Email Author Shaila Dewan

1996 Stories by Shaila Dewan

• Dumb and Dinky

  published December 26, 1996

  In a time when programming choices at non-commercial galleries are often made by committee or viewed mainly as grant-getting opportunities, a... More >>

• Making Connections

  published December 12, 1996

  Seated in Lawndale Art & Performance Center's main gallery, artist Mark Lombardi tells me a story: Shortly after he arrived in Houston, a woman... More >>

• Playing to Type

  published November 28, 1996

  At the turn of the century, German photographer August Sander began work on a project ambitiously titled "Man of the Twentieth Century." His... More >>

• Street Walking

  published November 7, 1996

  The street of galleries known collectively as Colquitt (as in "Been over to Colquitt?" "Yeah." "See anything?" "Naw.") is a glorified strip mall,... More >>

• Frill a Minute

  published October 31, 1996

  In the telling of his stories, Dr. Seuss often got wonderfully distracted. He dosed on long riffs of nonsense, gobbledygook that sounded good even... More >>

• Jailed and Drugged

  published October 10, 1996

  "I am three face from the planet called the Texas Longhorn." "My name is up side down I am from the Planet II Face." "I am victory... More >>

• Quiet, Please

  published October 3, 1996

  "Everything is on the move. Art should be still." This was one of the 12 strict rules for painters that Ad Reinhardt advanced in 1957. Today, his... More >>

• Frank-ly Speaking

  published August 22, 1996

  You don't have to be much of a cynic to at least raise an eyebrow at the Museum of Fine Arts' exhibit "More than a Constructive Hobby: The... More >>

• The Trouble with Beauty

  published August 15, 1996

  At first glance, "Crimes and Splendors: The Desert Cantos of Richard Misrach" appears to be so much exquisite photography for next year's... More >>

• Sweet Stuff

  published July 18, 1996

  If there's one thing Houston's summer heat is sure to dissolve, it's any attempt at snobbery. If you're like me, by early June your radio is... More >>

• Crossed Cultures

  published July 4, 1996

  The character of The Simpsons' convenience store owner Apu Nahasapeemapetalon is as exaggerated as his name is long. But he's one of the few Asian... More >>

• Man Oh Man

  published June 20, 1996

  Weekend Gallery director Martin Mercader had in mind an affirmative action of sorts when he put together his latest exhibit, "Atom." The title is... More >>

• Shiny Happy Creatures

  published June 13, 1996

  In 1991, when she appeared on the Houston art scene as a Glassell School of Art Core Fellow, sculptor Sharon Engelstein's knack for distinguishing... More >>

• Walking Man

  published June 6, 1996

  In one of Rice professor (and Art Forum critic) Thomas McEvilley's oft-given lectures, he speculates that the earliest known art-making consisted... More >>

• Poster Points

  published May 9, 1996

  Visitors to "Crime and Punishment and Other New Paintings," Peter Saul's current exhibit at Texas Gallery, are greeted by a Day-Glo rendition of... More >>

• Abstract Ideas

  published April 25, 1996

  Over the past few years, the Texas art world has become obsessed with the validity of abstract painting. In Houston alone, three large exhibits of... More >>

• Faking It

  published April 11, 1996

  An exhibit saddled with a name that contains not only a play on words, but a sub-subhead, might well be cause for alarm. And indeed, "Justapose:... More >>

• England's Edge

  published March 21, 1996

  You're not to think of proper manners, the Thames, Alistair Cooke or even Hugh Grant. You're to think, rather, of the Sex Pistols,... More >>

• From the Beginning

  published March 7, 1996

  For half a century now, Jasper Johns has kept his public guessing. Each time he exhibits new work, be it abstract, figurative or something in... More >>

• Graphic Ideas

  published February 22, 1996

  In 1942, Peggy Guggenheim opened a Manhattan gallery to exhibit the new "isms" that Americans were increasingly curious about: surrealism, cubism,... More >>