Advising private collectors is one of our favorite endeavors at MKG and in our Winter newsletter, we feature one of our favorite projects! Plus, Art Collection Management in the Gulf Coast and our Watch List! Check it out…
Fall 2017 Newsletter
MKG Across Texas
MKG has been busy across Texas recently with diverse projects, both public and private. We are pleased to announce the installation of a new public sculpture by Tim Bavington, installed at Victory Park in Dallas in October. Bavington’s work translates music into the visual world by assigning color and height to each sound in a composition.
Installed just outside the W Hotel in Victory Park, the artist chose the song ‘Matchbox’ by the Beatles for this sculpture. Originally recorded as ‘Matchbox Blues’ in 1927 by Blind Lemon Jefferson, a native Texan who performed near Deep Ellum in Dallas, Bavington chose the song because of its Texas roots. Bavington, born in the United Kingdom, draws on Texas culture and Dallas history to transform the chords of the song into vibrant bands of colored steel. Through the carefully selected colors and heights in the steel pipes, the artist expresses the melody, translating the aural to the visual. Tim Bavington lives and works in Las Vegas, Nevada and is represented by Mark Moore Fine Art.
On another long term project a few hours outside Houston, MKG has been working to enhance a corporate ranch retreat with art focused on wildlife and nature. The found copper Deborah Butterfield sculpture, shown above, compliments the larger-than-life portraits of trees by Louisiana-based artist, Dawn DeDeaux
A view of a hallway towards guest quarters showcase animal portraits by Michelle Decker flanking a painting with heavy impasto of gulf oysters by John Alexander. A photograph of a cougar by Nine Francois is placed prominently along the stairwell.
Floating on a knotty pine paneled wall, April Gornik’s stunning landscape hangs in a common area of the lodge. Other common areas, shown below, highlight diverse works including a limestone and recycled redwood hawk by Jane Rosen and a sculptural gold leaf and galvanized steel wall work by Nathan Slate Joseph.
MKG Watch List
- Brooklyn based artist, Angel Otero, creates process-based paintings that form a narrative. Through the scraping of oil paint, the artist deforms the canvas to reconstruct the composition as well as challenge our notion of historical oil painting. Contemporary Arts Museum Houston recently presented the artist’s first survey exhibition: Angel Otero: Everything and Nothing. Angel Otero is represented by Lehmann Maupin in New York and Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago.
- New York based artist Mark Fox plays with intention and chance across all forms of media. The artist pushes the boundaries of paper by transforming his drawings into three dimensional works of art. Fox currently has an exhibition at Hiram Butler Gallery in Houston through January 6, 2018.
- Swiss artist, Sylvie Fleury , explores the superficiality of consumerism through various media. Her recent sculptural ‘Eye Shadows’ paintings are hyper-realistic and exaggerated in scale, serving to highlight and humorously skewer contemporary consumerism. Sylvie Fleury is represented by Salon 94 in New York and Sprüth Magers in Berlin.
- Kevin Cooley’s latest body of work ‘Gathering Clouds,’ studies explosions in the controlled stillness of the studio. His work explores the ruptured symbiosis of human activity within the natural world. Kevin Cooley is represented by Kopeikin Gallery in Los Angeles.
Spring 2017 Newsletter
From Public to Private
MKG is proud to announce Houston’s newest art addition in Rice Village. California based artist Nathan Mabry recently installed a vibrant, modernistic owl perched atop a stairwell on Kelvin Drive, north of University Boulevard. The owl is Mabry’s first public sculpture in the US (he completed a large-scale sculpture in Toronto last year).
Houston’s “Rice Village,” eponymously named for the adjacent Rice University, is a cultural nexus for Houston’s Southwest inner loop neighborhoods. Inspired by Rice University’s owl mascot, Mabry created the gigantic origami sculpture from aluminum. Mabry’s work has long explored the depiction of birds from all facets of art history, and there are four life-like owls which playfully flank the sculpture’s structural scaffolding. All are monochrome, deep blue. Mabry’s work can be seen at Cherry and Martin in Culver City, CA.
MKG has been working with Trademark Property Co. to visually enhance the shopping district through a public art program. Stay tuned for upcoming MKG projects at Rice Village, including two murals by Houston based artists.
Private collections have also kept us busy at MKG, above highlighting some art additions to Houston collections. Whether working in tandem with interior designers, or directly with a collector intent on formulating a fine art collection, MKG’s expertise contributes to the definition of residential interiors.
Works by Susan Dory (hall way) and Andrew Kuo (dining room), Seattle and New York based artists, both engage color and negative/positive space. Their color, hard edges, and joie d’vivre energize these interiors.
On the other hand, mercury glass disks by Paris based artist Arik Levy, commissioned especially for this master bath, give an air of serenity to the space. Interior by ESY Design.
