Reimagining Jasper Johns
(10/03/19 5:00am)
This Sunday, Sept. 29, marked the opening of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s latest exhibition, “Jasper Johns: 100 Variations on a Theme.”
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This Sunday, Sept. 29, marked the opening of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s latest exhibition, “Jasper Johns: 100 Variations on a Theme.”
When you hear the word KTRU, you may imagine the radio station’s iconic yellow and black stickers adorning laptops, eclectic music tastes and quirky on-campus concerts like the annual Outdoor Show. While KTRU is steeped in undergraduate student culture and primarily run by them, Rice radio is also an outlet for graduate students, faculty, staff and local community members to support the Houston music scene and celebrate often-neglected music genres.
While attending the four-day festival was enough to give us some pretty persistent post-concert depression (not to mention legs of steel and black festival snot for days), there were some parts that we won’t really miss — like the canned water and soul-sucking L trip back to our Airbnb. While not all aspects of Lollapalooza may have been worth storming the fence for, there were certainly many that left a lasting impression, and reasons that Lollapalooza stood out as a festival to remember.
Summer is here, which means festival season. Chicago is prepping for Lollapalooza, its annual four-day festival in scenic Grant Park. This year’s lineup is packed with musical sensations like Childish Gambino, Twenty One Pilots, Ariana Grande and more. In addition to their high-profile headliners, the festival will also be welcoming a diverse range of rising artists. The one thing that will be harder than finding time to see all the amazing acts will be trying to survive outdoors with thousands of other people during one of the hottest summers on record. To ensure that you have a good time at one of the nation’s most iconic music festivals, here are some tips on how to have a positive, meaningful experience at one of the biggest events of the summer.
Vincent van Gogh is arguably one of the most iconic artists of the 19th century, although his work wasn’t fully appreciated until after his death. The exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which includes over 50 of Van Gogh’s works, presents five periods in his life: The Early Years, Paris, Arles, Saint Rémy and Auvers sur Oise. This showcase not only displays his unique style but also gives the audience insight into his sad, tumultuous life.
Southern life and traditions are important to the many residents of the lower U.S., but the rich experiences that are cultivated in that region often conflict with its tragic history. In the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston’s latest exhibit, “A Thousand Crossings,” photographer Sally Mann (born 1951) attempts to capture her life story in Virginia, the birthplace of slavery and a major battleground in the Civil War, as a mother, wife and Southern woman coming to terms with the dark history of her state.
I never listened to much of Toro y Moi’s music until my friend bought me tickets to his concert in Houston for Christmas, giving me one month to start. In order to be a respectable concert-goer, I immersed myself in his entire discography, which was about seven albums. By the end of my musical adventure, I was impatient for his eighth album, “Outer Peace,” to be released.
Many people pledge to become better versions of themselves for the new year. While these New Year’s resolutions can take an endless number of forms, a lot of these promises fall along the lines of being more organized and procrastinating less. Journaling has seen a huge rise in popularity over the past several years — this versatile hobby can be used as a way to stay on top of the countless tasks that plague lives as the year progresses.
This Sunday, free hot chocolate, snacks and music filled Ray’s Courtyard as ktru hosted its second annual Cozy Show from 7 to 11 p.m. A group of veteran ktru concert attendees (mostly ktru board members) sprawled out on blankets in the middle of the courtyard while others sat comfortably in a wide ring around the stage, chatting before and after performances.
East Houston rapper Anti Lily thrilled the crowd with a raw, honest performance. Naomi Wentz / Thresher
Chris Hawkes of Dawn and Hawkes helped create a cozy environment with the help of his partner, Miranda Dawn. Naomi Wentz / Thresher
On Saturday, Valhalla courtyard was home to interesting strains of sound and chatter, as KTRU hosted its Halloween show from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. For this show, KTRU showcased Houston rapper Guilla and rock bands El Lago and XETAS. KTRU members worked hard to attract more of an audience for October’s show, providing free pizza, soda and beer (to people over 21) as well as advertising more on Facebook.
