RECENT NEWS
March 2024
October 2023
Honored to be selected the Paul Hanna Speaker for this year’s Texas Association of Schools of Art Conference.
October 2023
It was my honor to write a piece about the wonderful Jim Harithas. Him and Ann were Houston Arts institutions.
October 2023
I was invited by the Business Department at Lamar University to sit on a panel about Art & Entrepreneurship… hopefully there will be some good information for students to consider upon graduation.
June 2023
Thank you to editors of Houston City Book Magazine for naming me one of the “100 Cool” people in Houston… if you know me, you know I am really more nerd than cool… smile. (Click on image to view article.)
June 2023
My work from the Ancestors Series being permanently installed in the Archer Physics Building on Lamar University’s Campus.
May 2023
We had a successful first screening of our Alternative Grassroots Drive-in Cinema we call 2 Post Cinema. We reviewed over a 160 artists’ videos to select a cohesive slate for our first screening. Our priorities were to give underrepresented artists an opportunity to show their work while making the entry completely free! Click on “Glasstire Text” to access link to the article from Glasstire: Texas Visual Art Journal describing our project.
April 2023
Good News! My partner in life, artist Britt Thomas, and I had our first exhibition together ever at the Brownsville Museum of Art!
October 2022
Good News! My exhibition, America the Beautiful, was ranked in the TOP 5 exhibitions to see in the State of Texas by Glasstire (Texas Art Journal)!
September 2022
My exhibition in conjunction with FotoFest International Biennial, America the Beautiful, just opened at Hooks-Epstein Galleries in Houston TX.
August 2022
The following is an interview/conversation between me and Andre Ramos Woodard. (Click image to go to article.)
January-May 2022
I have been traveling and researching in Washington DC, Philadelphia, & NY to get resource materials for a new body of work.
November 2021
My work is currently on view at the Amarillo Museum of Art’s Biennial Exhibition.
October 2021
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September 2021
I will be jurying an Exhibition for the Houston Center for Photography.
August 2021
On August 31st, I will be joining Curator Bridget Bray in co-moderating a conversation with Asia Society Texas Artist Residents Bennie Flores Ansell and Guadalupe Hernandez. Please see link, if you would like to join: https://asiasociety.org/texas/events/artist-talk-bennie-flores-ansell-and-guadalupe-hernandez
April 2021
I am a visiting artist at Clark University in Mass next week… Looking forward to my virtual visit with the Clark University Community.
February 2021
I was invited to contribute to a new online magazine called Passage for Artists & Writers. Special thanks to writer/curator Susie Kalil for inviting me. Please click image to go to my contribution.
January 2021
Good News! Britt & I received an IDEA Fund Grant from the Warhol Foundation to create an outdoor cinema in our backyard that will showcase Video Art from BIPOC & Women Artists. It was an idea that came about through our experience with COVID and wanting to offer opportunities for viewing art in Socially Distant ways. In this case, viewers will sit in their cars and tune their radios to a station that will transmit the sounds while safely watching the art from their cars. This is a mock-up of our project that we will be developing.
November 2020
I had a wonderful time doing Virtual Studio Visits with Seniors from the High School for Performing & Visual Arts. Thank you to Department Chair David Wadell and the students for sharing their wonderful projects with me. The future of art is in good hands with these talented individuals. I blurred their faces since they are still in High School.
May-October 2020
It seems moot to say – curatorial studio visits happened via zoom… art related activities happened virtually… but who cares, the world was suffering, politically & socially.
April 2020
COVID-19 has shut Houston and the World down. At the same time, one of my dearest friends passed of Non-COVID related issues. She was a fixture in the Houston Arts Community working for the Blaffer Museum, FotoFest International, the Contemporary Arts Museum, and News Editor for Glasstire. She had named me as the Executor of her estate. A nightmare dealing with these issues in a COVID world where we can’t grieve together while celebrating her life and everything is closed. Here is a link to a piece I wrote about her for Glasstire:
March 2020
I am excited to be included in a new Photography Textbook by Mark Chen and Chelsea Shannon, Photography: A 21st Century Practice, Routledge Press, 2020, pps. 448-449.
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December 2019
Thank you to Writer Michele Meyer and Modern Luxury Houston Magazine about their article on Houston’s Patrons and Players. (Click on image to go to article.)
November 2019
Art Historian Julia Fischer talks about my show at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. (Click on image to go to video.)