Aaron Parazette (above left) and Terrell James (above right), two of Houston’s best known and most established artists, punctuate each space while adding visual interest. Interior by ecco design.
Paul Villinsky’s aluminum butterflies, each unique and cut from a discarded soda can, flutter around this dining area. Villinsky’s work can be seen at Morgan Lehman in NYC.
Chinese artist Zheng Lu (b. 1978, Inner Mongolia) has long been fascinated by the properties of water, from its amorphous shape to the quality of light that glints across its surface. Lu also grew up in a literary family where the art of Chinese calligraphy played a meaningful role in his upbringing. In his stainless steel sculptures, the artist merges these two unrelated interests to create gravity-defying waves of calligraphy. Zheng Lu exhibits his work at Sundaram Tagore in NYC.
Finally, this classic Vernon Fisher painting from 2002, exemplifies his meticulously-rendered visual narratives. Woven with literary and scientific references combined with pop cultural iconography culled from his youth, Fisher’s humorous, ironic, and melancholic works exhibit paradoxical subjects and stylistic variations. Fisher’s work can be seen at Hiram Butler Gallery in Houson. Interior by Karen Burke Interiors.
Houston Happenings…
Ron Mueck
Check out the Ron Mueck exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Born in Australia, and living and working in London, the artist creates exceptional hypereal. Mueck portrays his everyday subjects with extreme naturalism and stunning detail, yet always plays on scale, some figures filling an entire gallery while others a few feet tall.
The exhibition features 13 sculptures, about one third of the artist’s entire production, spanning from 1999 to 2013. The exhibition runs through August 13th.
MFAH is open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday – Wednesday,10 am to 9 pm Thursday, 10 am to 7 pm Friday – Saturday, and 12:15 pm to 7 pm on Sunday; closed Monday.
Gisela Colon: Atmospheres
Opening this month at McClain Gallery is an exhibition featuring work by Gisela Colon, on view April 20th through June 17th. Born in Canada, raised in Puerto Rico, and currently working in Los Angeles, Colon’s ‘Glo-Pods’ represent the work of the next generation of California Light and Space artists. Her pods are produced using a ‘blow-molding’ technique, layering tinted acrylic sheets and molding them into the desired anamorphic shape with hot air. The ‘Glo-Pods’ have an organic quality, as the iridescent colors continually change by moving around the sculptures.
McClain Gallery is open Tuesday through Friday 10 am to 5 pm, and Saturday 12 to 5pm.
Interference Paintings: David Simpson
Currently on view at Sonja Roesch is an exhibition of work by California artist David Simpson. Like Gisela Colon, Simpson also uses light as a key element in his works. The paintings have an iridescent and ever changing surface depending on light and vantage point. The exhibition runs from March 25th through May 17th, 2017.
Sonja Roesch Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 6 pm.
MKG Watch List
- Los Angeles based artist, Mary Weatherford, takes on the legacy of American abstraction. She explores and expands the medium’s possibilities and breaks with tradition by incorporating sculptural elements, such as neon tubes, and her fearless approach to the painterly gesture. A traveling retrospective of her 30-year practice will be making its debut at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in 2019. Mary Weatherford is represented by David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles.
- Brooklyn based artist Andisheh Avini explores the duality of his identity in his work, often incorporating iconic Iranian images like calligraphy, peacock motifs, marquetry and carpets with concepts of minimalism and abstraction. His multi media practice speaks to a globalized society and contemporary culture. Andisheh Avini is represented by Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York.
- Self taught photographer Hendrik Kersten’s primary inspiration has been his daughter and muse Paula for over two decades. His early portraits of her quickly transitioned to reflect the craftsmanship and lighting of seventeenth century Dutch portraiture. These photographs often have a witty twist between the past and present by utilizing contemporary props such as plastic bags and towels as the headdress. Hendrik Kerstens is represented by Danziger Gallery and Jenkins Johnson Gallery in the US.
- Adopting the principles of simplicity, Brian Wills creates works using contemporary materials such as nylon thread to experience light and color. Based in Los Angeles, his work is characterized by simple, smooth, pared-down geometric shapes, adopting Mies Van der Rohe’s famous motto ‘less is more’. Brian Wills is represented by Praz-Delavallade Gallery in Paris and Los Angeles.
Spring 2016 Newsletter
An Installation Story
Based in Houston and invested in energy resources throughout the world, Denham Capital’s headquarters reflect the natural world in the interior design scheme. The interior design team at Gensler composed a tonal color palette of rich brown wood, caramel leather and stone, combined with transitional furniture that has a mid-century ethos. The mesquite flooring adds a rustic edge to the composition.
The art selected by committee at Denham reflects and punctuates the warmth of the space. For example, Andy Moses is inspired by rock formations whose history is embedded in their forms. From this inspiration, Moses creates dynamic, wavelike compositions in saturated color. His sculptural paintings on wood begin with geomorphology, which is the study of the evolution of the earth’s topographic features and their relationship to geologic structures. Like other art in Denham’s collection, Andy Moses’ work plays along the edge of representation and abstraction.
