Mark Flood
Gratest Hits
The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
5216 Montrose Boulevard, Houston Texas 77006
April 30 – August 7, 2016

Now on view at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Gratest Hits is the first survey exhibition of work by Mark Flood, with works on view dating from the 1980s to 2015. Gratest Hits presents paintings from a range of the artist’s best known series, hinged together along the walls of the Brown Foundation Gallery, including two of his largest lace paintings, a series Flood began in the early ’90s. More recent paintings on view employ corporate and digital domain logos, referencing the aesthetics and attention span associated with online experiences. In site-specific installations throughout the exhibition space, Flood combines absurd pseudo-posters, photographs, ephemera, collages, found and altered documents, and text paintings. A stack of 5,000 “LIKE” paintings can be moved by visitors, mimicking the congratulatory gestures of social media in the gallery space.

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston presents two screenings of Mark Flood’s Art Fair Fever, a satirical film that takes the contemporary art world and art sales as its subject. The first screening on May 12 is followed by a conversation between Bill Arning, organizing curator and Director of CAMH, and David Breslin, John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Chief Curator of the Menil Drawing Institute, the Menil Collection. At a second screening on July 21, Mark Flood will sign copies of his exhibition catalog, Mark Flood: Gratest Hits. The second screening will be followed by a conversation between Bill Arning and Stephanie Mitchell, Executive Director of Lawndale Art Center.
 

Mark Flood, MAINTAIN, 2011. Acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 96 x 108 inches. Courtesy of the artist, Peres Projects (Berlin), Stuart Shave/Modern Art (London), and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Mark Flood, Silver Ziggurat 1, 2009. Mixed media, acrylic, and spray paint on canvas, 101 x 60 inches (5 parts). © Mark Flood. Courtesy of the artist, Peres Projects (Berlin), and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Mark Flood, Bevilacqua’s BLOOD, 2016. Spray paint on metal sign, 36 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist, Peres Projects (Berlin), Stuart Shave/Modern Art (London), and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Installation view, Gratest Hits, Mark Flood at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Courtesy of the artist and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Installation view, Gratest Hits, Mark Flood at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Courtesy of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Mark Flood, Heaven’s Gate, 2015. Acrylic on canvas, 70 x 101 inches. Courtesy of the artist, Peres Projects (Berlin), Stuart Shave/Modern Art (London), and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.

Mark Flood, Menil Collection Floorplan, 1992. Acrylic on canvas, 26.5 x 60 inches. Private collection. Courtesy of the artist and the Contemporary Arts Museums Houston.

Installation view, Gratest Hits, Mark Flood at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Courtesy of the artist and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.