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I had the opportunity to chat with students from Odom Middle School about my exhibition at AMSET. It was such a wonderful day and I learned so much from these kids – they were smart, thoughtful, and taught me some things that I didn’t know!
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October 2019
Click on image to link to a podcast called Wake Up Beaumont about my current exhibition at the AMSET.
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September 2019
A) After a slight delay from a tropical storm, my exhibition opened at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas!
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B) Good News! My work has been acquired by United Airlines for there new terminal in Houston.
https://www.chron.com/business/bizfeed/article/United-Airlines-to-showcase-19-Houston-artists-at-14416057.php
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August 2019
A) From Houston Chronicle Writer Molly Glentzer:
Reviews an Exhibition I am in at Asia Society, Art review: ‘Site Lines’ collection delivers a knockout socio-political punch.
Here is a link to the article.
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B) From PaperCity Magazine’s Arts and Culture Writer Catherine Anspon:
Here is a link to the article.
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C)
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July 2019
My video piece Mourners is currently on view at the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art Museum in South Korea.
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May 2019
A thank you to Glasstire (Texas Art Journal) for picking, Site Lines, a show that I am in at Asia Society Texas as one of the Top 5 shows to see in Texas.
https://glasstire.com/2019/05/09/top-five-may-9-2019/
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April 2019
A special thank you to Michael Agresta from the Texas Observer for spending time with me in the studio and writing this article.
https://www.texasobserver.org/at-home-in-the-world/
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March 2019
Installation begins @ Asia Society, Texas. Thank you to Curator Bridget Bray & the incredible team of volunteers @ Asia Society Texas (Jim, Ann, Alex, Jordan, Fivion, Hui, Isabel, Ivan, KC, Sofia, Kasey, & Ivan) that have been working with me. Without your help it could not happen. Thank you.
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February 2019
The marvelous Geri Hooks of Hooks-Epstein Galleries introducing me for an artist’s talk for my show, The Light of Other Days, a series of charcoal drawings.
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January 2019
Thank you to PaperCity Magazine for the shout out about my upcoming exhibition The Light of Other Days.
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December 2018
GOOD NEWS! I am honored to have been selected to the finalist short list… see below:
Dear Prince V. Thomas,
It is my pleasure to make you aware that you are a finalist for Texas State Artist 2-D. Your name is among the short list of artists selected by the panel of visual arts experts.
The Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) oversees the Texas State Artist process in which Texas citizens may nominate artists for the titles of Texas State Poet Laureate, Musician, Visual Artist 2D, and Visual Artist 3D. A group of professional evaluators in each artistic discipline has reviewed the nominees to help TCA identify the artists most qualified to receive the title. You are among this honored group.
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November 2018
An article was recently published about me in Houston Voyage Magazine.
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October 2018
My recent work will be featured in a new Art and Design Magazine out of India called Design Fabric. The magazine is currently at the press.
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May 2018
Good News! I was awarded a SACI Grant by the City of Houston to produce new work.
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April 2018
Lisa Harris and I are having a conversation about Art, Activism, Politics, and other suches at the Galveston Arts Center.
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March 2018
A special thank you to lead curator Sunil Gupta, Steven Evans, Jennifer Ward, Vinod Hopson, Annick Dekiouk, Mayra Mares, Marta Sanchez Philippe, and the entire team at FotoFest!
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February 2018
A special shout out to the Joan Mitchell Foundation for awarding me an Emergency Artist’s Grant & to the Texas Artists Strong Grant. I am so very grateful.
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December 2017
Good NEWS!
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November 2017
My video, White Wash, is currently included in a public art program by the City of Houston called Art Blocks. If you are in Downtown in the next few months, it is on the corner of Main Street & Dallas.
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September 2017
Hurricane Harvey, My Personal Story:
I live and make art in Houston and teach art at Lamar University in Beaumont Texas. The effects of this storm have hit all aspects of my personal, professional, and artistic lives.
On August 27th, my father’s birthday, we had the waters rise to our front door. My father passed away in 2014 and my mother, who my wife and I care for in our home, had planned to go visit the cemetery where he is buried to say a prayer for him. That morning we couldn’t venture out. The waters left no glimpse of a road, of any land. The waters receded only to rise for a second time. The night before, one of our cars was moved to the backyard in hopes of avoiding the flood waters. The other had to remain in the driveway. Watching the drama of water rising and falling, all we could do was hope for the best. My wife and fellow artist, Britt Thomas, was busy making emergency plans for how to move my elderly mother who walks with a cane.
