See where the city’s art offerings can take you this month with our top picks for openings and events for April 2016.
Also in April 2016
Make the most of the Springtime weather by getting out of the house with our guide to the city’s museum, gallery, and art space offerings this month.
Top 6 April Art Openings & Events in Houston
- Double Opening for Haavard Homstvedt & Katrina Moorhead at Inman Gallery | Friday, April 8 | FREE – Currently based in New York and Oslo by way of Norway, Homstvedt’s paintings are known to feature a heightened focus on the materiality and surface of the work which give his finished brushstrokes a seemingly soft photonegative look. Born in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, Katrina Moorhead’s sculptures, installations, and drawings are often informed by her desire to create new associations to age old sentiments. Get a look at both artist’s latest work at the Isabella Court located Inman Gallery near Mid-Main early this month. 7pm.
- 38th Annual Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition at Blaffer Museum | Friday, April 8 | FREE – Make the acquaintance of work by the latest UH graduates of the distinguished MFA arts program at the university’s Blaffer Museum. For several decades, Blaffer Art Museum has partnered with the University of Houston School of Art to give graduates of the program a highly anticipated exhibition debut to the UH community as well as the Blaffer’s increasingly recognized following. 7pm.
- Franz X. Winterhalter High Society Portraits Exhibition at MFAH | Opens Sunday, April 17 – Thought to be the 19th century’s most renowned portrait painter of European aristocracy, the German-born artist captured the decadence of his sitters with an unrivaled brilliance. The wide-ranging exhibition High Society: The Portraits of Franz X. Winterhalter presents a portion of this work, complemented by articles of clothing by sought-after fashion designer Charles Frederick Worth and Worth’s contemporaries. 12:15pm to 7pm opening day.
- Kelly O’Connor Collage Opening at David Shelton Gallery | Friday, April 22 | FREE – Known for playing with color, the San Antonio-born O’Connor creates candy-colored surfaces that incorporate colors sampled from vintage record covers placed on images of iconic figures from Western folklore. With work derived from a combination of memory, fantasy, and fiction, the artist contrasts the sparkling rays and neon colors of her surfaces against the dull tones of black and white imagery of iconic subjects. The juxtaposing elements when brought together act as a metaphor for the glum reality often found behind these public façades. 6pm to 8pm.
- Yuriko Yamaguchi Abstract Sculpture Opening at Asia Society | Opens Saturday, April 23 | FREE – Working in materials such as resins, wire, and wood to create large-scale abstract sculptures, Japanese artist Yuriko Yamaguchi aims to construct pieces that work uniquely in the spaces in which they are installed. Her spontaneous responses to architectural structures introduce a tension between the built environment and our lived experiences. The Fayez Sarofim Grand Hall of Asia Society Texas Center will become the latest palette for Yamaguchi to use, in which she’ll be allowed to create sculptures as a response to the Texas Center’s building and the larger environment of Houston. Admission is $5; free for Asia Society members. 10am to 6pm.
- Mark Flood: Gratest Hits Retrospective at CAMH | Friday, April 29 | FREE – Take in a visceral comprehensive survey of Houston-based artist Mark Flood’s past 30 years of work between the 1980’s to 2015 at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Expect a body of work that intermingles extreme visual beauty with both crude and sometimes aggressive humor. The exhibit will consist of Flood’s collages, paintings, sculptures and altered found memorabilia purposed to critique consumer culture and the obstinate nature of the art world. 6:30pm to 9pm.