Houston Times Eight {HX8}

DANIEL ANGUILU
ROBERT PRUITT
PRINCE VARUGHESE THOMAS
FORREST PRINCE
LYNN RANDOLPH
FABIO D’AROMA
SERENA LIN BUSH
FLOYD NEWSUM

HX8 [Houston Times Eight] is part one of a series of exhibitions planned by the Station Museum. The series reflects the Station Museum’s commitment to Houston artists in a time when interest in contemporary art is burgeoning in Houston.

The curatorial team has chosen eight artists, some of whom are well known and others who are relatively unknown: Daniel Anguilu, Robert Pruitt, Prince Varughese Thomas, Forrest Prince, Lynn Randolph, Fabio D’Aroma, Serena Lin Bush, and Floyd Newsum. They are significant artists who contribute to the creative, spiritual, and emotional life of the community. At the same time, their art has a place in the recent developments of contemporary art worldwide. Together, these artists reflect the diversity of Houston, not only because of their various ethnic backgrounds but also because of the different aesthetic and philosophical approaches that each artist employs.

To begin with, the artists in the exhibition are eight out of many of our city’s artists who deserve to be seen and appreciated. Daniel Anguilu, whose works have appeared on a number of buildings in the city, is in a class with the best mural and graffiti artists in the country. Serena Lin Bush, whose video installations explores human interaction and the psychology of movement, was commissioned in 2010 to create a permanent installation, Sky Light, inside Houston’s Central Permitting Center, home of the Green Building Resource Center. An important painting, Sirigu, Janie’s Apron, by Floyd Newsum was recently acquired by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and History in Washington, DC. Prince Varughese Thomas’ installation expresses a complex critique of the American wars in the Middle East and their effect on the lives on civilians and soldiers alike. Lynn Randolph’s paintings convey genuine feelings of personal loss and resolution. Robert Pruitt, a member of the artist collective Otabenga Jones & Associates, produces drawings and sculptures dealing with the complexity of black identity. Forrest Prince and Fabio D’Aroma communicate their most profound insights into the social relevance and the healing power of art.

The purpose of the Station Museum of Contemporary Art is to present avenues of expression that are outside of the conventions of the art world and to provide the people of the city with authentic, truthful representations of deeply felt and profoundly personal artistic expressions.

We wish to credit Wayne Gilbert for his curatorial assistance in introducing the work of Fabio D’Aroma to the museum.

HX8 [Houston Times Eight] October 27, 2012 – February 17, 2013