Self portrait of George Maciunas, Fluxus founder.

​Aurora Picture Show is seeking several artists and crafty-minded people for help creating and spreading a grassroots art project across Houston. That project will be the making of several hundred credit card-sized micro works of art to serve as membership cards for the roughly 300 member-donors to the micro cinema. Sounds like a perfect fit, right?

Aurora curator Mary Magsamen said the idea for artist-created membership cards was inspired by the Fluxus movement of the 1960s, a network of people who shunned the commercialism of the contemporary art world. Fluxus practitioners advocated a do-it-yourself approach to art that included small and simple productions featuring a healthy dose of humor. The works were also meant to be easily consumable and easily distributed.

"The movement was all about art being for everyone," Magsamen said. "It was interdisciplinary, and it was a way to get the community involved."

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Courtesy photo

The very first red dot, in rural Kansas.

​"Anyone know about these red dots painted around Montrose," a poster recently asked on the local music forum Hands Up Houston. "Keep seeing them, have always wondered."

The question included a link to a Google Maps street view of one Montrose-area dot. Another poster said he'd heard the artist painted the orbs while nude, a story that piqued our interest.

Art Attack has seen those red dots before, too. But for some reason they'd never really stood out in all the other weirdness that makes up the Montrose. But having never heard of the Red Dot Boys before that Hands Up post, we decided to do a little research and get to the bottom (pun intended) of the question.

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​If you've been living in Houston these last few months, unless you have a singular case of tunnel vision or are literally visually impaired, you are all too aware of the "Dick for Houston" campaign.

The former Inbred Whiteboy bassist-turned-attorney Eric Dick is running for city council at large, and his red-and-white posters are now as ubiquitous on Houston city streets and highways as nail salons and "We buy gold" emporiums.

Houston's street art community has taken note. They may not like Dick's message or aesthetic, but they damn sure have been impressed with the dude's work ethic and sheer volume. But then Dick was heard to utter some anti-street art sentiments recently, and now local artist Shreddi has decided to fire back. Let the dick-swinging begin...

Art Attack: What is it about Eric Dick that gets to you?

Shreddi: I don't think a lot of people have picked up on the fact that politicians use graffiti tactics for their personal gain. Each election year, without fail, we get this illegal political signage jammed all over empty lots, chain-link fences, telephone poles, etc. The problem is, once elected, these politicians persecute the general public for doing the same fucking thing...It's a double standard. It's funny too, because when I pulled down one of these signs, there was another political sign underneath it. So they're even covering each other's tags. I read last year the city spent a million dollars on graffiti cleanup. Politicians could probably cut that number in half if they'd stop posting their mind-numbing graffiti everywhere. Obviously I have no problem with self-promotion, or art in the streets. I have a problem with politicians holding the public to standards they don't abide to themselves. And I don't have anything specifically against Dick....his ballsy sign campaign just stood out.

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In the second of our series on Houston's street artists, Art Attack features 2:12, whose singularly colorful, fiendishly-cleverly placed works abound in the older, more run-down fringes of the Houston Heights.

While recent trends in his work -- an altar to the Virgin Mary and "Lupe," a demure yet sexy Latina classic era leading lady -- would suggest that he, like so many of Houston's top street creators, was from a Hispanic background, he writes in via email to tell us that's not the case.

"Sorry to disappoint but I'm not. I work with a very international group at my job and I'm exposed to all of these different cultures on a daily basis. I think that's where I get a lot of my inspiration from. The Virgin Mary/Lupe thing is just a coincidence."

And he answered seven more of Art Attack's questions...

Art Attack: Where does your name come from?

2:12: The thought of coming up with a "street name" seemed a bit ridiculous to me at first, I knew I couldn't use my real name because of the whole legal thing and I was leaning towards the anonymous route, no name, no signature but in the end I figured I was putting a lot of time, money and effort into creating the pieces and that it wouldn't be a bad thing to get credit for my work. I came up with 2:12 because I like the fact that the meaning isn't obvious, it's a bit cryptic. Is it a time? I get this question often and while I have never given away the true meaning, I will say the same thing I say to everyone. 2:12 is a very important time in my life. :-/

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​Since hopping astride a bicycle a couple of years ago, my perception of Houston's physical landscape has altered utterly. No longer are my eyes subject to rivers of tail-lights and ceaseless processions of giant freeway billboards. Instead, I'm watching for cracked pavement and feasting my eyes on street art. People like street stencil artist Coolidge, or Lidge for short, have become my new billboards.

Coolidge's specialty is whimsical spray-paintings of mostly cuddly animals: Boston terriers, My Little Pony characters, T. Rexes, sea turtles, robots, parachuting pink piggies, sanctified bunny rabbits with halos around their heads, Ralphie from A Christmas Story in his bunny suit. You tend to find these in blighted areas of the Inner Loop - on concrete pillars and the walls of crumbling warehouses - and they invariably bring cheer to otherwise dismal cityscapes and a smile to your heart.

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Burnell McCray

Patti Smith waived payment for an appearance at UH, resulting in a performance affordable for all.

​Sometimes it comes down to one person to pull off a show. She may be a visionary, or a workhorse, or as simply a relentless recruiter of friends and unsuspecting collaborators. Several of Houston's most significant arts events in 2010 were small-scale, planned in kitchens and garages, and mounted by an enthusiastic few. With scant resources, these events are nonetheless where audiences come away with the richest experiences.

These were our favorites.

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A user submitted this Chevron ad spoof to the Yes Men's campaign.

​ Last week the socially conscious pranksters known as the "Yes Men" very successfully harpooned a new Chevron advertising campaign. In case you didn't see the impressive exhibition last April at DiverseWorks, the Yes Men is a duo consisting of Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. They impersonate corporations in order to call awareness to the wrongs perpetrated by them. They call it "culture jamming."

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