Raining art in Houston

            Who says you can’t touch art?

            There’s an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston that encourages visitors to touch, photograph and immerse themselves within — in a very big way. It’s kinetic artist Jesús Rafael Soto’s final piece before his died, one of the few Soto created for indoor use and the only one designed as permanent.

            Titled the Houston Penetrable, the exhibit consists of 24,000 PVC (polyvinyl chloride) tubes individually hand-painted and tied. These tubes hang down 28 feet from the ceiling to the floor in the Museum’s Cullinan Hall, located in the city’s Museum District.

            From a distance, visitors can see the design that exists within the thousands of tubes, a soft yellow oval. Up close and inside the exhibit, the tubes feel like rain falling as visitors walk through.

            On any day, you’ll find people enjoying Soto’s unique exhibit, sometimes lying on the floor and looking up, many times capturing selfies and adding the exhibit hashtag (#SotoSummer) as they post to social media. (If you show your #SotoSummer photo at Bosta Wine & Coffee, 1801 Binz in the Museum District, you will receive $1 off the exclusive #SotoSummer passion fruit and white chocolate ice cream created by Cloud 10 Creamery.)

            The Penetrable was commissioned in 2004 specifically for the Houston museum and took almost a decade to come to fruition with architect Paolo Carrozzino and producer Walter Pellevoisin working in tandem with Atelier Soto, Paris. The piece took three months to install. In addition to the Penetrable, there are eight pieces on display from Soto’s career, including his Plexiglas boxes and selections from his Agujas (Needles), Ambivalencias (Ambivalences) and Vibraciones (Vibrations) series.

            Don’t miss this. The exhibit ends Sept. 1, 2014.
            Want to see a video of the exhibit? Click here.