The Big Show 2017

July 7, 2017 – August 12, 2017 everywhere

The Big Show 2017
July 7 – August 12, 2017

Opening Reception
Friday, July 7, 2017, 7- 9 PM
Awards announced at 8 PM

The Big Show is an ambitious annual exhibition of new work by artists practicing within a 100-mile radius of Lawndale. This year, Lawndale was excited to welcome Toby Kamps, former Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Menil Collection and soon-to-be Director and Chief Curator of the Blaffer Art Museum, as juror. Kamps reviewed work by 549 artists – the most artists to submit their work in the history of The Big Show – and selected nearly 200 works for the exhibition.

The Big Show 2017 award winners selected by guest juror, Toby Kamps were announced at the opening reception on July 7, 2017. Three awards of $1,000 each were given to:

Kathy Drago
Zachary Gresham
Renata Lucia

Organizing Theme
It is a truism that life moves fast and that change is a constant. In the 21 st century, rates of change in our ecological, economic, and political lives are accelerating and increasing at breakneck speed. Even consciousness itself is under constant pressure as new technologies transfer images, messages, and memes from the screen to the mind at the speed of light.

Introducing the “Rate of Change” as its organizing principle, The Big Show 2017 seeks works of art addressing change – in its myriad forms – and made within the last change-filled year.

Artists

Fariba Abedin
John Adelman
Chris Akin
Ariana Andrei
Daniela Antelo + Elise Weber
Darwin Arevalo
Miguel Ángel Ávila
Lula Azorey
Chris Bakay
Ryan Baptiste
Clifton Barker
Heather Bause
Francesca Bayegan
Kenneth James Beasley
Chuy Benitez
Gaby Berglund Cárdenas
Mohammad Ali Bhatti
Cousin Bobby
Lesley Bodzy
Agnes Bourely
Judy Bovill
Elaine Bradford
Rebecca Braziel
Antonius Bui
Qindeel Butt
Paul Carola
Gregory Michael Carter
Mary H. Case
Lindy Chambers
Chadwick + Spector
Claire Chauvin
Cathy Clark
Joseph Cohen
Shanti Conlan
Rebecca Elise Cook
Charlotte Cosgrove + Suzette Mouchaty
Isabel Cuenca
Andy Dearwater
Arthur Deatly
Adeleenne de Mesa
Heather den Uijl
Kathy Drago
Luisa Duarte
Trey Duvall
Jane Eifler
Karen Eisele
Sharon Engelstein
Danna Espinosa
Laura Feld
Emily Fens
Pilar Figueira
Vincent Fink
Lori Fish
Steve Fisher
Andrew Flanders
Sean Flournoy
Michael Galbreth
Nela Garzón
Wayne Gilbert
Denise Giordano
Matthew C.Glover
Jessica González
GONZO247
Alex Goss
Nell Gottlieb
David P. Gray
Zachary Gresham
Robert Griffin
Tad Griffin
London H.
Rebecca Hackemann
Erik Hagen
London Ham
Laura Hannusch
Lisa Hardaway
Linda Harmes
Ron Winston Hartgrove
JP Hartman
Rachel Hecker
Katy Heinlein
Christopher Henry
Marcos Hernandez
Paul Hester
George Hixson
Ryan Hollaway
Charles Hollingsworth
Martin Holmes
Perry House
Betsy Huete
Ross Hutchinson
Cedric Ingram
Omar Islas
Martín Ivy
Terrell James
Rita João
Lucas Juarez
Bradley Kerl
Iva Kinnaird
Michael Sean Kirby
Padaric Kolander
Daniel Kramer
Jessica Kreutter
Babic Ksenija
Laura Lark
Melinda Laszczynski
Joan Laughlin
Christie Leday
Joyce Lin
Renata Lucia
Sara Madandar
Leslie Magdaleno
Matt Manalo
Traci Matlock
Anna Mavromatis
Ken Mazzu
Randall McCabe
David Mcgee
Patrick McGrath Muniz
Catharine Minois
Verny Sanchez Mitchell
Rahul Mitra
Lorena Morales
Chris Moras
Crystal Murley
Adam Neese
Floyd Newsum
Michael Patrick O’Brien
Adekunle Ogunade
Mari Omori
James Orellana
John Oualline
Lee Alice H. Pablo
Nadia Pacheco
Aaron Parazette
Dune-Micheli Patten
Kristy Peet
Arely Peña
Donna E. Perkins
Cory Perry
Ellen Drew Phillips
Patrick Phipps
Brian Piana
Page Piland
Valerie Powell
Phillip Pyle II
Deanna Ramirez
Ellen H. Ray
Irene Antonia Diane Reece
Gerald-James Rhodes
Brianna Rivas
Ariane Roesch
Alejandro Rosas
Giselle Rosenthal
Susie Rosmarin
David Ruck
Robert Ruello
Caroline Ryan
Christian Sarkar
Rajab Ali Sayed
Beth Secor
Barbara Shaw
Bret Shirley
Tivakorn Sirinopawongsakorn
John Slaby
George Smith
Kaneem Smith
Earl Staley
Rose Stern
Ingrid Tremblay
Juan Ramon Sanchez Torres
Patrick Turk
Katya Vassilyeva
Myke Venable
Dandee Warhol + Marjon F. Aucion
Lillian Warren
Kelly Lee Webeck
Jordan Elizabeth West
Bill Willis
Geoff Winningham
Geraldina Interiano Wise
Martin Wnuk
Joseph Wooten
Amy Beth Wright
Justin Zachary
Bibi Zambrano
Brandon Zech
Jasmine Zelaya
Jo Zider
Damir Zoric

