Schedule

Tuesday, November 17, 2020
6:30 p.m. Artist Talk, Performance, and Audience Q&A

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"the wind blows freely; i breathe and reflect at the top of the mountain." — Cary Fagan

Chairs Are People is a meditation on how to move within uncertainty. Distilled from personal experiences and explorations during his residency at Arts Itoya (Takeo, Japan), Cary Fagan's performance invites us to surrender to discomfort by building bridges into the impossible. Mistakes will happen. These are just reflections of our internal limitations; we must break through them to collectively construct our dreams. 

The event will include a conversation between artist Cary Fagan and Bridget Bray, and a sculptural meditation performance piece by Deerwasawolf, followed by an audience Q&A via YouTube Live and Facebook Live.

About the Artist

Born in Arizona and now in Houston, Cary Fagan is an artist whose work transcends the boundaries of any one artistic form. Starting out as a photographer and filmmaker, Cary was drawn to analogue film at a moment when the rise of digital technology seemed unstoppable. There is a timelessness in Cary's work that goes beyond its analogue format; at its core, he hopes that people "will gain insight to what they are going through and how they relate" when they look at it.

Cary's explorations into notions of 'time,' 'memory,' and how we form connections with one another have segued into other artistic mediums. A curiosity about the anthropomorphic characteristics of chairs led Cary to what he calls 'chair sculpting.' These experimental sculptures resulted in a life-changing residency at Arts Itoya in Takeo, Japan (2019), an exhibition at the Numeroventi artist residence in Florence, Italy (2019), and a takeover of MFA Houston's Instagram page (2020). In June 2020, Chairs Are People was registered with a trademark; as Cary puts it, "an empty chair is a space for possibility."

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This exhibition program is organized by Asia Society Texas Center. Exhibitions and related programs at Asia Society Texas Center are presented by Nancy C. Allen and Leslie and Brad Bucher. Major support comes from Chinhui Juhn and Eddie Allen and Mary Lawrence Porter, as well as The Brown Foundation, Inc., The Hearst Foundation, 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., Olive Jenney, and Ann Wales. 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 Center.

Presenting Sponsors

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

Official Airline Sponsor

Program Sponsors

About Asia Society Texas Center

With 13 locations throughout the world, Asia Society is the leading educational organization promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among the peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and West. Asia Society Texas Center executes the global mission with a local focus, enriching and engaging the vast diversity of Houston through innovative, relevant programs in arts and culture, business and policy, education, and community outreach.