DEBRIS: Honey Pot

by Buffalo Sean


Seeing a lot of attempts to eviscerate the Lawndale Art Center for this summer’s Big Show makes me happy. Go ahead, talk about it! Complain that worthy artist were left out, and how below-grade artwork made it in. Scrutinize, criticize, ridicule and spit on others. Anyone whose work was in the show will call you out on your territorial pissing. They may even cite a few inaccuracies in your story, note contradictory statements out of context or stake their own claim to relevance. Maybe you guys should just blog about it you know. If everyone forgets your little drunken rant at Boondocks then where do you go? The dude who wrote “quite possibly one of the most horrific group shows I have ever seen” squandered his chance to elaborate, why should you? Positive and negative it all goes into Google, the modern melting pot- since this century isn’t any closer to national reconciliation. Sharpen your boots and bludgeon your eyes, y’all. Start something and unless you’re in the street slingin’ wheatpaste you’re not doing enough. We can’t hear you.

Why don’t you take a shot at taking down the Psychedelic Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich store front facades at Lawndale this month? Mary Magsamen and Stephan Hillerbrand would appreciate it. These two have been pumping out video and experimental work for the last decade, a husband and wife duo with a penchant for transcendental smoothies. If you’re actually into that kind of stuff, take a whack at Judith Cottrell and Alex Lopez’s minimal sculpture and shaped canvasses. How the hell can minimalism survive in the 21st century? could be your title. Come on, take it. It’s free.

Whatever you do don’t even think of criticizing (Re)vision by Shannon Duncan. What could you have to say about documenting the destruction of history in Houston’s inner loop? Are the mementos of crushed livelihoods not heart wrenching enough for you, you heartless bastard? Anyway, she’s already got you beat to the interwebs, having documented twenty-two zip codes worth of territory already at communitywalk.com/revisionhouston. Besides, she has tons of Polaroids, and that’s cooler than school. All exhibits on view through September 27th at 4912 Main Street. Lawndale is open Monday through Saturday during the day until 5 pm.

The school of thought that keeps capitalism percolation is democracy. We can always pull on them bootstraps to even out the playing field right? Well the same thing goes for elections and electives y’all, and art is a smoky back room game if there ever was one. Want to learn, grow and evolve? Get writing. Take pictures. Learn a little HTML. It’s not so hard and it’ll always be there for ya. In fact I am hooked up intravenously to electrical currents 24-7 that give me painful shocks if I forget to post something on the internet every three minutes. It really hurts and I want to kill myself, but at least I’m ahead of the curve, right?

Understanding Poverty | Opens September 12th at Diverse Works

by Omar Afra
Ben Tecumseh DeSoto says he likes to bring to light the “broke and the broken.” Well, the number of those that fit this category has grown disproportionately in recent years in Houston and the rest of the country. Gifted photojournalist DeSoto revisits this exhibit that he initially did in 1992 at Diverse Works. He has been studying the phenomenon of homelessness in Houston for some 20 years and his photography shows a marked insight. He began in 1988 by building a relationship with two homeless Houstonians, Ben White and Judy Pruitt. DeSoto’s experiences with the two allowed him to document their incredible stories of hope and sorrow while “exposing the self-perpetuating cycle of poverty, trauma and hopelessness that afflicts thousands of citizens living in the shadows in America’s cities.” This dynamic has no doubt changed here in Houston with the continued lack of attention to homelessness here, the sudden influx of thousands of Katrina refugees, and municipal policy of criminalizing the homeless.
“The streets of Houston have been a regular “beat” I worked with my camera,” says DeSoto, “and I want others to see what I’ve seen, and understand what I’ve come to understand, the role of the trauma in magnifying the drama of poverty.” DeSoto’s populist “punk” aesthetic comes through in his work to exemplify such drama. With his work will be hand written interviews with Ben and Judy, ‘work-in-progress’ film shorts, and a light installation made from negatives with artist Sarah Watley Ayers. The Project has become a joint effort and collaborators include DiverseWorks, the Houston Endowment, Que Imaging, and others including the photography subjects.
This will the first show in the new season for Diverse Works and precedes by just a week a night of musical performances by Jana Hunter, Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez, and Wicked Poseur on September 17th.

September 12 - November 1, 2008
Opening Reception: Friday, September 12, 2008
6-8pm
Curated by Clint Willour
www.diverseworks.org
1117 East Freeway