Being from Houston, I can say that the art that is all over Houston has made my life significantly richer, and it's one of the reasons I love Houston so much.
There is something very special about Houston. The intersection of art, folklore, cultural contributions of one of the most diverse urban topographies in the country. The coming together of visual art, performing art, culinary art from very diverse groups that make beautiful synergy that they take extreme in. I’ve been in and out of Houston since 17 and I often wonder how transformative will be as it always seems to be on an endless trajectory to be better, bigger, more inviting and more innovative . Thank you Houston. You’re my southern New York, Chicago and Washington, DC, but with a warm inviting smile.🫶🏽🫶🏼🫶🏻
I'm from Houston, and I loved watching this. I went to the High School for the Performing and Visual arts, right down the street from Siphon, and have been to many of these places. It reminded me of when I first saw these installations, pieces, collections, etc. Watching this made it feel like the first time, seeing a new perspective. Thank you so much!
I really liked the first place you went. I grew up going to church every Sunday. When in college, I tried to go to several churches (even different religions) and it wasn't the same. I missed the community. In the past year or two, I've come to realize that I miss the ritual of it too. It gave weeks a rhythm. It was an hour to focus on what kind of life your leading and the rituals were so repetitive it was kind of close to meditating. It is wonderful they set up a place where people can come up with their own structure and system. A quiet place to think. I wish more of them existed.
SciJoy the Rothko chapel is also a walk to the Menil collection. if you ever go, it's nice to bookend your visit of the area with the Rothko chapel. It almost always has people in it, but is never crowded and it's a very solemn space. block off some serious time to see how each study in black/grey changes as the outside light does. glad to hear they finally finished restoring the broken obelisk, too. last time I went it was very weathered from the Houston humidity
I'm a born and raised Houstonian, so seeing this makes my heart soar. When I was growing up however, I took for advantage a lot of what Houston had. It wasn't until I moved away that I finally realized how much art (and music and food!) my city had, and how much it inspired who I am today. The Cy Twombly museum is a different experience each time I visit, especially when I'm bringing a friend. I'm so glad you guys got to view it and share it with us, I miss it so much!
I was born in raised in Houston but moved to New York three years ago. Seeing all these wonderful, familiar cultural institutions (and some of my favorite places like Siphon and Tochy’s) made me so homesick but also really proud of my city. Thanks for sharing!
I've always wanted to visit Rice University since driving past there while once lost trying to find Houston Zoo. Having returned to TX, I must now go... an evening visit, for sure, on a moon lit night. Will definitely remember artist Cy Twombly as I can now say, if anyone asks, he is my favorite artist of the past century.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have been looking forward to the Art Trip Houston for months. It did not disappoint. I wish you could have stayed longer. There is so much more to see.
So glad it didn't disappoint. And thank *you* for your guidance. I hope I communicate in these that I'm not trying to create a definitive art guide to any of these places. That this is just my experience there, flawed though it may be, and missing of important things it inevitably is. I will be back!
I saw some old friends (beer can house, orange show, the Menil museum) and meet some new ones (the sky installation and row houses). You should try to enter the Contemporary Art Museum through the tunnel from the MFAH. The Light Inside. While the Rothko Chapel is not my cup of tea, I am so glad that it spoke to you.
You need at least a day or two just to see the MFAH. It's huge and often has 4 or 5 separate exhibits going on at the same time, plus a cinema and cafe.
I am a very proud Houstonian and I actually visited multiple times a lot of the places you visited. I'm very glad that you got to experience it and take a positive look at all that you saw.
The Rothko Chapel is on the top of my list for places to visit. Rothko suddenly and without notice became my favorite artist. Last year I took a 2 week study abroad trip to London and Tate Modern was one of the places we went. I've always liked art, and enjoyed visiting other museums in London and here at home, but that all changed at the Tate Modern. I walked into the Rothko gallery, and my world changed. The immensity of the paintings hit me first, and the longer I looked the more the depth of the paintings struck me. The deep maroons and reds, the low light, the subtle variance across the canvas. It felt as though the weight of the world had been laid upon me, yet at the same time I felt liberated by being the presence of those etherial paintings. I stayed in that room a good 30 minutes, maybe more, just sitting on the benches, crying at times. After that experience I've found myself diving deeper into to the history and theory of art, learning how to appreciate works more. I really think of that day as one of the most transformational experiences of my life, both as an artist and as a human. I've yet to see another Rothko in person, and a trip to Houston to see the Chapel would almost be a religious experience.
