Texas Contemporary

Opera Gallery Houston is pleased to announce its latest exhibition, 'Texas Contemporary'. Bringing together eight leading contemporary artists with deep connections to Texas, the exhibition examines the state not simply as a geographical region, but as one of the most compelling sites of artistic production in the United States today.

Long defined by the convergence of cultures, histories, industries and landscapes, Texas occupies a unique position within the broader narrative of American art—serving as a crossroads between the American South, the Southwest, Latin America, and an increasingly international creative community. The exhibition argues that this intersection has produced artists whose work is both distinctly rooted in place and profoundly engaged with global contemporary discourse.

The exhibition features artists whose practices reveal the many ways Texas informs contemporary artistic production. Rick Lowe’s socially engaged practice has transformed Houston through Project Row Houses, redefining art’s relationship to community. Virginia L. Montgomery’s immersive installations and films draw on the ecological systems of East Texas, incorporating sound recordings and organic materials collected throughout the region. Reynier Leyva Novo’s Dust Paintings transform collected dust from culturally significant sites into meditations on memory, history and place. Across equally distinct practices, Mark Flood, Lovie Olivia, Preston Douglas Boyer, Bradley Kerl and Eric DePan each explore identity, material culture, alchemy, labour, mythology and contemporary life through deeply personal visual languages.

Preston Douglas Boyer

Preston Douglas Boyer’s sculptural practice transforms industrial materials into highly refined forms that investigate memory, architecture and material history. Working between craftsmanship and conceptual enquiry, Boyer creates objects that reflect both the physical landscape of Texas and broader questions surrounding permanence, labour and the built environment.

Eric DePan

Eric DePan creates meticulously crafted glass sculptures and objets d’art that blur distinctions between fine art and functional object. Combining traditional glassmaking techniques with contemporary design, his work transforms familiar materials into luminous forms that invite close observation while expanding conversations around craft and sculpture.

Mark Flood

Houston-based artist Mark Flood has built an influential multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, collage, sculpture and conceptual work. Blending humour, irreverence and historical references, his work critiques consumer culture while embracing experimentation. Flood occupies a unique position within contemporary art, balancing institutional recognition with an independent spirit that has influenced generations of younger artists.

Bradley Kerl

Bradley Kerl’s paintings explore perception through subtle shifts of colour, gesture and surface. Built through layered applications of paint, his compositions reward sustained looking and emphasise the physical act of painting itself. Kerl contributes to Houston's rich legacy of abstraction while developing a distinctive visual language rooted in process and restraint.

Virginia L. Montgomery

Virginia L. Montgomery creates immersive installations, sculptures and moving-image works inspired by the ecology and mythology of the American South. Frequently incorporating sound recordings gathered throughout East Texas, her practice considers the reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world, inviting viewers to imagine environments as living archives of memory and transformation.

Reynier Leyva Novo

Although internationally recognised, Reynier Leyva Novo’s practice has become deeply intertwined with Houston’s cultural landscape. His conceptual works investigate history through absence, archives and material traces. His ongoing Dust Paintings—created using dust collected from historically significant locations, including Houston’s Astrodome—transform overlooked material into powerful meditations on memory, identity and historical narrative.

Rick Lowe

A MacArthur Fellow and one of the pioneers of social sculpture, Rick Lowe has spent decades redefining the relationship between art and community. Best known for founding Houston’s Project Row Houses, Lowe’s practice examines systems of equity, urban development and collective memory. His work demonstrates how artists can actively shape the cultural environments in which they live, making him one of the defining voices of contemporary art in Texas.

Lovie Olivia

Lovie Olivia’s multidisciplinary practice examines Black identity, mythology, ancestry and collective memory through richly symbolic imagery. Drawing on folklore, literature, history and personal narrative, her paintings construct layered visual worlds where imagination becomes a means of reclaiming cultural histories while envisioning new futures.

The exhibition brings together artists working across painting, sculpture, multimedia, installation, objets d’art and conceptual practice. While each approaches their work through a distinct visual language, they share an enduring engagement with questions of place—examining history, ecology, migration, community, material culture and the rapidly changing environments that define contemporary Texas. Rather than offering a singular portrait of the region, the exhibition embraces the multiplicity of experiences that continue to shape its cultural identity.