Events This Weekend in San Antonio

Art
Mir fehlen einfach die Berge (I Am Simply Missing the Mountains) is an exhibition by three young German artists Anna Bläser, Veronica Moroder and Lukas Picard. The works selected and developed for the Terminal 136 gallery, incorporate thoughts on both real and imaginary journeys and places. They investigate the relation between the outside world and the intimate world and wonder how one influences and shapes the other. (210) 458-4391

Special Events
Gamers converge the fourth Sunday of every month for a meetup benefiting area nonprofits. (214) 641-9352

Art
Arguably one of the most overlooked aspects of the McNay is the the museum’s impressive Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts, which boasts more than 12,00o objects spanning from the 1500s to the present day. Built around a sprawling gift from late collector, philanthropist, theater patron and design enthusiast Robert L.B. Tobin and expanded by curators Linda Hardberger and Jody Blake, the collection encompasses rare books, small-scale models, costume illustrations and stage designs created by modern masters such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Organized by Head of Curatorial Affairs René Paul Barilleaux and Curatorial Assistant Timothy Retzloff, the recently opened exhibition “America on Stage” aims to celebrate “the vision of the nation’s 20th- and 21st-century master designers on stages across the U.S. and around the world.” Exploring four key themes — Broadway, Nostalgia, Breaking Tradition, and Social Justice — the show combines maquettes from productions of Cabaret, In the Heights, West Side Story and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; a pop-up theater where guests can view scenes from a conceptual revival of Spring Awakening; and interactive areas that invite museum-goers to “take center stage in a recreated stage set — and even tap dance.” (210) 824-5368

Art, LGBT, Special Events
Over the last four decades, self-described “artivist” David Zamora Casas has delighted, shocked and intrigued San Antonio audiences with paintings, installations, altars and performance works that essentially present the artist himself as a canvas. Fusing elements of folk and outsider art with nods to the aesthetics of Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dalí, the DIY spirit of rasquachismo, religious iconography and Latinx and LGBTQ* activism, Casas has established something many artists strive for fruitlessly: an instantly recognizable aesthetic that’s distinctly their own. Nicknamed Nuclear Meltdown and dubbed a “clown shaman” by esteemed author and MacArthur Genius Sandra Cisneros, Casas often makes cameos in his own paintings, his fire-engine red lips, devilish goatee and Dalí-esque mustache emerging from surreal tableaus populated by skulls, deities, monkeys and mermaids swimming amid swirling patterns, Mesoamerican symbols and hand-painted text reminiscent of retablos. In the words of Chicano art specialist Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, Casas’ canvases “mix word and image to visualize autobiographical and universal stories  of homoerotic love, loss and persistent social concerns including immigration, environmental plunder, gender disparity and the multiple issues facing marginalized individuals and communities.” Billed as an artistic explosion of “folk-baroque manifestations” exploring themes ranging from indigenous history to gender fluidity, Casas’ new solo show “Transcendental Tricentennial” comprises “miles of ribbon, yards of fabric, embellished prints, various on-site assemblages, oil and acrylic paintings on canvas, barbed-wire and bone sculptures, and a Día de los Muertos ofrenda which spills into our collective consciousness.” Made possible by a grant from the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), the “mega-installation” also involves creative collaborations with the likes of accordion queen Eva Ybarra and video/film producers Laura Varela and Fadela Gacis Castro. As for its slightly unexpected landing at the Institute of Texan Cultures, Casas reminds that the exhibition evokes the ITC’s mission to be “a lesson in diversity [that] shows the uniqueness and beauty of the many cultures that came to Texas.” (210) 458-2300

Art
With a powerful trio of exhibitions already on view, Artpace gives us two more reasons to visit this spring with the unveiling of new projects by San Antonio-based artists Daniel Rios Rodriguez and Raul Gonzalez. Although Rodriguez and Gonzalez explore wildly different topics and themes, their bright and bold bodies of work find common ground in playful energy, DIY aesthetics and transformations of commonplace materials. A Houston transplant who earned an MFA from UTSA along with grants from the Sustainable Arts Foundation, the Surdna Foundation and the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC), Gonzalez has long been fixated on the concept of work in many forms — construction, manual labor and his dual roles as a “werking artist” and undeniably cool stay-at-home dad. He’s captured the everyday joys of fatherhood in figurative drawings, celebrated his love for Whataburger and the Houston Astros in paintings and installations, enhanced his exhibitions with energetic, movement-based performances and even danced for 4.3 miles — continuously from downtown to the McNay. With a title lifted from a song by bygone Texas hip-hop duo UGK, his “Front and Back, and Side to Side” promises to transform Artpace’s Main Space windows with a “multi-dimensional mural” rendered in cardboard and colored duct tape. (Cue the selfies). A native of Killeen who earned his MFA from Yale and has exhibited in New York, Chicago, Marfa, Ireland and beyond, Rodriguez takes a tactile approach to small-scale “semi-figurative” paintings inspired by personal experiences and the natural world. Frequently using oddly shaped, homemade panels, he paints scenes and patterns in thick, textural layers, adding organic-looking embellishments such as stones, shells and feathers, and finishing the pieces with earthy frames rendered in found bits of wood, rope, wire and hardware accents. Bringing to mind everything from cave drawings and tribal symbology to folk and outsider art, Rodriguez’s work comes to light in “Bruisers,” his first ever solo show in Texas. Nodding to the battle scars we collect while navigating life on Earth, Rodriguez says the exhibition title also speaks to the surfaces of his paintings, many of which “undergo a lot of heavy hitting and burning and throwing across the floor.” During the opening reception, both artists will give short talks about their work and Artpace will also be rolling out a new Third Thursdays series that kicks off with a rooftop screening of shorts curated by the San Antonio Film Festival ($5-$10, 8pm Thu, May 16). (210) 212-4900

