UNDERBELLY: What does an artist do after years at one place, when moving to a new locale?

Throw a party, and put everything on the walls in an art studio fire sale!

Tod Bailey, a painter originally from Dallas, has been a resident of the David Addickes Sculptureworx studios on Summer St. for years, creating and showing his work. He is headed to Paris, to dip his toes in for a while, eventually hoping to land near northern Italy somewhere. It is a risky but necesary thing for artists to do, as one must refresh the mind and input new experience. Spending years staring at the lonely sillouette of downtown Houston's skyline behind an industrial facade of run-down warehouses will make one's brain cry out for relief. Paris is as good a relief as any.

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Luckily for Tod he has many friends to share the night with. From around 4:00 PM, people wandered through the artwork displayed. The keg got floated sometime between The Ted Leo Trio's set of blues covers and originals and Bright Men of Learning's set of adult-alterna-rock. These nights are chaotic at best and Tod Bailey was kept busy greeting newcomers, appeasing friends, and working to sell as many of the works on display as possible. The wine/cup/food table was nearly as warped as some of the paintings, and no one gave a fuck. Life is for living.

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One cannot take one's friends with them when they move. It is one of the suck-ass
realities we all face, but think about an artist. That artist has to leave behind his friends as well as the works he has created. Painters such as Tod, who work on large canvases, have to sell off, store, or lend artworks. When your typical work is at least 7 feet wide, storage and transport are tough. The ones that hurt are the "favorites," the pieces of art so fucking awesome that you never want to sell them. It is best in that case to lend them to friends and family.

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Having used all the space in his personal studio the party spilled out into the hallways of the large building, extending far into the cavernous structure. Paintings everywhere! Looking at them all it seemed very fitting that Tod was heading to Paris, as his work contains what seems a large Fauvist and Cubist influence. It will be very interesting to see what influence Paris and all of Europe will have on his sensibilities. Like many of us Houstonians, he shares a twisted-on-end world view because, frankly, Houston's flatness and homogeneity can twist the mind. Will the European countryside soften this? It may drive him insane. Whether this is for the good or the bad of his art will be judged much later. Now, all that matters is the intent to change, and the action to impliment it. Tod Bailey is in the thick of that shit it right now. It's a good place to be.

RXTT

CORPORATE JEWELRY: Bank of America Loves Mexico From a Distance

Everyone seems to hate corporations these days, and the bastards have definitely earned much of it. For all the moaning and crying that CEO's do, they are still making big bucks and spending that money to make more money. That is the main goal of acquiring an art collection. They think it is a nearly infallible investment. Whether that is true or not is highly questionable, but it is not the only reason powerful businesses battle each other for the latest big purchase. Art has for all time been used to burnish the persona of individuals as well as corporations. Modern Fortune 500 companies are no different from any other past conglomerate loading up their personal spaces with the world's art, seeking a bit of that art's glory to rub off.

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Art depends on this need that corporations have. The modern world's money engine are the multinational corporations. Like the Vatican before them, they use their power to gather art, chosen by professional art advisers not just for it's future value and current quality and beauty, but also for it's lack of scandal or controversy. This is evident in the current photography exhibit on display off the South entrance to the Bank of America lobby. Titled Luces y Sombras: Twelve Travelers in Mexico, the show's stated theme is that of the traveler, but judging from the selection of images, the Mexico being photographed is better enjoyed on it's formal aesthetic terms as opposed to anything culturally Mexican.

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This is odd because the core of the exhibition is pulled from a work called The Mexican Portfolio by painter, photographer, and filmmaker Paul Strand, who traveled to Mexico between the World Wars and decided to take up residence in the country for years at a time. The other choices also draw from expat artists, mostly American, who like Strand, found something tremendously beautiful in Mexico. Many became deeply enamored of their new home, using their art for social change.

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The Mexican Portfolio was one of these important works which drew people to Mexico in the years following it's publication. The selection of images are chosen for such formal qualities that any social commentary ends up ignored. It focuses on abstract architectural details, religious icons and statuary, and somber formal portraits. They are beautiful images, highly contrasted light and dark spaces in an infinity of tones, but collectively they build no narrative about the Mexico we are looking at, and that is how the bank wants it to be. After all, images of poverty cast a harsh shadow on the opulent bank lobby in which they reside. It doesn't help that the exhibit is tucked away in a corner, visited mainly by people making phone calls and seeking a quiet empty area to do so.

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Who else needs art to aid in image spin control? Mexico! Things are ugly and getting uglier in our neighbor's front yard. This exhibit is part of a Mexican Bicentennial celebration and is underwritten by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Consulate General of Mexico. Bank of America invests heavily in Mexico and needs to do something to improve the rightfully harsh public image of that country. Are these photos of Mexico by non-Mexicans beautiful artistic images? Yes. Do they collectively give the viewer a deeper knowledge of the Mexico the artists fell in love with? No. Even great art can be dulled by playing it safe.

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Corporations have their own individual personalities. Their art choices tell as much about them as your choices do about you. Join me in exploring Houston's corporate psyche through what they choose to adorn themselves with, their art collections.

RXTT

-FUPPETS- for Readers

Hoping against hope that some people out there in the internet metawebs still like to gaze at sequences of symbols on a white page, decoding them as the eye scrolls along, and absorbing the conceptual wisdom within, -FUPPETS- brings you a new feature, which will provide links to online articles that are enlightening, funny, thought-provoking, or just plain odd. There really is no reason for anyone to spend more than 2 minutes reading meaningless and mentally draining mindless gossip. Read something for your brain, people! -FUPPETS- is looking out for you.

--Art Spiegelman (author of MAUS) had it right when he called it an art form [comics/art/literature]

--The Big Bounce vs. The Big Bang [astrophysics/cosmology]

--Why So Serious? (How the classical concert took shape) [music/performance]

--In Living Black-and-White (The old classics retain a vitality and beauty that color can’t provide.) [classic films]

--Why Facts Won't Demolish the Conspiracy Theories [conspiratorial thinking/public life]