Once the streets in the neighborhood were clear of water, Britt and I opened the car to find it mostly dry. A little water in the trunk but not into the cabin. We drove to our studio down the road to see if any water had entered that space. It remained dry. Luckily, the landlord had just placed a new roof on the building the week before due to severe leaks entering the building. We were relieved. The city was still shutdown. Nothing open, grocery stores lay bare. We hunkered down at home for a couple of more days. When cabin fever finally kicked in and we lost the taste for another frozen meal, Britt and I decided to venture out to try and bring home some lunch for us and mother. As we were getting in the car, it occurred to me that we should check my art storage unit that housed about 25 years of my professional work. My entire professional life’s work. The storage unit I don’t frequent as often as our home or studio; so it was out of sight, out of mind.
We drove down along White Oak Bayou, which is just west of our house, and was amazed how high the water remained. Turning right on to 34th St., we could see the rushing waters of the bayou rapidly moving south. Entering the climate controlled building that housed my art storage, we were feeling pretty good. The entrance was dry. We turned left down the hallway to my unit and noticed that water remained in the center of the hallway. My unit was in the center of this hallway.
We came to my door, unlocked the latch, and raised up the door to find water. Apparently the building had flooded and the concrete floor to the building was in the shape of a gradual “V”, where the ends of the hallway are higher then the middle. The middle is where my unit sits in the valley of water.
I have to say at this point, I don’t remember much. I was in shock. Thank god my wife, Britt Thomas, was there to take over. She immediately went into action, contacting people, gathering supplies, and organizing how to move all the art. I was simply a body that was being told what to do. I couldn’t think. Couldn’t fathom the loss that I was seeing in front of me. As far as my art goes, between Britt Thomas, Shane Platt, Caleb Sims, Torie Shelton, and Butch Jack we managed to pump out about 20 Shop-Vac containers of water out of the storage unit, and move all the art to our studio to dry. Thank you to these special people for giving me the gift of their time and strength, both physical & emotional.
You won’t believe this but after two days – when we were finally finished – finished with moving the art, finished emotionally and spent physically… Britt & I are driving home after unloading the last of the artworks at night and I run over Harvey debris, a steel bar, and we get a flat tire. It just seemed so appropriate. It was too late in the evening and I didn’t have the patience to fight with those freakin’ lug nuts in the night so we came back in the morning to change it.
What can you do but Laugh!
As of now it looks like roughly 30% of my work is damaged. Some artworks have tiny water lines along the bottom. I call them my Harvey Survivors and they will be placed in the archives as a record of this moment. Thirty-percent might not sound like much but when you times it by 25 years worth of working, it hurts. Time will tell as things dry if this number goes even higher. Works from the early 90’s to works from my last show that closed in May 2017 that can never be replaced.
We had both home insurance and flood insurance but apparently that doesn’t cover a storage unit that is off my premises. That was my mistake; years ago, when I first got these insurance policies they did cover an outside storage, but the company’s policy changed somewhere down the road and I never read the fine print. My Mistake. I contacted FEMA but they denied my claim because my home was not damaged.
Such is Life.
Sometimes I feel petty thinking about my loss in comparison to so many that have lost their homes, their lives. But as an Artist, this loss was everything to me…. More important then the home we live in. It was a part of my identity. It was my history. Significant moments in my life. It marked time.
But through this process, we are moving forward. The things I can’t control, I am letting go of and accepting this new reality.
Keep on, Keepin’ on.
I have received many emails and have had many conversations with friends asking if I would set up an online funding account where they could donate to help with our expenses from this tragedy. Britt & I discussed the matter and didn’t feel comfortable asking our friends and colleagues to donate when they too are hurting. Instead, if you would like to help and have the means to do so, please contact my gallery and purchase a piece of mine. That way, we all can gain something from this loss.
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May 2017
Good News! Geri Hooks & I have agreed to work together! I am looking forward to working with the incredible team at Hooks-Epstein Gallery.
“Founded in 1969, Hooks-Epstein Gallery, Inc., is one of Houston’s longest running art galleries. Representing established, mid-career and emerging artists, the gallery pioneered the museum area. Over its 45 years of existence, the gallery has mounted many exhibitions, which received national and international acclaim. The gallery has published catalogues which continue to be used as a source of information and has produced exhibitions which have traveled from the gallery to museums and other venues.”
