"Double" Vision

The CAMH hosts an ambitious show about black conceptual art

Comments (0) By Kelly Klaasmeyer Thursday, Mar 3 2005

...continued from page 1

Courtesy of the CAMH

Adrian Piper's Cornered deconstructs America's racial attitudes.

Details

Through April 17

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 5216 Montrose, 713-284-8250.

More About

Houston artists have some impressive works in the show. Bert Long's vibrantly colored ice sculptures are spectacular and enshrined in their own enormous glass-walled freezer. Karen Oliver's 2003 work Bench (seating for one), in which a tiny little metal shelf/seat projects from a massive brick wall, is a study in loneliness and isolation. David McGee's watercolors tellingly combine portraits of hip-hop figures with the names of Dadaist artists. And Robert Pruitt spoofs white corporate pretension and exploitation by displaying a series of clocks set to time zones labeled Watts, Detroit, Haiti, Nyandarua…

Race as an organizing principle for art exhibitions remains problematic. But "Double Consciousness" has brought together some strong and provocative pieces. The best thing the viewer can do is focus on the individual works themselves.