Arts community thrives in sprawling Houston

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - In this city sans zoning, in a residential enclave of cozy bungalows and children's play parks, sits one of the world's finest private art collections open to the public.

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Ceremonial masks from Africa and Oceania share spectacular space with paintings by Magritte, Picasso and Tanguy in an angular building designed by Renzo Piano. Across the lane, another Piano-designed pavilion showcases dozens of sculptures, paintings and works on paper by Cy Twombly. Two breezy blocks away stands a pair of chapels, one a contemplative space filled by monochromatic paintings by Mark Rothko, another created to display restored fragments of an ancient Byzantine fresco from Cyprus.

All are part of the Menil Collection, created over the past two decades by the late Houston art enthusiasts John and Dominique de Menil.

To the uninitiated, Houston's untamed sprawl seems an unlikely home for fine art. Yet here it thrives, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Contemporary Arts Museum, Glassell School of Art and galleries across the city. The scene "is a lot more advanced than you might think from afar," says Meredith Long, one of the city's top gallery owners and long-time MFA supporter.

According to a recent study by Americans for the Arts, Houston ranks as the nation's fifth largest arts scene when measured by nonprofit culture expenditure, and about 14,000 working artists call Houston home. But what sets this city apart from New York, Los Angeles and London, says Houston Arts Alliance CEO Jonathon Glus, is the wide range of arts, from the funky Art Car Parade and Beer Can House to the major museums.

"Everyone interested in the visual arts knows the Menil and knows that there's a big museum called MFA. What people don't know is the larger arts sector here," says Glus. "Here in Houston we have 19 museums in our Museum District. It's really a broad swath. The same people who embrace the Menil embrace the whole funky side of Houston."

Credit oil money, a wild-catting spirit of independence, cheap land and an open approach, say local gallerists.

"We're a little bit different here," says Fredericka Hunter, owner of the 37-year-old Texas Gallery, which has hosted shows of works by Robert Rauschenberg, Edward Ruscha and Chuck Close. "Arts aren't as much of a social badge as a necessary part of life."

Support by local collectors of Houston museums and the 1980s opening of the Renzo Piano space at the Menil collection sparked the community. But equally important, perhaps, are the creation and expansion of arts education and fellowship programs _ including the 25-year-old Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts _ that have brought emerging artists to town.

"Art here really is accessible," says Hiram Butler, whose 24-year-old gallery, Devin Borden Hiram Butler, opens it's doors and gardens regularly for free concerts and events. "One thing young artists figure out is that every museum curator, director and collector in the city will see their work. In New York, they might see it."

As a visitor, you'll likely run out of time before you've run out of art spaces to see.

If it's the gallery scene that draws you, head for clusters in the Colquitt area, a short taxi ride from the Museum of Fine Arts, and the 4411 Montrose Building, within walking distance of the museum. Other galleries are scattered within taxi distance.

But if you're making your first visit here, it's the museums you shouldn't miss.

The Museum of Fine Arts is a place designed to both stir and soothe the soul _ no matter what your idea of art. Spaces designed by architectural masters Mies van der Rohe and Rafael Moneo display a light tunnel by contemporary artist James Turrell, objects crafted from gold in Central Africa, the thought-provoking End Game sculpture by Damien Hirst, Old World portraits by Rembrandt and Memling. Nearby sculpture gardens and two house museums further afield can easily fill a weekend.

The Contemporary Arts Museum _ in the Houstonian way, just across the street from both impressive mansions and the Museum of Fine Arts _ tears at preconceived ideas with cutting-edge exhibitions like it's current show, Cinema Remixed & Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image since 1970, which explores notions of beauty, sexuality, strength and identity.

A few minutes away by car lies the Menil campus, the remarkable center of art that is not only a showcase for artworks but a model for how to live with them. Unlike flamboyant museums like the Guggenheims in New York and Bilbao, the striking Calatrava-designed wing of the Milwaukee Art Museum or the palaces of the Louvre, Prado and Hermitage, the galleries of the main Menil and Twombly pavilions are undemanding, almost serene. The Byzantine Fresco Chapel is a simple-yet-sophisticated shell combining expressions of ancient with the contemporary.

But it is perhaps the Rothko Chapel that moves the spirit most. As you sit in silence contemplating 14 massive canvases by Mark Rothko _ Are they black? Gray? Aubergine? Solid or shadowed? _ you may find the buzz of daily woes replaced with a sense of quietude. For the religious and those not, the place transforms through the power of art _ and those who create it.