Also would love to see an Art Trip: Cincinnati! Shameless plug for the hometown. The Contemporary Arts Center is one of the best that I've been and The Taft Museum has a great collection of old European masters (including a Rembrandt!). An aspect that often gets overlooked is some of the great architecture of the city, especially Music Hall. In that same vein, the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal is one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture anywhere in the world. Plus inside the rotunda is are incredible mosaic murals. 9 of the mosaics from the old train loading area are on display outside of the Duke Energy Convention Center, saved from destruction and rescued from abandon. Highly recommend coming and checking it out, as it's not too far from Indy!
I had no idea my home town had such a vibrant art community! I have only been to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Rice campus, but now I want to take another day trip to look at all these places.
The Turell sky space does what all art does (focus your attention in specific ways) and what all abstract art does (remove narrative from that focus) and does both brilliantly.
I love this, but there are so many places I wish you had been able to go! The Center for Contemporary Craft (I could probably talk about this place for days. It's relatively small but has so many things going on), Center for Photography, The Station Museum of Contemporary Art, The Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts (an independent museum on the north side of Houston, away from the bustle of the art district)... Hope you'll come back sometime, we have so much more to offer! You also missed a really excellent food truck called the Waffle Bus. Just sayin.
As a Rice alum, it was great to see you feature Skyspace (even if the lights were not operational). Also made me miss Common Bond and think about when I attended the opening of the Fabiola exhibit.
I have never disliked an artist's work with as much seething hatred as Cy Twombly, and really WANT to understand how people appreciate it. Since this was posted 3yrs ago, I'm going to go look for that THE CASE FOR right now.
Kouing Amann is a French regionnal desert! I'm French so I just felt the urge to say that sorry xD I love your videos so much by the way! I've discovered so many wonderful artists thanks to you.... Your channel is like an Enlightenment window
I've been living in Houston for most of my life yet I never heard or seen any of these places. Makes me realize just how much I'm missing out on life. Thanks so much for making this video.
I've been living in Houston for a while and I'm always in search for places like this. Thank you for this! Next time your in Houston I recommend going to lunch at Stanton's City Bites. Its a burger place with a lovely history and delicious food.
I had no idea what to expect from art in Houston, so this just shows that you can find amazing experiences wherever you go! I really like the idea of the Menil Collection. I often get caught in the trap of needing the little info card (or description in a book) to give me context for the art I'm seeing. It would be so freeing to be forced to just take the art for what it is.
Grew up in Houston and lived there until 31. This video is the Houston I remember from my trips back there in the '80s and '90s. This was the time of promise when the social and political division of 2013,'14,'15, '16 and ongoing was still a few years into the future. I hope the city will get back to the projects of those two decades and show the country how to get over and past the current turmoil.
Wow, it seems like a great art trip. Never have I ever wanted to visit Texas more, I had no idea Huston is such a big city and so full of amazing art. Only the Rothko chapel and James Turrell piece would be enough to astonish me, but the rest was true icing on the cake. Putting it on my list :)
How excellent! The Fabiola Project elicited a jaw drop from me. It has such a forceful first visual impression. I love thinking about the collection of art as art itself. Wonderful video, awesome array of art destinations. Keep it up!
Thank you for showing my hometown in such a lovely way! I have been to the Rothko Chapel, Menil Collection, and Cullen Sculpture Garden, but you gave me new places to explore. I love how vibrant the art scene is here in Houston, and I'm so glad you got to experience some of the best of Houston! I also love that you went to Torchy's and Common Bond- two of my most favorite places to eat here :)
I appreciate this so much!!! I'm finally going to be able to visit Houston and this little video tour was SO HELPFUL to pick what I want to see. Thank you so much!!!
There is a small art studio in Fort Worth, TX called Fort Works Art that used to be my great grandfather's furniture store, Grimes Design Studios. It's always so cool to drive by it and think that what's now being used to showcase art was once a huge part of my family.
it's so exciting to see about other ppl going to places i kinda remember! I miss it all. I'll try to visit soon. I think I really need it 😅 This channel is awesome!
I have been to James Turrell's Skyspace in Philadelphia. It is a amazing. I didn't know what was going to happen or what we were going to experience, but wow!! I think everyone one should go to one of his Skyspaces if they can.
People see Houston as nothin but highways and cars, oil rigs and glass/steel buildings. But if you really take the time to dig deep into the culture of the city, you will find many surprises.
