ATX Art Beat • Sept / Oct 2021
September is for savoring —
A touch of turmeric
String lights under the old oak
Morning rays waltzing through late-summer grass
My eye is drawn to every glint and glimmer
Like a miner pining hopeful over his pan
Sifting through granite gray river rocks
My heart leaps at the faintest bit o’ gold
So even as summer draws to a close
There’s still plenty of warmth to look forward to
Carrot-ginger soup, backyard bonfires, pumpkin patches
And sharing smiles with strangers at ACL
This month, the art scene promises a few lucky strikes
So go enjoy some golden moments in Austin and beyond…
Hops for HOPE — 14th Edition
Central Machine Works | 4824 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin, TX 78702
Oct 5th — 31st | Gallery hours: Mon — Thurs, 4pm — midnight; Fri — Sun, 11am — midnight
Pop-Up Celebration and Fundraiser: Oct 17th, 11am — 6pm
If you haven’t been to Central Machine Works before, boy are you in for a treat. The industrial chic venue with a massive outdoor patio serves up live music, classic burgers, and a wide array of brews. I’m not usually a brewery-goer myself, but I stop by CMW regularly to check out their fabulous rotating gallery.
For the month of October, HOPE will be taking over Central Machine Works to stage a large-scale, multi-artist installation, and an all-day celebration on Sunday, October 17th as a fundraiser for the new HOPE Outdoor Gallery.
The show features several friends of mine, including geometry wizard Kyle Saldaña, Puerto Rican poet-painter Fabian Rey, and muralist maestra Sadé Channell.
This year’s showcase includes 12 featured artists, 12 breweries, and 10 OG HOPE artists.
Featured artist list includes up-and-coming talent from all over the city, including: Candy Kuo, Catie Lewis, Chaka, Chris Tobar, Cozy B, DEATHFOX, Kyle Saldaña, Fabian Rey, Mixed Hues, Sadé Channell, PASTE, FISH. The OG HOPE artists have helped create and evolve Austin’s art scene and street art community. This year’s OG’s include: ER, Carmen Rangel, Helena Martin, J Muzacz, Kimie Flores, Mez Data, Sloke One, Uloang, and Zuzu.
Landry McMeans, Christy Stallop & Camille Woods @ Commerce Gallery
Commerce Gallery | 102 S Commerce St, Lockhart, TX 78644
Gallery Hours: Thurs — Sun, 11am — 5pm | Learn more and plan your visit
Ever wish you could bring a little bit of the Texas wilderness home with you? I do have a friend who collects tumbleweeds, but as it turns out, there’s some wrangling involved to keep them at home. If you’re looking for a low-maintenance way to adorn your space with some Texas flair, the latest show at Commerce Gallery might be just the ticket.
I learned about Landry McMeans’ work recently through a mutual friend — her odes to native desertscapes and sweeping terrains make me swoon. Her screenprint style reminds me of groovy 70’s concert posters, boldly advertising what’s sure to be your new favorite band: the Ostentatioius Ocotillos, Awol Agaves, or the Yondersome Yuccas.
Christy Stallop’s work brings you right up close to Texas culture, eye-to-eye with curious grackles and just-ripe prickly pears. I know Stallop best for her grackle characters — bespectacled, dressed as mariachis — they’re very tongue-in-cheek. Her current body of work includes a number of summery still lives as well, Texas treasures in their own right. I’m loving her bandana series, especially — my eyes trace each fold and crease, and I’m left wondering what backcountry adventures they might’ve been witness to — calf-tying? whiskeys at the saloon? or a more modern reprise? Either way, if you’ve ever romanticized ranch culture, you’re gonna love these.
Camille Woods brings an energetic approach to figurative painting, with saturated emotional scenes exploring universal themes of human experience — love, friendship, and community. As a queer artist in Texas, she offers a unique point of view, sharing lessons from her own life’s journey through her visual storytelling.
“found/forgotten” by Taylor Bailey @ Contracommon
Contracommon, Hill Country Galleria | 12912 Hill Country Boulevard #F-140Bee Cave, TX, 78738
Sept 13th — Oct 15th | Gallery hours: Fri — Sun 12–6pm | Opening Reception and Artist Talk | Sept 25th, 7–10pm
And now for something completely different — if you’re a fan of new media, the interplay between art and architecture, and genre-bending experiences, you’ve gotta check out the latest show at Contracommon. Taylor Bailey’s installations have an air of intrigue and mystery, ghostly walls, frosty windows, and hidden doorways. The scenes feel almost dreamlike, like a videogame scene where you could hover through passageways, and jump up on a floating wall to get an energy power-up.
Many of the interior spaces we occupy feel closed off from the outside world, but these scenes somehow feel fluid and open to the beyond. The ceiling is tinged a pale blue-grey, muted light as if on an overcast day, and the floor is piled with rich soil, like it’s just been tilled for planting. There are slight tinges of blue in the background, like hidden aquifers, inviting you in to seek out the possibility of life — past and present.
