In Final Show, Beloved Heights Gallery Showcases Art by a Local Music Legend

NEXT SATURDAY, SEPT. 2, G Spot Contemporary Art in the Heights hosts a debut exhibition that also marks the end of an era. In a show titled Work(Man) In Progress, musician, engineer, producer, and former co-owner of Houston’s legendary SugarHill Studios Dan Workman will showcase yet another side of his creativity with an exhibit of his colorful, abstract, and often humorously titled fountain pen and ink creations. The exhibit is a vibrant and completely delightful collection of drawings that revel in sheer pleasure of putting ink to paper and seeing what unexpectedly materializes. “My creative success in music production liberated me from the weight of forming an identity as an artist,” says Workman in his artist statement. “I’m not in conversation with anything other than my sense of humor.”

This will be the first time Workman, 65, has shown his artwork publicly, and he credits G Spot’s owner, the late Wayne Gilbert, for encouraging him to do so. Sadly, Gilbert died of cancer just a couple of weeks ago, on Aug. 17, and his presence as an artist and tireless advocate for Houston’s creative community will be missed. “While I hate the idea of Wayne not being here to guide me, his final text to me was him making sure I’d keep my obligation for a September show,” says Workman. “I’m both sad and honored to be the closing show at ‘The G.’” (The future of G Spot after Workman’s show closes is currently up in the air.)

In addition to recording his own meditative and instrumental music and producing such masterworks as The Wheel Workers’ 2022 album Harbor, Workman is a practicing psychotherapist, with a focus on helping creatives sustain a positive relationship with their talents. It’s yet another side of Workman, whose irreverent, beautiful drawings are infused with a connection between creativity and wellness.

'Country Church'

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