Freaky Deaky is a new Halloween-themed electronic music festival presented by Disco Donnie, meant to replace the popular Something Wicked festival. It featured acts from various subgenres, such as house, trance, and dubstep to appeal to the diverse crowds that were drawn to this two-day event.
Freaky Deaky is an annual Halloween-themed electronic music festival held in Houston on Oct. 27 and 28. This year is its first occurrence, replacing the usual twin festivals Something Wicked and Something Wonderful. While the chance to dress up and see energetic musical acts are enough to draw large crowds to this two-day event, there are a few sure-to-be-stellar acts that festival goers should not miss.
Maps don’t just show location in the Asia Society of Texas’ newest exhibition. “New Cartographies” showcases four artists and their exploration of the nuances associated with creating a physical representation of an entire region. In these works, the artists find new ways to create maps by incorporating the regions’ personal subjectivity, political struggles and colonial pasts. All four artists, Sohei Nishino, Tiffany Chung, Li Songsong and Allan deSouza, have their works displayed in different rooms, giving the artists more space for their pieces and emphasizing the distinctions between each individual’s style. The silence and darkness of the gallery allow the viewer to explore the complexity of each piece and the gravity of the issues being analyzed as they travel through the rooms. The first room features pieces by Nishino, whose work has a deep intimacy about it that pulls the viewer in. The most prominent works are collages of the New Delhi cityscape, composed of thousands of photos of city residents and architecture. These images express how Nishino views the city and its people, emphasizing the subjective lens through which an individual experiences a region. The second artist showcased is Chung, who uses her unique perspective as a refugee to convey the realities that millions of displaced people around the world face every day. Her tireless research of cartographic methods is evident in her accurate geopolitical maps that highlight the effects of international conflicts and natural disasters. The most beautiful and haunting part of her exhibit is a series of lightboxes displaying the destruction of a city by ISIS.
Rating: 4.5/5
In a summer where electronic music seems to be shifting toward pop, there are a few artists whose unique tracks introduce new electronic styles and push the boundaries of the genre. Unlike the artists that use predictable drops or try to wedge Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” into every set, these artists are developing complex subgenres such are hardstyle. Here are a few unique tracks that I highly recommend listening to for anyone looking for new electronic styles.
In their installation for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, “Mike + Doug Starn: Big Bambú,” the Starn brothers use 3,000 bamboo poles tied together with rope to depict a dynamic sea, described by the MFAH as “an emblem of great age, continually new and changing.” The size and complexity of the piece is certainly astounding, as bamboo stalks rise in a wave 30 feet above Cullinan Hall, a large single-room gallery space at the center of the museum, and crash into the Upper Brown Pavillion. Huge photographs of the Starns’ previous works hang on the walls around the installation, adding to the sense of immensity.
Now on his debut EP, Melvv first came to my attention two years ago through his remix of Alison Wonderland’s “Back It Up.” It perfectly captured the loud, punchy future bass sound that I crave so much. I found the small number of tracks that he had released so far compelling, especially “Goodbye,” featuring MOONZz. But after a two-year hiatus, I almost stopped listening and forgot completely about this upcoming electronic artist. Now ending that radio silence is “Stress Relief,” Melvv’s first EP, which brings back the fast-paced future bass drops that he achieved two years ago with his “Back It Up” remix.
Chill, downtempo music has taken the electronic music genre by storm the past couple of years, with the rise of producers like Kygo, who have filled festival soundwaves with catchy, easy-listening beats. This new fad isn’t necessarily bad; in fact, artists like ODESZA, Petit Biscuit and Manilla Killa have explored this sound quite well. Kasbo is relatively new to the electronic music scene. His debut album, “Places We Don’t Know,” has firmly cemented his place in the “chillwave” genre, although time will tell if he’s a name worth remembering.