Michael Bise
Apocalypse 2020!
January 18 – March 1, 2025
Reception for the Artist Saturday, January 18, 3-5 pm
Artist Talk with Rainey Knudson 4 pm
Moody Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new drawings by Michael Bise. “Apocalypse 2020!” marks his tenth exhibition at the gallery and will be on view January 18 – March 1, 2025.
The word "apocalypse" is typically understood to mean "the end of the world." In this most recent exhibition, Bise investigates this, and other more nuanced readings implied by the original Greek definition of the word: to uncover, or to reveal. In a series of thirteen new drawings- including an ambitious 12-foot tall drawing, his largest work to date- Bise illuminates the universal and eternal realities that lie hidden beneath the Modernist conventions of daily life at the beginning of the 21st century. From personal, intimate revelations within marriage and friendship to social disintegration in the face of war and disease, Bise creates iconographic images of the visible and invisible worlds of post-modern civilization.
Michael Bise (b. Flagstaff, Arizona, 1976) currently lives and works in Houston, Texas. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of North Texas (2001) and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Houston (2005). Bise’s work is included in the permanent collections of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston Airport System, City of Houston, and the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. His work has been exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; The Glassell School of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Art Museum of Southeast Texas; Art Museum of South Texas; Tyler Museum of Art; Galveston Arts Center; Fort Worth Contemporary Arts at Texas Christian University; and the McKinney Avenue Contemporary. Bise is a recipient of the Hunting Art Prize (2012), a Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Grant (2014), and an Artadia Finalist (2012, 2014). He is an instructor at The Glassell School of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston since 2013.
Two major drawings by Michael Bise were recently acquired by The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Revival, 2009, graphite on paper, 41 ½” x 84 ¼” is a Gift of Betty Moody in honor of Adrian Page (2024). Vanishing Points, 2007, graphite on paper, 36” x 84 ¼” is a Gift of James Kralik in honor of the artist and Betty Moody (2025).
Rainey Knudson is a writer based in Houston and the founder of Glasstire, the online journal of visual art in Texas and the oldest online-only art magazine in the country. Rainey has spoken or written about arts journalism at Texas Monthly, the USC Annenberg School, the University of Texas at Austin, the El Paso Museum of Art, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, College Arts Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other places. Her blog The Impatient Reader can be found on Substack- raineyknudson.substack.com.
Michael Bise | Apocalypse 2020! can be viewed online at moodygallery.com. For more information, please call or email the gallery at 713-526-9911 or info@moodygallery.com. Moody Gallery is open Tuesday - Friday 10:30 am – 5:00 pm and Saturday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm.