Christopher Cascio Christopher Cascio (he/him) was born in New Orleans, and lives and works in Houston. He received his BFA at the San Francisco Art Institute and MFA from the University of Houston. Over the past decade his art has dealt with themes of obsession, compulsion, and ritual practice. The work now primarily consists of hard-edge abstraction (paintings) and is influenced by traditional quilting designs. Color and its transformative effects on the human psyche are paramount. The paintings come from a spiritual place and serve as a fount of positive energy for those who take the time to look deeply. The act of painting is curative and creates an aura of healing around the work. While the paintings are largely made using masking tape and aerosol acrylic paint, Cascio’s most recent body of work is constructed from his own sewn together t-shirts which are often well-used as painting rags. He supplements his artmaking practice by regularly self publishing books and zines. Cascio is an Assistant Professor of Studio Art at the Sam Houston State University School of Art and has taught at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. He is married, has a seven-year-old, and cohabitates with two rescued tabby cats. Artist Statement I am a mid-career artist who was born in New Orleans, LA and lives in Houston, TX. Over the past decade my art has dealt with themes of obsession, compulsion, and ritual practice. The work now primarily consists of hard-edge abstraction (paintings) and is influenced by traditional quilting designs. Color and its transformative effects on the human psyche are paramount. The paintings come from a spiritual place and serve as a fount of positive energy for those who take the time to look deeply. The work combines complex color theory and motifs based on traditional quilting patterns into painted geometric abstraction. While my practice is typically made using masking tape, aerosol, and acrylic paint, the new work is made entirely of sewn clothing. This brings the practice full circle, to making painting-like quilts (instead of quilt-like paintings) that are stretched onto frames. They function as paintings even though they are made entirely from fabric and thread. I now use my own worn-out clothes and those of my wife, son, extended family, and friends as material for these works. Quilting itself deals with time and memory, and my fiber-based works are no different. My interest in quilting began with the shows of the Gee’s Bend quilters at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. The shows had a profound effect on me aesthetically and spiritually as well. I started researching the styles and patterns of the “modern” quilt as well as the traditions of Amish quilters in the Northeast, whose abstract patterns are truly remarkable. As a hoarder and recycler of materials, I am particularly drawn to the use of old clothing, feed sacks, and other remnants in quilting. These materials keep their real-world significance and are imbibed with a physical memory of their past lives. Artist Interview Curriculum Vitae EDUCATION2013 MFA, Painting, University of Houston, TXPainting Department and Presidential Scholarships Teaching Fellowship1999 BFA, Painting/Drawing, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CASobel Merit Scholarship, 4 years1995 Visual Art, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Houston, TX SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS2023 Stacks on Stacks on Stacks, Ruth Street Projects, Houston, TX2023 Dead Soldiers, Cardoza Fine Art, Houston, TX2023 I Went Into A K-Hole And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt, Wrong, Marfa, TX2022 Optic Pathways, Otra Vox, Los Angeles, CA2022 Ascent, Ivester Contemporary, Austin, TX2021 Portals, Pinwheels and Process Paintings, Bill Arning Exhibitions, Houston, TX2019 Get Wavy, Sabah House/12.26 Gallery, Dallas, TX2019 Slip Away, Face Guts, Los Angeles, CA2019 Sawtooth Waves, Front Gallery, Houston, TX2018 Chris Cascio Sells T-Shirts, Zines and Prints While Playing Tetris, BS Projects, Houston, TX2017 XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX, Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, TX2016 Full Melt, Maitland Foley, Los Angeles, CA2015 Current Obsessions II, Devin Borden Gallery, Houston, TX2014 Current Obsessions I, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX2014 And How Are We Feeling Today?, Makebish, New York City, NY2014 New Work, Wedge Space, HCC Southeast, Houston, TX2013 Color Sickness, Rice University, Houston, TX2013 Calm Down, Cardoza Fine Art, Houston, TX2013 Selections from the Hoard, Project Gallery, University of Houston, TX2012 Christopher Cascio, Front