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Our Own Artist

Artists John Palmer, Will Brooks, and photographer David Lewis

By Steven Foster

A Very Busy Brush

cube
A Will Brooks' cube

With two recent high-profile projects, John Palmer continues painting a name for himself

Seems painter John Palmer’s work is showing up everywhere these days. The limited edition lithograph “Our Relief” is a

collaboration between the white-hot painter and sculptor David Adickes. Proceeds from the work go to the American Red Cross, helping victims of Hurricane Ike—fitting since Houston and the nation prepare for another round of storms that seems to be getting off to a rip-roaring start with Bill. Another joint effort, this time with psychotherapist

Christopher Brown, may not have the size of a painting, but it has all the physical heft of a coffee-table art book and the meta-inspiration behind today’s emotional fixer-upper bestsellers, albeit this one features prettier pictures. The 128-page The Art of Meaningful Living is available for about $22 on Amazon. For collectors, there are a few numbered, signed, and sealed copies at the John Palmer Gallery for $300, each with an original painting in the back of the book. 1218 Heights Blvd. 713/861-6726. JohnPalmerArt.com

 

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Hip To Be Square

OurRelief
Our Relief, by John Palmer and David Adickes

Will Brooks’s art cubes may be numbered, but their impact is infinite

In any art gallery or museum, you’re constantly made aware through small plaques or shadowy docent that you are not to touch the artwork. Will Brooks’s art isn’t meant to be just touched, but to touch others. Brooks created, constructed, and painted 12 vivid cubes. Each four-inch cube is numbered, and each panel is painted with a similar, yet unique color scheme, pattern, or texture. And because it’s a cube, the work doesn’t just hang flat like a painting, you can reposition or redirect it, making it a different piece of art every day. But the very cool bit? If you receive or find one of these cubes, it’s yours to keep. There’s just one catch. In return, you are to sacrifice, say, one green tea chai a week and give those twenty-something bucks to charity. It’s urban art meets Obama pass-it-on social responsibility. Very meaningful living indeed. If you need some suggestions, visit cubes.willbrooksart.com for a listing of local organizations in need.

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Not Letting The Sun Go Down On Him
Houston photographer David Lewis one of top 10 finalists

DavidLewis
David Lewis's photograph

Pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb announced the short list for their annual “Fight HIV Your Way” photography contest, and local lensman

David Lewis is one of 10 finalists. In addition to the panel of judges, public voting is also allowed this year. But even if you don’t cast a vote for Lewis’ subtle, tranquil shot of a Texas sunset, check out the site anyway. If the entries are half the caliber of last year’s, art fans are in for aphotographic feast. Stunning scenery, meditative portraiture, trippy symbolic shots, and vivid visual poems make this contest one of the best on-line galleries around. Every picture here tells some kind of story, and these photographs are no different. Whether you’re living with HIV, you

know someone who has the disease, or, worse, you’ve lost someone to the illness, these images will still have an emotional resonance. Lewis understands this, and that’s what makes a photograph that could be looked at as a rather static, unoriginal image, wholly unique.

The 10 finalists will be featured at the contest website at FightHIVyourWay.com, where you can cast a vote for Lewis in their Public Voting Round.

 

 

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Ste7en Foster

Steven Foster is a regular contributor to OutSmart Magazine.

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