Houston First, CAMH Partnership Aims to Bring Art to New Spaces

Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) and Houston First Corporation (HFC) have formed a new partnership, titled Houston First x CAMH, designed to bring art into highly trafficked public spaces in Downtown Houston.

Officially launched earlier this year with the debut of two art presentations. Houston First x CAMH engages artists to exhibit existing or new site-specific work in HFC’s Partnership Tower office building and the George R. Brown Convention Center. Both spaces see significant foot traffic from both locals and visitors alike, fostering deeper connection between the public and the arts.

Presentations are curated by CAMH’s Senior Curator and Director of Public Initiatives Ryan N. Dennis and Curator Patricia Restrepo, centering local and regional artists with the goal of showcasing Houston’s diversity of artistic expression.

The inaugural installations on the first and second floors of Partnership Tower include work by two Houston-based artists: Kaneem Smith and Gerardo Rosales. Smith’s presentation is part of an ongoing series of fabric wall-based artworks entitled Laborscapes, imaging land-portraits through dyed cotton canvas that merge archeological and ancestral imaginations of space. Rosales’s large-scale mural spans three walls within Partnership Tower, intricately layered with personal symbolism and folk mythology that reflects the artist’s experience as an immigrant in Houston.

“This unique collaboration with CAMH enables us to bring a dynamic rotation of art into our facilities—adding a new dimension to these spaces and introducing the public to Houston area artists,” said Michael Heckman, President and CEO of Houston First.

CAMH is committed to expanding artist’s impact outside of the traditional Museum gallery setting,” says CAMH Executive Director, Hesse McGraw. “We’re thrilled to partner with Houston First to connect Houston’s visitors and residents to the rich contemporary artistic landscape of our city, and amplify our city’s working artists to travelers from around the world.”  

Kaneem Smith’s and Gerardo Rosales’s work will be on view through August 4, 2024. The next round of artists to exhibit in the space will be announced shortly, with artwork on view in Fall 2024.

Photos courtesy of Houston First