Joseph Glasco: 1948-1986

This retrospective exhibition, the only museum retrospective of the artist’s work, documents four decades of Joseph Glasco's (1929-1986) production and included paintings, drawing and sculpture that ranged from his earliest figurative approaches to his late classic abstractions. Glasco had a long career in New York where he was associated at first with the first-generation Abstract Expressionists. Working, however, in a more European context and using surreal figurative images covered in distinct patterns, his paintings progressed by the late 1970s to an overall approach to abstraction. He located permanently in Galveston in the early 1980s and was an important influence on a number of artists who came to public attention in that decade including George Condo, Julian Schnabel and Michael Tracy. Includes essays by Michael Berryhill, Julian Schnabel and Marti Mayo; documentation on the artist’s career

1996. 94 pages, 30 color, 20 black-and-white reproductions. ISBN 0-936080-16-7 $19.95

DeWitt Godfrey: A Sculpture and Two Drawings [Perspectives 108]

This publication documents the installation of a monumental site-specific construction created by New York artist DeWitt Godfrey specifically for the Museum’s Perspectives Gallery. The massive 4,500-pound Contemporary Arts Museum Sculpture and accompanying two 20+-foot wall drawings focused on material, system and process. Includes an essay by Marti Mayo; documentation on the artist’s career.

1998. 20 pages, 23 black-and-white reproductions. No ISBN $2.00

Perspectives 143: Katharina Grosse

The publication documents a site-specific installation created by Berlin-based artist Katherina Grosse, conceived especially for the Museum’s Perspectives gallery spaces. Grosse transformed the gallery’s architecture with one of her radiant, atmospheric, color field paintings, creating an installation whose performative nature was chronicled by layers of brilliant color applied with a spray gun. Her gestural strokes, combined with her spray-painting technique, blurred the artificial distinctions between painting and installation work, turning the space into a sensory burst of intense color. Includes an interview with the artist by Lynn M. Herbert; documentation on the artist’s career.

2004. 13 pages. Paperback. 6 black-and-white reproductions. ISBN 0-936080-89-2 $2.00

The Heroic Figure

American figurative art of the 1980s reflected both the old and the new in its content, form and style. Its uniqueness lay in its ability to combine the traditional with new attitudes and emotional states. Artists included are: John Ahearn, Ellen Carey, William Crozier, Nancy Dwyer, Jedd Garet, Thomas Lawson, Robert Longo, Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Prince, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Cindy Sherman and Michael Zwack. The exhibition was organized as the U.S. entry for the Sao Paolo Biennale but due to a dispute with the organizers, it did not appear there, instead touring several cities in South America after its presentation at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Includes essays by Linda L. Cathcart and Craig Owens; portraits of each artist by Robert Mapplethorpe; documentation on the artists’ careers.

1984. 122 pages, 67 black-and-white reproductions. ISBN 0-936080-13-2
THIS PUBLICATION IS OUT OF PRINT
(The catalogue was also published in slightly abridged Portuguese edition and a few copies of that edition are available.)

Perspectives 145: Hit Me! Work from Houston Area Teens

Every other year, the Teen Council (TC) of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston organizes and mounts a juried exhibition in the Perspectives gallery. The TC establishes a theme, issues a call for entries to high school students throughout the Houston area, and works with Museum staff to install the exhibition, publish a Perspectives-format catalogue, and plan related events and programs. The themes of past exhibitions have held unique and particular resonance among teens: Lather, Rinse, Repeat examined the significance of hair (a stylist even cut hair during the preview, leaving the clippings behind as evidence of the “performance”); Faux, Foe, Pho, examined teens’ multicultural concerns regarding language, behavior, food, and art; and Mind the Gap, examined the mental and physical spaces between objects, people and ideas. For Hit Me!, the TC organized an exhibition juried by Houston artist David McGee, who chose 24 works from the over 175 submitted by area students. The show’s theme refers to a variety of contemporary collisions—violence, funk music, and the clash of generations—and included inspired work in a variety of media ranging from a graffiti-covered wall to an installation populated with sock monkeys. Includes an interview with McGee by Paula Newton; comments by Travis Rice, Carlos Lama, Natalee Harten, and Kaelie Barnard; and a catalogue of the exhibition.

2005. 17 pages. Paperback. 24 black-and-white reproductions. ISBN 0-936080-94-9. $2.00

Jenny Holzer: LUSTMORD [Perspectives 102]

Holzer’s exhibition and the accompanying catalogue focused on the cycle of her work began in 1993 that deals with sexual violence against women, particularly their victimization during wartimes. Specific reference is made by the artist to the warring Balkan states and the use of rape as a weapon of war in the conflict. The exhibition consisted of Holzer’s signature LED signs and other two and three-dimensional installations including one with human bones. The complete text from the installation's eight LED signs, presenting three distinct and unsettling voices (those of the perpetrator, the victim, and an observer), is included in the catalogue. Also included is an essay by Lynn M. Herbert and selected documentation on the artist’s career

1997. 20 pages, 8 black-and-white reproductions No ISBN $2.00
THIS PUBLICATION IS OUT OF PRINT