Art
September 15, 2021
One of the Country’s First Racially Integrated Fine Art Shows Gets an Overdue Update
A new exhibit in Houston's Fifth Ward is an homage to—and a critique of—one of the country's first racially integrated art shows.
Art
Storytelling, news, and reviews about works of art and the artists behind them
Art
September 8, 2021
Can a Big, Texas-Wide Survey of Contemporary Art Tell Us Where We Go From Here?
The 2021 Texas Biennial abounds with new monuments for a state and art community in transition.
Art
August 19, 2021
Controversial Statues Are Falling Across the U.S., but This Texas Town Is Erecting New Ones
In Rockport, a celebrated artist is planning to install sculptures depicting the first contact between European explorers and the Karankawa. Is it a representation of a key moment in the area’s history, or a glorification of colonialism?
Art
August 10, 2021
Texas Ghost Towns Come Alive in an Intriguing Traveling Photo Exhibit
Morgan Page and Dustin Rice spent nearly three years roaming the state for "Bones of Texas," which features images of long-gone communities.
Health
July 29, 2021
Chronic Illness Cost This Former Dallas Museum Director Her Career. Embracing Novelty Gave Her New Life.
Working with UT-Dallas's Center for BrainHealth, Bonnie Pitman uses her art expertise to help physicians and people living with debilitating conditions.
Art
July 15, 2021
Houston Artist Jamal Cyrus’s Playful, Subversive Vision of Black History
His works incorporate redacted FBI documents, vintage records, and a saxophone deep-fried like a chicken wing.
Technology
July 14, 2021
Art Blocks Brings Big Money to Artists Who Paint With Code
The Houston-based website makes use of blockchain technology—and an element of surprise—to attract a sizable new audience for computer-generated works.
Art
July 1, 2021
Daniel Johnston’s Drawings Are as Wildly Inventive as His Music
A Dallas exhibit of 179 mostly never-before-seen works shows that the beloved songwriter was also a serious artist.
Art
June 29, 2021
Photographer Sebastien Boncy Chronicles Life in Houston’s Concrete Jungle
He’s spent more than seven years documenting the city’s life, landscape, and architecture.
Art
June 29, 2021
No Gogh: ‘Beyond Van Gogh’ Exhibit Is a Very Expensive Screen Saver
The Van Gogh projection-room craze comes to Austin, with Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio on deck.
Art
June 24, 2021
In Bartlett, an Art Exhibit Revives an Abandoned Building
Often described as a ghost town, this Central Texas community is alive and well.
Art
June 17, 2021
One Person’s Street Junk Is Jesse Lott’s Fine Art
A 2022 Texas state artist makes his life work from Houston's urban frontier.
Art
June 16, 2021
Meet the Artist Behind Galveston’s New Juneteenth Mural
Reginald Adams led the team that designed ‘Absolute Equality,’ a landmark mural marking the spot where slavery was abolished in Texas.
Art
June 2, 2021
Painter Sedrick Huckaby Looks His Subjects in the Eye, From Dreamers to an Ex-President
The empathic gaze of the Fort Worth artist is on view at Austin’s Blanton Museum this summer and fall.
Art
May 25, 2021
Would the Real Toeflop Please Stand Up?
The prolific graffiti writer has tagged his or her (or their) name across Houston, Austin, and beyond, as followers and police sift through clues about the artist's identity.
Art
May 24, 2021
Heirloom Silver Comes Alive in Leslie Lewis Sigler’s Paintings
Inspired by her grandmother's collection, the San Marcos–born artist is fascinated by spoons, cake servers, and soup ladles.
Art
May 17, 2021
Step Into Frida Kahlo’s Garden at a Lush New San Antonio Exhibit
Vibrant tropical plants and prickly cacti grow alongside original sculptures by Mexican artists, in a tribute to the artist's love of the natural world.
Art
May 13, 2021
The Risk-Taking, Boundary-Breaking Austin Gallery That Changed the Face of Texas Art
A half century ago, the maverick curator Dave Hickey closed down A Clean Well-Lighted Place. He left behind an art scene that would never be the same.
Art
May 7, 2021
TM Recommends: See Modern Art (and Eat Delicious Food) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Plus: a nine-year-old Texan steals the show in ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ and a podcast revisits the 2003 backlash against the Chicks.
Art
April 22, 2021
Rooted in Her San Antonio Childhood, Lisa Alvarado’s Art Transports and Transforms
Gaze at one of her vivid, mesmerizing paintings, and you'll see more the longer you look.
Art
March 31, 2021
Donkeeboy and Donkeemom Brighten Houston With Their Art
Video: The mother-son team are behind some of the city's most colorful murals.
Art
March 23, 2021
A New, (Literally) Underground Art Installation in a Houston Cistern Reflects Our Lost-in-Space Pandemic Moment
Anri Sala’s immersive work is an eerily out-of-time experience.
Art
March 22, 2021
Beaumont Is Brimming With Vibrant Murals. Here’s Where to See Them.
The city’s flourishing art scene doesn’t get enough credit. One pandemic-safe way to appreciate it: a walking tour of more than a dozen outdoor murals.
Meanwhile in Texas
March 17, 2021
A Pair of Thieves Broke Into a Houston Art Museum, Then Escaped by Boat
They didn’t manage to steal any art, but they did vanish into a storm drain.
Art
March 16, 2021
Delita Martin Paints an Invitation Into the Spiritual Realm
The Huffman-based artist’s larger-than-life portraits of Black women are on view at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas.
