Round 45

2010's

Round 45 | Local Impact

Local Impact highlights the distinctive interests of seven artists deeply rooted in Houston’s arts community. Championed as one of the most diverse cities in the country, Houston has a rich community of artists and creative practitioners which aid in keeping it relevant and exciting. The city is saturated with artists thinking about their practices and how they relate to enhancing and elevating the myriad of conversations taking place about our city. The level of rigor, collaboration and critique offered by artists for citizens to consider is inspiring and a necessary piece for this culturally thriving city. While this Round is not thematic, it looks at individual artists producing installations and public programs approaching themes around African-American history and pop culture, collaborative public art, place and identity, climate change and tourism, modern forms of communication and media consumption and radical imagination as a means of healing. From performances that create environments for engagement and contemplation to site-specific sculptures that generate ideas and articulate poetic and philosophical concerns about home, the featured work highlights the role that artists play in contributing to Houston’s culture. With so many drastic changes taking place in the city, our artists remind us that the visual arts ecosystem remains a platform for us to acknowledge history, place, and new ways of seeing and critiquing, which ultimately shape the way we engage our city and expand our ideas outward.

Participating artists include Regina Agu, JooYoung Choi, Sally Glass, Jesse Lott + Ann Harithas, Tierney Malone, Harold Mendez, and Patrick Renner. Round 45 is curated by Public Art Director Ryan N. Dennis. Through the duration of the Round, artists will present a variety of public programs. Please visit the calendar for more information.

In conjunction with this Round, Ann Harithas has organized an exhibition of collaborative collages made by her and PRH founding artist Jesse Lott. Not only will Jesse Lott have work on view in the 2505 Holman Street Art House, he will also be celebrated and honored this Fall at Art League Houston in the “Artist in Action: Jesse Lott” exhibition opening on September 30; 14 Pews is currently producing a film that will air in November; Mystic Lyon, a new space in the Fifth Ward where Lott grew up, will have a window installation of his work open in mid-September; and in conjunction with Sculpture Month Houston in October/November, Lott will be included in the exhibits From Space to Field at The Silos at Sawyer Yard and Friendly Fire at the Station Museum.