Paul Beck, Cynthia Camlin, Andy Coolquitt, Matthew Gutierrez, Nathan Heiges, Teresa Hubbard/Alexander Birchler, Gabel Karsten, Mona Marshall, Owen McAuley, Eduardo Muñoz Ordoqui, Katy O'Connor, Ian Pedigo, Carolyn Porter, Robert Pruitt, Irene Roderick, Mark Schatz, Roy Stanfield, Scott Thom, Jill Thrasher, Philip Trussell, Aaron Valdez, Lois Weinthal

Mark Schatz
Pastel Crash, 2002
Crashed car, polystyrene foam,

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22 to Watch: New Art in Austin
provides a snapshot introduction to some of the most interesting emerging and lesser-known artists living within a fifty-mile radius of the Texas capital. This exhibition is the result of an intense nine-month curatorial process, in which we considered the work of over seventy artists by reviewing slides, frequenting galleries, and visiting studios. Considering space limitations, as well as our desire to show works in a variety of media, we ultimately decided to focus only on artists who had not yet benefited from a solo exhibition at an established local venue. We then selected works they had created during the last three years, most of which will be shown here for the first time. While many of the artists included in 22 to Watch are at the beginning of their careers, others are farther along but have had limited local exposure, either because they are recent arrivals to the area or because they have not sought mainstream attention.

We believe that the work presented here is a good indicator of the high quality and wide variety of media and issues with which artists are experimenting in Austin. A strong local interest in film has led to works that combine traditional artistic media with cinematic techniques and composition. The city-with its concentration of universities and its spirit of independent thinking-is also becoming a fertile environment for dialogues about conceptual art, projects that stress idea over technique. Nevertheless, painting is alive and well in Austin; as in other cities in the United States, artists here are extending painting traditions and genres into a new century. The presence of innovative printmakers and print workshops in Austin has fostered a refreshing range of experimentation with repetitive imagery. Additionally, a significant number of artists in the exhibition comment on American culture by examining mass consumption, urbanization, and advertising. Architecture and its materials, processes, and history influence the work of other artists here.

While Austin is well known for its contributions to music and film, there are only a few visual artists or institutions based here that enjoy national reputations. Recently, however, galleries, print publishers, alternative art spaces, and planned museum expansions are transforming the visual arts infrastructure in Austin, stimulated by the continuing influx of a diverse workforce from major urban centers in the United States and abroad. 22 to Watch demonstrates the extraordinary breadth and quality of artistic activity in Austin today. It is our sincere desire that visitors to the exhibition will leave with new enthusiasm for the art being made in our city.

Dana Friis-Hansen
Gail B. Sanders
Erica M. Shamaly
Co-curators

22 to Watch
Austin Museum of Art

As often is the case with group shows, they are a curator's showcase. This is not to say that the artists featured are unappreciated -- on the contrary, the artists are the inspiration by which the curator works. But sometimes, in deference to the subject matter of the show, or by dint of being one of (n) number of artists, individuals remain hazily anonymous to the efforts of the organizational body. To some degree, this is the case for "22 to Watch".

The 22 that co-curators Dana Friis-Hansen, Gail B. Sanders and Erica M. Shamaly petition us to watch represent a group of young and/or transplant Austin artists who signify an emerging visual art scene with aspirations for national recognition. It is indeed refreshing to see the more regional tastes of the established Austin art-set put aside to make way for local art that addresses broader contemporary issues. To the curators credit they have tried to keep these issues, as well as the artists, at the forefront of discussions. Nonetheless, a significant amount of buzz circles instead around the show itself, which stands as the first effort in memorable history that any of Austin's major art institutions has offered significant recognition to a group of young, local artists. As well, it marks an attempt to bridge the gap between Austin's body of unorganized artists, it's scattered, feckless array of small galleries and the indifferent collectors who export their art-buying-money (and confidence in art of contemporary relevance) to the likes of Houston, Dallas, L.A. and NYC.

