“AT the Core of the Algorithm” Upon entering Hiram Butler Gallery to see Michael Petry’s “AT the Core of the Algorithm” installation, one might quickly decide that everything could be seen within five seconds. However, if a visitor looks beyond the simple beauty of hanging glass globes, the piece becomes much more interactive. Inspired by the prime number, the piece consists of glass globes arranged in sets of one, two, three and five and hung by 47 wires at staggered heights and in nonlinear formation. Each of the globes has a section sliced away, similar to when a person takes a bite out of an apple. The work is a nod to the late Alan Turing, the mathematician who broke the Nazi Enigma code during World War II. Using algorithms and computation, Turing is widely considered to be the father of artificial intelligence and theoretical computer science. When he died at 41 of cyanide poisoning, a partially eaten apple was found near his bed. The installation also represents a metaphor for the multiverse, in which many universes float alongside each other, occasionally intersecting and popping in and out of existence. To get the most out of this exhibit, a person must walk around it and underneath it, viewing it from many angles and noticing how it changes from each perspective. Look through the glass, then look through the glass where it is doubled up and notice the change in color. Then look at where the color changes when the orb has fused with another. The artist asks you to also see that the refracted images of nearby orbs appear visible on the glass — both there and not there at the same time — sort of a parallel universe. Continuing through May 30. 4520 Blossom, 713-863-7097, hirambutler.com. — ST
“Barnett Newman: The Late Works” “Barnett Newman: The Late Works,” which recently opened at The Menil Collection, is the venue’s major show of the spring season. It’s the first close look at the late-career works of one of the most important Abstract Expressionist painters, and it’s presented in wonderfully open galleries in which paintings and space look made for each other — as much of an experience as an exhibition. But even more important than a single major show is the opportunity the museum is giving us for the next few months to take an exhilarating visual tour through the major modernist thrust of European/American art for the hundred years from the 1860s to the 1960s — from the beginning of the turmoil in 19th-century Paris to the absolute chaos of contemporary late 20th-century America. With a couple of special exhibitions (including Newman), a stunning reinstallation of the permanent collection, and the old standby — but always standout — Surrealist holdings, the Menil is giving us here in Houston an art history experience that can only be bested at the likes of MOMA in New York or the Centre Pompidou in Paris, if even there. It’s all there: Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop. You can skim the surface through a hundred years, or you can stop at any point and go deep. To paraphrase one of the most memorable lines of the great Judy Garland as she looked in rapture at the wonders of a world’s fair in her own hometown: I almost can’t believe it. Right here where we live. Right here in Houston. Through August 2. 1515 Sul Ross, 713-525-9400, menil.org. — RT
“Desert Awakening: Paintings by the Australian Aboriginal Women of Ampilatwatja” The current exhibit at Booker•Lowe Gallery focuses on the small community of Ampilatwatja near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia. The pieces reflect the desert landscape in full bloom and with riots of exploding color. While Aboriginal artists have long favored the traditional earth colors of white pipe clay, charcoal black, and red and yellow ochre, these works feature bright oranges, blues and greens, celebrating the end of the drought. In this particular region, the painting style incorporates a meticulous dot technique, or rather thousands and thousands of small dots layered in delicate patterns. Many of the works feature repetitive patterns of vegetation without a particular focal point, and could pass for ornate, highly detailed textiles. In Kathleen Nanima Rambler’s My Father’s Country, she has painted the deep-blue sky with an almost childlike, magical quality, sprinkled with stars and watching over four volcanoes. She has added tiny kangaroos to her landscape, a nice surprise. Her 24″x24″ piece by the same name showcases a purple, blue and orange sky over a hot orange landscape. In both pieces, she has used a scallop pattern for her dots, meticulously changing the colors within each curve. Margaret Kemarre Ross’s Bush Flowers and Bush Medicine Plants is a bright and happy piece, vertical in orientation, with wonky rows of different plants. I did not need to understand the mystical healing properties of bush medicines to appreciate the beauty of this painting. Of the works that focus primarily on pattern repetition, one of the strongest was Betty Pula Morton’s My Country and Bush Medicine. This piece was smaller in scale than some of the others, at only 42″x12″, and featured a garnet-red background. Through June 13. 4623 Feagan, 713-880-1541, bookerlowegallery.com. — ST
“Kikuo Saito” There is a restlessness to the works by New York-based Japanese artist Kikuo Saito, on display now at Octavia Art Gallery. It’s interesting to note that the oldest piece, 1981’s Golden Shadow, and the most recent, 2015’s Summer Arrow, each incorporate simple compositions and unfinished canvases. In both, the artist is unafraid to use surprising color combinations, but the earlier work is more confident and uses broader strokes. In the piece done this year, Saito seems to work and rework the canvas, trying to recapture an earlier time and place. Early in his career, he created decor and costumes for the theater, sometimes collaborating with Jerome Robbins, Peter Brook and Robert Wilson. This is most likely the inspiration for Persian Hat, with the framework for a variety of objects against an arctic background. It’s a fun piece, as the figures can be interpreted as set designs, animals, insects or architectural elements. In the olive-toned Spanish Chair II, Roman letters have begun to be overtaken by splotches of color, whereas the color completely dominates in the verdant green Tree Map and the candy-colored explosion of Spider’s Hat. There are five smaller works of oil and crayon on paper. In most of them, the artist has taken a page out of a magazine and, as if declaring the subject matter insufficient, has blotted out the words and images with crayon, underscored by the ghost stain of oil. In #193, Saito has obliterated a red beaded necklace with a tornado-like whirl of saturated color. In #141, an essay about landscaping, Saito has all but obscured the article, finishing off the piece with a red cage and his trademark thumbprint. Through May 7. 3637 West Alabama, 713-877-1810, octaviaartgallery.com. — ST
