“The collection of photographic negatives, slides, prints and related memorabilia, left in the possession and care of Deborah Colton Gallery at the artist’s’ passing in 2005, now exists as evidence and affirmation of the health, vitality, and creative vigor of Houston’s alternative arts community from its early years to its present state. PROOF surveys this body of documentary photography and portraiture, highlighting the artist’s extraordinary talent in capturing unfiltered impressions of her subjects, and offers an intimate glimpse into the artist’s creative praxis.” – Theresa Escobedo
Suzanne Paul, a native of Houston (and my former sister-in-law, by the way) was an avid photographer from a young age, has made an inestimable contribution to representing the arts in Houston and to recording Houston’s art history. In intimate and revealing ways, Paul has documented many of the artists, patrons, and community leaders who have shaped Houston’s art scene since the 1970s and 80s. Her introduction to the Houston Arts and launch of her career happened in 1976 when she was commissioned by James Harithas, then Director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, to photograph artists and installations for the museum’s publications and was offered the first solo photography exhibition by a woman at the museum.
Born in Houston, Texas in 1945, Suzanne Paul received her BFA from the University of Houston in 1968 and did graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley. In the 1960s, Paul became a political activist for anti-war and civil rights causes. In Houston, she photographed for the feminist magazine Breakthrough in the late 1970s. She has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Fort Worth Art Museum, the Galveston Arts Center and the University of California, San Francisco. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions including Collaborations: Artists Working Together in Houston at the Glassell School of Art and Texas Artists at the Charles Cowles Gallery in New York. In 1981, Paul received a National Endowment for the Arts Photo Survey Grant. Her photographic works have been featured in both solo and group presentations by FotoFest International since its founding in 1983, and her work has been shown in a number of exhibitions at Deborah Colton Gallery, including at a memorial service in her honor in 2005.
I will be giving a Walking Tour and Discussion along with curator Theresa Escobedo, Catherine Anspon, Deborah Colton and Paul’s daughter Mercedes Mallard Paul: Tuesday, March 15th, 2016, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm – Elizabeth Avedon
EXHIBITION
“PROOF” : Photograph’s by Suzanne Paul
Curated by Theresa Escobedo
From March 12th to April 23rd, 2016
Deborah Colton Gallery
2445 North Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77098
United States
www.deborahcoltongallery.com
