By Amber Elliott
What does it mean to live in a city today? That is the question Frauke V. Josenhans, curator for the Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, challenged 15 artists to answer with “Urban Impressions: Experiencing the Global Contemporary Metropolis,” an exhibition on view through mid-December.
Urban life and the modern metropolis have fascinated artists throughout history. Recall 19th-century Impressionists, 20th-century Expressionists, midcentury Situationists and street art from the 1980s; city architecture and microcosm is a popular and enduring muse.
For “Urban Impressions,” Josenhans tapped an international collective. Artists Rana Begum, Mary Flanagan, Katsumi Hayakawa, Kahlil Irving, Lucia Koch, Julie Mehretu, Sohei Nishino, Emeka Ogboh, Robin Rhode, Seher Shah, Liu Wei and Michael Wolf hail from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa and across the U.S. Representing Houston are Charis Ammon, Tiffany Chung and Rick Lowe.