From touchable installations to intricate and narrative textile artworks, the Austin art scene is showcasing a wide range of mediums, techniques, and themes this month.
The Touch the Art exhibit allows Austinites to interact with its displays.
Many of the featured artists explore themes of identity, community, and storytelling. From Hunt Slonem's vibrant neo-expressionist paintings of wildlife exotica, to Marie Watt's installation that connects Indigenous teachings to the present COVID-19 recovery, these exhibitions offer a space for reflection and dialogue on the bonds that unite us across generations and cultures.
Other artists, such as Karl Haendel and Bernie Diaz, probe the complexities of American masculinity and border-dwelling identity through their distinctive styles and processes, inviting viewers to reconsider their perceptions and assumptions.
Almost Real Things
40+ Artists: Touch the Art — through May 19
Almost Real Things’ 2nd annual "Touch the Art" experience invites visitors to engage with installations and touchable pieces from over 40 artists. This immersive event encourages interaction with the artwork, engaging all senses. Notable artists include Allison Lash, Brandon Dudley, Charissa Hearon, J Muzacz, Quest, Tammie Rubin, and collaborators from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Davis Gallery
Jan Heaton: Found. Beauty Observed. — through May 25
Heaton's watercolor paintings unravel stories that create emotional connections with viewers. Inspired by nature's structure, color, and patterns, Heaton's quest for natural beauty translates into a visual escape. Her precise, thoughtful, and carefully planned organic forms integrate with the texture of the paper. Informed by personal experiences and what brings her peace, Heaton opens a window to the beauty she finds, offering it for the viewer's interpretation.
Wally Workman Gallery
Priscilla Robinson:Wondrous World — May 4 through May 20
Wondrous World features interpretations of seasons, growth, and the rebirth of plants and light. Drawing inspiration from the natural world, Robinson combines acrylic paint, polycarbonate, cast glass, metal, and handmade paper crafted from various plant fibers to create textural pieces that capture nature's fragile beauty. Her art, existing between the realms of sculpture and painting, hangs on walls, suspends from ceilings, or stands on the ground.
Lora Reynolds Gallery
Karl Haendel: Love and Capital— through June 1
Haendel presents graphite drawings that probe his intimate fears and insecurities while addressing cultural, political, and historical contradictions. Haendel's photorealistic style and wide-ranging imagery, from medieval armor to portraits of politicians, reflect his desire to create accessible, approachable work. Through his labor-intensive process, Haendel reconsiders American masculinity, embracing empathy, feminism, and sincerity.
Julia C. Butridge Gallery
Bernie Diaz: Paper Trails — through June 1
Diaz manipulates words and images to redirect and obscure their origins. Incorporating historical processes of revision, omission, and embellishment, Diaz creates glyph-like arrangements that seek completeness from fragmentation. His process involves scavenging, cutting, layering, and rearranging materials to achieve a sense of wholeness from seemingly unrelated parts, informed by his ongoing identity formation as a border-dwelling, queer Tejano.
Unchained Art Contemporary Gallery
Ditte Sørensen:Threads, the Elusive & Feminine — through June 2
In her first US solo exhibition, Sørensen showcases a distinctive fusion of traditional textile techniques and contemporary vision. The exhibition displays original fabric artworks, mixed media pieces, and prints, each serving as a testament to her pioneering role in the Danish art scene. Immersive, expressive, and distinctive, Sørensen's work invites viewers to experience the intricate world where every thread weaves a narrative of the elusive and feminine.
West Chelsea Contemporary
Hunt Slonem:The World of Hunt Slonem — through June 3
Slonem presents an exploration of his own creative universe, featuring over 100 works across various media. The exhibition embraces the artist's sense of wonder, blending the fantastic and the natural through vibrant colors. Slonem, whose art belongs to over 250 esteemed collections worldwide, is known for his neo-expressionist paintings of wildlife, drawing inspiration from the spiritual and natural worlds.
Flatbed Contemporary
Jeffrey Dell: Tidal Waive — through June 8
Dell’s work encapsulates the observations in the rocky shores of Tusa: from the feeling of vertical vastness and lots of layering. The artist explores the interplay between the three-dimensional and the two-dimensional, inviting viewers to observe the intricacies of how we interpret and perceive images without depending on optical illusions.
Blanton Museum of Art
Marie Watt: Sky Dances Light— through August 20
This installation explores history, community, and storytelling through the legacies of Indigenous teachings. The hanging "jingles" reference the healing Jingle Dress Dance, connecting its origins during the 1918 pandemic to the present COVID-19 recovery. The exhibition draws on the bonds across generations and cultures.
