Email Author Shaila Dewan

1997 Stories by Shaila Dewan

• DoV-ine Inspiration

  published December 18, 1997

  It's not easy to take Harvey Bott seriously. The 63-year-old with the Elmer Fudd hairdo is one of those kooky guys appreciated in the local art... More >>

• Perfect Pitch

  published December 11, 1997

  The incident could have been a disaster. But for John Axelrod, it became just one more sales opportunity. Axelrod, a young conductor and... More >>

• Big Talker

  published November 13, 1997

  Willie D is in the house. In fact, Willie D is on the mike. A slow jam starts up behind him. "The say that the apple don't fall too far from the... More >>

• History's Burden

  published October 30, 1997

  From artists who take as their subject the Holocaust, viewers demand a great deal. We demand that the Holocaust not be trivialized, universalized,... More >>

• Art for the Masses

  published October 9, 1997

  To sell those as yet unsold on the idea of public art in Houston, Jessica Cusick uses a simple weapon: a slide show. Culled from photos taken... More >>

• Playing Around

  published October 2, 1997

  When I walked into Yayoi Kusama's installation at the Rice University Art Gallery recently, I saw a bunch of students lying around on the floor,... More >>

• Desi Dance

  published September 25, 1997

  There's a new dance in clubland. It begins with a solid wall of dholak beats emerging from a swirling mix of hip-hop and disco. Then out snakes a... More >>

• Site, or Sight?

  published September 4, 1997

  A little background for those of you who haven't been paying attention: In 1993, Houston artist Rick Lowe and arts administrator Deborah Grotfeldt... More >>

• Attack of the Puppet People

  published August 28, 1997

  The lights go on behind a flimsy plywood flat that's been plunked down in the middle of Mary Jane's. A rectangle has been cut in the flat, and... More >>

• Shifting Foundation

  published August 14, 1997

  Only 15 blocks long, Hyde Park Boulevard begins not as a boulevard at all but as a narrow lane, curling coyly out of Pacific Street just west of... More >>

• Loving Care

  published August 7, 1997

  Last year, a New York art fair organizer pitted pop music fans who are also artists against one another in a show entitled "Oasis vs. Blur,"... More >>

• The Art of Darkness

  published June 12, 1997

  When Don Bacigalupi became director of the University of Houston's Blaffer Gallery a year and a half ago, one of the first exhibits he put on the... More >>

• Food for Thought

  published May 22, 1997

  "Layer cakes," Martha Stewart's Living advises us in this month's cover story, "have always had a special emotional power." As ludicrous as that... More >>

• Pixel Power

  published April 10, 1997

  By titling his new show at Texas Gallery "Analog Paintings," Jeff Elrod presents the viewer a bit of a conundrum. After all, paintings are never... More >>

• Light and Darkness

  published March 20, 1997

  "So mature, it's frightening" is how one of Aaron Parazette's fellow artists describes Parazette's new show at Texas Gallery, "Pleasure... More >>

• A Gift to Be Simple

  published March 13, 1997

  Nine months ago, when Yukiko Lunday opened Takara in the Village, she filled it with decorated chopsticks, kimonos and handmade Japanese paper,... More >>

• Out of Africa

  published March 13, 1997

  Had I not been looking for an Islamic veil, I might never have found the food of Africa. Or, to be more exact, I might never have found what may,... More >>

• Rotation

  published March 13, 1997

  Dinosaur Jr. Hand It Over Reprise It's been almost two years now since Dinosaur Jr. finally hit the pop charts with "Feel the... More >>

• Ezekiel's Trust

  published March 6, 1997

  Rena Minar paid her last visit to Ezekiel Gibbs in 1992. She found the 103-year-old artist alone in his living room, seated at the work table... More >>

• O No, Mr. Lennon

  published February 20, 1997

  "Yoko Ono Presents One of the Biggest Art and Media Events Taking Place in the Houston Area This Winter" trumpets the full-color press release.... More >>

• Picture This

  published January 23, 1997

  Having used this space as an opportunity to grapple with my anxiety over abstract painting, it seems only right to use it to confront my... More >>

• Sexually Disoriented

  published January 23, 1997

  Like many of Houston's topless clubs, the Ritz Cabaret tries hard to offer its patrons a taste of glamour. In contrast to the fast-food... More >>