Blue Orange Contemporary, acting in concert with Ken General, co-founder of The Duende Art Project and former director of Wade Wilson Art, is pleased to invite you to a special exhibition entitled ‘rising fog becomes cloud’ by Tae Lee.
The exhibit opens with a reception for the artist from 6-9pm on Saturday, September 6, 2014, and will remain on view through Saturday, October 18, 2014. Blue Orange Contemporary is located at 1208 West Gray St., Houston, TX 77019.
We are delighted to bring you a beautiful exhibition sharing the works of artist, Tae il Lee, an international artist who has shown in major art meccas such as New York City and Seoul, South Korea. He brings his ethereal and strangely beautiful paintings and drawings to Houston, where he has recently chosen as a place to complete his latest body of work.
Tae’s work successfully seduces viewers into a dimension where human empathy and introspection merge into one state of consciousness, both calming and unsettling. Through his paintings and drawings of Jungian figures and wispy poetry, Tae authenticates his position on the exquisitely strenuous nature of the human condition and enlightened awareness.
The focus of Tae Lee’s work invites him to ruminate on a certain state of being that is regarded as the ideal found at the peak of the human condition. Lee believes this ideal is found in the visage of empathy found in the expressions of Jesus, Mary, and the high Saints in the paintings of the 19th century Italian Renaissance. The faces imply a sense of understanding in the difficulties that humanity battle in its longing for enlightenment/salvation, but does not condescend humanity with condescending sympathy or pity.
It is Lee’s belief that this state of being is one akin to Eastern religious or aesthetic philosophies such as Zen and Wabi-Sabi, which intermingles beauty with a sense of impermanence and transience. This acceptance and meditation of the material and immaterial world is found in countless cultures from the Mystics in the Amazons to the Indigenous cultures of Africa, their link and commonality giving proof to our interconnection, with not only each other but the natural world.
“In this time of ever expanding globalization, with the powerful actions of humanity catching up with the ever-increasing speed of human whims, I believe it is imminently important that we look to this ideal state of enlightened being, not only for guidance, but for comfort as well.” – Tae il Lee
“You can catch more flies with sugar than you can with vinegar”, is an idiom commonly used in the south to refer to the act of challenging adversities, disputes and issues with a generous degree of confectious allure as substitute for bitter hostility. In addition, SUGA is a term of endearment, a pet name or an expression that commands whoever it is directed to. This show aims to capture the attention of our viewer with an aesthetic that is coated in sweetness yet contextually loaded. While SUGAR, the commodity, is charged with an array of historical, political and domestic values, SUGA carries a more colloquial appreciation.
SUGA contributes to the discourse of contemporary printmaking using traditional and experimental methods while highlighting the diverse art practices of Rabea Ballin, Ann Johnson, Delita Martin and Lovie Olivia. These four artists’ works navigate between styles of the past and the proposed future and addresses experiences unique to Women of Color residing in the American South. They not only embrace and challenge drawing conventions in medium, surface and concept but apply unusual approaches to the process and ingredients of printmaking. Identifying as installation, video, mixed media artists, sculptors and painters as well, they make the common voyage – once a year - to the arena of Printmaking. The four are intrinsically invested in a dialogue with print, pattern and mark-making; both two dimensionally as well as taking these marks, line, erasure / transparency, memory and process, off the page to flirt with a three dimensional environment. From digital plaster fresco to traditional works on paper to more organic approaches like printing on feathers, glass and fabrics, the works summon an ingrained dialogue with the historical and formerly domestic space of Blue Orange Gallery.
GROUP BIO
Artists, Rabéa Ballin, Delita Martin, Ann Johnson, and Lovie Olivia have collaborated for three remarkable exhibitions that mix, stir and incorporate the organic ingredients of fine printing and good friendship. Using materials including plaster, feathers, dehydrated vegetables, pillows, handmade paper and more, the four create an environment fit for a soul stirring dialog. The exhibition ROUX was conceived by Ann Johnson, and Lovie Olivia as a proposal for the Art League of Houston. The proposal was rejected, however still determined to show together Johnson and Olivia invited Ballin and Martin to collaborate and present ROUX during the inaugural PrintHouston exhibition series at the Houston Museum of African American Culture, 2011. The exhibition was well received, with images and a review in the Houston Press, and Houston Chronicle. The ROUX exhibition has since traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas, Brooklyn, NY and includes a full color catalog available at www.blurb.com. The catalog received a “book of the week” and “staff favorite” pick on the Blurb.com website in 2012.
The second exhibition STIR was held in June 2012at Gallery M Squared, in Houston, TX, The exhibition was a part of PrintHouston 2012. STIR received a glowing review from glasstire.com, and the STIR catalog sold out immediately at the exhibition opening. The catalog, available at www.hpmagcloud.com, was honored with a staff favorite “what we like” status for several weeks on the HP Magcloud website.
