Fine Arts

Gallery offers variety

Settled deep inside a residential neighborhood, the Colton & Farb gallery doesn’t look like much; just a one-story, white house on the corner of North Blvd. and Melon St. 

In fact, when driving through the neighborhood, the gallery is hard to spot. But once inside, it offers a look into the world of Houston contemporary art.

Each exhibition lasts four weeks and only a few international artists are chosen to present their work each year. According to the gallery’s Web site, the exhibitions “highlight only the most provocative, and relevant contemporary artists, whose diverse practices include paintings, works on paper, sculpture, video, photography and conceptual future media installations.” 

And that’s exactly what the Colton & Farb gallery offers; a colorful experience, minus the bright, white walls, for creative minds as well as a journey for the non-artistic gurus who are looking for a little bit of inspiration.               

The main room is large and might seem empty, but one look at the large canvases on the walls will send anyone’s brain into a tantrum of screaming spectrums and colorful frenzies. 

The main room focuses on the New Beginnings 2010 exhibit with paintings from artists Mark Dell‘Isola and Daniel Kayne. 

For non-contemporary art lovers, the art might seem a bit strange. Kayne has a large canvas drenched in white paint selling for $22,000. However, it’s what’s inside the meaning of the paintings that Colton & Farb likes to show. 

Dell’Isola’s New Beginnings series is so intricate, it’s hard to follow where the new colors start. His paintings show a colorful array of cerebral-like veins in different formations, arches and views. 

Mary Ann Strandell’s art is a trippy, color fest. Her art, done on lenticular print on sintra, really pops out to the naked eye. Literally. The art is almost in 3-D. But it’s what’s going on behind each image that is the real art.

Each sintra has several images going on at once. The image of a gnome playing a ukulele could catch a glance for a moment and quickly be taken away by a Japanese head-popping out.  It’s a sight for sore eyes. 

Andrea Nottebohm’s usage of paint on Aluminum is an interesting find. 

There is also a lot of photography ranging from Stephen Torton’s 1982 photo of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Madonna, one day on Crosby and Jay Ruscovich’s photos from his new book Inside Out

Houston native Michael Meazell offers a fresh new look into the world of collages. Meazell’s art is made out of coins, cigar box tops and ‘60s magazine photos that he prints and assembles on a six-foot aluminum panel. Meazell will later splash bits of paint on the collage to create an effect. 

Meazell has his own room in the gallery, entitled From the beginning of time. Each collage might look the same at first glance, but a second look around will help decipher the different images and meanings behind Meazell’s collages. 

As one of the main Contemporary art galleries in Houston, owner Deborah Colton and her husband were recently the co-chairs for the Art 4 Life benefit presented by ExxonMobil on Jan. 30. Co-owner Carolyn Farb was also a part of the Host Committee. 

The benefit featured locally and nationally acclaimed artists in a silent auction. The auction benefited the AIDS Foundation Houston. Colton & Farb artists Daniel Kayne and Jay Ruscovich were two of the many artists to donate their art to save lives. 

The Colton & Farb gallery definitely offers a trek into the realm of interesting. It is one gallery that will not be understood by the faint of mind but can offer insight into a newfound beauty.

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