MKG ART MANAGEMENT benefits RICE GALLERY on 13th Anniversary
Exhibition dates: October 13-Nov 23, 2011
Anniversary celebration and benefit opening: October 13, 6-8pm
MKG Art Management LLC is celebrating 13 years as Houston’s premier art advisory, with the aptly named “Lucky 13” exhibition, benefiting Rice Gallery.
“Lucky 13” will showcase 13 up-and-coming artists from around the nation, with all proceeds from sales benefitting Rice Gallery at Rice University. Melissa Grobmyer, president of MKG, explains, “We are proud to celebrate 13 years of business, while also benefitting Rice Gallery. Rice Gallery is the only university art museum in the US dedicated to site-specific installation art, and is unique to Houston. MKG is excited to support Rice Gallery’s mission and programming.” Rice Gallery and has brought important contemporary artists to Houston, such as Sarah Oppenheimer, Aurora Robson, and Jacob Hashimoto.
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Grobmyer further explains, “All the works of art chosen for “Lucky 13” illicit an element of surprise in the viewer. “Lucky 13” is our snap-shot of what has caught our eyes this year. This art is current and fresh, shot through with humor and cultural references. This is what is engaging us right now . . . it is apolitical . . . we are sick of politics. Our emphasis is on visual pleasure.”
Common Themes.
Trash art: Aurora Jordan, Shawne Major, Jonathon Dankenbring, Alison Foshee.
What is it about trash that stimulates the imagination? What beauty is found in stick-pins and mailing labels? What can I do with all this damn junk mail? What should I do with the Walkman that I haven’t used for twenty years but feel compelled to keep anyway? Who buys all this stuff?
21st century Formalism: Jonathon Leach, Richard Martinez, Heather Martin, Matt Rich, Emilie Duval, Ali Smith. Hard lines convey continued interest in material and form. Every generation of artist grapples with the same abstract issues about how to paint. What is imagery, anyway?
Post-Post Modern: Deborah Bay’s high caliber weaponry creates ethereal imagery that harkens the destructive/creative impulse in all of us. Power conveyed in delicacy. Alejandro Diaz’s light piece comments on and colludes with our consumerism, while Houston’s own Allison Hunter focuses on natural sublime.