2024-25 Academic Year

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Art Exhibitions Fall 2024: October 10-December 5

Jack Massing: “One Man’s Trash”

Opening Reception: October 10, 4:00-7:00 p.m.
Contemporary Art Gallery
Gallery hours: Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays, 11 AM – 4 PM.

Portrait of Jack Massing generated using A.I. engineered by Fleabilly, 2024. Produced in two formats; 1536 px X 2118 px digital file and archival inkjet prints 16 x 22 inches, unframed.

About the Artist:
JACK MASSING is a Houston-based artist, born in Buffalo, NY (1959). Massing studied Fine Arts at the University of Houston and he was part of the collaborative “The Art Guys” from 1983 to 2019, with Michael Galbreth (1956-2019). Jack Massing is the Executive Director of the Orange Show, Center for Visionary Arts. His pieces of art, including drawings, performances, installations, and videos are exhibited at the most important contemporary and fine art museums.

Artist Statement:
Jack Massing ChatGPT Biography: 
I’m sorry, but as of my last knowledge update in January 2022, there is no widely known or recognized artist named Jack Massing. It’s possible that Jack Massing is a private individual or emerging artist who gained recognition after my last update.

If Jack Massing is a fictional character or a new artist who has emerged since then, I won’t have information about them. If you have specific details or characteristics you’d like me to include in a fictional biography for Jack Massing, please provide more information, and I’d be happy to help create a creative and imaginative biography for this artist.

Motoko Yasue, “A Pilgrimage into the Oculus”

Opening Reception: October 10, 4:00-7:00 p.m.
University Academic Center, 222
Gallery hours: Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays, 11 AM – 4 PM.

About the Artist:
MOTOKO YASUE is a Houston-based artist born in Tokyo, Japan. Her main media are watercolor and oil. She graduated with an MFA at Houston Christian University in 2021. She serves as an artist in Residence at Art Museum TX.

Artist Statement:
Nature and its beauty fuel the strength of my artistic vision, which is all about seeking to express my deepest senses and feelings about life. Life includes adversity; nature helps me face difficult situations.

Through trial and error as an artist, I have explored scenes that came to mind when I was confronted with emotions of my life decisions. When my sensations connect with nature, my mind transcends beyond time and space, as if in a dream, as if my thoughts were traveling between the past, the present, and the future.
My artworks are an abstract visions of scenes from my dreams and childhood memories of my father that include looking through the circular window, described as an ‘oculus’, of a religious shrine to the surrounding tranquil scenery. I have long used circular motifs juxtaposed with small human silhouettes. For me, the oculus symbolizes my spirit traveling, metaphorically connecting people’s thoughts from one person to another across time and space.
The Boundary of the Sky, 2020 Watercolor and ink on paper.
This work is the compositional challenge to unify three oculi with one another. The theme is the humble human existence compared to the greater nature such as mountains and the expanse of the sky. The piece uses the gem of watercolor, “leaving the white of the paper unpainted” to depict light. It suggests the spiritual, unknown world that we must acknowledge and appreciate.
Red Stones River, 2024 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 inches.
Each oculus illuminates the scenery within. Dripping paints, colors, and textures are important elements in my paintings which resonate with human emotions. It portrays the relieved feelings of the two depicted children (symbolizing me and my brother) with the subtle silhouettes found the red stones representing the spirits of our deceased parents. The viewers are able to find their own narratives and emotions in this painting.