Here’s what is freshest and best to see in Austin, and beyond, for February 2022.
Be sure to check with venues before you go as opening hours and health protocols are subject to change.
Corentin Canesson, “Sleep Spaces (Gouesnou),” 2021. Acrylic and inkjet on paper. 16½ x 11¾ in. (42 x 29.7 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Sator, Paris.Corentin Canesson: Sleep Spaces / Les espaces du sommeil
Through March 12. UT Visual Art Center, UT campus utvac.org
Witty and ironic French artist Corentin Canesson confronts the legacies of painting questions the notion of singular authorship In “Sleep Spaces,” the surrealist strategy of combining seemingly incongruous objects is the curatorial conceit. And the exhibition features an ambient soundtrack with music from Canesson’s experimental band, TNHCH.
Digging for Daisies: Paintings by Jaylen Pigford
Ivester Contemporary, Canopy, 916 Springdale Road. Through March 5, ivestercontemporary.com
A solo exhibition of new paintings by JAfro-Latino artist Jaylen Pigford. This exhibition features the theme of a reoccurring lone figure which appears in each canvas and who is accompanied by scattered objects and varying solitary settings, indicating a prevalent sense of confusion yet positivity.
Ric Nelson: PersonaRic Nelson: Persona
Lydia Street Gallery, 1200 E. Eleventh St. Through Feb. 28, lydiastreetgallery.com
A self-taught artist and musician, Ric Nelson looks to the nuances in musical scores and rhythmic patterns for visual inspiration.
Bill Hutson’s “Homestead with signs, symbols and numbers,” acrylic on canvas, 1979–1990, 83 ¾ x 113 ¾ inches. Courtesy of the Phillips Museum of Art at c. All rights reserved. Photo by Madelynn MesaThe Art of Bill Hutson
Various locations throughout San Marcos, visitsanmarcos.com/billhutson/
Born in 1936 and raised in the historically Black Dunbar neighborhood of San Marcos, artist Bill Hutson is celebrated across his hometown in a multi-venue event. Hutson explores the meaning of place and home, and much of the work on view is from Phillips Museum at Franklin & Marshall College, where Hutson is Professor Emeritus. Venues include the Calaboose African American History Museum, the Price Center, the San Marcos Art League, the Texas State Galleries, and the Walkers’ Gallery.
Unidentified photographer, Sylvia Beach and James Joyce in doorway of Shakespeare and Company, ca. 1921. Courtesy Harry Ransom Center, University of exasWomen and the Making of Joyce’s Ulysses
Harry Ransom, 21st and Guadalupe streets, UT campus. Feb. 2, hrc.utexas.edu
James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” considered a landmark work of literary modernism, was first published on February 2, 1922. Curated by Clare Hutton of Loughborough University, the exhibition marks the 100th anniversary of the book’s publication and investigates the important and largely unacknowledged role of women in realization of his famed masterpiece.
Perro MundoPerro Mundo
Coronado Print Room, 701 Tiller St. Ste. A9-A, Feb. 10 – March 31, printaustin.org/exhibitions/
Perro Mundo (Raw World) is a print portfolio organized by Consejo Gráfico Nacional, a consortium of Latinx printmaking studios. Work by 23 artists tackles issues including immigration and human rights. A PrintAustin exhibition.
Sadie Barnette’s work includes the reclamation of a 500-page FBI surveillance file amassed on her father during his time with the Black Panther Party.Not Only Will I Stare
Christian-Green Gallery, Art Galleries at Black Studies, UT campus. Opens Feb. 3 and continues through May 21 galleriesatut.org
“Not Only Will I Stare” brings together artists — including Sadie Barnette and Sable Elyse Smith — whose works grapple with the surveillance of Black life, from policing and the carceral state to the FBI and oppressive gazes. The show is organized by Simone Browne, associate professor in African and African Diaspora at the University of Texas, and the author of “Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness.”
The Canopy art complex is at 916 Springdale Road.Open Canopy
Canopy, 916 Springdale Road, 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 5
A monthly open studio event every first Saturday. Some 57 artist studios including trailers with over 72 artists welcome the public for a look into their creative process.
Installation view at the Phoenix Art Museum, of “Oscar Muñoz, Cortinas de baño [Shower Curtains],” 1985–1986, acrylic on plastic, nine curtains, variable dimensions. Collection of the artist (Photo courtesy of Phoenix Art Museum)Oscar Muñoz: Invisibilia
Blanton Museum of Art, UT campus, Feb. 18 through June 5, blantonmuseum.org
Oscar Muñoz evocatively reinvents the medium of photography, creating hybrid works that splice photographic processes with drawing, painting, printmaking, installation, video, and sculpture, as well as interactive works. This first retrospective of the 71-year-old Colombian artist’s work in the United States.
