Now that school’s out, there are some fantastic new art shows on view in Austin. If you can stand to walk outside in those soon to be 100 degree temps, there are some very cool stops along this short tour of museums and galleries.

New and noteworthy at the Jones Center are the three finalists in the illustrious Texas Prize, a juried exhibition in which one finalists receives the coveted $30,000 award and new-found recognition in the international art community. This year’s winner is The University of Texas at Austin‘s own Jeff Williams, sculptor of industrial/natural invention.  As the two other finalists, Jamal Cyrus and Will Henry add compelling mixed media work and paintings, respectively, to the show now on display from May 5-July 22, 2012.

The Jones Center
700 Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78701

While you are downtown, don’t miss the chance to see Co-Lab Project’s new N Space in the refined lobby and offices of Nelsen Partners’ architecture firm. Mark Johnson presents “ROW HOME,” a series of “fragmented conversations” that are layered with text and call to the viewer as secret messages in need of decoding. On view by appointment May 21st-July 14th, 2012.

N Space at Nelsen Partners
905 Congress Ave.
Austin, TX 78701

Over at the Lora Reynolds Gallery, you will still need your decoder ring for the group show This Is It With It As It Is.  New work by four Los Angeles-based artists: Math Bass, Eve Fowler, Dashiell Manley, and Barry MacGregor Johnston fills the space with images and messages of seeming nonsensicality.  The title piece of the show, Eve Fowler’s This Is It With It As It Is, is borrowed from Gertrude Stein’s How to Write and presents an type of linguistic koan, an opportunity to flex your mental muscles that have thus far been encased in a summer haze.  Whether or not you are able to successfully grapple with the meaning of the work, you will certainly enjoy the spectacle. On display April 21-June 16, 2012.

Lora Reynolds Gallery
360 Nueces, Suite 50,
Austin, Texas 78701

Finally and a little further north at Women and Their Work, the suburban and supernatural collide in the large-scale paintings of Ana Fernandez, San Antonio artist whose work magnifies the eeriness of domestic totems we place in front of our homes.  Somehow, that cement ornamental Lion placed on the front porch is transformed into an ominous symbol of domestic discord.  Be transfixed from May 10-June 21, 2012.

Women and Their Work
1710 Lavaca Street
Austin, TX 78701