Reflecting the "best foot forward" harmonic tone of the show, 22 to Watch comprises a balance of objects, assemblage/mixed media, paintings, photographs, prints, and installations. Many of the works are displayed such that adjacent works complement them in style or thematic approach. So it is with the works of Lois Weinthal and Mona Marshall. While their handling of materials may be different - Weinthal's installation Drywall Drawing #3 (2002) is made up of square panels of treated drywall that she has drawn on; Marshall layers gesso, acrylic, graphite and wax onto paper and then scratches away at the layers - both artists works resemble architectural renderings that emote the same feelings as dreaming about walking through your house only to discover a new set of rooms, all in need of repair.

Other themes pop up atavistically from room to room throughout the museum. One such theme is the incorporation of graphic design into artists' oeuvres of expression. Matthew Gutierrez's series of paintings AFTER-DURING I-V (2001) depicts a lottery ticket falling to the ground along with the purchaser's hope for winning. The oversized, realistic rendering of the lottery ticket is placed against an empty, video blue-screen background. Nathan Heiges presents us with photographs of fruits and vegetables dipped in lacquer which push seduction to the level of nausea. The fruits and vegetables rest in a blemish-free white ground. Roy Stanfield's pictograph on vinyl, HORSE BANNER (2001), depicts a heart attack victim posited atop a two-legged horse. The logo-like icon mirrors itself from opposite ends of a red banner. The isolation of object in ground in these works, as well as the fetishizing of beauty to the point of perversion, gives nod to the tradition of artists criticizing commercialization. But the utilization of these commercial signifiers by the artists offers recognition of the need to bridge the alienation of art to and from a broader public.

Cinematic influence features prominently in the show with a number of the artists. Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler have meticulously set up their photograph entitled FILMSTILL [ODEON] (2000) with consideration to light, composition and structure. They then layered multiple exposures to create a heightened ambiance - a warm refuge in a cool environment - for the cinema they tribute. Katy O'Conner has utilized similar photographic techniques to derive the source material for her painting JENNIFER RUNNING DOWN ESCALATOR (2000). But while Hubbard and Birchler's shot tributes setting with its majestic view, O'Conner's provides the more intimate voyeuristic scope used to establish character.

Many of these works rely on nostalgia to activate the viewer. Fortunately, through deft eye and subtlety, these artists have avoided sticky schmaltz and have instead affected warm sincerity. Such is the case with Eduardo Munoz Oroqui, whose layering of images onto silver gelatin prints avoids the didacticism of neo-expressionism and offers a sincere, personal look into the artist's memories of his childhood in Cuba. Utilizing the nostalgia inherent to the Super 8 medium, Gabel Karsten's FRONT DOOR (1998-PRESENT) documents the persons entering and leaving her front door. Super 8's place in history is solidified by the growing obsolescence of the camera. So despite the fact that FRONT DOOR is a current and ongoing project, with it's overexposed background and shadowy foreground, it has the feel of a 1960's home movie. Super 8 is used ad nauseum in the filmic medium to generate knee-jerk emotional responses from viewers. It is through shrewd editing that Karsten has avoided producing the same tired effect.

Paul Beck's installation LIVIN' THAT LIFE (2002) lacks the subtlety of the more successful pieces in the show. It features a stuffed animal whose mouth has been fitted with upper and lower plates of human teeth. The animal possesses eeriness with potential for giving the most callous person nightmares, but the rest of the installation, which has the effect of a baseball bat across the forehead, undermines this presence. The stuffed animal, sitting in its high chair with its birthday cake, faces a television playing animated images made using a rotoscoping animation process. Perhaps the juxtaposition was meant to create conflict with high-tech verses no-tech, but instead the installation feels like a big found-object-assemblage-arrow pointing awkwardly towards the artist's animation.

There are too many good pieces in the show to list for individual merit. So I will close by mentioning the one that stands out for its uniqueness. Andy Coolquit's OPENINGS (CONTINUING SERIES) resembles a museum display. The illuminated glass case features previously smashed cans whose shapes have been restored close to their original state by the artist. This dramatic presentation lures viewers in to examine the jagged edges remnant of the cans' smashing and decay. Power and beauty also lay in the bold colors and commercial graphics put on the cans during manufacturing. Presumably, Andy did not manufacture or smash these cans. Acting as editor, he reclaimed them in shape and in context. In result, OPENINGS stands unique among the other works in the show by resembling museum artifacts and reflecting a different type of artistic process.

Michael Stewart, Courtesy of Glasstire.com