When the fifth installment of the Texas Biennial kicks-off early September, it will feature a few firsts. It will be the first time that the group survey aspect of the exhibition, featuring work by a hefty list of Texas-dwelling artists, will open in a single location, Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum in San Antonio.
In addition to that central aspect of the exhibition, for the fifth anniversary, the Texas Biennial will include two special exhibitions, including an invitational at Houston’s Lawndale Art Center featuring the work for four artists — Christie Blizard (Lubbock, San Antonio), Marcelyn McNeil (Houston), Tom Orr (Dallas), and Brad Tucker (Austin) — who have been featured in past biennials. Also, a Virginia Rutledge- and Michael Duncan-curated exhibition will feature a deeper look at work by around two dozen of the artists who are also in the main exhibition. That exhibition, which opens in Austin at Big Medium on August 23, will show past and present work by the artists.
And will be able to catch any Biennial-related events in Dallas? Well, there are a few spin-off exhibitions planned for CentralTrak, the Reading Room, and elsewhere. And artist and Southern Methodist University professor Michael Corris has been commissioned by the biennial. His project, The Dallas Collective, Open Studio: Every Person Is a Special Kind of Artist, with Baggage, opens on September 5. But to see it, you’ll have to head out to Ballroom Marfa.
Here’s the last release from the biennial. Go here for information on all the upcoming events.
Photo from the Texas Biennial-organized performance A Clean and Well-Lighted Place, which took place in March.
