Rudolph Blume Fine Art/ Artscan Gallery

Vacation time!!

2010-07-15T09:45:00.000-07:00

We here at Rudolph Blume Fine Art/ ArtScan Gallery are ready for a vacation. It has been a cold Winter and a blazing Summer. The gallery will be closed from Friday July 15 until September 8. On September 11, We will open a show with the Austin based artist Dennis Harper. Enjoy the rest of the summer!!!!!

Universoul

2010-07-15T09:40:00.000-07:00

WE had a blast at the Universoul block party last Saturday night. There were poets, musicians, rappers, and even a guy that covered Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A Changin.'"

In September we look forward to another event on Saturday September 23.

Terra Infirma

2010-05-01T11:14:00.001-07:00

Matthew Rodriguez and Cody Ledvina, "ECSTATICALLY EXUDING EXUBERANCE"

2010-01-30T13:07:00.000-08:00

"ECSTATICALLY EXUDING EXUBERANCE"

Opens Friday February 5, from 6-8 pm.

EVIDENCE CLOSING PARTY

2010-01-07T14:18:00.001-08:00

Come out tomorrow night and keep warm with us. THERE WILL BE tamales and margaritas to help keep us warm!

Michael Brims, Opening January 14th

2009-12-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

Vertical Ear from Michael Brims on Vimeo.

EVIDENCE November 21, 2009 - January 2, 2010

2009-12-04T13:31:00.000-08:00

WIRED POETRY NIGHT/CLOSING PARTY

2009-11-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

EVENT: "@Wired," a multimedia explosion of poetry, song, music and image

TIME, DATE, AND PLACE: 8 p.m. Friday, November 13, at the Rudolph Projects ArtScan Gallery, 1836 Richmond Ave, Houston, TX 77098-3510

ADMISSION: Free and open to the public Note: Parking is available

Local poets Radames Ortiz, Lupe Mendez and Byron Jones have joined forces to bring Houston @Wired: A Multi-Media Explosion of Poetry. @Wired is a revolutionary approach to exposing the literary masses to a new type of poetry reading. By incorporating social media, music, song, imagery and technology to enhance their poetic performances, @Wired seeks to reconstruct the poetry reading and to engage local creatives to actively participate in making a unique event even more special.

@WIRED will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, November 13, at the Rudolph Projects ArtScan Gallery.

Radames Ortiz work has appeared in numerous literary journals including, Gulf Coast, Texas Observer, Open City, Hayden's Ferry Review, Cortland Review, and Exquisite Corpse. His work has also been collected in various anthologies which include, US Latino Literature Today, Regeneration: Telling Stories from Our Twenties, and Is This Forever, Or What?: Poems and Paintings from Texas. He was nominated for a 2003 Pushcart Prize. He was also awarded a 2003 Archie D and Bertha Walker fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He was the 2006-2008 Naomi Shihab Nye Scholar and was a featured poet at the Poetry at Roundtop Festival. You can follow him on twitter @radameso and read his blog at http://theamplifiedbard.blogspot.com/

Lupe Menendez, a writer/educator/performer working with to establish free poetry and creative writing workshops with Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say and the Brazilian Arts Foundation. He has also served as an organizer and host for the former Latino Book and Family Festival and the "Word Around Town" Poetry Tour. He has performed with authors Dagoberto Gilb and Oscar Casarez. His work has been published in the Panhandler Quarterly, the Houston International Poetry (HIP) Anthology, and in What Should Run in the Mind of a Caballero; An Anthology of Latino Short Fiction forthcoming from W.W. Norton & Company. You can follow him on twitter @thepoetmendez visit his website at http://www.thepoetmendez.org

Byron Jones began his career as a slam poet over six years ago, following the steps of the great Micheal Guinn and Saul Williams. He is nationally ranked in the competitive poetry circuit until retiring and seeking greater purpose for his writings in 2006. Byron is now an inspirational speaker, spoken word poet and emcee for the band Purposed. You can follow him on twitter @byronjonespoet and his blog at http://byronjonespoetry.blogspot.com/

EVIDENCE

2009-11-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

Rudolph Projects ArtScan Gallery is pleased to present "EVIDENCE," a group
show featuring the work of Kenneth James Beasley, John Hartley, Lillian
Warren, Jeffrey Wheeler, William Winkler, Miguel Avila and Gabriela Trzebinski.

Opening: Saturday, Novemeber 21, 6-8 pm
Closing: January 2, 2010.

"The theory of evidence is a field wrought with dispute. Many of these
disputes stem from the limits of human knowing, a field known as epistemology.
Possibly the most salient question of evidence is how, if, and what, one can
know. (Or, in other words, the question is to what extent is it even possible
to fulfill the burden of proof.) This is the question of evidence's limits.
Some believe all evidence to be circumstantial, denying the possibility of
direct evidence.

