The Three Kings of “No Kings But Us”

"This is not an opening or exhibition. This is more like a concert." That's how Houston music producer turned artistic curator Russel Gonzalez describes "No Kings But Us," the collaborative show at Big Medium from HodgeKerr, aka Third Ward visual mastermind/musician Robert Hodge and Austin DIY punk icon and self-described self-expressionist Tim Kerr.

Kerr and Hodge originally met in San Antonio and have been mutual admirers of each other's work, but it wasn't until Gonzalez floated the idea to them about forming what is essentially an artistic supergroup that they seriously linked up, tied by their passions and experience in the music and art worlds as well as their desires to shed light on inspirational figures and cause social change. "I've been following Tim's work since I was a kid," says Hodge of Kerr, who is as well known for his murals and portraits as for playing guitar for Austin bands like punk pioneers the Big Boys, and the funky Bad Mutha Goose and the Brothers Grimm. "I used to see his work in Juxtapoz magazine and I used to cut it out. I always thought he was amazing with colors."

The two started by sending pieces back and forth, and an early iteration of their first joint show opened at the University of Houston's Blaffer Museum last May. Kerr says of their creative workflow, "This is the same sort of thing that Bad Mutha Goose was. It's not just a white person saying this stuff or a Black person saying this stuff, it's Black and white saying this which obviously means 'Okay, somebody's getting together here.' To me, that has more power than just one or the other making these statements." Hodge adds, "We're trying to say, 'Look man, it's more things we got in common than we don't.' To hear Tim's knowledge on not only the musicians but the culture [is] really intentional and it's authentic. When you talk to him, you know it's full of integrity and that he understands where these things come from."

Gonzalez, known in the music world as "The ARE" of Houston hip-hop crew K-Otix, has national acclaim as a producer for acts like Earth Wind & Fire, LL Cool J, and Nicki Minaj, and Texas fame for pressing vinyl for Scarface, and supplying DJ Screw with his famous gray tapes. Gonzalez describes himself as "the Quincy Jones to the Michael Jackson" of the two artists he's linked together, comparing them to Basquiat and Warhol. For what it's worth, Kerr says, "I've always kind of been like Sun Ra."

Comparing the Houston and Austin art scenes, Kerr said, "Houston's definitely got a broader and more inclusive art scene going on ... [while] Austin's starting to be like a Tesla tech city. There's definitely pockets of it going on here, but it's changed in the last six or seven years. Everything is completely different in this place now than what it used to be. Even though I do art in Austin, I don't subscribe to anything. I just do what I do. If things happen, cool."

Gonzalez agreed about those changes to Austin. "There's so much new blood here, that there's a lot of people that feel a little forgotten. There's this subculture that's there still and OGs but you just don't see them as much anymore ... There's a lot of people that really love Tim here and they don't even know who he is. His influence on this city is huge. I wanna give Tim his flowers while he's here for the city."

"He's underrated here," adds Hodge. "People know who he is, but for me, it was important to put him in the conversation of contemporary art and the space of fine art and not being an outsider. He taught me to just go in and attack it, like 'What are you waiting for?' I've never seen nobody come in right there and just start going. That's the biggest thing I got from him, to stop overthinking and that everything's not for public consumption. It's so much like making music."

HodgeKerr: No Kings But Us
Big Medium, 4201 S. Congress, bigmedium.org
Through Feb. 24