Unofficial CAM event gets unofficial coverage

I couldn’t pass this up. Here’s the piano pre-mortem at 8:30pm…


Photo Jeremiah Teutsch

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Thursday July 9.

MAUC 3rd Annual Frida Celebration at the Pearl Stables requires a $25 ticket to get in. What a bourgeois way to honor a Communist. Turns out, being a member of the press requires “credentials.” I guess they’ll be celebrating Frida without me—oh what a shame.

The San Antonio Meeting Center (the American Payroll Association building) features the work of Olivia Villanueva and Juan Farias. The hallways of this concrete hulk are adorned with tired and worn-out abstractions in blue, red, brown, and even bronze. The setting is perfect. These pieces would fit any conference room, office, or place of business bent on being decoratively non-committal. The show’s title, “The Mystery Remains—Being noticed can be a burden” is too right. It has been noticed and it has been a burden.


God Must Have Been a Woman


Bolivar Hall in La Villita brings out the Sunday painters at their best. These hardworking hobbyists showcase their county-fair-caliber portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. The blue ribbon goes to James Abernathy’s Into Palo Duro Canyon.

James Abernathy Into Palo Duro Canyon


Kathy Riojas Rae Rae


The Carver Community Cultural Center puts on a solo show for Bernice Appelin-Williams. Williams’s collages, photography, paintings, and assemblages blur and blend together into an all too familiar and recognizable postmodern investigation of identity. I must admit that I find her modified and vintage photo/monoprint/mixed media collages attractive (Centerpiece).

Centerpiece

Mister Roger's Neighborhood

all photos by Jeremiah Teutsch

Singlets for a Practical Society FL!GHT Gallery

Singlets for a Practical Society aims to capture the mood of our times by asking quite simply: do you feel like I do? All of these works in some way connect to the themes presented in an audio artist statement in which the group provides a list of woes including: failure, lack of self, longing, self-doubt, anxiety, and missed opportunities. The prospect of a mutual understanding is presented in different ways and meets with varying degrees of compatibility. Jen Khoshbin’s pieces are delicate and finely crafted. Her drawings, a print, and modified books (including sound) help alleviate your concerns with some nostalgia. Khoshbin’s vintage children’s books are another example of the kitchy retro-pop subject matter that I’d like to see less. Phillip Luna’s propaganda derived prints strike at the heart of masculine insecurity and those brutish attempts to fight it off or give in to it. Randy Wallace added a playful element to his fluorescent sculpture by cutting it apart and offering rides to kids on a wheel barrow-esque segment of the piece. Katie Pell’s creatures stare back at you—self consciousness sets in. A phone sits in the corner; a business card provides a number.

1-888-733-2761.

The brainchild of Jen Khoshbin and Paul Lewis, this hotline reigns as the highlight of the show and promises to deliver new results from a roster of artists for the rest of the year. Call now. refarmspectacle.blogspot.com/

Black Light Art Party

If it’s on, I'm going. Here’s the truth. We hopped in the truck and drove down Broadway. While we were driving I got a 4th of July call from my mom. So I’m talking to her and we drive by. It really was great because all of the windows were open and you could see right inside. Granted the black lights weren’t on yet because it was still light out, but I saw all I needed. I have a pretty good imagination, and I’m sure that most of you do too. So what do you get when you mix a bunch of blobby fluorescent paint, an empty space, and a bad idea? A black light art party. Whatever, just fulfilling my self-imposed CAM calendar guidelines. If anyone wants a slightly used strobe light or a set of Pioneer SE-50 headphones, shoot me a line. 10 bucks or trade for a good copy of Three Dog Night’s “Suitable for Framing” LP. Mom’s fine and says hi.

First Thursday and First Friday. July 2-3.

“Lonely are the Brave” indeed. This is a very impressive show. Justin Boyd’s sound performance was powerful to say the least. Utilizing a fence structure, a synthesizer, an iphone, and even a cigar Boyd managed to completely envelope the space, your body, and your brain. The whole thing had me thinking about our collective (in)ability to reconcile the past with the present, and those elements that we can’t seem to shake, the ones that slip through the sieve of our culture. Chris Sauter’s recreated room seems to speak to this too. It also proclaims that Sauter's work is excellent and that everyone needs to see more. Kelly O’Connor’s piece was a shift from her usual—sort of. I like that it encompassed an entire room, and spread small pieces of itself around the whole space. I will say that I prefer the hyper activity and color packed into the individual O’Connor pieces of late. I think the space was more of a limiter than an advantage for O’Connor. I like the threads as connective and restrictive devices, I just don’t like that they are radiating from the black and white painted characters. Jesse Amado’s wall piece connects everything together. I must say that Hills Snyder's curatorial and artistic contributions are not lost on those that appreciate excellence in artistic direction. In conjunction, Kevin Patrick McClellan’s treatment of gallery 4 is an excellent use of that space. His clean, arcing forms crossing over, the organic texture in the center, and the dramatic lighting are almost vertigo inducing. Ken Little and the band find ways to soothe the savage beast.
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Chris Sauter The Known Universe (childhood bedroom)

The Southwest School of Arts and Crafts hosts a collection of drawings from Texas artists. The space is filled to capacity with works that provide maximum impact. Jules Buck Jones’s powerful piece, groups of drawings on paper with wall text and lines, covers an entire corner of the main gallery and flows out into the front foyer. Katie Pell’s imagery and flat works on paper always impress, but these paper constructions are awkward and lacking in their design. Alice Leora Briggs’s intricate works are intense, and contrast nicely with the delicate and light pieces of Jayne Lawrence. Eric Zimmerman’s large drawings are very impressive. The live performance by Electric Dirt was a nice addition to the visual show. Amplified sounds of drawing on boxes and drums.

