arthouse

Yesterday afternpon, I stopped by my favorite art space in Austin, The Arthouse at the Jones Center, to take a look at the current exhibition, New American Talent: The Twenty-fourth Exhibition curated by Hamza Walker. I first discovered the Arthouse during the summer of 2007 and wrote about that year's New American Talent show on my blog.

I didn't find as much good photography in this year's show, though I did like some black and white images of families shot by Amy Grappell accompanying a video piece. The other two photo series on exhibit involved considerably more stylization, campiness and staging. Amy's work is straightforward and curious - evoking early work by Bill Owens of families in suburbia.

Besides showing work by emerging artists, one of the coolest things about the Arthouse is the architecture of the space itself and its history. In the 1920's, the Arthouse was a thriving movie theatre on Congress Avenue, the Queen Theatre, which then became a Lerner's department store in the 1950's. Now a sleek contemporary art space, the Arthouse is currently undergoing a major expansion which will include three new galleries, two artists' studios, a 90-seat community/screening room, and a 5,500 square foot rooftop with a movie screen. Enough to make even Minneapolis and New York jealous.

The Arthouse also has a blog, THE ARTHOUSE BLOG, which is now listed in the Artist Resources section of Culturehall's homepage.

Pictured above:

"Space Suit Form with a Burden of Platonic Solid Talismans," 2009, Garland Felder

"The Kings of Hearts," 2008, Stephanie Bernstein