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IF YOU GO:

MUSEUMS

Houston is home to far more museums than you imagine, including a small but innovative space at Rice Museum, the Art Car Museum (dedicated to the city's 22-year-old parade, in May) and the lauded Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. For fans of visual arts, these three are must-sees:

_Houston Museum of Fine Arts: Founded in the 1920s, today's MFA features a main exhibition building designed by Mies van der Rohe, Noguchi sculpture garden, Rafael Moneo-design building and the Glassell School of Art. Collections include Native American art, Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces, Impressionist works, antiquities, modern masters and African and pre-Columbian gold; its Asian galleries are being expanded.

Plan to spend the day here; you'll need that and more. www.mfa.org; 713-639-7300. Adults $7, senior/youth $3.50. A touring exhibition of ancient treasures from Afghanistan runs Feb. 22 to May 17.

_Contemporary Arts Museum Houston: Across the street from the MFA, this 50-year-old museum features rotating exhibitions that change every few months. Showing through Jan. 4 is the thought-provoking multimedia show, Cinema Remixed & Reloaded: Black Women Artists and the Moving Image since 1970. www.camh.org; 713-284-8250. Free.

_Menil Collection: The extraordinary collection of surrealist paintings (Magritte, Lam), African and Oceanic art and other works collected by the late John and Dominique de Menil are displayed (at least in part) at a remarkable Renzo Piano-designed pavillion in a residential neighborhood a short drive from the MFA. Across the street is a second Piano space built specifically for the Menil's Cy Twombly paintings. A few blocks away are the Rothko Chapel commissioned by the de Menils and the Byzantine Fresco Chapel housing restored fragments rescued by Dominique de Menil. All are free. 713-525-9400; www.menil.org.

Note: Museums don't open until midday on Sunday and are closed on Mondays.

GALLERIES

We visited the following, all well worth a stop:

_Devin Borden Hiram Butler Gallery, 4520 Blossom St., 713-863-7097; www.dbhbg.com: Tucked away in a woodsy residential neighborhood, this 24-year-old gallery mixes a bucolic garden setting, community spirit and fine contemporary art by the likes of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Robert Rauschenberg and James Turrell.

_Meredith Long, 2323 San Felipe, 713-523-6671; www.meredithlonggallery.com: Opened in 1957 by Houston art-scene pioneer Meredith Long, this gallery with long-time New York connections lists Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell and Jules Olitski among its artists.

_Texas Gallery, 2012 Peden St., 713-524-1593; www.texgal.com: Long-time gallerist (and de Menil protege) Fredericka Hunter owns this River Oaks district space focusing on contemporary artists.

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_Colquitt area galleries: More than a half-dozen galleries line a quiet street in this bustling commercial district. Among them is the Goldesberry Gallery (2625 Colquitt, 713-528-0405; www.goldesberrygallery.com), dedicated to contemporary crafts.

_McClain Gallery, 2242 Richmond Ave., 713-520-9988; www.mcclaingallery.com: This blue-chip gallery has shown the works of Frank Stella, Julian Schnabel, Cy Twombly and James Rosenquist. Currently on display: George Segal: Sculpture and Drawing.

_Sicardi Gallery, 2246 Richmond Ave., 713-529-1313; www.sicardi.com: Next to the McClain, the Sicardi specializes in contemporary Latin American artists.

_4411 Montrose, 4411 Montrose Blvd.: Located near the MFA and other museums, this building houses a handful of galleries, including the prestigious Barbara Davis Gallery, plus Tart Cafe, a terrific lunch choice.

LODGING

The stylish, slightly over-the-top and decidedly Texan (think longhorns on the front of the hotel SUV) Hotel ZaZa is the Museum District's only hotel. The food is good, the scene hip. Not a hang-out for traditionalists. 888-880-3244; www.hotelzaza.com. From $225.

Alternative: Stay downtown (I was at the convention-centric but attractive Hilton Americas-Houston, www.hilton.com) and take the light rail (www.ridemetro.org) to the Museum of Fine Arts and Contemporary Arts Museum. From there you'll need to take a taxi to the Menil Collection and most galleries.

INFO

_Houston visitor information, www.visithoustontexas.com, 800-4-HOUSTON

_Houston Arts Alliance, www.cachh.org

_Houston Museum District, www.houstonmuseumdistict.org

_Paper City Magazine, www.papercitymag.com

_Houston Art Dealers Association, www.arthouston.com, 713-522-9116

_Houston Young People for the Arts, part of the Houston Downtown Alliance, www.houstonarats.org.

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Jane Wooldridge: jwooldridge@MiamiHerald.com

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© 2008, The Miami Herald.