Art
Although its title might conjure the sights and sounds of crowded London Underground stations, Ruiz-Healy Art’s new exhibition “Minding the Gaps” is not an artistic exploration of railway safety. Rather than addressing the potentially life-threatening distances between subway platforms and train cars, the gaps to be mindful of here are substantially more conceptual in nature. Blurring the boundaries between figuration and abstraction, form and function, the two-person show examines domesticity, permutation and perception while pairing sculptural works by mixed-media artists Nate Cassie and Constance Lowe. A New Jersey native who earned an MFA from UTSA and has exhibited at Artpace, the McNay and Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Cassie works between drawing, painting, sculpture, video and digital media. While his previous bodies of work have taken shape in abstract woodblock prints named after flowers, architectural birdhouses and etchings of spindly Texas trees, Cassie’s recent output falls within the realm of functional ceramics. While not immediately clear from their earthy finishes and organic imperfections, his almost ancient-looking jugs, cups and bottles reference hard-to-define “spaces in between” and the “gaps that distance surface from volume, skin and structure, formal and intuitive systems.” Missouri-born Lowe earned an MFA from Western Michigan University, has shown at the Southwest School of Art and the Phoenix Art Museum and, like Cassie, is an alum of Artpace’s International Artist-in-Residence program. Although perhaps better known for geometric abstractions that fuse elements of photography and fiber art, Lowe also pushes her work into a sculptural realm with curious objects that suggest interventions on furniture or household decor. Whether combining calfskin, vinyl, felt, wood, mirrors or hardware, her three-dimensional pieces often draw inspiration from her family’s history of Midwestern farming. As for the “gaps” in question, they reveal themselves in the context of Lowe’s interest in “the abstraction of farmland as seen from the air” — and specifically the painterly photographs of the Earth captured by NASA’s Landsat satellite. (210) 804-2219

Film, Art
Although his resume includes writing and directing credits for the award-winning coming-of-age drama Young Soul Rebels (1991) and the blaxploitation documentary BaadAsssss Cinema (2002), British filmmaker and installation artist Isaac Julien is arguably better known for conceptual films presented on multiple screens simultaneously. Seemingly dissected and left for viewers to reassemble with their own eyes, these immersive projects have involved journeys to remote ice caves in Iceland, juxtapositions of Arctic and African landscapes, travels through China and curious collaborations with the likes of Tilda Swinton and James Franco. A co-founder of the Sankofa Film and Video Collective (an organization “dedicated to developing an independent black film culture in the areas of production, exhibition and audience”), Julien made one of his earliest waves with Looking for Langston — a 1989 film billed as “a lyrical exploration — and recreation — of the private world of poet, social activist, novelist, playwright and columnist Langston Hughes (1902-1967) and his fellow black artists and writers who formed the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s.” In essence a non-linear homage that presents Hughes as a metaphor for the black gay experience, the film has earned cult status and is taught extensively in universities as part of African-American and queer studies programs. Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2017, Julien was a favorite of late local artist and philanthropist Linda Pace, who acquired more than 50 of his works during her lifetime. In celebration of Looking for Langston’s 30th anniversary, the Linda Pace Foundation’s gallery Studio at Ruby City showcases the 45-minute film as the anchor of a new exhibition of two recently acquired photographs Julien shot during production — Film-Noir Angels and Masquerade No. 3.

Art
Cinnabar’s latest exhibition showcases the work of Emanuel De Sousa, a Portugese-born, London-based artist who puts a poppy spin on portraiture. In addition to nods to iconic martial artist Bruce Lee and his yellow jumpsuits, De Sousa’s latest series of paintings features porcelain dogs, mylar balloons and other objects plucked from “tiny closed universes where absurd, nonsensical realities make sense.” (210) 557-6073 (FAX); (210)

Free, Dining, Special Events
Join the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center for a plática and cooking demo with Chef & food writer Adán Medrano! “Don’t Count the Tortillas: The Art of Texas Mexican Cooking” is his latest cookbook that offers over 100 kitchen-tested recipes, including newly created dishes! The event will include a brief reading from part of the book, a cooking demo of recipes from the book that will include a plática about the context and history of each recipe and how it connects to the Mexican American community. The demo will be interactive, with audience questions and comments! (210) 228-0201

Special Events
The Roadhouse Salon will have belly dancers on their dance floor. The event will also have drink specials for ladies and more. (210) 815-8958