VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

Galveston Arts Center is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Houston-based artist Ken Mazzu. An ArtWalk opening reception will be held on Saturday, July 11th, from 6 to 9 p.m. Curator Clint Willour will conduct a gallery talk with the artist at 6:30 p.m. The exhibition will be held at Galveston Arts Center in Exile at Nefertiti Boutique in the historic Panama Hotel located at the corner of Rosenberg Avenue and The Strand. The exhibition will be on view through August 9, 2009.

Monuments of Yesterday will feature Mazzu’s new body of intimate works on paper. Long interested in the urban landscape, Mazzu’s current investigations focus on ideas of wasteland detritus and industrial decay. Born from photographs of demolition sites from Houston’s ever-changing skyline, his cityscape paintings are a way of immortalizing select urban structures at the end of their era as growth makes way for vast metropolitan development.

“These paintings” writes Mazzu, “evolved from my questioning how solid, seemingly indestructible materials of concrete and steel, of which massive urban structures are built, translate into small scale paintings composed in the delicate, fluid medium of watercolor.” The artist notes his admiration for the work of 19th century American Hudson River School painters including Frederic Church and Thomas Cole, and British artist J.M.W. Turner, who focused on Nature and the landscape in their work. Mazzu’s work had originally been scheduled to be shown at the Arts Center last October but was postponed due to the significant damage to the facility following Hurricane Ike.

Galveston Arts Center will operate “in exile” from a temporary downtown gallery space—the site of the former, and future, Nefertiti Boutique located on the ground floor of the historic Panama Hotel at the corner of Rosenberg Avenue and The Strand. “Proprietors Connie and Frank Dryden have graciously donated the use of the space to GAC for this exhibition,” says executive director Alexandra Irvine. “We are very thankful for their generosity and are thrilled to be one more piece of downtown that will be open for visitors and tourists this summer.” The gallery will be open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. A flyer listing all ArtWalk participants with times and locations can be downloaded at www.galvestonartscenter.org.

SUPPORT AND SPONSORSHIP Funding for GAC’s exhibition programs is provided by The Brown Foundation; Houston Endowment, Inc., Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund, The National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, the City of Galveston through the Hotel/Motel Tax Fund, and the generous support of the community, volunteers and an active membership. GAC’s Art for All Education Program is supported in part by the Permanent Endowment Fund of Moody Memorial First United Methodist Church, The Smothers Foundation, Brown Foundation, Inc., Fondren Foundation, Alice Taylor Gray Foundation, Harris and Eliza Kempner Fund, Target Stores, and Texas Commission on the Arts.

LOCATION AND HOURS Galveston Arts Center is located on the corner of Strand and 22nd (Kempner) Street in historic downtown Galveston. The building is currently closed until further notice for repairs to damage from Hurricane Ike. We anticipate re-opening in 2010.

For more information, call 409.763.2403 or visit www.galvestonartscenter.org.  The administrative offices are temporarily located in suite 710 in the Frost Bank Building located at the corner of Market and 22nd Street. The mailing address for GAC remains the same: 2127 Strand, Galveston, TX 77550. Galveston Arts Center in Exile is located at 202 25th Street, Suite 101, Galveston, TX, 77550.

Pictured:  Ken Mazzu, detail Facade #1, 2008, Gouache on paper,  7 x 10 inches, Courtesy of the artist.  (full image below).