Lawndale Art Center develops local contemporary artists and the audience for their art.

On View 8.21-9.26.2015Specter FieldHarold Mendez & Ronny Quevedo

Studio JunkiesKay Sarver

The Beauty is BrokenCamille Warmington

PrismaticMelissa Borrell

Lawndale Regional Wilderness ZoneElizabeth Eicher & Hélène Schlumberger

Also on view through January 2016Ghost GridJonathan Leach

Specter FieldHarold Mendez & Ronny QuevedoJohn M. O’Quinn Gallery

Artist StatementSpecter Field is a collaborative project between Harold Mendez and Ronny Quevedo. Inhabiting Lawndale Art Center’s O’Quinnn Gallery, Mendez and Quevedo create a “temporal field,” using a mixture of graphite, chalk, charcoal, black silicon carbide, and water to cover the floor of the gallery, rendering the ground dark. Emerging from this concealed ground are newly created sculptures and drawings that question perceptual concepts of place and time. Burial masks, memorials and reclaimed objects formulate this transitional space of inquiry and record.

Specter Field points to the pictorial and literal field as a meeting place for multiple voices of displacement—lost, remembered and in formation. Finding new approaches for contextualizing and exhibiting their work, this collaboration offers an opportunity to foster generative forms of creative engagement. As artists whose origins range from Chicago to Colombia and New York to Ecuador, Specter Field traces the transformations of a place as an active site of reflection through sculpture and drawing.

Checklist

Harold Mendez & Ronny QuevedoSpecter Field, 2015Linoleum tiles, gold and silver leaf, fiberglass mesh, spray enamel, oxidized copper, water, peanut oil, graphite, charcoal, black silicone carbide, marking chalk, wire hangers, snakeskin, mica, stones, cotton candy, cassette tape film, balloons, cement, granite, cochineal insects, burned cardboard box, soot, toner, plaster, carnation flowersDimensions variable

Harold MendezWinter In America, 2007 - 2015Mixed-media, newspaper clippings, reclaimed wood, popcorn, marking chalk, acrylic latex, black silicon carbideDimensions variable

Inheritance, 2013 - 2014Reclaimed wood, brass, granite, soap, spray enamel, graphite, cotton, mylar, pigmentDimensions variable

Ronny QuevedoWiphala on Broadway, 2015Lightbulbs and milk cratesDimensions variable

BiosHarold Mendez recently completed an Artist-In-Residence at the Core Program, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In 2016, he will be an Artist-In-Residence at The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Captiva, FL. Mendez has exhibited at the Renaissance Society; Studio Museum Harlem; Museum of Modern Art / PS1; The Drawing Center, NYC; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Knoxville Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Photography among others. Reviews of his work have appeared in the New York Times, Artforum, ArtSlant and Frieze Magazine. His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Studio Museum, Harlem. He has participated in residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture; Headlands Center for the Arts (AIR ’12, Alumni AIR 14’); Ox-Bow; the Experimental Sound Studio and the Lighthouse Works. He was awarded the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant in 2015; Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship, 2014; Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, 2013 and the 3Arts award in 2012. Forthcoming projects include a public commission with Franz Mayer of Munich for the Chicago Transit Authority. He received his MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2007, BA from Columbia College in 2000 and studied at the University of Science and Technology, School of Art and Design, Ghana, West Africa in 1999.

cargocollective.com/haroldmendez

Ronny Quevedo earned his MFA from Yale University and BFA from The Cooper Union. He has participated in residencies at the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Project Row Houses, Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, and Lower East Side Printshop. He has exhibited at Sicardi Gallery (Houston); The Drawing Center; Rush Arts Gallery; La Casita Maria (New York); the Queens Museum; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Carol Jazzar Gallery (Miami); El Museo del Barrio; The Bronx River Art Center; Saltworks Gallery (Atlanta); and The Bronx Museum of the Arts.