“… a path to share …” With a color palette dominated by white, works by Argentinian artist Marie Orensanz in “… a path to share …” display luminously in the 5,900-square-foot Sicardi Gallery, which has represented Latin American artists since 1994. In honor … of whom? is an installation of 20 white opaline bells with stainless-steel tags containing cut-out messages in English and Spanish. Hung from the ceiling at various intervals, and casting its shadow against the walls, the piece invites the viewer to explore the space, think and perhaps ring a bell. The tags answer back with “for those who yield,” “those who doubt,” “those who sell,” “those who judge,” “those who think,” “those who leave” and “para los que callan” (for those who are silent). The work is a thinly veiled dismissal of coercive social and political structures, consistent for this artist who imbues her works with subversive messages. Orensanz, who was born in 1936, resented both Argentina’s military dictatorship and the reigning misogyny of the period; she had been told that women should be content to paint pretty flowers. In response, she instead created a series on poisonous flowers, with her belladonna and wood anemone representing those who hide in the shadows and are threatened by repression. Nine works from this Fleurs vénéneuses series are included in this exhibit, created between 1973 and 1976. Meticulously drawn and laden with pictograms and symbols from physics, the images contain sparse messages that invite contemplation. “People are conditioned by the environment,” “We have the power to choose” and “Action is the consequence of thought.” There is an architectural elegance to the drawings; some include arrows and markings for folding or bending the page. Through May 30. 1506 West Alabama, 713-529-1313, sicardigallery.com. — ST
“Reverse Equation” Experience the cool, calming aquatic-inspired imagery of abstract painter Katherine Houston, then warm up your brain with the three-dimensional geometric mindscapes of math artist Michael Schultheis, both on display now in the exhibit “Reverse Equation” at Laura Rathe Fine Art. Schultheis plays with the concept of spherical geometry so that the edges of his compositions, which are theoretically closer to you, are full of action, while the further away centers are misty and sparse. His limaçons and cardioids — looped, dimpled and convex curves — float on equation-filled backgrounds of dusty, chalky blue and seafoam green. The environments in which these shapes live are attractive and highly energetic, perhaps evocative of other planetary realms. These floating limaçons seem to dance, interact and react to each other, sometimes flattening, merging, separating, intersecting, rotating or splitting apart. His mathematical equations represent more perfect versions of these geometric forms, though only visible within the mind’s eye, an intentional dimensionality by the artist. Katherine Houston’s reverse painting on acrylic technique is effective in Dreaming in Color, with its ghostly surface of white clouds, punctuated by a glowing turquoise form rising up from the mist. The points of a sub-surface triad begin to appear at the edges, in the east, south and west. Houston plays with depth in her nine-piece Cubes, with the varying thicknesses of the differently sized acrylic cubes adding contrast. As a whole, the piece seems to represent segmented microcosms of aquatic life. Depth also came into play with Gradation, a 15-segment joined piece that declines in height toward the center, then climbs back up again, much like our ocean floors. Through April 25. 2707 Colquitt. 713-527-7700, laurarathe.com. — ST
“Rewilding” Wolves are the central theme in Rachel Schwind Gardner’s exhibit “Rewilding,” in which the artist puts forth the argument that balance can be restored to ecosystems if we allow the reintroduction of non-human animals to their natural lands. Her life-size papier-mâché wolves take center stage in an artfully arranged tree limb and moss arbor courtesy of Max B. Harrison, who co-owns Gallery M Squared along with Michael P. Kubis. The wolves climb stairs, howl at the moon, play with bones, lie on their backs or curl up to sleep, all under the watchful eyes of the wolf family trilogy painting SOULcry. In addition to the life-size and medium-size wolf sculptures, Gardner’s exhibit includes wolf pups, mixed-media collages on panel or canvas, watercolor with ink, and a very interesting primitive and energetic series painted with sharpened sticks. These stick paintings capture day-to-day events such as howling at the moon (Cavil in Moonlight), submission (Render Loyalty), tearing at flesh (EAT) and wolf pups following the matriarch (Love the Children). Ravens, which exist in symbiosis with wolves, frequently appear in the paintings, either by signaling about available prey or waiting their turn at the carcass. The mixed-media collages that focus on the hunt are rustic and riveting, though many of the creatures are wounded and damaged. Gardner has absorbed the pain of someone very dear to her and channeled those feelings into her work. An eye is stitched closed here (Narrow Escape) or missing there (Walk the Line, Bob the Cat and Breaking Free). Sometimes the wounds include bloody gashes, as in Safe Place and Hoo Are You. Through May 24. 339 West 19th, 713-861-6070, gallerymsquared.com. — ST
This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2015.
