Artists in Dialogue | Brian Ellison & Randy Wrosiv
May 28, 2023
Artists Brian Ellison and Randy Wrosiv discuss their shared dedication to mental-health awareness, filmmaking, and digital media as a means for creating a universal language for healing.
Ellison documents quotidian Black experiences such as gentrification’s impact on historical communities; under-publicized Black love and camaraderie; parenthood; racial injustice in the education system; and the persistent courage of people of African descent. Wrosiv weaves mixed-media works into Afro-Surrealist projects, centering the importance of conversations about mental health for BIPOC Houstonians. His work is rooted in an ethos that is tied to liberation-based philosophies, which champion wellness and transformative possibilities inherent in honoring the fullness of lived experiences.
Kula Moore, from Art Therapy Houston, introduces the artists and offers insight on the relationship between art therapy and mental wellness.
Plan Your Visit
This program is included with Museum admission. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis in Lynn Wyatt Theater, located in the Kinder Building. On Sundays, the Museum is open from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
About the Speakers
Brian Ellison is a conceptual artist who believes art is a universal language that can be a catalyst for healing. He pursues the origins of misconceptions such as dimensionless expression and emotional inaccessibility, exploring how these have led to cultural misconceptions. Ellison documents Blackness through multiple lenses, and his recent practice includes performance that magnifies the subtleties of everyday experiences. He is a founding member of the Black Man Project, a nonprofit organization rooted in creating and sustaining safe spaces for healthy conversation that explores the many nuances affecting Black men and youth.
Randy Wrosiv is a painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and digital-media specialist known for his Afro-Surrealist projects collating modern culture with the stylistic traditions of Old Masters. His work was first exhibited by Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in Perspectives 165: Contents Under Pressure by Dario Robleto. Since 2009, Wrosiv’s passion has been to create space for underrepresented creators while altering society’s perception of Black topical issues in contemporary art. Featuring over 38 works curated by WROSIV of which more than 13 pieces are of his own creation, WROSIV’s most recent exhibition, at Harris County Cultural Arts Center, spotlights the topic of mental health in the Black community.
Kula Moore is a licensed professional counselor supervisor, board-certified art therapist, and certified psychiatric rehabilitation practitioner from Art Therapy Houston.
All Learning and Interpretation programs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, receive generous support from Macey and Harry Reasoner; the Claire and Theodore Morse Foundation; and the Texas Commission on the Arts. Endowment funds are provided by the Louise Jarrett Moran Bequest; Caroline Wiess Law; Windgate Foundation; the William Randolph Hearst Foundation; Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff; the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Fondren Foundation; BMC Software, Inc.; the Wallace Foundation; the Neal Myers and Ken Black Children’s Art Fund; Mr. and Mrs. A. L. Ballard; Mr. and Mrs. Charles W. Tate; the Eleanor and Frank Freed Foundation; Virginia and Ira Jackson; the Favrot Fund; CFP Foundation; Neiman Marcus Youth Arts Education; gifts in memory of John Wynne; gifts in memory of Peter Lotz; and gifts in honor of Beth Schneider.