The Big Slide Show

Join The Big Show artists for short, informal presentations about their work. Presentations begin in Lawndale’s O’Quinn gallery at 6 PM each night. Seating is limited.

Thursday, July 20 / July 27 / August 3, 2017, at 6 PM.

Thursday, July 20
Heather Bause
Francesca Bayegan
Chuy Benetiz
Gregory Carter
Luisa Darte
Trey Duvall
Karen Eisele
Nela Garzón
Laura Hannusch
Grady Hollingsworth
Martin Holmes
Betsy Huete
Nadia Pacheco
Phillip Pyle II
Brianna Rivas
Christian Sarkar
John Slaby
Heather den Uijl
Martin Wnuk
Thursday, July 27
Fariba Abedin
Rebecca Braziel
Nell Gottlieb
Iva Kinnaird
Michael Sean Kirby
Renata Lucia
Matt Manalo
Catharine Minois
Rahul Mitra
Lorena Morales
Brian Piana
Deanna Ramirez
Irene Antonia Diane Reece
Ariane Roesch
Verny Sanchez Mitchell
Mari Omori
Dune-Micheli Patten
Kelly Webeck
Geraldina Interiano Wise
Thursday, August 3
Chadwick + Spector
Kathy Drago
Emily Fens
Vincent Fink
Steve Fisher
Jessica González
GONZO247
Erik Hagen
Chris Moras
Floyd Newsum
Kristy Peet
Donna E. Perkins
Valerie Powell
Ellen Ray
Gerald-James Rhodes
Kaneem Smith
Amy Beth Wright
Jasmine Zelaya
Jo Zider

Juror

Toby Kamps
Director and Chief Curator
Blaffer Art Museum

 

Toby Kamps is the Director and Chief Curator of the Blaffer Art Museum, Houston. Formerly, Kamps served as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Menil Collection where he organized solo exhibitions of work by artists including Vanessa Beecroft, Ellsworth Kelly, Danny Lyon, Claes Oldenburg, Haim Steinbach, Luc Tuymans, H.C. Westermann, Wols (Wolfgang Schulze), William N. Copley, and Torolab, a Tijuana design collective.

He has organized numerous group exhibition and catalogue projects such as Silence, Small World: Dioramas in Contemporary Art, Space Is the Place, and, with a team, Baja to Vancouver: The West Coast and Contemporary Art. His exhibitions The Old, Weird America and From Baja to Bar Harbor, won best traveling exhibition nationally and best regional university gallery project awards from the U.S. and New England sections of the International Association of Art Critics, respectively.

In previous curatorial positions at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, the ICA at Maine College of Art, and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, he has served on leadership teams and committees, managed membership groups, and developed programs and partnerships with other organizations. A graduate of the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art and the Getty Museum Leadership Institute, he has written for exhibition catalogues, monographs, and magazines. Currently, Kamps serves as advisor to the Spotlight section of the Frieze and Frieze Masters art fairs in New York and London, respectively. Spotlight features one-person exhibitions of work by twentieth-century artists from around the world.

Many Thanks to our Big Show 2017 Supporters!

Major support for Lawndale Art Center programming is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc., the City of Houston through the Houston Museum District Association, the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation, Houston Endowment, the John P. McGovern Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and The Wortham Foundation, Inc.

Additional support for The Big Show is generously provided by Michelle Adams, Ute and Volker Eisele, Stephen Goldberg and Tim Kollatschny, Rob Greenstein, George and Mary Howe Hawkins, G.G. Hsieh, Kerry F. Inman, Ronald Jones, Cindee and Curtis Klement, Lester and Penelope Marks, Bill and Michelle Matthews, Jeryn and Walter Mayer, H. Russell Pitman, SBS Manufacturing, Inc., Bryan Scrivner, The Shawn Artis Gallery, Richard Stout, Amy M. Tanner, Venture Products Company, and Dave Wilson.