TIME TO PAINT the town! This season, a trio of art fairs hits Houston, beginning with the Houston Art Fair (formerly the Houston Fine Art Fair), where nearly 50 local and international galleries exhibit Sept. 29-Oct. 2 at Silver Street Studios. On the same weekend, the Texas Contemporary event is held Downtown at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Opening-night festivities include a collaborative performance with the Houston Ballet’s Oliver Halkowich and multi-media artist Chris Doyle. And a week later, the semi-annual Bayou City Art Festival returns to the streets of Downtown with hundreds of outdoor booths.
Wiley's 'Judith and Holofernes'
Presented together as Portrait of Courage and installed on opposite walls, each painting is a masterpiece in its depiction of violence made all the more shocking perhaps because the subject with the sword is a strong, beautiful woman. Portrait of Courage opened Jan. 26 and is on view through April 16.
MFAH associate curator of European Art, James Anno, and associate curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, Anita Bateman, were tasked with the installation of the paintings, both titled "Judith and Holofernes." “There are many layers and narratives that any particular object proposes,” says Anno of his and Bateman’s roles as curators. “We get to choose what aspect we want to put our finger on and say, ‘Let’s follow this story.’ This is a case where we’re doing that. We’re selecting aspects of the work that dialogue with each other in a sense that’s relevant to us right now.”
Wiley, whose portrait of President Barack Obama along with Amy Sherald’s portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama exhibited at MFAH in Spring 2022, is well known for his heroic portraits of Black men and women, who are not professional models, posed in historical settings and exhibiting gestures appropriated from Old Master paintings.
In Wiley’s "Judith and Holofernes," Judith is modeled by Treisha Lowe, dressed in a blue gown, its color close to that of the dress worn by Judith in Gentileschi’s painting, her left arm at a downward diagonal clutching not the head of a marauding general, but that of Wiley’s studio assistant, who is female and white. Including his assistant may be another allusion to the complex role of an artist assistant during the Baroque era of painting, but Lowe’s dramatic hairstyle, carefully applied makeup, and tattoo are thoroughly contemporary. She stands with just a hint of onstage theatricality, the colors of her ensemble and fingernails complemented by an opulent backdrop of flowers and traces of blood on a sheathed sword.
'Judith and Holofernes' by Gentileschi, left, and Wiley
Meanwhile, there’s nothing understated about Gentileschi’s Judith; this is a woman who is not afraid to get her hands bloody. With a little help from her maidservant, Judith holds the struggling Holofernes firmly by his hair with her left arm while using a sword in her right to calmly saw off his head. Gentileschi’s Judith may be a self-portrait; Gentileschi painted this after she had been raped by a family friend, who was brought to a trial in which Gentileschi was tortured with thumb screws to ensure she was telling the truth.
It is heartening to see museums stepping up via their curatorial decisions to challenge the male, Euro-centric narrative of the history of art and societal definitions of whose bodies are “beautiful” and worthy of being painted. But Anno, Bateman, and MFAH director Gary Tinterow all point out that this is something artists throughout the ages have always done.
“You have these artists who have always been at the vanguard of what they’ve been doing, whether they be African American contemporary artists or a 17th-century woman painter, then you have these people who may not understand what they’re doing in the moment,” says Bateman. “But culture catches up to what they’re doing,”
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Rendering courtesy of RYDE
Fast forward to 2023, and the RYDE co-founders are once again finalizing a build-out — but this time, things look a little different. The brand's stunning flagship studio will open in April on West 11th Street in the heart of the Heights. The elevated, freestanding building, designed by Boucher Design Group and constructed by O'Donnell Snider Construction, boasts ample on-site parking underneath, along with dedicated bike racks — a nod to its location just a couple blocks off the Heights Hike and Bike Trail.
Renderings show a grown-up take on industrial-chic interiors, with walls of glass, cement floors and exposed support beams, and an eye-catching graffiti-style mural. The RYDE team commissioned Los Angeles-based artist Amber Goldhammer — represented by Houston's own Christopher Martin Gallery — to create a vibrant, layered, wall-size painting that can be seen from 11th Street.
RYDE Heights will offer the brand's signature 45-minute, rhythm-based spin classes in a new studio space outfitted with a custom, immersive sound and lighting system, and nearly 50 high-end Stages SC2 indoor cycling bikes. Clients can expect amenity-laden locker rooms with top-of-the-line products a la Aesop hair, body and skincare goods, and coveted Dyson blow-dryers.
Plans for the Heights studio have been in the works for more than three years — a long chapter filled with "hard work, passion and meticulous attention to detail," says Pappas in a statement. “The RYDE team is dedicated to pushing the limits of what a fitness experience can be. Our new Heights studio is a testament to that commitment, offering an unparalleled, high-energy indoor cycling experience in a stunning, expertly designed space. We are excited to welcome the Heights community to our new home and elevate their fitness journey.”
Gooch and Pappas
RYDE instructors CJ Martin, Caroline Wagner and Chris Younger
A rendering of RYDE Heights
A rendering of the locker rooms at RYDE Heights
RYDE River Oaks
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