All eyes with be on the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston this month as last summer’s new hire, curator Dean Daderko, makes his debut. His first show for the CAMH, “It is what it is. Or is it?,” takes us on a wild ride through recent art history with 18 artists who update the concept of the ready-made — all timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Marcel Duchamp’s Bicycle Wheel, a radical sculpture of a cyclist wheel and a kitchen stool that rocked the art world of 1913. We’ll be lining up to see Daderko’s curatorial chops and visual aesthetic (if they’re any match for his sartorial style, we’ll be delighted). Expect a fresh crop of internationals new to Houston eyes, including Patrick Killoran’s cooler filled with rough-cut diamonds and melting ice, alongside University of Houston’s illustrious painting prof/purveyor of pop Rachel Hecker, as well as the late, always elegiac Felix Gonzalez-Torres. We’re eagerly awaiting opening night, Friday, May 11, 7 to 9 pm. Through July 29, at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 5216 Montrose Blvd., 713.284.8250; camh.org.
IMAGE: Dean Daderko. Photo courtesy CAMH.