To help deal with this problem, many fields have found it useful to talk about
levels of evidence and certainty, particularly the field of" ... art.

This is NOT an epistemological debate, but simply an art show. There will
certainly be evidence of art!

Featuring:
Kenneth James Beasley
John Hartley
Lillian Warren
Jeffrey Wheeler
William Winkler
Miguel Avila
and
Gabriela Trzebinski

Rudolph Projects ArtScan Gallery
1836 Richmond Avenue
Houston, Texas 77098
www.RudolphProjects.com
713 807-1836 Tel
713 807-1837 Fax

PATRICK TURK

2009-10-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

The world as we know it: How much do we know it? What are the limits of knowledge? These are the simplest philosophical questions that come whispering out of college dorm rooms among the millions of other questions that concern our epistemological status as human beings.

Patrick Turk is a collage artist that wonders about our place in the world that we inhabit and also our place in parallel universes. As humans it is difficult to grasp the profundity of a notion such as a parallel universe or the basic ideas behind quantum mechanics.

I do not pretend that Patrick Turk is a mad scientist concerned with creating a dimension that we can never grasp. But I do feel that Mr. Turk is creating a world in his collages that is generally only touched by people under the influence of reality enhancing substances.

With the abundance of repetitious imagery in Turk's collages, there is a mad order to the dimensions we will never see and can only create with theories. And in the obsessive circles of imagery there is a beauty not unlike the paintings of Alex Grey or any other other artist that dwells on the bright side of post hippiedom.

Stephanie Toppin and Derek Shumate...

2009-10-29T13:05:00.001-07:00

CAARRRDEEE LARDVENA

2009-08-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

Cody Ledvina

"I do not believe in art; I believe in artists."
Marcel Duchamp

The above video showcases perhaps one of the most enigmatic and obtuse young artists living in Houston. Cody Ledvina is probably more well known for being one half of The Joanna, the best under the radar gallery in Houston. This space is extremely vital for emerging artists in the city. For over 3 years now they have played an integral role in showcasing up and coming artists alongside more established and respected artists.

But Cody Ledvina is much more than a curator and co-director of a gallery. He is an artist through and through. He is a chameleon able to adapt to any material while creating images, objects and videos that are as interesting as they are strange. In his world aliens, M & M characters, babies, Danny Devito, Whoopi Goldberg and Judge Judy are just as vital to our intellectual climate as is Michel Foucault, Jean Baudrillard or Arthur C. Danto. His worldview is all inclusive and often centers on the comedic aspect of existence. There is an inherent playfulness to his work that often confuses the viewer into thinking Cody is simply having a laugh at their expense.

The art world takes itself very, very seriously. As it becomes further streamlined with the academic world, the work that is celebrated is often cold and heady. Art that is churned out of this system often has little patience for humor. Cody's work stands in opposition to the stiff and over calculated aspects of contemporary art. In the grand scheme of the cosmos, is Post Structuralism more relevant than cute kitten videos on YouTube?

The terms "high brow" and "low brow" often come up in the discussion of contemporary art. From Greenberg on there is a tendency to distinguish real art (high brow) from the quaint imitator (low brow.) But as art history chugs along it seems almost irrelevant to distinguish between the two. As our definitions of art expand there seems little point in debating what is "really" art. Can art be fun? Yes. Should art be fun? Yes. Does Cody Ledvina make art that is fun? Most definitely.

I must admit that the meaning of Cody Ledvina's work often escapes me. This fact makes his work infinitely more interesting. Meaning does not need to to exist for art to flourish. Actually, it makes the work stronger, allowing more vital interpretations to form beyond the cage of academic, safe art. When looking at his work I do not want an artist statement to guide through the maze of absurdities before me. It is always engaging enough on the surface to demand deeper digging. The task at hand is never to solve the riddle of meaning (or meaninglessness for that matter.) Rather, it is to glean that there is something happily and unashamedly complex and ineffable happening before your eyes; and that maybe is the point. Like Socrates said: "Wisdom lies in knowing that you do not know."

