Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston – serie

Parallel Practices: Joan Jonas & Gina Pane considers the works of two pioneers of performance art. Jonas (born 1936) and Pane (1939–1990) lived and worked in the United States and France respectively. Each artist worked multidisciplinarily, producing sculpture, drawings, installations, film and video in addition to live actions. Notably, Jonas and Pane have been lauded for their foundational work in performance, a field in which both of these artists blazed trails. Published to accompany an exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Parallel Practices explores the trajectory of these artists’ practices to reveal shared and complementary aspects, as well as to highlight the significant divergences and differences that characterize each artist’s work. It includes texts by curator Dean Daderko, Elisabeth Lebovici and Anne Tronche and Barbara Clausen.

This 64-page paperback, housed with a DVD in a hardback case, accompanies The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston's Summer 2007 exhibition, Black Light/White Noise, which focuses on black artists who have worked with sound and light--such as Ben Patterson, Tom Lloyd and George Lewis. The continuation and expansion of work in sound and light among a younger generation of African American artists and artists of African descent is also considered here in real depth, with work by Nadine Robinson, Kori Newkirk, Arthur Jafa, Jennie C. Jones, Sanford Biggers, Kira Lynn Harris and Louis Cameron. The innovative design of this hybrid print/digital publication gives readers the opportunity to experience all the works featured in the show alongside a checklist of the exhibition, artist's biographies, a bibliography and essays by curator Valerie Cassel Oliver, Romi Crawford of the Studio Museum of Harlem and writer, composer, musician and playwright Greg Tate.

Published on the occasion of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston’s 65th anniversary, Outside the Lines documents the conceptual framework of the institution’s ability to act and think outside the norm. This publication, originally conceived as an ongoing curatorial dialogue, features six exhibitions on abstract painting, focusing on the legacies and contemporary manifestations of the genre. With text and analysis by museum director Bill Arning, curator Dean Daderko and senior curator Valerie Cassel Oliver, Outside the Lines details, in three sections, Arning’s UIA (Unlikely Iterations of the Abstract) and Painting: A Love Story; Daderko’s Outside the Lines and Rites of Spring; as well as Cassel Oliver’s Black in the Abstract: Epistrophy and Black in the Abstract: Hard Edges/Soft Curves. Each section includes texts and images for the exhibitions featured, as well as information on over 90 artists whose works are highlighted.

Human colonization of Mars is expected to begin in the coming decades as NASA and independent space ventures partner with private investors to explore the future of life on the red planet. The Interview: Red, Red Future is the culmination of more than three years of multidisciplinary artist MPA’s investigation of Mars and human colonization. Published to accompany an exhibition of works commissioned by the CAM Houston, this artist’s book includes lush, full-color images that speak to MPA’s engagement with Mars, the politics of power and colonization, light and minimalist aesthetics. The signed and numbered volume includes an essay by the exhibition’s curator Dean Daderko and three interviews with MPA: by authors Stephano Harney and Fred Moten; investigative journalist Linda Moulton Howe; and architect Vicente de Szyszlo. Edition of 450 signed and numbered copies.

Korean artist Jae Ko (born 1961) works in fiber, transforming ordinary materials like paper and vinyl cords into extraordinary sculptural objects. Her work ranges from discrete wall reliefs and small sculptures to monumental installations. Flow includes an interview with the artist and documents her eponymous installation.

Over the past three decades, Houston-based Amy Blakemore (born 1958) has created a rich body of photographic still lifes, portraits and everyday vignettes. A champion of the worn, the awkward and the plain, Blakemore wrests beauty from the commonplace.