Upcoming projects include Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace program and a group exhibition at The Drawing Center as part of their Open Sessions program. In 2016 he will be participating in the Kala Art Institute Fellowship Program.

ronnyquevedo.info

AcknowledgementsSpecter Field is also supported by Jereann Chaney and Rob Greenstein.Specials thanks to Oscar Cornejo.

Studio JunkiesKay SarverCecily E. Horton Gallery

Artist StatementI began by sketching my friends and soon realized that I wanted to take this idea further by painting them. Using myself as the first subject, it did not take long before I knew where this idea was going, especially as I realized that nearly all my friends are artists. I was compelled to capture them in their creative space, the place where their visual concepts come to life, the place where the magic happens. I was encouraged by their tenacity, their distinctive skills, their willingness to step into the uncomfortable, often facing rejection, and their readiness to follow through with the necessary steps to achieve their goals.

I saw myself in their creative pursuit, as they mirrored back to me my own journey as a visual artist. In the heart of the artist there may be an innate desire, while in the process of their own self-discovery, to fulfill what people seem to need most; truth, clarity, new awareness, a way to transcend our limitations, a sense of well-being and hope, and perhaps most of all, something beautiful.

ChecklistWorks are listed counter-clockwise from the gallery entrance.

John, 2014Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood32” x 48” x 3”

Andis, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood36” x 36” x 3”

Michelle, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood32” x 48” x 3”

Raymond, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood32” x 38” x 3”

Kamila, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood32” x 38” x 3”

Joe, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood48” x 32” x 3”

Cary, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood32” x 38” x 3”

Becky, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood32” x 38” x 3”

Trudy, 2014Oil on wood32” x 48” x 3”

Damon, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood32” x 38” x 3”

Kay, 2014Oil on wood32” x 48” x 3”

Donna, 2014Oil on wood32” x 48” x 3”

Renata, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood32” x 38” x 3” Sherry, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood32” x 38” x 3”

Joan, 2015Oil, graphite, and oilpastel on wood36” x 36” x 3”

Bio

Acknowledgements

Kay Sarver is a Houston artist who has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Most recently her work was part of a group show in May of 2015, in Marfa, Texas at Building 98. She had two solo exhibitions in 2014 - Chinelli La Fratta Gallery in Houston, Texas and Mossrock Gallery in The Woodlands, Texas. She has been juried into Lawndale Art Center’s The Big Show, in 2013, 2012 and 2009. She has been a finalist in the Hunting Art Prize in 2011 and 2007 and was also juried into Art League’s Gambol Show in 2011 and 2010. She was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she later attended the University of Cincinnati, majoring in Fine Arts with painting as her main focus. She moved to Houston, Texas in 1978.

kaysarverart.com

I am very grateful to Lawndale and the artists who so bravely allowed me to portray them.

The Beauty is BrokenCamille WarmingtonGrace R. Cavnar Gallery

Artist StatementThe Beauty is Broken is an exhibition of paintings from photographs which examine my family story. My own story and work is shaped by the loss of my mother at a young age. The images reveal tangible evidence that my mother was at one time present. Some create the illusion of perfection which, of course, does not exist. Others give the viewer hints of brokenness.

I explore the voids; the catch-22 of narrative imagery, that leave one seeking additional information, much like the unfinished conversations that we would like to complete with loved ones no longer with us. The images illustrate shared experiences, a family photo before church, children beneath a Christmas tree, a family sharing a meal, allowing the viewer to imagine a connection to their own stories; pulling back the curtain on my family and all families.

I Can’t Get You Close Enough, 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

Seeing to Their Needs, 2015Acrylic on panel24” x 24”

Genuflect, 2015Acrylic on panel42” x 42”

Expiration Dates, 2015Acrylic on panelDiptych, 12” x 12” each

Her, 2014Acrylic on panel24” x 24”

Imminent Sorrows, 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

Afterwards, 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

Between Two, 2015Acrylic on panel24” x 24”

Aging (Poorly), 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

Eulogy for a Perfect Family, 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

Personification, 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

The Bed Jacket, 2015Acrylic on panel24” x 24”

Who Am I Called to Be?, 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

Before, 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

Teller of Tales, 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

Compare/Contrast, 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

If They See What’s Broken,Will They Love Me?, 2015Acrylic on panel12” x 12”

ChecklistWorks are listed clockwise from the Travis Street entrance.

