Arthouse

One of my favorite art spaces in downtown Austin is the Arthouse at the Jones Center in a stylishly contemporized building on Congress Ave. which was once a movie theatre and then later a Lerners department store. The current exhibition by Florian Swanson, a Berlin-based conceptual artist, is a temporary and site specific installation which transforms the structure of the center through the absence of art objects and the use of lighting to call attention to the structure and history of the building. When I described the exhibition to my sister-in-law, she laughed and gave me one of those quizzical looks ... so-this-is-what-they-call-art?

After I had previously visited the Arthouse in August, I wrote on my blog about the New American Talent: The Twenty-Second Exhibition, including photography by Sam Gerazi and paintings by Kim Owens. This year's New American Talent 23 is a national all media competition open to artists living and working in the United States. The deadline to submit entries for consideration is January 28, and accepted work will be shown at the Arthouse from June-August and then travel to venues in Texas from fall 2008 through summer 2010.

For more information about submitting work, go to New American Talent 23.