I love this video! I will be returning to SE TX for a few months after being away for 20 year. I've been to some of these places, and some more than once. The first time I went to the Rothko Chapel was on a high school trip, though I did not remember that it was Rothko, since the artist did not stick with me at the time. I visited again about 5 yrs ago, and the fact the artist was Rothko surprised me, which demonstrated how you see old places with new eyes. I've learned more about Cy Wombly through Sally Mann's autobiography and can't wait to see that space as well. Your video makes me want to attempt something similar for Beaumont... just east of Houston. Lovely! Thank you!!!
You guys need to come to St. Louis MO! There is a lot of amazing museums and galleries. While its not a huge destination, everyone who is involved with art here is so passionate about it.
10:00 That is fascinating. Just subbed. Been binging this channel's content. I'm loving this. After watching the first 2020 presidential debate earlier.....I felt exhausted and drained and nihilistic about humanity. And this channel literally saved my sanity tonight. THANK YOU. Seriously.
I wish you guys had time to go into the MFAH, because it's the only Houston museum I've been to, but mostly because Hank & John made a video called 'Nicest Hotel Room in the World.' It's the Hotel ZaZa which is literally right next to the MFAH, and just peering into it's lobby/waiting room, & transport vehicles is a work of art in itself. Hank also holds an actual non-nailed down Picasso print while eating Pringles, and John does the most incredible belly slide on a table.
This is so cool! I lived in Houston until I was 7, but we visit almost every summer. My parents went to Rice and my cousin goes there now, so I feel a weird sense of pride? Like this city is somehow my baby? Despite living there for half my life? Also, check out Meow Wolf!
I loved the video! I'm curious, though: How much of the Houston art world is sponsored in some way by the Menils? Consequently, how much of the Houston art world is centered in Montrose?
Wow, what a trip! I really enjoy the restaurant interludes in these videos and it always makes me wonder: do you thin that food (i.e. food meant to be eaten, not just as a visual medium) can be art? It seems to me that a good meal can be just as much of an aesthetic experience as paintings or sculpture.
I think there is an art to food and food preparation, to be sure. There is art in so many difference practices and professions. A good meal can be just as much of an aesthetic experience as painting or sculpture, or more of one. But so can walking down a particular street at a particular time with a particular light, so long as you are awake and alert to it, wouldn't you say? (I mostly include food in these videos, because I love food, and too much art viewing is overwhelming without breaks.)
I totally agree. It seems like an important factor in how widely-appreciated a work of art becomes is its ability to be recorded. Images and orchestrated sounds seem to be the easiest mediums to record, but, as technology changes, I hope that other experiences like taste and the moment of walking down a street can be recorded. Sound and soundscape studies in particular seem like really encouraging examples of technology empowering broader appreciation of an aesthetic experience as art. The "Collaborate with Son Lux" and "The One that Got Away" assignments were super inspiring, and I'm grateful to be living in a time when we finally have the tools for them to exist. I'm hopeful that VR might do the same to open the door for other more ambient/immersive pieces. Have you seen any compelling work with VR yet?
You should add St. Louis to your list to visit sometime! Though often underrated, St. Louis is full of cool hubs for art--museums, sculpture parks, you name it! And my favorite part is that virtually all of it is free to the public. :)
"we probably should have stopped there, but we didn't" you're my kind of people. and these places sound lovely, even if i can only catch glimpses from a computer screen in another country. while it's never gonna be the same, i love the art trips for making me sink deeply into somewhere far away.
Beautiful! Hope you caught the mosaic park with found objects next to the Orange Show. I was in Houston for the first time this summer and want to go back and catch the things I missed.
I honestly think you missed out since you did not go to The Station. It is an amazing gallery in Houston that mostly features political art from around the world.
Great architecture, great art, great food. What more do you need? :D Really appreciated hearing all about the buildings you visited, the Rothko Chapel and Skyspace seem especially intriguing. I've had it to go visit the Kimbell and Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, now I know I need to plan a jaunt south to visit some Houston destinations as well. :)
Amazing video, such a good representation of the different types of art that can be found in a city. Art is everywhere! Would lovee to see a 'Case for' video on Francis Bacon. Proud to share my nationality with such a complex and thought provoking artist, would love to see your take :)
How did you plan this trip? I've started travelling more recently but knowing hoe to find art like this that isn't super touristy and commercial in places your not familiar with is challenging.
The MFAH will be here for when she comes back :) I'm so glad she highlighted some of the smaller places (and made me realize I've been missing large chunks of Menil-related galleries!)