Schedule

Thursday, September 9, 2021
6:30–8 p.m. Reception

Join Asia Society Texas Center to celebrate the final days of Artists on Site Series 2.

Bennie Flores Ansell, Guadalupe Hernandez, Preetika Rajgariah, and Steve Spurgin, all Houston-based, are working in media including painting, sculpture, design, performance, and installation. The project is taking place over seven weeks in which the artist are utilizing the galleries as public-facing studio spaces, allowing guests a peek into their processes as they develop their work.

Visit with the artists and learn more about their practices at this FREE reception.

About Artists on Site

The Artists on Site project was developed in 2020 as an initiative that transforms the galleries into studio and project spaces for Houston-based artists. The idea was born out of conversations starting in early 2020 with many artists, both in Houston and throughout the country, to develop ways that Asia Society Texas could support them and their practices. Through the gallery presentations and related programs, visitors will have the opportunity to connect with these artists and the critically important insights they contribute.

About the Artists

Bennie Flores Ansell is a Houston-based visual artist. Flores Ansell was born in Manila, Philippines and her formative years were lived in the United States. She is a Professor in the Art Department of the Houston Community College. Her degrees include an MFA from the University of Houston, a BA from the University of South Florida, and she was an American Photography Institute Fellow at New York University.

Flores Ansell’s work has evolved over a career spanning more than 20 years. Her work initially dealt with concepts of race, ethnicity, beauty, and the objectified female, which further led to explorations of the loss and retention of the photographic object due to the rapid change within the medium, as well as the inherent racism built into the chemical make-up of color film. Flores Ansell’s pursuit of different conceptual ideas situates her work consistently through the use of light, shadow, migration patterns, observations of the tactile qualities of film, and manipulation of the photographic image.

Flores Ansell’s work has been exhibited widely, including in exhibitions at the International Center for Photography, NYC; Seattle Art Museum; and the San Diego Museum of Art as part of the Only Skin Deep Exhibition curated by Coco Fusco in 2004. Through the Fotofest Meeting Place her work has been exhibited internationally at Festival De La Luz in Argentina, in a site-specific installation at the Daegu Photography Biennale in South Korea in 2016 and included in two group shows at Patricia Conde Galeria in Mexico City. www.benniefloresansell.com

Houston-based artist Guadalupe Hernandez creates works inspired by his Mexican heritage. As an artist, he explores aspects of his Mexican identity through the lens of people, places, and memories from his childhood in Mexico. His works have been exhibited in museums and juried exhibitions, including at the Holocaust Museum Houston. He recently participated as the Changarrito Artist-in-Residence with the Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin, Texas.

“I capture the anatomical structure of the figure through expressive marks, vibrant colors, and various use of materials in order to evoke the soul from the image. As I work, I often think about my own cultural identity. What is my place in the culture? What do I not understand? How am I influenced by my culture? These questions have guided me to focus on the rich culture of Mexico which is often overlooked. My work celebrates the beauty found in scenes from everyday life and explores subcultures found throughout Mexico.” guadalupehernandezart.com

Preetika Rajgariah (b. 1985) is an interdisciplinary artist whose works examine the complicated intersections of cultural identity, race, capitalism, and sexuality while referencing her traditional upbringing as an Indian-born American. Rajgariah has attended residencies at Oxbow School of Art, ACRE, Vermont Studio Center, and the School of Visual Arts, and she has exhibited and performed in spaces such as Western Exhibitions and Roots & Culture in Chicago as well as Art League Houston, Lawndale Art Center, and Women & Their Work in Texas. She received her MFA from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and currently lives and works in Houston, Texas. www.prajgariah.com

Stevie Spurgin is an interdisciplinary artist from Marfa, Texas, who recently graduated with her MFA from the University of Houston. Spurgin earned a BA in Film, Television, and Digital Media with an emphasis in special effects makeup from Texas Christian University. She currently lives and works in Houston, Texas.

Spurgin’s studio practice challenges the societal standard of the “normal,” “beautiful,” and “gross,” focusing on what we typically cast away. Her transformed objects undergo makeovers through the labor of repetitive actions, documentation, and mark-making that leave the work “glammed-up,” “magnified,” and sprinkled with the abject to isolate the language we use around beauty. Her work has been featured in: Evidence Tampered at Alabama Song in Houston, Texas, the 2019 University of Houston’s School of Art Annual Student Exhibition at the Blaffer Art Museum, a 2019 performance of 40 (something) Lipsticks at the Blaffer Art Museum’s Convergence Research, and most recently in Annex Energy at Sawyer Yards’ Site Gallery. www.steviespurgin.com/

This project is organized by Asia Society Texas. Exhibitions and their related programs at Asia Society Texas are presented by Nancy C. Allen, Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen, and Leslie and Brad Bucher. Major support comes from The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston Endowment, and the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. Generous funding also provided by The Anchorage Foundation of Texas, The Clayton Fund, Texas Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, Wortham Foundation, Inc., and Agnes Hsu-Tang, Ph.D. and Oscar L. Tang. United Airlines is our official airline partner. Funding is also provided through contributions from the Exhibitions Patron Circle, a dedicated group of individuals and organizations committed to bringing exceptional visual art to Asia Society Texas.

Presenting Sponsors

Nancy C. Allen
Leslie and Brad Bucher
Chinhui Juhn and Edward Allen

Official Airline Sponsor

Program Sponsors