Brittanie Shey

In the first room of the new Menil Collection exhibit “Abstraction after Modernism: Recent Acquisitions,” a sculpture from recently deceased artist Richard Serra hangs on the wall. The work is made from thick rubber industrial belts, dark brown and floppy, but structured at the same time. Triangle Belt Piece, made in 1967, is a direct response to the dripping, gravity-influenced works abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock was making a decade before. At the same time, the lines and flow…

A cameraman has sued Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion for what he alleges was a “hostile work environment,” including allegations of unpaid labor, fat shaming and other salacious details. The suit was filed in California by Emilio Garcia, who claims that he worked as a personal cameraman for the “Savage” rapper from July 2018 until June 2023, when he was let go. The suit alleges multiple violations of the Fair Employment and Housing Act, including harassment so severe that it created a “hostil…

Texas A&M’s longtime college radio station KANM has finally secured a construction permit for a low-powered FM broadcast frequency, a move decades in the making that will make listening to the station more accessible for Bryan and College Station residents. The radio station announced the move in a Monday press release. Securing the permit is notable for a small station; there are only so many radio frequencies available in a given location, and it’s rare for an unclaimed frequency to become ava…

Houston has its fair share of architecture tours, but a group of local design firms are teaming up to host the city’s very first Interior Design Tour. The self-guided tour will take place on Saturday, April 27, and will showcase decorative styles from a variety of genres, featuring five different Houston-based firms. The idea behind the tour is to showcase the designers’ works, inspire people working on their own home projects, and introduce potential customers to designers. The event is being p…

Houston’s Third Ward neighborhood could soon be home to a museum dedicated to gospel music, its history and its legacy. While the Gospel Music Haus & Museum has been in the works since 2021, organizers recently made a significant announcement in the museum’s progress. The former Wesley Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, at 2209 Emancipation Ave., has been secured as the official location for the museum. The historical church-turned-museum will be the centerpiece of a major redevelopment…

The Houston Museum of Fine Arts will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a Spring Festival on April 21. The oldest art museum in Texas, the MFAH opened on April 12, 1924, with just one structure, the neoclassical Caroline Wiess Law building at Montrose Boulevard and Bissonnet Street. The original museum entrance faced south, overlooking Hermann Park and the Miller Outdoor Theater, which celebrated its centennial last year. Over the years, the original building was expanded with new wings and ga…

Sculptor David Best is talking to a group of people inside the warehouse annex at the Orange Show when a man in overalls and an Oilers hat walks up. It’s Houston artist and welder Mike Scranton. Best interrupts his story to give Scranton a long, warm hug. “This guy,” Best says, “used to make crazy art cars.” He then launches into a new story about the early days of the Art Car Parade, before the event was the family friendly institution it is now. The encounter with Scranton highlights one of…

Houston may not be in the path of totality for the upcoming total solar eclipse, but for locals who wish to avoid the traffic and exorbitant hotel rates, staying at home will still provide quite a show. Houston will see roughly 94 percent of the sun’s surface covered by the moon—enough to darken the skies and give that cool shadow effect that makes for such good photos. Lucky for us, Houston is filled with scientists and science nerds—this is Space City after all. That means there are plenty of…

The Donald Judd Foundation, which has close ties to Marfa, Texas, has sued Kim Kardashian over furniture the Foundation alleges are knockoffs of the late artist’s works. The suit was filed in California on Wednesday, where the Foundation also has a location. At issue is a 2022 Instagram video in which Kardashian is giving a tour of the minimalistic headquarters of her company Skkn by Kim. She pauses at a large wooden table and says, “These Donald Judd tables are really amazing and totally blend…

Actor Forrie Smith, best known for playing mustachioed ranch hand Lloyd Pierce on the popular television show Yellowstone, claims he was kicked off a flight in Houston for refusing to sit next to a masked passenger. Smith made the claim in a video posted to his Instagram account on Saturday, March 23. It is unclear what airport he was flying through or why he was in Houston. “My social media people tell me that you like me face to face,” Smith, 65, says in the video. “But you know what, I can’t…