At Joan Grona Gallery, Derrick D. Durham offers stunning paintings. Jason Jay Stevens conducts an experiment to impress both your eyes and your ears. Success. Stevens’s sound sculptures, photos, and constructions are both inviting and repellent. They draw you in close, but keep you at a certain distance. The pieces have a power, a force. I want to see this installation (or one like it) on a grand scale, in a huge space, with plenty of room for the work to reach its full potential.

Derrick D. Durham

Say Si takes on light and wins. The work of these kids is exceptional. I dare say that the majority of the work in this show is better than most of what I saw this week. The craftsmanship was top-notch and the gallery presentation clean and polished. There is a lot of talent in that program. Based on their pieces in this show, some students of note include: Crissy Patino, Miles Fermin, Nathan DeFreest, Gilberto Bernal, and Danielle Campbell. Campbell’s Reading Pod piece illustrates a strong design sense and an ability to explore the edges of its possibilities.

Danielle Campbell

The UTSA Satellite Space delves into the shallow reaches of a concept we’ve all seen before—religion and the inability to cope with it. I think working with this is limiting and breeds blunt force gestures and mediocrity. This concept and others like it are only effective if handled with subtlety and sharp thinking. Soomin Jung at Three Walls proves that: 1.she is incredibly talented, 2. humans are grotesque stews of appendages. Cactus Bra features Meg Langhorne’s gouaches of romance novel covers altered so that one figure has the head of a deer. These pieces fail to move beyond our recent fascination with animals in art, especially cute ones. Kitsch is kitsch. The lights at the Stella Haus Art Space are off to accommodate light-boxes and video produced by the collaborative group the Prime Eights. The light-boxes and photos are beautiful and slick. The quality of this work is very high. The stillness of a VW commercial, a sleek 1960s airport, and the sexy warm glow of a summer evening mix to create good design. The look back is good, but we can’t stay caught in that romance. Move forward; be here now; go into the future. What is contemporary if we keep ruminating on the look of the last 50 years?

A man in drag dances and is ogled by a Blues Brother—Jump Start performance art. JusticeWorks Studio is filled with multiple sound pieces that work to link the show together and a collection of crude objects packed in to some sort of massive cubicle construction. The sound elements are good, but the rest is overbearing and clumsy. Rendon Photography features some paintings and some photos, all of which are unimpressive. According to the signs, El Sol Studios is having a clearance sale. Fiber Arts Space offers decorative objects for sale--made with fabric. Stone Metal Press has the GiNormous prints up (prints made with a steam-roller). Here is one example of a gimmick gone good. Suzanne Wright Crain Studios, LLC consists of some tie-dyed fabric hanging from the ceiling; the artist talking languidly about body connective tissue; and one critic and a photographer full of fear, looking for a way out.

All photos Jeremiah Teutsch

Sam’s Video Jam #2. June 30. Sam’s Burger Joint

I can start off by saying that this was probably the first time I’ve actually enjoyed going to a film/video screening. I’m sure the non-traditional venue makes for a more relaxed viewing. The sound was great, the room was certainly not the typical cramped bunker, and the videos were pretty entertaining.

The better of the selections include: Jordan Belson’s 1961 “Allures”, an exercise in psychedelic graphic composition and early synthesized music put together masterfully; a new video by PES called “Western Spaghetti”, a stop-motion animation with a Pop bent; and “Live in 2005” from Animal Charm, a compilation of our favorite flavors of eye candy. Animal Charm use found low-fi graphics and video to put together a treat for our twisted tastes. This video works on the idea that the outmoded spawns the absurd which breeds hilarity. It seems we’re all warped.

Other than that, the selections seemed to play more to humor than any other artistic sensibility—a growing trend. I was deeply saddened that the set ended with a luscious video by Vanessa Renwick which turned out to be a political tool. These contemporary brute-force political statements are a powerful tool—powerful enough to kill any aesthetic pleasure found in a piece. The majority of the videos could have been picked for their soundtracks more than their cinematic qualities, but I can’t completely fault that possibility. A mash-up classic, some dreadful narratives, and David Lynch as headliner round out the night.

Utah Snyder and Mike Stoltz have put together an entertaining show. The next installment of the pretension-free video jam session is July 28th.

photo: copyright Jeremiah Teutsch,

For the month of July, I will post a synopsis of all CAM art shows in San Antonio. I am reviewing based on the official CAM calendar. If you're having a show-- I will know. You will get the straight dope on what I think of your offerings. If you want to respond to my response--by all means, feel free. Comments are welcome; everyone comment.