Suzanne Paul

PROOF

Curated by Theresa Escobedo

March 12th to April 23rd, 2016

Opening Reception: March 12th, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm Walking Tour & Discussion: Tuesday, March 15th, 2016, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm

Deborah Colton Gallery is pleased to present PROOF, an exhibition that features work from the archive of Houstonborn artist Suzanne Paul. PROOF highlights influential characters in Houston’s art history and examines Suzanne’s unique approach to creating photography. With the dedicated and continued support of Founder and Director, Deborah M. Colton to the well being of this art estate and Paul’s daughter, Mercedes Mallard Paul since 2005 when Paul passed away, PROOF has been curated by Theresa Escobedo, who Colton appointed to carefully review the archives and help uncover these treasures of Houston art history. Viewing these archives from a new perspective coming from a younger generation, Escobedo has created a fresh approach to Paul’s work which connects the past with the present.

Quote from Theresa Escobedo:

“The collection of photographic negatives, slides, prints and related memorabilia, left in the possession and care of Deborah Colton Gallery at the artist’s’ passing in 2005, now exists as evidence and affirmation of the health, vitality, and creative vigor of Houston’s alternative arts community from its early years to its present state. PROOF surveys this body of documentary photography and portraiture, highlighting the artist’s extraordinary talent in capturing unfiltered impressions of her subjects, and offers an intimate glimpse into the artist’s creative praxis.”

Suzanne Paul, a native Houstonian and avid photographer from a young age, has made an inestimable contribution to representing the arts in Houston and to recording Houston’s art history. In intimate and revealing ways, Paul has documented many of the artists, patrons, and community leaders who have shaped Houston’s art scene since the 1970s and 80s. Her introduction to the Houston Arts and launch of her career happened in 1976 when she was commissioned by James Harithas, then Director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, to photograph artists and installations for the museum’s publications and was offered the first solo photography exhibition by a woman at the museum.

Born in Houston, Texas in 1945, Suzanne Paul practiced photography from the age of nine. Paul received her BFA from the University of Houston in 1968 and did graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley. In the 1960s Paul became a political activist for anti-war and civil rights causes. In Houston, she photographed for the feminist magazine Breakthrough in the late 1970s. Paul has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Fort Worth Art Museum, the Galveston Arts Center and the University of California, San Francisco. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions including Collaborations: Artists Working Together in Houston at the Glassell School of Art and Texas Artists at the Charles Cowles Gallery in New York. In 1981 Paul received a National Endowment for the Arts Photo Survey Grant. Paul’s photographic works have been featured in both solo and group presentations by FotoFest International since its founding in 1983. Her work has been shown in a number of exhibitions at Deborah Colton Gallery, including at a memorial service in her honor in 2005.

PROOF opens to the public on Saturday, March 12th, 2016, with a reception from 6:00 to 9:00 pm and runs through April 23rd, 2016. There will be a Walking Tour & Discussion of the exhibition with Elizabeth Avedon, Catherine Anspon, Mercedes Mallard Paul, Theresa Escobedo and Deborah M. Colton on March 15th, 2016, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

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 installations. The gallery aspires to provide a forum through connecting Texas, national and international artists to make positive change.