Lovie Olivia and her work 'Recess'
Within this sunlit, inviting gallery space, Olivia has created what is described as “a site of engagement,” where the viewer is invited to navigate a body of work inspired by dreams and memories of modern Black cultural artifacts, and consider how the creativity of Queer women of color aligns with a more expansive, more humanist interpretation of art and art history. It’s a heady, beautiful show, and another welcome reminder that Houston is home to some of truly amazing artists.
Remember those episodes of the original Star Trek when a crew member of the Enterprise would suddenly vanish and reappear in a lavishly decorated interior of a castle in an unknown alien world? Olivia’s recess may be one such space, with the legs and bare feet of two female figures in repose, one on a couch, the other on the floor, and another mohawked youngster kneeling as if in prayer, elbows touching the ground and hands covering their eyes. On a screen (or is it painting?) hung over a labyrinthian pattern of flesh- and blood-orange-colored lines is Nichelle Nichols, just as she appeared as Enterprise communications officer Uhura — one of television’s first non-menial roles for a Black actor.
Many of the paintings in interiority complex feature chairs, bedspreads, plants, bodies (and the shadows of bodies), and other objects placed like clues inside a virtual environment, including books (Pleasure Activism; Black Feminist Thought) and in the still-life “Rest Assured,” a handgun on top of a pink pillow, and tucked under a denim jacket with a button that reads “Say Her Name.”
'Draped'
'Rest Assured'
The final station in interiority complex is a vertical six-by-two-and-a-half-foot abstract painting titled “Draped.” It’s hung so it tilts to the right, and seems to be float before you. Mirroring “Portrait of a MOTHERSHIPS INTERIOR,” the layers of purple, black, and deep blue pigments and sgrafitto marks in “Draped” compel the viewer to exit this site, and step into yet another sensual interior space, be it Olivia’s or their own.
On May 17, the public is invited to ART IS BOND for an artist talk with Olivia, moderated by her good friend, Houston-based journalist, cultural critic, and educator Josie Pickens. Following a brief Q&A, Olivia will make frottage rubbings of two text-based works in the show, “I AM” and “AIN’T I.” The limited-edition, accessibly priced prints will be available for purchase, and will include the artist’s seal and signature.
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New York's Carnegie Deli in 2008 (photo by Ei Katsumata)
The exhibit takes its title from the instructive scene in When Harry Met Sally: Over lunch at New York’s famous Katz’s Delicatessen, an ’80s-riffic Meg Ryan schools her schmuck BFF Billy Crystal on the art of faking it.
Second-gen owner Abe Shapiro (photo courtesy of Shapiro's Delicatessen)
The HMH show reaches back to the turn of the 20th century to connect the Jewish immigrant experience with the evolution of a new, wholly American comfort cuisine that merged Central and European dishes with ingredients found in the new world. Installed in the Josef and Edith Mincberg Gallery, the expansive exhibit includes fully-lit neon signage, vintage menus and advertisements, restaurant fixtures, film and television clips, and plenty of surprising historical photographs, including one of Guns N’ Roses circa 1980 at Los Angeles’ Canter’s Deli; and an image of Drexler Delicatessen co-founder Rena Drexler taken on the day of her liberation from Auschwitz. It’s a colorful, engaging exhibit, and reveals in great detail how the Jewish deli developed from specialty stores catering to immigrant populations, including Holocaust-survivor communities, to the national institutions we know and love today.
Exclusive to the Houston stop of this traveling exhibition, which originated in Los Angeles at the Skirball Cultural Center, are artifacts and photographs from the private collection of Ziggy Gruber, owner of Kenny & Ziggy’s Houston's New York Delicatessen Restaurant. Gruber, whose grandfather founded the first Jewish deli on New York’s Broadway in 1927, is featured alongside stars Jerry Stiller and Larry King in the documentary Deli Man, which will screen later this summer during the exhibition’s run.
Photo by Jeremy Bishop
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