Bio

Acknowledgements

Born in Concord, Massachusetts and raised in Texas, Camille Warmington was 14 when her mother died after a 7 year battle with cancer. The loss was a turning point; it made Warmington acutely aware of mortality, especially appreciative of her own experiences as a mother of three children and continues to provide a deep well of subject matter for her work.

Warmington earned a Bachelor of Interior Architecture from Kansas State University in 1984. She worked for architecture firms in New York City and Dallas and, in 1989, moved to Houston. She studied painting at the MFAH’s Glassell School and has exhibited in a number of juried exhibitions including the Houston Area Exhibition 2000 at the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston and more recently at the 2013 Big Show at Lawndale Art Center. This is her first solo exhibition.

camillewarmington.com

I’d like to thank Lawndale for the opportunity to show my work, the Glassell School faculty who, over numerous years, encouraged me and graciously shared their own knowledge of art and art making, and my children who fill my life with joy.

PrismaticMelissa BorrellProject Space

Artist StatementMelissa Borrell is enchanted by the interplay of light, color and geometry in both natural and abstract worlds. Innovative combinations of these elements inspire shifting perspectives, and have long fascinated philosophers, scientists and artists. Prismatic explores these elements in a playful yet contemplative manner by suspending acrylic elements in a constantly shifting landscape of color, angles and light. The arrangement combines smaller groups of elements into an organic whole that stretches to fill the gallery space.

Borrell approached this installation with no preconceived sketches or ideas, focusing on the beautiful colors of the layered material. She played with the acrylic physically and also generated computer models, discovering ideal configurations along the way. The individual elements in Prismatic were pre-made in the studio, but the arrangement and lighting were specifically tailored in response to the space. This ensured that the final layout would be fresh and organic, and not a transplant of a pre-existing form. Acrylic was chosen for the installation because of its transparency and the ability to cut it into precise geometric shapes.

Checklist

BioMelissa Borrell grew up in Houston. She received a liberal arts degree from Tufts University with a minor in Studio Art and an MFA in Jewelry from RISD in 2005.From beginnings in jewelry design her practice has evolved to include sculpture and installations that explore many of the same concepts that intrigued her when she first began making miniature sculptures in the form of jewelry. Melissa creates sculptures and installations that integrate light, shadow and movement into space-transforming artworks. Since graduate school she has been developing a body of large scale sculptural work that continues to evolve. As a resident artist at PlatteForum in Denver in 2012 Melissa created her first large installation works for the show Tesselate. In 2014 she was commissioned by the City of Austin to create a public art piece for Stacey Park titled GloWave and by the Art Alliance Austin to create Shadow Dream. She is currently working on a new public art piece that will be on view in Austin October - December this year titled SkyLines. Inspired by alternative architectural methods, her sculptures transform flat two dimensional materials into complex three dimensional worlds. Melissa lives in Austin and has her studio at Canopy, a large complex that houses various artist studios, galleries, creative businesses, and arts organizations.

melissaborrell.com

Judy and Leo BorrellHollis HammondsIhor Gowda

Acknowledgements

Prismatic, 2015Acrylic Dimensions variable

We each experience the world through the prism of our own individual histories and personalities. Borrell wanted Prismatic to have no identified boundary or vantage point. The installation encourages viewers to walk through and around the installation to view it from various different physical locations in the gallery. As one’s relationship to the piece changes the overall color of the piece shifts, resulting in drastically different landscapes and experiences.

Lawndale Regional Wilderness ZoneElizabeth Eicher & Hélène SchlumbergerMary E. Bawden Sculpture GardenOn view through January 9, 2016

Artist StatementAs viewers of art, we’re asked to engage in a specific and often stringent mode of viewing. The act of looking, in the art world, is to be engaged in a contemplative observation where we’ve become receptive vessels to at least pondering the artists’ message. Our viewing methods are also coded in natural parks and reserves. Placards, observation decks, pathways and mile-markers are erected to let us know when we’ve reached an appropriate place to appreciate the surrounding grandeur of the wild.

