Art to Make a Double Take

Art, like beauty, can exist in the eye of the beholder, an experience I eyed in a darkened gallery today. Austin hosted Between You and Me, an exhibit of 14 videos that could really prompt some double takes. A woman eats drywall in extreme close up, gnawing like an insect. Fierce dogs bark straight on at a camera. A man meditates to the sound of a washing machine. Microphones are rubbed on faces in close up.

I walked through the exhibit at Arthouse, a contemporary gallery down on Congress and Seventh, then wrote part of a scene inspired by eight minutes of video of a woman blowing bubbles with gum. It was an Artist's Date in the style of The Artist's Way, one way to feed the muse of imagination.