At MKG, we believe that art should punctuate a space while working within an overall scheme. Yet the art we advise our clients to acquire is never decorative. It’s authenticity lends a timelessness to interiors while providing another layer of visual interest. Marc Handelman (above left) delves into the visual properties of rock formations and geology to inspire his ruminative paintings. Situated at the end of a corridor, the large scale work invites a closer look, referring to stone without mimicry. Jill Greenberg (above right) also focuses on material and the dividing line between abstract painting and photography in her works. She first makes small abstract paintings, later photographing them at high resolution and blowing them up to a large scale. She then destroys the paintings, which have become embedded in her process. The end justifies the means.
Like Jill Greenberg, Ed Burtynsky and David Maisel explore the divisions between realism and abstraction in large scale aerial photographs. Both artists focus on the impact of human endeavor on the planet. The work is not judgmental, however. The perspective is documentary, and combines detail and scale into imagery that is at once highly realistic and seemingly abstract. Both artists thus capture our dependence on the earth’s natural resources for our way of life, but do not shy away from detailing our impact on the environment. The imagery is both dramatic and attractive, while
also unsettling in its illustration of the scale of our intervention.
A large work on paper by Leonardo Drew (below left) adds drama to the lobby seating area at Denham. Silver blue roots float on layers of thick, ink soaked paper, communicating the
earthy focus of Drew’s abstract work, which fits perfectly into Denham’s roots in Texas and its natural resources.
While most of the artists highlighted in Denham’s collection focus on finite material in their work, Joan Winter (below right) focuses on elements which are more conceptual. Inspired by the light and transparency of Japanese architecture, Winter’s works on paper elicit a meditative response. Winter’s investigation of time, memory, and light as a source of form produce multi-layered abstractions like the monotypes below.
Every client of MKG has an important story to tell. Art has unique visual power to illustrate and underline our identity in the world, both to ourselves, and to others. For Denham Capital, a company firmly rooted in the structure and geology of the earth, artists inspired by the earth’s elements become a perfect fit in the formulation of their collection of contemporary art.
Houston Happenings
Mark Flood: Gratest Hits
Mark Flood has his first survey exhibition, with works dating from the 1980’s to 2015. On exhibit now at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Mark Flood: Gratest Hits shows the deep wisdom and humor of his work. The exhibition presents the broad range of Flood’s oeuvre through site specific installations, which examine mainstream ‘art making’. Also included are examples of his exquisite lace paintings, as well as more recent work referencing the digital age. The exhibition runs through August 7th.
CAMH is open 10 am to 7 pm Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 10 am to 9 pm Thursday, 10 am to 6 pm Saturday, and 12 pm to 6 pm on Sunday; closed Monday.
Kelly O’Connor: Hypnotic Void
This month, San Antonio artist Kelly O’Connor is back for her third solo exhibition at David Shelton Gallery. Known for her candy-colored collages that incorporate fairy-tale characters and pop media icons, much of her work has been inspired by Disneyland and other American theme parks. O’Connor addresses central themes that include gender, feminism and family, as well as our culture’s expanding preoccupation with artificial happiness. On view now through May 28th.
David Shelton Gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 6 pm.
Photos above, left: William Cannings, XX, 2016; right: Adela Andea, Fire Coral & Blue Coral, 2016.
Congratulations Anya!
Anya Tish is celebrating the gallery’s 20th anniversary with the exhibition XX Part One
This first of two group exhibitions feature work by recent and long standing artists from the gallery stable, with an emphasis on Central/Eastern Europe and Russia as well as local Texas artists. Artwork on view spans the last few decades, and includes a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, video, photography and installation. Among the works is a site-specific light installation by Adela Andea.
Anya Tish Gallery, established in 1996, specializes in art with a focus on the contemporary experience and interactive qualities. MKG salutes Anya for bringing a unique aesthetic and focus on contemporary European art to Houston.
Anya Tish Gallery is open Tuesday through Friday 10:30 am to 6 pm and Saturday 10:30 am to 5 pm.
MKG Watch List
- A Philadelphia-based, mixed media artist whose abstractions intersect art and science, Rebecca Rutstein finds inspiration from geology, maps and the undercurrents that shape our world. She has been an artist at sea, collaborating with scientists mapping out never-before-seen ocean floor topography from the Galapagos Islands to California. This year she will be exploring
uncharted territory in the South Pacific. Rebecca Rutstein is represented by Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia. - Originally from Mexico City, Gabriel Dawe creates site-specific installations that explore the connection between fashion and architecture. Centered in the exploration of thread and textiles, his work aims to examine the complicated construction of gender and identity in his native Mexico and attempting to subvert the notions of masculinity and machismo prevalent in the present day. Dawe is represented by Conduit Gallery in Dallas.
