Fine Art — bemol Ardiente — The Rather Earnest Painter

Barry, Tamara and I went to the Dougherty Arts Center yesterday, February 17, 2018, to see our friend's work in the new exhibit, Refigured: Radical Realism. It is an brilliant show and I am reminded again how lucky I am to be surrounded by the talented people that I know. Alejandra was in good company, and I regret that I was unable to get pictures of all of the artists' work there. I'm afraid you're going to have to visit the exhibit for yourself. I highly recommend it. The show will be up through March 10, 2018.

Alejandra Almuelle 2

A couple views Alejandra Almuelle's work

Alejandra Almuelle 3

Alejandra Almuelle 3 - Detail

Threaded sculpture

Dana Younger Wall

Denise Fulton Wall

Dougherty Arts Center Hall

Jennifer Balkan Wall

Jose Acosta Sculpture in a Box

Jose Acosta Wall

Monster in the Hall

Friends at the Exhibition Opening

Justin Balleza Photobomb

I have piles and piles of laundry to do, and a floor to sweep and mop. Haven't cleaned under my bed in a while. So... it's a perfect time to go to Houston to see the Museums. Saturday crowds? Check. Construction near the destination? Check. Temperatures over 100°? Double-check. Let's go!

Actually, this was the last weekend for an exhibition that I've been wanting to see – Ron Mueck. I've seen his work on Facebook posts, but never thought that I'd see his work in person. I wasn't disappointed. His famous quote is that he never does life size, because he doesn't find it interesting. He either does things that are on a smaller or a much larger scale. Two old ladies confer with each other, a young couple is caught in an awkward moment of new love, a nude man looks skeptically out of his boat, all in a scale from 1/2 to 3/4. Then there's the face of the exhibit – literally. The picture above is a self-portrait of the artist sleeping. It's not enough that his eyes are closed, but each line under his eye is believable, the skin where the face hits the ground is pressed and squished just right and his hair, from a distance, looks just like hair. Whiskers come out of his face and you can see the pores in the skin on his nose. You can almost see a puddle of drool where the mouth is slightly open while he sleeps.

After seeing that exhibit, we ate, had coffee, and passed by the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Then Barry wanted to go to see something, but he couldn't remember exactly what it was called, just that it was across the street from the Convention Center and it had the word 'Green' in it. After looking for a while, we discovered Discovery Green.

It's a beautiful park in the middle of the skyscrapers, a garden tucked away with public art. We were thrilled to see art by a friend of ours, Margo Sawyer. (I knew she had a public installation, but I thought it was at the airport.) There are green lawns, listening vessels, gardens, public art installations and people milling around. We didn't eat at The Grove, but this is a goal of mine on the next trip. I really wanted to sit in there and have a cup of coffee, but when don't I crave this? We had visited Bosta Kitchen for coffee earlier, so I contained myself.

We watched people dancing tango under the beautiful live oak trees on a wooden deck. They were there promoting Milonga Mi Refugio. They encourage appreciate of the art of Tango dance in Houston, and with Milonga Mi Refugio they have a fundraiser for ACLU. It was the perfect way to end a perfect day.

Thank you for visiting bemol Ardiente. What is your favorite museum? What's your favorite city to visit? Do you believe that people who have passed on can come back to visit us through dragon flies, spiders and other critters? I don't know if I do or not, but it makes me happy to think it's true, so I do. Leave me a note in the comments below. ;-)