CONTEMPORARY ART

Photo by Peter J. Cooper

I’ve always felt a connection to contemporary art. Maybe it’s because there seems to be no rules, or definable boundaries, when it comes to creating it – and perhaps that speaks to my creative style more than anything else I might put on my walls. This connection goes as far back as I can remember, and it culminated in my 20s when I lived in New York City. During those years, I strolled through the city’s museums regularly – often visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney. And although I spent a great deal of time in the Met with my sketch book, it was in the MOMA that I felt the most inspiration. To this day, I will look at a Jean-Michel Basquiat work and shake my head at how acrylic, oil sticks, crayons and charcoal pencil can be thrown together like graffiti – yet draw millions of visitors to the museum just to stare at it. I’m not sure anyone can fully appreciate it unless you’re standing there, taking it in among the crowds. You can look at Jackson Pollack’s drizzled paints, Mark Rothko’s blending of colors, or Andy Warhol’s silkscreens and have similar reactions, often times visceral. There’s a connection that somehow draws you in if you take the time to behold the works. And I’ll bet many visitors leave the experience and head to their art store to buy a canvas just to try their hand at creating their own piece. And yes, that comes from personal experience. Perhaps the thunderous hammer from the Sotheby’s gavel will yield an inspired new artist inexplicable millions for their artwork as well, like we’ve seen in the contemporary art world over the past 20 years.

When I moved to Houston, I discovered a powerhouse contemporary art community, with world class museums such as the phenomenal Menil Collection, and the world class Museum of Fine Arts and the Contemporary Arts Museum that house icons like the ones mentioned above, as well as masters like Pablo Picasso, Rene Magritte, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning, Cy Twombly, Jasper Johns, Ed Ruscha, Robert Rauschenberg, Donald Judd and Dan Flavin. The Menil Collection even owns a Philip Johnson midcentury architectural masterpiece home that sits empty in River Oaks most of the time. The city’s art patrons, and there are many, have long supported local artists like contemporary art giant Angelbert Metoyer, who began his meteoric ascent at the Project Row Houses.

With Houston as the cornerstone of the contemporary art movement in Texas, you’ll find a satellite art destination way-out west in the little town of Marfa. Not much has changed from the days when Warner Bros. arrived in 1955 to make a movie called Giant -- it’s still a two-highway town without a working traffic light, peppered with old adobe houses and buildings, and the friendliest people in West Texas. Minimalist artist Donald Judd moved out there from New York in 1971 and planted the seeds for what would become a thriving art community, anchored by the Chinati Foundation, which provides support for contemporary artists from all over the world. And if you venture 38 miles outside of town, you’ll find the permanent modernist sculpture Prada Marfa, created by Elmgreen and Dragset in 2005. Originally meant to degrade over the years, the freestanding art installation sits in pristine condition, isolated in the Chihuahuan desert along Highway 90.

If you’re looking to take a deep dive into the contemporary art world, I recommend Sophy Burnham’s 1973 book The Art Crowd. Though decades old, the book provides an excellent overview of how art, artists, galleries and patrons drive the lucrative market that thrives to this day. You can find a hardcover copy on Ebay or Amazon.  PJC