Art for the Masses

Last year, in an attempt to spark the art world's interest in public art, Cusick prompted some 25 Houston artists to create imaginary public art proposals for existing downtown sites. Kate Petley transformed freeway columns into Japanese torii, or gates. James Nakagawa filled a parking lot with Etch-A-Sketch toys on posts for visitors to doodle on. Rachel Hecker, in a particularly Houstonian gesture, dotted a brick building with giant rhinestones. The exhibit, mounted at Barbara Davis's downtown gallery, simply showed that once Cusick really gets things rolling, we have a lot to look forward to. And as for Houston's image boosters -- well, give Cusick a call about that slide show.