Friday, April 2, 2010

Art Star in Houston


"Sometimes in my dreams I fly." Now there's a line that has me wanting to know and see more.

My friend Andrea Deszö has created an installation for the Rice Gallery in Houston, Texas. The mega-tunnel book installation runs from 8 April through 8 August 2010.

According to the poster, the show is "Inspired by Dezso's childhood dreams of space travel, and by an event synonymous with Houston, the failed Apollo 13 mission (1970)." It promises to be out of this world. My quickie shot of the poster that arrived in the mail doesn't do the art justice. Andrea is so eloquent that below, I'm extracting a lot of the poster's text.

Andrea Dezsö evocatively states:
I grew up in Transylvania, Romania, and as a child I was very interested in space exploration and the space race that took place between American and the Soviet countries . . . . The whole business seemed very heroic and unprecedented, and it just filled us children in the Eastern Block countries with a new kind of hope. Our imagination was really captured by how these men were exploring places where no one has been before. Because we did not have passports and could not go anywhere from Communist Romania, travel was only possible in your mind. . . .

What captured my imagination is how not being able to go somewhere physically opens the possibility of epic mental Odysseys, and how we can stuff empty space full with rich imaginary worlds, then move in.


Andrea has herself explored and colonized new worlds of artistry. Although she's now able to go places physically, she's still traveling on epic mental and artistic Odysseys. And speaking of heroism, Andrea's childhood memories of space heroes give them mythic status. I wish that Buzz Aldrin, whose biography is astoundingly accomplished and not just for walking on the moon, hadn't demythologized himself in the last few weeks by appearing on Dancing With The Stars. As for not mentally leaving home, I'm struck by how Andrea's stylized spaceships evoke not only Houston, but also NYC's Chrysler Building (perhaps I'm being too Manhattan-centric).

Art © Andrea Dezsö. "Sometimes In My Dreams I Fly" taken from poster/announcement for Rice Gallery; spaceship art taken from the Rice Gallery site.

2 comments:

Marla McLean, Atelierista said...

"the possibility of epic mental Odysseys"

Fantastic phrase! The spaceships are amazing, remind me of beautiful hand painted ceramic. Gotta love a woman who imagines space travel, it's mostly the men who represent in this arena.

Beth Tondreau said...

She's pretty amazing—and your comment about the hand-painted ceramic is spot on especially because Andrea had a residency, at Kohler, doing ceramics.