Art
March 2, 2021
Frida Kahlo’s Art Broke Taboos Then and Now. A Dallas Exhibit Highlights Five Lesser-Known Works.
Her paintings grapple with pain, loss, and mortality in ways that still resonate today.
Art
March 1, 2021
A New Photo Studio Revives the Beloved Latino ’90s Glamour Shots Trend
The San Marcos venture has the airbrushed, colorful backgrounds and kitschy props that I've studied in my family's albums.
Art
February 26, 2021
Sculpting Through the Pandemic
I shape clay not to hone the skill but to escape a day job that’s all about honing. Like the philosopher Laozi, I find the value of my handiwork comes from what’s not there.
Art
February 16, 2021
Flying Nuns, Wild Hogs, and Bible Camp Apocalypse: Jennifer May Reiland Paints a Texas Revelation
The Houston-born painter explores questions of faith alongside the myths and legends of Texas history.
Art
February 15, 2021
This Austin Artist Is Chronicling Pandemic Life With a Sketch a Day
Edward Carey’s whimsical black-and-white portraits mark milestones both personal and political.
Art
February 11, 2021
Virtual Valentines for Texans (We Willie Love You)
Roses are red. Bluebonnets are blue. We made these virtual valentines just for you.
Country Notes
February 11, 2021
The Girls of Lumber Club Marfa Work to Master the Craft of the Three-legged Stool
During the past few years, a small group of girls in Marfa has used the simple wooden stool to create a business that has, well, legs.
Art
February 10, 2021
A Dallas Art Car Brings Migrant Farm Workers’ Experiences Out of the Shadows and Onto Main Street
Carlos Ramirez’s ‘Altar to a Dream’ honors his parents, who traveled across Texas and the U.S. to pick crops.
Art
January 14, 2021
Deborah Roberts Has Exhibited Art Worldwide. She Hasn’t Had a Solo Museum Show in Her Hometown—Until Now
The Austin artist has been creating distinctive, large-scale collages for years.
Art
January 8, 2021
Texas Monthly Recommends: A Funky Austin Vintage Shop
Plus: online classes at Austin Bat Cave, embroidery patterns from a Bryan designer, and the best Texas-themed Instagram accounts.
Art
January 7, 2021
North Texas Artist Jon Flaming’s Paintings Are a Love Letter to Cowboy Culture
Flaming grew up in suburbia, dreaming of his grandparents’ cattle ranch. His work is angular, almost cubist, reimagining the Western art genre.
Art
December 31, 2020
The Photographs That Stopped Us in Our Tracks in 2020
From a homing pigeon in flight to a kayaking trip on the lower Pecos River, these are our favorite images from the year.
Art
December 18, 2020
The Marathon Mini Target Is Gone, Long Live the Marathon Mini Target
Locals are mourning the demolition of a mysterious tourist draw, art installation, and town in-joke.
Art
November 23, 2020
At Age 86, Painter Roger Winter Is Still Reinventing Himself
Once one of Texas’s most prominent artists, Winter was known for depicting idyllic rural scenes and the good life in Dallas. But his later, more experimental work is just as interesting.
Art
November 20, 2020
At the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, an Impressive New Exhibition Space Opens Amid Hard Times
After decades of planning, the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building will open this weekend as a showcase of modern and contemporary art.
Texas History
November 20, 2020
A Trove of Vintage Photos Reveals a Bygone Texas—and Beyond
A Houston exhibit of images scavenged from junk shops and flea markets offers a view of the past that anticipates the present.
Art
October 20, 2020
A Museum Show in Houston Is Shelved, and the Texas Art Community Cries Foul
After the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and three other museums delayed a retrospective of the painter Philip Guston, who used KKK imagery in his work, Texas art voices weigh in on the controversy.
Art
October 16, 2020
Diedrick Brackens’s New Exhibition Mythologizes Blackness and Queerness
The Mexia-born artist’s new Blanton Museum show, “darling divined,’’ features striking woven textiles that reimagine stories central to his upbringing.
Art
October 6, 2020
An Oral History of notsuoH, Houston’s Most Idiosyncratic “Work of Living Art”
For nearly a quarter century, this bohemian venue and ”social sculpture” has been a gathering place for poets, performance artists, and even a rooster or two.
Art
September 16, 2020
James Magee Has Been Working on His Masterpiece for Decades, but Completion Isn’t the Point
The Hill, located in the West Texas desert, stirs visitors to confront what they cannot comprehend.
Film & TV
August 26, 2020
The Mild-Mannered Texas Artist Behind Netflix’s ‘Warrior Nun’
San Antonio comic book creator Ben Dunn, 56, had been quietly publishing comics for more than thirty years when Hollywood finally came calling.
Art
August 26, 2020
On Texas Time: Dana Tanamachi, the Artist Behind the New “Thank You” Stamp
The native Houstonian talks about the art of lettering, how she knew it was time to make a career change, and saying thank you to the U.S. Postal Service.
Art
August 17, 2020
At UT and A&M, Visionary Takes on Yearbooks Celebrate the Beauty of Blackness
These distinct initiatives embody something I long wished for while studying at a predominantly white Texas university: a community of color connected through creativity.
Art
August 11, 2020
A Houston Photo Exhibit Captures the Sense of Solidarity From the Pandemic’s Early Days
The Houston Center for Photography asked people around the world to submit images taken during lockdown. The resulting online show ranges from the mundane to the sublime.
Art
July 31, 2020
This Houston Artist Paints Nostalgic Watercolors for Homesick Texans
In dreamy, finely detailed paintings, Jim Koehn revives old watering holes and mom-and-pop spots around the state.