H. Paxton Moore Fine Art Gallery at El Centro College
801 Main St.
Artist reception 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday
We Appreciate Your Business is a group exhibition showcasing a group of local artists whose pop surrealism works are characterized by a mutual use of color, text and iconic imagery. Their overriding themes explore the culture and nostalgia of Latin America. The show, which closes next Wednesday, features work by Favio Moreno, Kat Freedman, Hatziel Flores, Christopher Bingham, Antolin Pineda, Brennen Bechtol, Fransisco Javier and Arturo Donjuan.
Invented Worlds of Valton Tyler
Amon Carter Museum of Art
3501 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth
Opens Saturday
Texas artist Valton Tyler has created surrealist art for more than 40 years, and he’s never been too concerned with his potential critics. He started drawing as a child as a means of escaping a troubled home life. By 1970 he’d garnered the attention of Donald Vogel, who helped Tyler secure a gig in SMU’s art department doing printmaking. During his tenure there, he created a series of more than 50 original etchings, most of which are on display for this exhibition. Always playful with color, the 73-year-old continues to paint and sketch from his home in Garland. He’s got no plans to slow down.
courtesy Valley House Gallery
Kazz Morishita’s Moonlight Serenade and Fabio Del Re’s Morandi
Photographs: Do Not Bend Gallery
154 Glass St., Suite 104
Closes Saturday
PDNB Gallery extended the originally planned run of its popular exhibit by two acclaimed artists new to the gallery, but Saturday is your absolute last chance to catch it. Moonlight Serenade is a collection of photographs by Japanese artist Kazz Morishita. The works use the moon as a philosophical reference, depicting the message that the moon is a steady, fixed point reflecting light on lives that are constantly in flux. Morandi is a show of Brazil native Fabio Del Re’s works. For his collection, Del Re used mostly analogue methods to create still lifes that pay homage to Italian artist Giorgio Morandi’s time transcending paintings. Admission is free.
Carl Block & Billy Ray Mangham — Wabi Sabi and the Flow Webb Gallery
209 W. Franklin St., Waxahachie
Opening reception 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday
Whether you’re depressed about football season ending or you couldn’t care less about sports, this Sunday is ideal for a quick jaunt down Interstate 35 to the Webb Gallery in Waxahachie. Their latest exhibition features delightfully offbeat works by Texas ceramic maestros and close friends Carl Block and Billy Ray Mangham. Block has built a national following for his face jugs and love of chickens while Mangham is known for both his art and his dry wit. Mariachi Quetzal will provide live entertainment for the opening. Housed in a 10,000-square-foot cast iron front building, the Webb Gallery is like if someone ransacked Ripley’s Believe it or Not, took only the best pieces, and opened an art museum. More info at webbartgallery.com.
Blake Jones — Funnier Than Me (pictured at top)
The Safe Room at Texas Theatre
231 W. Jefferson Boulevard
Opens 7 to 10 p.m. Sunday
When Houston-based artist Blake Jones has an idea, he usually begins with a pen and paper sketch, which makes his vividly colored, robustly textured works all the more interesting. Funnier Than Me, his upcoming exhibit at Haley-Henman, features figurative cut-paper and paint shapes and scenarios reminiscent of his previous work. Abstract it is, but Jones leaves wiggle room for the viewer’s own interpretation and imagination. Jones invites you to take it in and craft your own stories, characters and shapes within each body of work.
