Contact:
Dan Carpenter
(325) 673-4587
Marketing@thegracemuseum.org

2006 Texas Artist of the Year to have exhibit at The Grace

Abilene, TX (May 22, 2007) - The Grace Museum is welcoming an exhibit by the 2006 Texas Artist of the Year beginning June 1.

Al Souza: Addenda features the work of the Houston artist who creates inventive and sophisticated abstract works from reconfigured jigsaw puzzles, cut books and maps, sheet music, wall paper, dryer lint, movie posters, and other mass-produced cultural detritus.

He is particularly known for his memorable jigsaw-puzzle works, in which he removes individual images from dozens, or even hundreds of mass-produced puzzles and rearranges them to create an unexpected tapestry of juxtaposed shapes, forms, colors, and images. Each becomes an exploration of the nature of memory and identity that the artist has characterized as "stream of consciousness."

In his cut paper works, also on display in this exhibition, Souza transforms familiar surfaces into a playful and nuanced layered maze of cut-outs that simultaneously hide and reveal information. Souza's playful sense of humor is evident in each piece.

Al Souza is presently teaching art at the University of Houston . His works have been shown at museums across the country, and are in numerous collections including the Museum of Fine Arts , Houston and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Al Souza: Addenda will be on display in The Grace's second floor galleries B and C through August 15.

The Grace Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every Thursday. Admission is free Thursday evening after 5 p.m.

For more information, call 325-673-4587.

###