastside powerhouse of visuals: Cruz Ortiz brings apanoply of Mexicultural stunners and curator RachelCook presents a wonderground of artists’ photographicdocs and manipulations. Through Aug. 5.2109 Cesar Chavez, 496-0687. www.artpalacegallery.com.ARTAMICI FINE ART GALLERY Artists fromArgentina, Mexico, Chile, and Peru; paintings byAugustina Rodriguez, Oscar Riquelme, and PabloTaboada; drawings by Gilberto Ramirez; and metalsculpture by Augusto Brocca. 78 San Marcos,457-0171. www.pablotaboadastudio.com.ARTHOUSE: NEW AMERICAN TALENT 24 featuresseveral Austin-based artists among the nationaldiversity and will give you a glimpse into what’shappening in the more noncommercial world ofimages and objects, as selected by the University ofChicago’s Hamza Walker. Through Aug. 23.700 Congress, 453-5312. www.arthousetexas.org.AUSTIN ART GARAGE Original art by local artists.2200 S. Lamar Ste. J, 351-5934.www.austinartgarage.com.AUSTIN ART GLASS This glassblowing studio andgallery offers functional and decorative glass art, aswell as glassblowing classes and free demonstrations.1608 S. Congress, 916-4527.www.austinartglass.com.AMOA: THE LINING OF FORGETTING: INTERNALAND EXTERNAL MEMORY IN ART The AustinMuseum of Art’s newest show, curated by XandraEden, explores the ways we remember, forget,rewrite, and even fabricate memory. Sculpture, photography,works on paper, installation, video, andcomputer-generated works by 14 international artists– including Louise Bourgeois, Dinh Q. Lê, and RachelWhiteread – make use of family photo albums, RoadRunner cartoons, the works of Shakespeare, andBarack Obama’s presidential primary campaign inevoking their subjects. Through Aug. 9.823 Congress, 495-9224. www.amoa.org.FRANCISCO MATTO: THE MODERN AND THEMYTHIC This Blanton show provides a rediscoveryof Matto’s work and highlights the tremendous influencethat his five decades of landscapes, cityscapes,portraits, abstractions, and sculptural totems had onsubsequent Latin American artists. Through Sept. 27.MLK & Congress, 471-7324. www.blantonmuseum.org.BLUE MOON GLASSWORKS Unique handmadeglass art and jewelry. 108 W. 43rd, 380-0770.www.austinbluemoon.com.THE CATHEDRAL OF JUNK is approximately 60 tonsof junk wired together over 15 years to form intricatetowers and rooms in the back yard of a South Austinhome. Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, noon-9pm, orby appointment. 4422 Lareina, 299-7413.www.keepaustinweird.com.D BERMAN GALLERY: DRAWN (NOT QUARTERED)This group show features excellent work by GlennDowning, Katie Maratta, Shawn Smith, Jared Theis,W. Tucker, and Randy Twaddle. Through July 18. 1701Guadalupe, 477-8877. www.dbermangallery.com.CREATIVE RESEARCH LAB: NOW ANDTOMORROW is an exhibition of art by pre-kindergartento 12th-grade children from the Austin area.Through July 18. 2830 E. MLK, 471-5672.uts.cc.utexas.edu/~crlab.FRANCOIS PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY 309-B Bowie,320-0072. www.francoisphotography.com.KATHY WOMACK GALLERY 411 Brazos #100.www.kwomack.com.MEXIC-ARTE: A LEGACY OF CHANGE This expansiveshow features the museum’s permanentcollection and is organized around five themes:Death & Rebirth, Mestizaje & Connections, Conflict& Struggle, Identity & Consciousness, History &Memory. 419 Congress, 480-9373.www.mexic-artemuseum.org.MACC: DOS VISTAS UN CAMINO AL RUMBO DELA HUMANIDAD This is the first comprehensiveexhibition of the artwork of Malaquias and MaceoMontoya, the father and son who, for the past fiveyears, have focused on issues of globalizationand immigration. Through Aug. 29. 600 River St.,478-6222. www.maccaustin.org.MITCHIE’S FINE BLACK ART presents an eclecticselection of African and African-American artwork.7801 N. Lamar, Ste. D-106, 323-6901.www.mitchie.com.STEPHEN CLARK GALLERY: KATE BREAKEY Thefine-art photographer of all creatures dead andsmall presents her newest exhibition of beautiful,heartbreaking works. Through July 15. 1101 W. Sixth,477-0828.WOMEN & THEIR WORK: THE MEDICINE SHOWThe installation and performance artist Lizzy Wetzeldraws from alchemy, mysticism, acid rock, supernaturalphenomena, and indigenous cosmology toexplore the idea of sacred space and the boundariesbetween one world and the next. Through July 16.1710 Lavaca, 477-1064. www.womenandtheirwork.org.