Acclaimed Art Advisor Bill Arning Set To Open Gallery In Houston

Press release from CKP:

Sept. 11, 2020

Next month, contemporary art advisor, curator and critic Bill Arning will open Bill Arning Exhibitions, a brick-and-mortar gallery in Houston, Texas. Building on Arning’s 35-year career in contemporary art, the gallery’s program will include artists from across the globe along with the best of Texas-based artists and will feature a mix of affordable works for beginning collectors and museum-quality pieces. In the eponymous space, Arning will also focus on themes of interest to his curatorial practice: feminist, queer, political, edgy and generally fearless art makers.

“I’ve taken on many roles over the course of my career in contemporary art: administrator, director, fundraiser, curator, advisor, writer, critic and more. Now, I feel compelled to fulfill a lifelong dream for full artistic independence,” said Arning. “Houston has a terrific history of supporting galleries that mix well-known artists with quirky cult figures and emerging regional makers. My artistic sensibilities similarly run from the margins to the mainstream, making Houston the perfect place to mount an unparalleled program. Our collective duty to bring the best artists and artwork to this city has never been greater.”

Opening on Wednesday, October 7, the gallery’s inaugural exhibition will feature the work of Jerusalem-born and Berlin-based artist Roey Victoria Heifetz. A self-identified transgender woman, Heifetz’s mural drawings and “mad scenes” explore the social expectations and physical realities of changing and growing older as a woman. The exhibition will be her first solo show in the U.S.

Arning served as the director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston from 2009 to 2018. From 2000 to 2009, he was curator at the List Visual Art Center, the contemporary art museum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and from 1985 to 1996, he was director of White Columns, New York City’s oldest alternative nonprofit art space. Most recently, he has served as an independent curator and consultant, collaborating on exhibitions in galleries, alternative spaces and museums throughout the US and UK, authoring critical texts and giving lectures on contemporary art issues. Throughout the course of his career, Arning has worked closely and developed longstanding relationships with some of the greatest artists of our time including Félix González-Torres, Cady Noland, Jack Pierson and Glenn Ligon. He enjoys discovering and encouraging the next artist who will change art history.

Opening in the space formerly occupied by Acadian Bakery in Montrose, a neighborhood commonly known as the “heart” of Houston, Bill Arning Exhibitions will be positioned within close driving distance of notable local galleries as well as the nearby Museum District. The gallery will bring world-class exhibitions to Houston art lovers and collectors, and Arning will draw on his experience as an art critic, writer and essayist to help viewers discover and approach complex works of contemporary art in profound yet accessible ways.

Patrons will enjoy a visitor experience designed for the times, with artworks on view that would not otherwise be accessible to them during the ongoing pandemic and one-on-one appointments and undivided access to both Arning and exhibiting artists via tablets and smart phones.

Arning worked with two of his longtime collaborators, Peter Ahlberg of New York-based creative studio and design consultancy AHL&CO and Houston-based architect Michael T. Landrum, on the gallery’s design. Ahlberg and Landrum will make every detail a memorable visual experience, helping to create the most sympathetic environment in which to present artists and their artwork.

For more information, visit the press kit here. Details about the gallery’s season schedule will be announced on October 1.

Location & Hours
604 West Alabama Street
Houston, TX 77006

Bill Arning Exhibitions will be open from 12 to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. Attendance is limited to six visitors at a time and masks are required. Appointments are recommended.

About Bill Arning
Bill Arning is a contemporary art advisor, curator and critic based in Houston, Texas. He served as the director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston from 2009 to 2018, where he organized solo exhibitions for internationally renowned artists including Mark Flood, Melanie Smith, Matthew Day Jackson and the late Stan VanDerBeek. In 2015, Arning co-organized the survey show “Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty” in collaboration with curator Elissa Auther and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver. In 2018, he co-curated “Cheryl Donegan: GRLZ + VEILS” with Heidi Zuckerman of the Aspen Art Museum. Most recently, he collaborated with Ian Berry, director of Tang Museum Dayton, and artist Mary Weatherford on “Mary Weatherford: Canyon-Daisy-Eden,” a retrospective that will be on view at Site Santa Fe in 2021. Recent commercial gallery exhibitions include “Stonewall 50/50” at 1969 Gallery in New York City, New York; “Texas Extravagant Drawing” at FIENDISH PLOTS in Lincoln, Nebraska; “Paulina Peavy/Lacamo: They Call Us Unidentified” at Andrew Edlin Gallery in New York City, New York; “Dirty Words” at Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, Florida; and “No Trigger Warnings” at Flatland Gallery in Houston, Texas.

This press release was produced by CKP. The views expressed here are the author's own.