Theresa Boyer

NEWS 1/27/11 6:00pm

Time stands still at Rice Gallery show

By Theresa Boyer

Mary Temple transforms Rice Gallery into a naturalistic illusion in her new installation "Northwest Corner, Southeast Light," due to open Feb. 3 and running through May 25. The largest in her "light installations" thus far, the work resembles a giant shadow cast against one side of the gallery. The shadows of craggy trees, twisting vines and undergrowth sprawl across a large square of wooden flooring in the central space of the gallery. A canopy in silhouette creeps up the gallery's expansive white walls and subtly dominates the northwest corner. Two sturdy tree trunks frame the main scene, but outlines of bits of vegetation delightfully wind, coil and bend across the floor and walls.

NEWS 9/9/10 7:00pm

Like nothing else you've seen before

By Theresa Boyer

"D-17," Sarah Oppenheimer's new installation at the Rice Gallery, reflects her calculated and rational manner. She is not one for frills or excess. She takes her coffee black. She wears a plain blue jumper spattered with paint to work. Her brown hair is reduced to an extremely short buzz cut. She is an artist who relies less on imagination and more on innovation, investigation and academic reasoning. Her piece dominates both the foyer and interior of the gallery: Long sections of white aluminum stretch horizontally back from the middle window of the foyer through the glass panels of the gallery before tapering down to a small point near the back of the interior gallery space. The placement of the aluminum panels forms a tunnel-like passage in the crease of the structure, which allows light from the outside to shine down on the work. The simple and minimalistic streamlined aesthetics of the piece seem especially striking, instilling curiosity and wonderment in the viewer.

NEWS 4/8/10 7:00pm

Dreams takes flight

By Theresa Boyer

Andrea Dezsö's new installation at the Rice Gallery transforms the front of the gallery into a network of various portals and windows, which transport the viewer into another world. Sometimes in My Dreams I Fly, which runs April 8 to Aug. 8, challenges the viewers to suspend their earthly cares in exchange for passage to a lunar landscape of fantastical creatures and unidentifiable objects. Dezs? grew up in Transylvania, Romania under the regime of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Rampant censorship, the inability to freely move about the country and the launch of Sputnik during the space race shaped her childhood. The impossibility of travel caused Dezs? to turn inward and use her own imagination as an avenue to different locations, both on Earth and beyond. Throughout her artistic career, Dezs? has elected to give great agency to her viewers' ability to escape past their physical location with their minds.

NEWS 1/28/10 6:00pm

Breaking down barriers

By Theresa Boyer

It is Monday, and a tangible sense of excitement and raw creativity fills the Rice Gallery as volunteers and various gallery staff work to install El Anatsui's new piece, Gli, into the space. An industrial elevator allows workers to connect large sheets of flattened bottle caps to fishing line suspended from the ceiling. Kim Davenport, the gallery's director, converses with her colleagues regarding the proper positioning of the sheet in relation to the overhead lighting. The industrial logistics that make a work like Anatsui's 20-foot-high installation a reality contrast sharply with the overall aesthetics of the final product.

NEWS 10/1/09 7:00pm

New Matchbox Gallery ignites artistic discussion

By Theresa Boyer

Viewing artwork in a museum or professional gallery can often feel like a massive, collective standardized test. The Louvre holds some of the most timeless artwork on the planet, but when standing in front of the great Mona Lisa or the Venus de Milo and hearing the myriad languages being spoken by viewers, one finds that the cacophony is often little more than regurgitated phrases from the latest or most popular art history textbook.People often have preconceived notions about "correct" or "acceptable" comments that should be said about art when in actuality, and especially with postmodern work, art is created to incite discussions in multiple directions.

NEWS 9/17/09 7:00pm

Modern ballet gets a racy twist with colorful yet tragic love story of Manon

By Theresa Boyer

The themes of love, money and violence may be most commonly associated with Hollywood action films, but there is no rule against their driving the plot of a ballet production.The Houston Ballet opened its 40th season last Thursday with Sir Kenneth MacMillan's modern ballet Manon, demonstrating the culmination of years of growth and development as both a company and artistic community. Based on Abbé Prévost's 18th-century novel Manon Lescaut, the ballet traces the tragic fall of a young femme fatale and her lover, providing a rich plot line in a performance vibrant with complex choreography, fabulous costumes and demanding acting.