Fashion Show & Reception
Thursday, August 2, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Fashion show begins at 6:30 PM. The evening will also feature open studios by the current resident artists. Beer generously provided by Buffalo Bayou Brewing Co.
Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (HCCC) is pleased to present B. Anele: I Don’t Play That Game, a solo exhibition of the Houston-based transdisciplinary artist’s most recent work, ranging from raw-canvas sculptural garments and portraiture to soft sculpture. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fashion show that takes place within the installation on the evening of Thursday, August 2nd.
B. Anele’s garments are sculptural, transcending into almost infrastructural and architectural forms. From conjoined jackets with arms that extend into a monumental, unifying chain to a jumpsuit with tar-colored, ten-foot-long pant legs intersected by broken, white road lines, their works commune with space, act as elements of support/restriction, and prescribe the reciprocal relationships between the wearers and their surroundings.
Anele’s work is invigorating and saturated by a vibrant visual vernacular that they have infused with gestural strokes of primary colors, fruits, and counter-cultural icons, from the smiley faces of club culture to retro roller skates that have enjoyed a renaissance in the queer community. Their work has a graphic vitality that energizes and reawakens a sense of wonder and creative expression. Anele states that their work “weaves a provocative and indisputably familiar blanket for the viewer to be engulfed in.” For Anele, expression is poised as a form of social activism, as well as an accessible and inclusive alternative to homogeneity in contemporary culture.
From their conjoined, felted wool berets to stiffened canvas sleeves that take abstract angular forms, B. Anele challenges the traditional bounds of garment design and demonstrates a vast material knowledge and dexterity in rendering their unbounded inner world.
B. Anele: I Don’t Play That Game is curated by HCCC Curatorial Fellow, Sarah Darro.
About B. Anele
Anele (b. 1993) is a transdisciplinary artist and curator that lives and works in Houston, Texas. At the age of 25, they have produced an impressive body of work that has been featured in exhibitions across Texas and in Los Angeles and New York, at venues including in lieu Gallery (Los Angeles, California), Andrew Eldin Gallery (New York, NY), Unit C. Gallery (Austin, TX), Jonathan Hopson Gallery (Houston, TX), Capitol Street Gallery (Houston, TX), and Private Eye Gallery (Houston, TX).
