Past Event: Exhibition Opening Reception for Take Me As I Am: Redemption and Grace for the Discarded

Lance Flowers is a Southern American Artist occupying the intersections of anti and multidisciplinary practice. Through this adit, he arrives at compelling observations spurred by a compendium of data analysis, sustainable procurement, and a well versed first-hand account of the Black American Experience. Flowers reinvigorated collage in Texas at the inception of his career and gained attention from renowned curator Valerie Cassel Oliver. He has also produced audio work that inspired collaborations with contemporary powerhouse Rodney McMillian. At present, Flowers’ modus operandi interlinks sculpture, painting, and digital performance with other new media. His command of spatial description reflects universal truths beyond social engineering and hyperreality. Flowers also remains committed to activism, spiritual exploration, and the retelling of allegories steeped in Southern tradition. His latest offering is an amalgamation of these elements transfixed on Houston’s historic Third Ward.

Flowers’ works have featured prominently in Third Ward, including Project Row Houses’ Round 30, the Houston Arts Alliance-funded solo “Most Improved” for the Community Artists’ Collective, and the inaugural exhibit “Six Degrees of Separation” at the famed Eldorado Ballroom. He was spotlighted in the Rutgers University Samuel DeWitt Proctor Institute’s “Reframing Black Art.” Flowers received an MFAH 5A “Best Show” award and he was honored by Texas Southern University for his philanthropic commitments. His visual works are collected both nationally and internationally. In 2023 he was considered for the Toni Beauchamp Prize in Critical Art Writing in addition Flowers’ audio work resides in permanent collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Robert Hodge is a multidisciplinary artist and curator based in Houston, Texas. His oeuvre celebrates resilience and reclamation through poignant commemorations of African American cultural icons, firmly rooted in the extensive continuum of African American history and cultural expression. Hodge’s collage-based creations skillfully juxtapose urban detritus and found objects with cut-out images, lyrics, and other signifiers of the African American experience. This synthesis generates a duality of meaning, transforming fragments of everyday life into potent conduits of artistic expression. His innovative techniques—cutting, sewing, scorching, and painting—dissolve the boundaries between his reclaimed materials and the traditions he evokes, suggesting alternative pathways through the intricate “layer cake” of African American history.

Hodge’s work has been showcased in numerous prestigious galleries and museums both nationally and internationally, including the SCHIRN in Frankfurt, Germany, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Presently, Hodge’s artwork is featured in the exhibition “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century” at the Cincinnati Museum of Art.

Jason Woods aka Flash Gordon Parks is an ethnomusicologist from the city of Houston, TX. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Photography at Sam Houston State University in 2001. 

In 2005 Flash Gordon Parks published a book of photography and poetry called The Beautiful Side of Ugly with Eric Blaylock. TBSOU combined the poetic words of Blaylock with the striking images of FGP to document the beauty of urban areas of Houston, Texas. 

He’s also maintained several DJ residencies which range from Blues to Jazz to Soul/Funk to Hip Hop since 2004. Events such as Motown On Mondays, A Fistful Of Soul, Easin’ In and Straight No Chaser. As a DJ, he strives to educate the audience through carefully thought out selections. Flash Gordon Parks often collects, documents and lectures on the importance of Houston’s Rich Music History. He has lectured at such institutions as Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Rice University, Art League Houston and more.

In 2015 Flash Gordon Parks directed the documentary “This Thing We Do (Houston DJ Culture Revealed) which is an introduction to the world of Deejaying in the City of Houston. In 2019 he directed the documentary “Archie Bell” celebrating the achievements of Soul Music Icon Mr. Tighten Up (Archie Bell). In 2021 he partnered with the owners of Houston Sauce Co. to create the concept restaurant Mo’ Better Brews. He curates the vinyl shop, local Houston Music Ephemera, and music performances.

In 2022 Flash Gordon Parks was appointed Chairman of the Houston Music Advisory Board through the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.