PHOTO ESSAY

SARAH AND THE CITY

Text by Sarah Rufca

October 30, 2009 at 9:20 AM

Last weekend the neighborhood formerly known as Chinatown or Eastside threw itself a coming-out party. And like a confirmed Catholic or a geisha, it celebrated it's blossoming with a new moniker—EaDo, or East of Downtown. Spread out over the artist work spaces on the fourth floor of Francisco Studios. With make-shift bars serving free booze, DJs (and one band) set up in any place they could fit, and partygoers gathered in a series of small rooms, it felt like a college party, if your college was really, really artsy. For my first entry in a recurring feature as an intrepid Houston explorer, I checked out the scene and the neighborhood.

My favorite studio—eclectic, cramped and bursting with art; very Lower East Side. So haunted mansion, no? And yet also functional. The best part of artist lofts is how every surface becomes a canvas. Hence, floor stars made of duct tape. I need to have this lamp. Immediately. Preferably on my work desk. I like to imagine these CDs are full of Miley Cyrus tunes. Hey, artists have guilty pleasures, too! Thick, layered pours of paint create deceptively simple canvases where texture and color coincide. Materials as art—towering paint cans. These little boob guys were available individually or as a set. I'm not sure what I'd do with just one; it would probably sit on my coffee table looking forlorn and feeling the absence of its other half, like conjoined twins separated at birth. WyldStyl Hip Hop Dance Company says "peace." "Hey, check out my art," this guy said to me. If he was trying to pick me up, it was elaborately planned and staged, and ultimately unsuccessful. Lofted couches gave some rooms a very dorm-like feel. In a good way. Flight of the Conchords references are always winners with me. No sign of the Rhyme-noceros. My second favorite studio—open and empty to draw your eye to the details, like a tiny Buddha holding court. The light-drench minimalism of this room was like entering another planet. Looking west to downtown An Eastern view of the skyline and the giant monstrosity that is George R. Brown. Exquisitely melted candles-as-art: part gothic, part wabi-sabi. It's a beautiful day in EaDo. I loved finding this original Mini Cooper outside, complete with semi-covered British plates and a steering wheel on the opposite side. Who is this mysterious Wald? Why does he have a giant sign? Here come the yups: townhouses share a block with warehouses.