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April 2017
My show, The Space Between Grief and Morning consisting of Drawing, Photography, and Video, opened at Art League Houston. I loved working with the wonderful people there.
(All Photos by Alex Barber, Video Interview by Ronald L. Jones, Courtesy of Art League Houston.)
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November 2016
Britt & I ended up in Chicago for the past week… and talk about perfect timing…
November 2nd, 2016 – we joined the rest of Chicago at Wrigley Field and watched (on our mobile phones) as the Cubbies won Game 7 of the World Series…
Wow! What a game!
Chicagoans, I don’t know if it was because of the win but you have some of the most friendliest people on earth!
We fell in love with you!
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October 2016
Artist Gary Hill, Artist Britt Thomas, & Me – Engaged in some serious hand jive.
Gary Hill was honored in Houston this week by Aurora Picture Show. I was asked by Aurora to create a piece for Gary as a special Thank You from Aurora & Houston. Love his work and and had a wonderful time visiting with him.
(Photos courtesy of Peter Lucas.)
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June 2016
My work is in a group exhibition in London.
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April 2016
I had a whirlwind 24 hour Visiting Artist trip to my Alma Mater a week ago. It had been almost 30 years since I walked the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington as a Freshman in 1987. It was a wonderful visit seeing my former Professor Kenda North, giving a lecture, and having studio critiques with students doing interesting work.
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March 2016
City of Houston Public Art Commission, “Family Portraits”
So… if you are ever in Houston and go see a Major League Baseball game by the Houston Astros… Exit the stadium from the North Exit and walk north up Jackson Street less than 2 Blocks from Minute Maid Stadium and you can see my piece commissioned by the City of Houston called Family Portraits. The biggest thrill for me was that my mother and I shared the experience of seeing it for the first time together. It made us both smile.
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January 2016
My work is in a group exhibition in New York right now called, What’s Right, What’s Left: Democracy in America.
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November 2015
I was invited by Curator Peter Lucas & the Aurora Picture Show to create a piece using found footage from the Texas Archives of the Moving Image for their Mess with Texas Programming… I created a humorous short film about the Texas Art Scene which will be screened at the Aurora. Details to the program below:
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October 2015
Good News!
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September 2015
I will be included in an exhibition called Sightlines at Kendall College of Art & Design in conjunction with Art Prize 7 in Michigan (“For 19 days, three square miles of downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, become an open playing field where anyone can find a voice in the conversation about what is art and why it matters.” -taken from Art Prize Website)…
Press Release from curator Michele Bosak:
“Sightlines,” KCAD’s ArtPrize 2015 exhibition, converges eight contemporary artists from around the world in a bold and timely examination of the often murky distinction between perception and reality. Each of these artists grapples in their own way with the fact that definitive understanding is largely elusive. Our sense of our own experiences and of the broader human experience is always changing, shifting, growing, and evolving as we embark down new paths, encounter new ideas, and undergo rapid technological advancement. Beneath the surface of what we choose to call “fact” and “truth,” there exists an underlying current of prejudice, assumption, motive, and misunderstanding that shapes both the way we come to see ourselves and our world and the way in which we communicate our perceptions to others.“
everyone vote for me #61485, I can use a $100k!!! Smile.
UPDATE:
I was selected as a Finalist by the Jury for ArtPrize.
here is a promo piece they did of my work:
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July 2015
I just found out my work will be in an exhibition at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado.
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May 2015
I just received word that I have been selected for a commission by the City of Houston & Houston Arts Alliance to create art for their Downtown Wayfinding Project.
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February 2015
So we ended up taking a trip to the New York Area to spend some time with Terry Crews!?! We sang together, We danced together, and luckily We didn’t cry together! It was an incredibly fun and new experience.
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December 2014
An article I wrote about the Art Market was recently published on Glasstire Texas: Journal of Visual Art. The Next Pop in Art is a loose, fun piece about various problems about the business of art that I have heard over the years. The article may be viewed at:
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October 2014
My father passed away on April 10th and for the longest time I just wasn’t motivated to make anything… This is my first foray into doing something for my creative life again… so… Three weeks ago I decided to completely redesign my website. What was I thinking – madness I tell you! Now, I am almost finished with creating all the pages… and am happy with the results… thank god that this nightmare is almost over!
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