Looking at Cody's work is always a fun filled occasion. There you will find an artist continually digging through the cultural zeitgeist of silliness and finding profundity in the least likely spaces. Next to Maury Povich and crappy YouTube videos you will see Clement Greenberg and Willem de Kooning standing by Bruce Nauman and Paul McCarthy. And if you look further to the right, deeper beyond the timeline, there is Cody Ledvina dancing with his doll Brandon further into the oblivion of laughter.

find cody at these places:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/codyledvina/
http://www.youtube.com/user/codyledvina
http://thejoanna.org/

ONE MUST BE ABSOLUTELY MODERN

2009-08-06T13:59:00.001-07:00

Cody Ledvina, "Decisions"
Margarita Cabrera, "Food Processor"
Dumptruck, "Survey I"
Lily Cox Richard, "Rapt 3"
Brian English, "All Gold Teeth Silver Tongues"
Brian English, "All This Effort to Look Effortless"
Maria Guzman, "Do I Need to Repeat Myself"
Rene Cruz, "sleeping village"
Lisa Marie Godfrey, "Rock Bundle"
Lisa Marie Godfrey, "Corsage"
Lisa Marie Godfrey, "Life Book"
Elaine Bradford, "Procyon Besheret Cross Section"

Nick Meriwether, "Reaper Humping Pizza"
This piece started with a simple idea: the five most common themes in painting are food, nature, death, love and sex. Nick Meriwether combined all of these themes into this motorized sculpture. The result is a hauntingly and ridiculous piece of art.
Anne J. Regan, "Eternal Communicator #2"
This piece is of a series exploring sacred geometry, especially the place of nature and music in the complex unity of the Cosmos.
Anne J. Regan, "When U Were Mine"
Anne J. Regan, "The Oddysey"

2009-05-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

Ryan Geiger and Jeffrey Wheeler: Recent Work and Collaborations

Ryan Geiger:

Jeffrey Wheeler

Ryan Geiger and Jeffrey Wheeler Collaboration:

Ryan Geiger and Jeffrey Wheeler

2009-05-14T11:08:00.001-07:00

Ryan Geiger and Jeff Wheeler : Collaborations and New Work
Opening Saturday May 16, 6 - 8pm

2009-05-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

Since moving from Houston to Colorado twelve years ago, Kate Petley has explored the searing white light of the high elevation Rocky Mountains and how it influences our perception of the landscape. Using a complicated method of film and collage with resin on acrylic panels she created juicy, flat screens that played with light reflecting and casting images of images of images, somewhat like a house of mirrors.

However, Petley found that people were more interested in her technique than in exploring the meaning of the work. In a significant departure in method from previous work, Petley is now creating images on opaque panel surfaces. But there is little departure from practice. Petley is still exploring light, landscape, reflection only this time she’s added a human element. Graffiti.

These new panels are not paintings and Petley is not a painter. They are collage-based constructions and she continues to use film as a primary medium of expression. In much the way that collage artists like Robert Rauschenberg began using prints of magazine images, Petley is using photographs of graffiti from around the world in isolated fragments and sources. The fragmentation of these sources speaks to how we read the visually oriented world. The graffiti is stripped of its original meaning and negative associations.

There is a consciousness to the appropriation beyond color, outline, graphic quality, and dynamic composition. Petley cuts, traces, and scales up the isolated elements and in this work the viewer is aware of each decision that goes into the work as each move is made visible. Each layer is evidenced.

For Petley, there is a present and ongoing interest in creating art that has the potential to elevate a mundane and physical existence into something more erudite. The objects are not about graffiti and the graffiti itself is subtly referenced in the art. There is a deeper intention to this work, an exploration of abstraction that is neither decorative nor referential; neither expressionistic referencing landscape or figure.

Petley’s art has always bounced off the landscape, but never been directly about the landscape. Less than a year ago, she left the small mountain town where she lived and worked and is now based near Denver. Her new work evidences imagery rebounding from man-made graffiti in an urban landscape, reverberating organic shapes and titles that reference the land. The imagery is strong in color and design like decorative art, but deeper in purpose and meaning.

For me, this is Petley’s strongest work to date and I look forward to seeing where this new exploration takes her. She’s no longer fighting the landscape elements in her art and she’s making her process evident while still playing with light and layers and reflections.

“I use my environment as a way of getting you into the rabbit hole. It’s not a direct influence, but I incorporate the subtleties of it,” Petley once said to me.

The work in “Overhead” is less subtle. The graffiti provides access to the rabbit hole and viewers are finally getting a real glimpse of the Petley wonderland.

Lillian Warren "Here is Nowhere"

2009-05-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

Lillian Warren's paintings focus on the urban / suburban infrastructure dominating our landscape – roads, traffic lights and communication networks entangled overhead, gas stations and convenient stores. Her work explores the disjointed imagery glimpsed through a car window while looking over the SUV in the next lane. When she pieces together this drive-by landscape she sees a culture obsessed with mobility, predictability and convenience.

She uses fragmented images, repeated across multiple panels to explore an ambiguous shifting space and a hint of narrative. Each work incorporates memories formed by moments half observed and then forgotten, but made familiar through countless repetition. The painting takes shape as a hybrid, not quite any-place, not quite no-place. She wants to create an experience that is intimate because she's been there, but anonymous because it is everywhere.