The McNay is among five institutional partners in San Antonio and Houston presenting the 2021 Texas Biennial: A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon. This exhibition broadens the Biennial’s typical scope to include not only artists living and working in Texas, but “Texpats”: artists with deep personal and cultural connections to the Lone Star State working in any part of the globe. For the first time, the Biennial includes internationally renowned artists for whom Texas and its history offer inspiration.
A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon was developed in response to radical transformations in collective action and awareness catalyzed by the global pandemic and worldwide demonstrations in defense of Black, transgender, Asian-American, and Pacific-Islander (AAPI) lives. Including the work of 51 artists, educators, activists, and practitioners, across five institutions, A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon serves as an artist-driven source of agency and collective potential.
The 2021 Texas Biennial: A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon is co-curated by Ryan N. Dennis and Evan Garza, Curators and Artistic Directors, with the support of Rigoberto Luna, Curatorial Assistant and Exhibitions Coordinator. The exhibition is organized at the McNay Art Museum by René Paul Barilleaux, Head of Curatorial Affairs; and Edward Hayes, Exhibitions Senior Manager / Registrar.
The Texas Biennial is a program of Big Medium, an Austin-based arts organization dedicated to promoting contemporary art throughout Texas. This program is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the Susan Vaughan Foundation. Additional support provided by generous contributions from private donors. Major funding at the McNay is provided by the Elizabeth Huth Coates Foundation of 1992.
Jarrod Beck
Born 1977, Albany, NY
Lives in Terlingua, TX and Los Angeles, CA
Ari Brielle
Born 1993, Dallas, TX
Lives in Dallas, TX
JooYoung Choi
Born 1982, Seoul, Korea
Lives in Houston, TX
Adriana Corral
Born 1983, El Paso, TX
Lives in Houston, TX
Filipinx Artists of Houston
Founded 2019, Houston, TX
John Gerrard
Born 1974, North Tipperary, Ireland
Lives in Dublin, Ireland
Rachel Gonzales
Born 1986
Lives in Houston, TX
Matt Manalo
Born 1984, Manila, Philippines
Lives in Houston, TX
Xavier McFarlin
Born 1994, Landstuhl, Germany
Lives in Marfa, TX
Donald Moffett
Born 1955, San Antonio, TX
Lives in Staten Island, NY and Barksdale, TX
Steve Parker
Born 1979, Downers Grove, IL
Lives in Austin, TX
Phillip Pyle II
Born 1980, Houston, TX
Lives in Houston, TX
Ronald Rael & Virginia San Fratello
Born 1971, La Florida, CO
Lives in Oakland, CA
Born 1971, Savannah, GA
Lives in Oakland, CA
Irene Antonia Diane Reece
Born 1993, Houston, TX
Lives in Houston, TX
Xavier Schipani
Born 1984, Washington, DC
Lives in Austin, TX
The Texas Biennial curators are pleased to partner on a curatorial collaboration at FotoFest with Max Fields, Associate Curator & Director of Publishing. Their joint exhibition, In Place of an Index, will focus on image-based artists whose works unpack memory and suggest that historical narratives are fluid and can be revisited, rewritten, and reimagined. Dennis and Garza have also invited the Fillipinx Artists of Houston collective to guest curate a project with one of our exhibition partners in San Antonio.
As a means of responding to the physical limitations of the pandemic, and as a way to connect Biennial artists with audiences anywhere, the 2021 Texas Biennial app will be an interpretive guide and include images and information for participating artists, exhibitions, programs, and exhibition partners of the 2021 Texas Biennial. The app will also include a schedule of in-person and virtual programs, interpretive materials, a Biennial venue map for visitors to San Antonio, and provide an opportunity for digital commissions.
Ryan N. Dennis is the chief curator and artistic director of the Center for Art & Public Exchange (CAPE) at the Mississippi Museum of Art. Evan Garza is a Washington, DC-based curator, writer, and a 2021–2022 Fulbright U.S. Scholar at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland. The curators are each natives of Houston, Texas.
The Texas Biennial is a geographically-led, independent survey of contemporary art in Texas. The 2021 Texas Biennial: A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon is the seventh iteration of the program, making the Texas Biennial the longest-running state biennial in the country. The program was founded in 2005 by Austin nonprofit Big Medium to provide an exhibition opportunity open to all artists living and working in the state. Since its inception, the Texas Biennial has brought the work of over 300 artists to new audiences, springboarding many artists’ careers and underscoring the diversity of contemporary practice in Texas.
Big Medium is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting artists and building community through the arts in Austin and across Texas. We provide opportunities for artists to create, exhibit, and discuss their work and connect to an engaged and diverse audience. We strive to make art a part of everyday life.
