R
May 7–Jun 10, 1978

Art of Texas

Ed Blackburn, Painted Magazine Rodeo Rider, 1977.

  • Ed Blackburn, Painted Magazine Rodeo Rider, 1977.

  • Art of Texas, Installation View, 1978.

  • Art of Texas, Installation View, 1978.

  • Art of Texas, Installation View, 1978.

  • Art of Texas, Installation View, 1978.

  • Art of Texas, Installation View, 1978.

  • Art of Texas, Installation View, 1978.

  • James Surls, Tornado, 1978.

  • Ed Blackburn, Painted Magazine Rodeo Rider, 1977.

  • Luis Jimenez, American Dream, 1973.

  • David McManaway, Baker’s Dozen, 1975-76.

  • From Texas we expect more—more oil and nautral gas, more sky and stadiums, more…machismo. From Texas we also expect less—less articulation, theorizing, and urbanity, less literature, philosophy, and worthwhile art. The stereotypes die hard, but as the [art in this show] makes clear, die they will.

    Just as there is no single style characterizing the art presently coming form Chicago, New York, or the west coast, neither is there a uniform concept of art in Texas. The ambitious Renaissance Society/Bergman show includes work by more than a dozen Texans. They paint in acrylics and watercolors, draw in pastels and pencil; sculpt in wood, steel, and fiberglass; make videotapes; and turn out mixed media constructions…. There are realists, surrealists, abstract expressionists, conscious primitives and unconscious geniuses among them. The occassional appearance of a mountain, sagebrush, rodeo rider, or piney wood recall the region, but this Texan art is art first and Texan thereafter.

    Abbe Martin, Chicago Reader, May 26, 1978

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