Still Life of Downtown Chronicle Building Rubble, and Other Masterworks of Deconstruction

Painting by Ken Mazzu

Artist Ken Mazzu’s been back at the easel and back on the Houston demolition beat lately, finishing up some new works to be featured in next month’s building-themed art show at the William Reaves / Sarah Foltz Fine Art Gallery at 2143 Westheimer Rd.. The show will feature some of Mazzu’s paintings of ’round-town teardowns, along with works of 2 other Houston-focused artists (late photographer Jim Culberson and living painter Richard Stout). The gallery will even host Houston archi-historian Dr. Stephen Fox for a talk about The Changing City on the 14th.

Mazzu’s had a lot of subjects to choose from since a set of his demo-themed canvases went on display back in 2013; he sends over some previews of new pieces, including the scene above commemorating the disassembly of the former Downtown headquarters of the Houston Chronicle. Other recent works feature newly-parking-lotified 509 Louisiana St., the dissolution of the octagonal Solvay mid-rise, a pile of post-blow-up downtown Foley’s debris, and more:

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Painting by Ken Mazzu

That’s a suspenseful moment from the 509 Louisiana takedown above. Here’s the now-gone Solvay building after a few blows to the face by that wrecking ball: 

Painting by Ken Mazzu

A view of the old downtown Foley’s, after the dust settled:

Painting by Ken Mazzu

Here’s Kirby at Colquitt, right after those funeral parlor bars were cleared out of the way for the Kirby Collection:

Painting by Ken Mazzu

Another canvas shows the last bits of the old 3400 Montrose Blvd. reaching for the sky:

Painting by Ken Mazzu

Here’s Mazzu’s impression of the Texas Tower take-apart, at the downtown spot now occupied by 609 Main:

Painting by Ken Mazzu

And finally, here’s a painted view of the rubble of the old Houston Club building, which has since made way for a Skanska tower foundation:

Painting by Ken Mazzu

Images: Ken Mazzu

New Works Retrospective