Ostensibly, these two types of viewing are unrelated or even at odds with each other. In Western tradition, nature and culture are perceived as opposite and often in direct conflict; however, the difficulty of neatly assessing any one thing as either cultural or natural betrays the folly of that assumption. Centuries of mutual meddling, pressures exerted toward either end, ensure that neither culture nor nature exist wholly without each other. This interconnectedness doesn’t stop mankind’s tendency to assign the attribute of “natural” to culturally crafted things. The very creation of a natural park, the act of delineating an existing area into a new zone of human authority using some small gestures, is clearly a culturally defined action and surprisingly similar to art-making.

The key parallel between natural parks and art spaces is the way the visitor is guided through their experience. Some methods, like placed texts, are obvious. Other methods, like locational curation, are less obvious and in that way possibly more effective. This guidance always comes from an authority; the owner or the space dictates the message. The messages are generally benign or positive – “Don’t destroy the ecosystem” or “Please care about things” – but that doesn’t mean a visitor should ever forget they’re being manipulated. For instance, this artist statement exists to instruct you on the artists’ methodology and sway you to their ideas.

In the art world, the majority of the looking to be done is looking at something. Look at a painting. Look at a sculpture. Look at artwork. Look at text. Lawndale Regional Wilderness Zone proposes you look from something. Look from an observation tower. Look from a position of self-authority. What happens when we, as viewers, make our own decisions about what to look at? What happens when we know better than to trust an obviously misguided authority? We see our own grandeur.

Checklist

BiosElizabeth Eicher and Hélène Schlumberger’s collaborative work explores power dynamics, ideas of time and effort and the embodiment of social roles. They are interested in the social interactions between artwork and viewer, viewer and artist, artist and artist, and the potential conflicts those relationships can engender. The duo periodically runs a venture called Stadium, whose goal is to harness the productive and creative impetus that exists within competitive structures. Eicher and Schlumberger both received BFAs from Tufts University, in conjunction with The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (where they met and began collaborating) and MFAs in social practice from California College of the Arts. Elizabeth is a native Houstonian. Hélène grew up in France and in Houston; she calls both home.

elizabetheicher.comheleneschlumberger.com

Lawndale Regional Wilderness Zone, 2015Wood, paint, polyurethane9’ x 15’ x 6’

Jonathan Leach’s work focuses on the visual language of commercial architecture, city traffic and safety/cautionary imagery. Leach’s mural activates the surrounding architecture and visually impacts the space. Ghost Grid features a hardline geometric style with an emphasis on bright color and spatial illusion, using the three windows as a base grid structure that warps and changes, highlighted by reflective paint accents that activate the mural at night.

Artist Statement

Ghost GridJonathan LeachNorth Exterior Wall On view through January 2016

BioJonathan Leach is a painter/sculptor currently living and working in Houston, Texas. After receiving a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2001, Jonathan has exhibited his work nationally, exploring the language of architecture, advertising, and traffic in his abstract works. Jonathan has had solo shows at Gallery Sonja Roesch, the Galveston Arts Center and galleryHOMELAND and created public sculpture in the form of a putt putt challenge incorporated in Discovery Green’s Insperity Golf Experience. Leach’s work was featured in the 2013 Texas Biennial. His work is also in the collections of NRG Texas, Hess Co., the Bank of Montreal, Hobby Airport of Houston, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Jonathan is represented by Gallery Sonja Roesch in Houston, Texas, Camibia Art in Austin, Mirus Gallery in San Francisco, California, and Piero Atchugarry Gallery in Tierra Garzon, Uruguay.

plasticagenda.info

The Lawndale Mural Project is generously sponsored by David R. Graham / Felvis Foundation and

Kinzelman Art Consulting. Jonathan Leach is a recipient of an Individual Artist Grant Award. This

grant is funded by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.