“There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns.” – Octavia Butler
Goodluckhavefun is pleased to present New Suns, an interactive multimedia group exhibition featuring Austin artists whose work engages in worldbuilding, or the construction of a fictional world (or worlds) often practiced by authors, video game developers, and in recent decades — artists. Working across a wide range of media, including painting, virtual reality, and performance, the artists probe some of the most pressing issues of our time, often drawing on speculative fiction including science fiction, fantasy, and horror. They recast cultural icons to reveal uncomfortable truths, prompt us to envision worlds that don’t yet exist, and make the familiar strange and spectacular. This show is curated by friend of GLHF, Tiffany Smith.
Garage is open for drop-in visits for two weekends, from 1 to 4 pm. No appointment necessary!
The show runs until May 25th. Outside of those weekends, use the calendar below to book an appointment.
Alexis Hunter is an identity-based, multidisciplinary artist currently living and working in Austin, TX. She earned her BFA from Texas State University in Studio Art, with a concentration in painting, graduating summa cum laude (2022). Recent solo and group exhibitions include BINARY (Who Do You Belong To?), ICOSA Collective Gallery, Austin, TX; Own it, examine it, and confront it head on, DORF, Austin, TX; Collective Thoughts, Antenna Gallery, New Orleans, LA; and SBMRPVII, the Carver Museum, Austin, TX. In 2022, she participated in Big Medium’s LINE Residency and vol. 2 of the George Washington Carver Museum's Small Black Museum Residency Project. She also became a member of the artist-run collective, ICOSA, and the newest painting instructor at The Contemporary Austin's Art School at Laguna Gloria. Alexis is the founder of Others, an ongoing publication project documenting the faces and stories of biracial individuals in central Texas. Her work explores self-image through racial identity, mental health, the female body, and the male gaze.
Ata Mojlish is a Bangladeshi new media artist and curator currently living in Austin, Texas. His work often uses the digital media to explore the sense of self, notions of immigrant displacement, the socio-economic systems of the world, and a multilayered understanding of home.
Celine Lassus (b. 1999, Tampa, FL) is a digital native first, artist second. Based in Austin, TX, they work across interactive visual essays (or what you could call games), performance, video, and installation. Their work has been exhibited in the New Art City Festival, The Wrong Biennale, and archived by the Rhizome ArtBase. They have attended the CATS+ Residency at The Museum of Human Achievement and hold a BFA in Studio Art from The University of Texas at Austin.
Charles Benjamin Russell is an artist/illustrator born June 18, 1986 in Linden-Kildare, Tx. He has been a practicing visual artist and musician for the past 10 yrs, with his main focus being ink and watercolor illustrations on paper and wood.
Charles is self taught. He has developed his original style of uniquely whimsical, dark, and humorous worlds of interconnected characters by way of trial and error. He currently lives in Austin, tx and maintains a studio at the Museum of Human Achievement.
Hayley Labrum Morrison (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist born in Salt Lake City, UT (1986). Morrison’s 2022 solo exhibitions include “Of(f) the Body” at Dougherty Arts Center (named in Glasstire’s Top 5) and “Tinkling Ornaments” at Martha’s Contemporary. Recent group exhibitions include “Show Me a Dawn” with Co-Lab Projects in Austin, TX and “High-Maintenance” with Tchotchke Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.
Morrison co-founded concept animals in 2020, a femme artist-run publication and art community organizer. Through concept animals she created Crit Nites, launched ATX ART FOR YOU, co-produced Video Picnic at Martha’s, and curated over 100 artists into exhibitions including “Secondary” at Bolm Arts Gallery, “Out of the House” online, and ”Howdy, Stranger” at FOUNDRY.
Morrison was a resident at Vermont Studio Center in 2023, earned a BFA from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT in 2008 and has been featured in publications like Southwest Contemporary, The Exponent II, and Tchotchke Gallery’s 35mm Visual Diary.
Irene June is a current Masters of Fine Arts candidate in Sculpture at the University of Texas at Austin. June received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture at the University of Oregon in 2019 with a minor in Food Studies. They are a recipient of the College of Fine Arts Academic Excellence Fellowship Award in 2023 and the Jan Zach Memorial Scholarship in Sculpture in 2019.