- Primarily working in the medium of drawing, Dennis Koch makes meticulously structured abstract works inspired by the scientific fields of physics, cosmology, dimensional mathematics, and parapsychology. His newest body of work is “Versor Parallels”. Dennis Koch is represented by Luis De Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles.
- New York based artist Claire Sherman makes it a priority to visit iconic landscapes, such as the sequoia forest of Sierra Nevada and the California coastal redwoods. After spending time in the wilderness, she returns to her Brooklyn studio to paint large scale works, resulting in a powerful sense of abstraction and immersion in the environs. Claire Sherman is represented by DC Moore Gallery in New York.
MKG Art Management Fall Newsletter
An Installation Story
MKG Art Management excels in guiding private collectors in acquiring works that are unique, surprising, and personal. In MKG’s featured collection this month, our client is drawn to unusual media and texture. From the origami-like pixelated and folded photographs of Texas artist Rusty Scruby (above left), to Dirk De Bruycker’s canvas embedded with asphalt, gesso, and oil (above right), these works pack a powerful punch.
Jae Ko’s wall sculpture draws inspiration from unusual and extreme forms found in nature. Ko creates her vertical coiling forms out of tightly wound adding machine tape. After soaking the paper in traditional Korean inks, Ko forms the shape on a pottery wheel. Finally she coats the paper sculpture in glue and graphite. The resulting matte red form has metallic sheen, but the heft of the material looks like rubber.
German born artist Markus Linnenbrink’s viscous rivulets of epoxy resin result in wall pieces that balance sculpture and painting (above left). Similarly, Gavin Perry, inspired by the exuberant car culture of his native Miami, shellacs vinyl tape with thick enamel, creating heavy, shiny works on board with dramatic visual heft (above right).
Leo Villareal (below), on the other hand, brings a studied intellectualism to his work in light and movement, focusing on mathematical coding. Once Villareal sets the mathematical rules for a particular work of art, he allows the resulting light display to repeat and grow organically, incorporating an element of chance in their constant change and repetition.
The common denominators in this collection are rich color and uncommon media. The unique methodology and material of all these works combine with the unique vision of the collector to form a vibrant and warm collaboration.
Houston Happenings…
MFAH Breaks Ground
On October 15th, 2015 The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston formally broke ground on the Fayez S. Sarofim Campus, and also announced Deborah Nevins & Associates as the project’s landscape architect. The campus will feature the new Glassell School of Art building and the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building which will house Modern and contemporary art. Both are designed by Steven Holl Architects, as well as the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation Center for Conservation, which is designed by Lake|Flato Architects. The Sarofim Campus plan will transform the 14 acres of the MFAH property into a pedestrian-friendly cultural zone. Completion is slated for late 2019.
Rice Gallery Presents Intersections, by Anila Quayyum Agha
Pakistani-American artist Anila Quayyum Agha uses light and cast shadow to transform Rice Gallery into a place that refers to Islamic sacred spaces, specifically inspired by the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. From the 11th – 15th centuries, the last Muslim dynasty in Spain ruled from the fortress.
In Intersections, Agha creates a contemplative space using simple means: a single, bright light suspended from the ceiling shines through an intricately cut black wooden box. Within Intersections, no clear boundary or separation exists; the nature of the pattern changes as the viewer walks freely through the space. Rice Gallery is open 11 am to 5 pm Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday; 11 am to 7 pm on Thursday ; Closed Sunday
MKG Watch List
- Dallas native Josh Reames has recently garnered a great deal of attention for his vibrant canvases, with exhibitions in Milan, London, Mexico, Los Angeles and Chicago. His paintings feature an amalgamation of seemingly nonsensical objects, like graffiti, Rene Magritte’s pipe, technicolored fruits, and floating computer graphics. His artwork draws attention to the constant stream of disconnected visual information that we experience on a daily basis. Josh Reames is represented by Luis de Jesus in Los Angeles.
- Balancing on the line between painting and sculpture, John Miserendino utilizes natural marble as his canvas and colored dye as his paint, enlivening the unseen seams within the stone. The artist has employed equal parts science and chance to develop techniques that pull, and remove the dye from the marble. John Miserendino is represented by Louis B. James in New York City.
- New York based artist Leslie Wayne uses paint in a sculptural manner, resulting in artwork that takes on a three-dimensional form. The artist draws her inspiration from geology, and the layers, colors, and textures of the natural landscape. Leslie Wayne is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery in New York City.
- Zach Harris has been on the “MKG Watch List” for some time. Harris’ carved and painted reliefs are at once abstract, illusionistic, and narrative. His work encompasses historical cultural reference in a mashup of painting and sculpture. Zach Harris is represented by Feuer Mesler in New York City.