The third exhibition MOJO opened at Prairie View A&M University in November 2012. In MOJO the vocabulary of printmaking was challenged in a traditional and nontraditional verse. The artists continued to evoke a conversation about the tried and true privilege of the hand in contemporary art, particularly exploring how notions of domesticity are paired with women of color. The catalog for this exhibition is in production and the curator of the exhibition, Lauren Kelley is actively shopping this exhibition to other universities and galleries.
The fourth exhibition titled: bās, is a visual response to AudreLorde’s writings on the transformation of voice. Each work tells a story that folds into a bigger collection of stories for each artist, which then ties together with other artists in the exhibition. When viewed collectively the works resemble webs as intricate, beautiful and clever. This exhibition received two reviews from Houston Press.
Art Junction Art Show and Sale to Raise Money for Art League of Houston’s Esplanade Project
Art Junction presents its first fundraising art show, sale and silent auction to support Houston public art. The two-hour show opens at 4 pm on Saturday, May 17 and will feature pieces by Houston high school and professional artists and photographers, as well as select out-of-state artists. Studio art pieces are created on 5x7 paper generously donated by Texas Art Supply and range from intricate pen drawings to collage to photo prints.
This year, Art Junction will benefit the Art League of Houston’s Esplanade Project. The Art League created the project, a series of temporary public artwork, in 2013 as its first serious venture into public art. Like we do, the Art League believes that public artwork enriches the lives of people who pass; it can provide the high point of your day or simply spur a conversation. In addition, public artwork contributes to a space’s identity while also increasing its cultural, social, and economic value.
The first piece of the Esplanade Project is Patrick Renner’s stunningly colorful, 180 ft. Funnel Tunnel. This brilliant sculpture, which winds along a Montrose Blvd. median right outside the Art League, has been featured on Chron.com, Glasstire, and Colossal, and draws the attention of the multitude of commuters that pass it each day. The next piece will neighbor the Funnel Tunnel on the median in front of Texas Art Supply.
Save the date for May 17. Bring your friends and family to our art sale and silent auction at seize the opportunity to appreciate the talent of our city’s artists. By participating, you will help Art Junction and the Art League “humanize the built environment that we live in and invigorate the public spaces around us.” Join us at this important junction of the art world, making Houston’s artwork more accessible to all!
Side Show
CHARLES CARPER BENEFIT AND MEMORIAL
Charles Carper's Private Collection | The Amazing Hancock Brothers | Brock Caron
May 3rd - May 31st 2014
The Charles Carper Benefit is a memorial show in honor of the late Charles Carper composed primarily of his personal art collection. As a large supporter of the arts in the Houston Area, Charles' collection features numerous prints by artists such as The Amazing Hancock Brothers. Portions from any art sales will be donated to ArtBridge Houston. Accompanying the collection of Charles Carper will be a large-scale installation and smaller prints by Austin based artist Brock Caron. Also, during the event we will have food and feature live music by Houston based Matt Harlan and others.
Diegetic Debris
Evan Hublein | Aldon Mines | Doug Pollard
April 5th - April 26th 2014
BLUEorange is proud to present Diegetic Debris, a group show featuring work by Doug Pollard, Aldon Mines and Evan Hublein. Utilizing a variety of mediums and processes, these new bodies of work engage concepts of identity, humor and material by re-configuring representations of our cultural detritus. All three artists have received their BFA from Texas State University and currently live and work in Austin, TX.
Particularly These
Lance McMahan | Roxana Tuff | Giovanni Valderas
February 22nd - March 22nd 2014
BLUEorange Contemporary is proud to announce the opening of Particularly These a show that, through explorations of medium and materiality, captures the artists’ contemplation of personal history, be it a physical artifact, a fleeting memory, or a symbol of ones identity. This exhibition will include works in various media by Lance McMahan (Austin, TX), Roxanna Tuff (Austin, TX) and Giovanni Valderas (Dallas, TX).
Ryder Richards:
Conversations from the Museum of the Uninformed
December 20th 2013
BLUEorange presents Conversations from the Museum of the Uninformed by Dallas-based artist Ryder Richards. Developed around themes of information handling, the exhibit looks at the redaction of information as creating a cultural void. Displaying several drawings of ________________________ paired with sculptural manifestations of ___________________ the exhibit will also provide installations utilizing sound, light and ___________________, otherwise known as the _________________.
Considering the issue of absence provoking monumentalization as an intentional strategy employed by ________________________________________ and _____________, Richards offers several objects as proposals to concretize or capture vacancies and vagaries.
Ryder Richards recently co-curated Boom Town at the Dallas Museum of Art and has exhibited at Roswell Museum of Art, Bellevue Arts Museum, and the participated in the prestigious _________________ at ____________. A curator, gallery director, occasional writer, and member of several collectives Richards is a Visiting Scholar at Eastfield College outside of Dallas.