His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in Austin, TX, Seattle, WA and Portland and Eugene, OR. June currently lives and works out of Austin, Texas.
Working under the name Liz Dexia, gender-fluid artist Keith Womak (any/all pronouns) took a dive into the world of Drag to discover what it means to be a Drag performer and in some cases, what it means to be human. After arriving in Austin 7 years ago from a background in illustration and fashion design, Drag became the focus for their creative pursuits. Using costume, performance, illustration, and a pandemic-fueled foray into video production, they have decided to bring these skills, themes, and ideas from Liz’s world into a more exploratory and interactive space.
Lisa B Woods is an artist and arts organizer based in Austin, Texas. She holds an MFA degree from the California College of the Arts and a BA in Communications from St Edward's University. Her artistic practice encompasses various mediums and forms, including installations, public art, and immersive experiences.
Lisa has participated in numerous exhibitions, showcasing her work in prestigious venues and events. Some notable exhibitions include Islands at the UNESCO Media Arts Exhibit, Austin, TX in 2023, Re(cognition at Nicole Longnecker Gallery, Houston, TX in 2022, and Monumental at SXSW in 2019
Sara Aleyce Roma is an ATX based new media artist and animator who utilizes stop-motion, web animation, free association writing, live video mixing, photography and interactive installation. Most recently in their short film “A Problem” they explored stop-motion as endurance performance in a relationship to a single object. From learning HTML on neopets to studying motion media and experimental animation to diving into VJing, ecophilosophy, and phenomenology, they pulls inspiration from a variety of fields and subcultures. Interests include; perception, memory, time, history of media, art theory, vintage magic, absurdist comedy, Dutch vanitas, poetry, ritual, physically generative processes (decay, evaporation), kitsch and nostalgia.
Tanya Zal is an Austin, TX based artist whose practice includes holding space for others and creating things to hold. In both her work as a care provider and her art making she is curious about how we engage with ourselves, others, and the objects around us. Originally from upstate NY, where she completed her BFA in 2010, Tanya has spent the last decade building connections within the Austin creative community. Her ceramics are colorful, decorative, and celebratory. Familiar and inviting, they nudge into fantasy. World building and storytelling about imagined girlhood, community ritual, and cycles of magical transformation.
Temitope Olujobi is a Queer Nigerian-American Architect turned Game Designer originally from the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland. They are the first ever Barlovento Foundation Scholar and seeks to continue the foundation’s mission of making games more inclusive through the themes in their work.
Temi’s first big fully fledged, realized game exploring the intersections of Architecture, Narrative and Restorative Justice called Edge of Healing was showcased at a Different Games Festival (Boston, Mass) and the Game Developers of Color Conference (New York City, NY) selection. Temi’s digital artworks have been exhibited in galleries and books including the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center (Austin, Texas), The New York City Storefront for Art and Architecture (New York, NY) and The Architecture of Closed Worlds, Or What is the Power of Shit? (written by Lydia Kallipoliti).
Thomas Cook is an oil painter in Austin TX. Born in Baltimore MD, Thomas studied painting at Savannah College of Art and Design, and lived in Savannah GA for over a decade. He through hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2010 and the allure of mountains took him to Salt Lake City UT a couple years later. Mountains, landscape, and nature are used in his paintings as he references the places he has been and builds stories of his past.
Tiffany K. Smith is an interdisciplinary artist from Los Angeles living and working in Austin, TX. After graduating from UCLA in 2011 with a degree in studio art, Smith worked in contemporary art galleries and local non-profit Side Street Projects teaching art to children. She developed a passion for teaching and returned to UCLA in 2015 to pursue her master's degree in education focusing on integrating art into the state history curriculum using a social justice framework. From 2016 to 2021, Smith taught social studies to middle and high school students in Los Angeles public schools and founded an after-school art club in response to the lack of art classes for students. Her work has been shown at The Wende Museum (Los Angeles, CA), The Museum of Human Achievement (Austin, TX), DORF (Austin, TX), Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts (Lubbock, TX), Art Room (Fort Worth, TX), FLAT PACK (Albany, TX), RAID Projects (Los Angeles, CA), California State University Long Beach and featured in a campaign for the non-profit Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence.
