DCG: Looking Back and Beyond

February 3^rd through February 24^th , 2018

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 3^rd from 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Deborah Colton Gallery is pleased to present DCG: Looking Back and Beyond, a group exhibition featuring paintings, drawings, mixed media, photography, sculpture and video. As Deborah Colton reaches twenty years of being incorporated in the art business, she reflects on select exhibitions and highlights since moving back to Houston from Asia in 2000, including what is important to her today. The exhibition opens Saturday, February 3rd, with an Opening Reception from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

From her first Houston exhibitions in public spaces, like Two Allen Center supporting the Asia Society’s vision of creating their new building where Colton sponsored major contemporary Asian art exhibitions from Thailand, China and Japan in October of 2000, 2001 and 2002…to supporting FotoFest in 2002 by bringing the film Downtown 81 featuring Jean Michel Basquiat to the Angelika Film Center and the accompanying exhibition to a funky art space restaurant in Montrose…, then going to Summer Street and opening Deborah Colton Gallery in 2004, which started the revitalization of that area…Colton has always paved the way to help positive things happen for Houston in the future.

Earlier shows brought video and futuristic Sci-Artists like Suzanne Anker and Michael Rees to Houston in 2004, at a time when the city was not showing much video or digital interactive works yet, like in the DCG shows Integrating Digital Consciousness and Touch & Temperature: Art in the Cybernetic Totalism that included pioneers in digital art like Manfred Mohr from Germany and Yael Kanarek and Matthew Barney from New York. In 2005 Colton debuted in Houston “The godfather of American avant-garde cinema”, Jonas Mekas, in the solo exhibition Film Framed, and at the same time started the movement to revere Houston art history through representing the Estate of Suzanne Paul. In 2005 also, Colton introduced the Warhol Factory’s Ultra Violet to Houston in the New Cartoon exhibition and then gave Ultra Violet a solo exhibition in 2006. September of 2006, DCG organized and sponsored the historical WORD exhibition which was a fusion of the original conceptual and fluxus artists, including Jenny Holzer, Jospeh Kosuth, John Baldessari, Lawrence Weiner, Ben Vautier, The Art Guys and 22 others. As part of this exhibition, Colton sponsored the public space installation of Yoko Ono’s IMAGINE PEACE billboard that was displayed on I-45 South going into downtown, which made the statement worldwide that not all of Texas was for war. Shortly thereafter, Colton helped organized Michael Somoroff’s Illuminations sculpture to be placed on the Rothko Chapel grounds for several months, to further support international peace. Being the only gallery in the United States to exhibit at the first Abu Dhabi Art Fair, this message of promoting international peace prevailed in 2007 and still continues.

By 2007 China was expanding rapidly and was in the forefront of international contemporary art. DCG debuted exhibitions and performances from Chinese internationally acclaimed artists like Han Bing, the Gao Brothers, XU Yong & YU Na and had major shows in the heat of the Chinese contemporary art movement like China Under Construction. When the Middle East contemporary art scene broke open , DCG brought exhibitions from this region to Houston, like Qatar Narratives in 2008 and many exhibitions of cutting edge work from the Middle East and Arab world thereafter. DCG continues to work with many of these artists, like Houston-based Soody Sharifi and Rania Daniel. Russia’s strong presence in the art scene has been a focus of DCG also, with the gallery representing top artists Oleg Dou, Olga Tobreluts and Ivan Plusch.

Touching on universal spirituality with exhibitions like Visions in the spring of 2017 brought artists like Satish Gupta and Amita Bhatt from India to the gallery. Revering the past, yet reaching far beyond of us is exemplified by artist like Lowell Boyers, Angelbert Metoyer and Susan Plum. Exhibiting early feminist artists like Mary Beth Edelson and then provocative work that addresses social issues like Jay Rusovich and Frank Rodick has been part of the gallery programming also. Showing young talent has also always been a priority of the gallery all the way back to the beginnings of artists like Paul Horn, Jason Villegas and Molly Gochman. Young “Texas talent” like Grayson Chandler debuted this past summer with a “sell out” exhibition. David Frischkorn’s cartoonist Pop super hero art… along with the iconic Daniel Johnston’s work is included in this exhibition also. Noriko & Ushio Shinohara (Cutie & the Boxer) are also part of DCG and have had several exhibitions..

Since 2013 especially, DCG has had a strong focus on Houston establishing Foundations which reveres our city’s artistic roots. The Gallery’s Foundations I which was Suzanne Paul’s PROOF exhibition and Foundations II, Focus on the 70’s & 80’s this past fall, including the Foundations Symposium Series exemplifies this. Many of these artists which Deborah Colton Gallery represents are featured in this exhibition, including Ann Harithis, Forrest Prince, Dick Wray, Jesse Lott, Sharon Kopriva, Earl Staley, Bert Long, Don Redman, Virgil Grotfield and Bert L. Long Jr. DCG has the permanent Houston Foundations Room which highlights Suzanne Paul’s photography of the Houston art scene plus excerpts of the video’s Lee Benner captured from the DCG Foundations Symposium Series. Lee Benner’s film Yelling Underwater will be shown on Sunday, February 18^th from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.

Respecting our past, being aware of our current environment and looking far beyond into the future has always been part of the vision of Deborah Colton Gallery.. The mission statement has been the same since our first exhibitions. Deborah Colton Gallery is founded on being an innovative showcase for ongoing presentation and promotion of strong historical and visionary contemporary artists world-wide, whose diverse practices include painting, works on paper, sculpture, video, photography, performance and conceptual future media and public space installations. The gallery aspires to provide a forum through connecting Texas, national and international artists to make positive change.