This Weekend: Meet the Creators Behind ‘Music for the Eyes’ at Still-New Artspace

This Weekend: Meet the Creators Behind ‘Music for the Eyes’ at Still-New Artspace

Works by Koehn and Pozo

ON VIEW THROUGH May 29 at The Alta Arts is Superimpositions, a vibrant — even sunny — group show featuring works by Houston artists Luisa Duarte, Molly Koehn and Carlos Pozo. Each uses screen printing, drawing, weaving and even spray painting and assemblage to explore how shape, color and form can become music for the eyes. On Sunday, May 22 at 1pm, all three artists will be present at The Alta Arts for a roundtable discussion and Q&A.

One could describe all of the work in Superimpositions as “non-representational,” but shape and color is a powerful combination, and inevitably triggers a concrete image in the mind’s eye of the viewer. Most of the pieces on display are small, and are thoughtfully installed throughout The Alta Arts’ unique, warehouse-like space. “You might walk through and think all of the art was done by one person,” says Pozo, “but I don’t know if you could tell which one of us it would have been!”

Duarte and Pozo, born in Venezuela and Chile, respectively, are both architects who use printmaking to let their imaginations run a bit wild. Pozo is also a self-taught musician, and believes rhythm is the thread connecting his work as an architect and creative output as a musician and a visual artist. “We use rhythm in architecture to define the repetition of elements in a musical way,” explains Pozo, “which is tied to the way I use sound.”

'Assembler' by Pozo

'Lepanto 2' by Pozo

Alta Arts in Gulfton


When Pozo decided to dive into the art of screen printing, he contacted Carlos Hernandez, co-founder of the artist collective and print studio Burning Bones Press. “Carlos pretty much taught me the system I still use,” says Pozo, who at age 55 is refreshingly unpretentious in his desire to learn and synthesize so many different creative mediums. “Architects are pretty full of themselves,” he laughs, “so we kind of think we can do everything.”

Maybe he’s not kidding. This year, in addition to holding down his day-job, making prints and creating digital art, Pozo found time to record Dystopian Gates, a CD of dark ambient instrumental music inspired by the “little imaginary structures” he creates using digital modeling. Dystopian Gates will be released by the Fort Worth-based independent label Dada Drumming later this month.

Though not an architect, Koehn is also influenced by rhythms of Houston’s ever-shifting urban landscape, and occasionally includes materials found on construction sites to augment her installations. But the close-knit patterns Koehn creates using both printing and weaving techniques also call to mind the narrow-strip textiles or “country cloth” of West Africa, Brazil and the Southern United States, patterns which in turn mirror downtown Houston’s strange and distinctive skyline. But that’s just one tangent to consider. Taking the time to navigate Koehn’s scaled-down environments yields one surprise after another.

And after walking through and taking in the colorful shapes, shades and layers of Superimpositions, Houstonians may never look at the city the same way again.

Art + Entertainment
With Expertise in Blondes, Extensions and More, the Janelle Alexis Team Is a Go-To Salon

YOU CAN'T LIMIT Janelle to one title – Hairdresser. Her career and business has been established and built on a strong foundation. Using her two business degrees + one more in-process, this enables Janelle and the team to deliver not only a customer-focused experience, but a foundationally solid business. There is much more than meets the eye, and in sharing a little bit about Janelle, she was not only an international hair extension educator for over 14 years, but brings extensive expertise to blondes. She rounds this out with her previously launched namesake cosmetic line, which is a perfect complement to her belief that “Beauty is our Business”.

Keep ReadingShow less

Jack Vielhauer, Cher Baker, Lindsay Yates, Sarah Smith, Aaron Matthews, Mario Gudmundsson

SEVERE WEATHER — NO, not the Derecho or Hurricane Beryl, but one of the other storms that have battered Houston this season — did its best to derail CityBook’s second annual “Cool 100” party. But hundreds of H-Town’s most notable VIPs and influencers braved the elements and made the event a smash.

Keep ReadingShow less

'The Swan' at Sophie (photo by Shawn Chippendale)

JUST IN TIME for the Paris games, Sophie Cocktail & Terrace Bar has bowed in the Montrose Collective joining neighbors Marmo and nearby Uchi.

Keep ReadingShow less