Gallery, Houston, TX2012 Spring Break, Cardoza Fine Art, Houston, TX2011 Sound Works, UTSA Satellite Space, San Antonio, TX2010 Harmonic Spheres (w/Anne Regan), Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX2008 Obsessive, Compulsive, Awesome (w/AB), ArtStorm, Houston, TX SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS2024 Texas Emerging: Volume V, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, TX2023 Contact, Adhesion and Rupture, Bill Arning Exhibitions, Kinderhook, NY2022 Five Artists Five Rooms, Reeves Art + Design, Houston, TX2022 Dimensional Disposition, Joseph Staley Projects, Houston, TX2022 For Ellen, Hardy & Nance Studios, Houston, TX2021 The Happening: HSPVA 50th Anniversary, Diverseworks, Houston, TX2021 Chromania, Bill Arning Exhibitions at Dallas Art Fair, Dallas, TX2021 SHSU 61st Annual Faculty Exhibition, University Gallery, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX2021 Collect It For The Culture III, 1201 Main Street, Houston, TX2018 Entropy Houston, Gallery Flatland, Houston, TX2017 On Repeat, Clarke & Associates, Houston, TX2017 Selections on Paper, Devin Borden Gallery, Houston, TX2016 Payday Lenders, Cardoza Fine Art, Houston, TX2016 SHSU 56th Annual Faculty Exhibition, Gaddis Geeslin Gallery, Huntsville, TX2014 Outside the Lines: Rites of Spring, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX2013 35th Master of Fine Art Thesis Exhibition, Blaffer Museum, University of Houston, TX2013 3 Cowboys, 2 Drugs and a Skater, New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA2012 HOWBOUTNOW, 4411 Montrose, Houston, TX2011 Dis, Dat, Deez and Doz, The Joanna, Houston, TX2010 Props, Partisan Gallery, San Francisco, CA2008 The Big Show, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX2007 Inaugural Exhibition, ArtStorm, Houston, TX2006 Monster Show I, Domy, Houston, TX2002 Super Hero, New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA2002 Little America (performance), New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA2001 The Portrait Show, New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA2001 2001: A Drawing Odyssey, New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA2000 20 Dollar Drawings, The Luggage Store, San Francisco, CA2000 The Monster Show, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA1999 Spring Show, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA1998 America’s Not Funny Videos, Artist’s Television Access, San Francisco, CA1997 H.S.P.V.A. 25 Years, DiverseWorks, Houston, TX1995 X Marks the Spot, DiverseWorks, Houston, TX TEACHING EXPERIENCE2022-Present Asst. Professor Studio Art, Sam Houston State University, Hunstville, TX2014-2022 Adjunct Faculty Painting, Sam Houston State University, Hunstville, TX2013-2022 Consultant Faculty Painting, High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Houston, TX2011-2013 Adjunct Faculty Painting, University of Houston, TX BIBLIOGRAPHYBoyd, Robert, Chris Cascio Again, thegreatgodpanisdead.com, October 30, 2023.Boyd, Robert, Dead Soldiers: Christopher Cascio’s paraphernalia collections, thegreatgodpanisdead.com,February 22, 2023.Boyd, Robert, Watching Artists As They Age, thegreatgodpanisdead.com, September 24, 2022.Purcell, Barbara, It Starts at the Edge and Moves In: Christopher Cascio’s “Ascent,” Glasstire.com, May 23, 2022.Cascio, Christopher, Psychic Distortions, 2021. Print.Saint Maison, Archive 02 (American Edition), 2020, 117. Print.Middendorf, Paul, “’Chris Cascio Sells T-Shirts, Zines, and Prints While Playing Tetris:’ An Interview,”Glasstire.com, August 8, 2018.Rubinstein, Raphael, On Repeat, Houston: Clarke & Associates, 2018. Print. Cascio, Christopher,Eggchiladas for One, 2017. Print.Day, Karen, “This Exhibition Pairs Pot Paintings With Their Own Strain of Weed,” The Creators Project,Vice.com, April 30, 2016.MacDonell, Allan, “5 Questions, 15 Images; Christopher Cascio’s Art of Precise Consumption,” thekindland.com, April 29, 2016.Rubinstein, Raphael, “Christopher Cascio: Devin Borden,” Art in America, September 2015, 155. Print.“Chris Cascio: Drug Map #6 (Weed),” photo, Sneeze Magazine, No. 23, Holiday 2014, A6. Print.Bill Arning, Valerie Cassel-Oliver and Dean Daderko. Outside the Lines, Houston: Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, 2014. PrintDebra Barrera, “35th Annual Master’s Thesis Exhibition at Blaffer Art Museum,” Glasstire.com, April 10, 2013.Robert Boyd, “Christopher Cascio’s Obsessive Behavior,” thegreatgodpanisdead.com, May 11, 2012.Evan J. Garza, “For Artists, By Artists,” 002 Magazine, March 2008.Bill Davenport, “Obssvv Compulsuv Awesum,” Glasstire.com, March 2008.Dusti Rhodes, “Obsessive Compulsive Awesome,” The Houston Press, March 6, 2008, 26.