A quirky new mini golf course and karaoke bar is set to open in Houston’s Greenway district in April. Called Holey Moley, the venue is the brainchild of Australian company Funlab, which operates bowling alleys, dart bars, escape rooms and arcades throughout Australia. Houston’s Holey Moley will be the third expansion into America, following a location that opened in Denver in late 2023 and an Austin outpost that opened last week. The putt putt experience will include three themed nine-hole golf…

A luxury condominium complex off of Allen Parkway in River Oaks boasts an unusual amenity—a community swimming pool in the shape of, well, let’s just look at the photo. Do you see it? The phallus-shaped pool at Reata at River Oaks was first spotted by longtime technology journalist and Houstonian Dwight Silverman, who shared images of the complex’s courtyard on the social network Bluesky. The photos come from the Houston-area Realtor’s website, which lists several condos for sale and rent at the…

A West Houston hobby store has drawn ire from the city’s trading card community for buying out hundreds of packages of special-edition Pokémon cards from a local Costco with the intent to resell them for a markup. The controversy all started with a Facebook post. On March 17, the owners of MadRat Toys, shared photos of themselves at the big box store, pushing two shopping carts filled with boxes of the exclusive two-pack of Pokémon Zapdos EX and Alakazam EX cards. “Master Rat and Lil’Rat brough…

Houston’s Tony Marron Park is set to undergo major renovations at the end of this year. But before then, Buffalo Bayou Partnership and Aurora Picture Show are throwing one last big art fest at the east side park. Called Night Light, the festival features several visual artists who have created site-specific light installations that will be projected throughout the park on the evening of April 6. It’s a continuation of Houston’s long-standing embrace of light and space artists, from James Turrell…

On the first day of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, volunteers waited by the entrance gates, ready to hand out that day’s giveaway: a bobblehead statue of celebrated rodeo clown Leon Coffee. Now, as the rodeo wraps up its third and final weekend, Coffee has announced that he’ll be hanging up his suspenders. After half a century, he’s retiring as a rodeo clown. He’ll instead return next year to the rodeo’s fan zone, as well as entertaining rodeo goers in the stands. “I wouldn’t take a mill…

Popular adult streaming site Pornhub is currently blocking users in Texas following a lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over the site’s age-verification practices. Viewers who attempt to visit Pornhub.com are met with a lengthy statement from the site’s owners, Aylo Global Entertainment, explaining the block. Redtube, another site owned by Aylo, is also blocked. “As you may know, your elected officials in Texas are requiring us to verify your age before allowing you access to our we…

A Dallas man who was one of the last people living in an iron lung has died. Paul Alexander, who had lived in the cylindrical-like medical device since the age of 6, died on March 11. He was 78. His cause of death was not listed in his obituary, but in February his social media manager reported that he had been hospitalized with COVID-19. He was released from the hospital before his death. By 2013, Post-Polio Health International estimated that less than 10 Americans were still living in iron lu…

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had a message for bands leaving SXSW in protest of the festival’s defense industry sponsorships: “Don’t come back.” The governor posted his message to social media platform X on Tuesday after dozens of bands dropped out of the music festival’s official showcases over connections the festival has to the U.S. Army and defense contractor RTX, formerly known as Raytheon. “Austin remains the HQ for the Army Futures Command. San Antonio is Military City USA. We are proud of the…

Just a year after reopening in a new space, Houston’s Printing Museum will be vacating its Midtown location. A leasing agent for the property at 3121 San Jacinto St. confirmed that the museum was moving out but provided no other information. Officials with The Printing Museum (TPM) did not respond to multiple requests seeking comment on the future of the institution. It’s unclear whether the museum, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2022, is relocating again or closing for good. The prope…

Bun B’s first Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo “Takeover,” in 2022, was an iconic performance that featured a who’s who of legendary and up-and-coming Houston rappers. Dubbed the “H Town Takeover” that first year included more than a dozen guests, including Willie D, Devin the Dude, Slim Thug, LeToya Luckett and Tobe Nwigwe, among others. Bun’s second performance, 2023’s “Southern Takeover” featured Dallas native Erykah Badu, New Orleans icons Juvenile and Manni Fresh, Scarface, Big Mike and mor…