Flesh and Bone by John Guzman at the Blaffer Art Museum, Houston
Valentin Diaconov reviews the internal tensions found in Flesh and Blood, the first solo museum exhibition by John Guzman at the Blaffer Art Museum in Houston.
Valentin Diaconov
Valentin Diaconov, born in Moscow, Russia, received a PhD in culture studies from Russian State University for Humanities in 2009. He has written for a variety of Russian- and English-language publications. Diaconov curated Philosophy of Common Deed, a survey of Soviet art at the Perm State Art Gallery, in 2012; and Detective, a selection of work by young Russian artists at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, in 2014. While serving as curator at the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, he co-curated The Fabric of Felicity in 2018 and A Beautiful Night of All the People in 2020. At the moment, Diaconov is working on a short history of the shaped canvas for his residency in the Core Program, MFA Houston, and several conference papers on Eastern European outsider artists in the contexts of international Surrealist movement and the history of late socialism.
Articles (3)
JooYoung Choi: Love and Wondervision at the Moody Center for the Arts, Houston
Valentin Diaconov examines unconditional love and vulnerability through a techicolor alternate universe and gender nonconforming characters in JooYoung Choi's exhibition at the Moody Center for the Arts in Houston.
The Dog Had Ate the Hand by Ana Villagomez at Josh Pazda Hiram Butler, Houston
Valentin Dyakonov grapples with how Ana Villagomez's paintings pose questions about flatness, abstraction and pre-figurative imagery.