MICHAEL GALBRETH
Born January 6, 1956 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Michael Galbreth grew up first in Asheville, North Carolina, then in Nashville, Tennessee, where he graduated from Father Ryan High School in 1974. He attended college at Middle Tennessee State College in Murfreesboro and at Memphis State University where he received a BFA in painting in 1980. He moved to Houston in 1981 to attend graduate school at the University of Houston at the invitation of the artist James Surls where he received an MFA in video and sculpture in 1984. Building upon his interest in sound art, he was the director of the Houston iteration on the New Music America Festival in 1986. Galbreth also served at various times on the boards of DiverseWorks and the Contemporary Art Museum Houston; the University of Houston System-Wide Art Acquisitions Committee (SWAAC); and was a longtime member of the Film Committee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Beginning in 1983 he worked with Jack Massing as part of the duo The Art Guys, a collaboration that spanned more than 33 years. The Art Guys presented hundreds of exhibitions, performances, lectures and other activities throughout the United States, Europe and China and their work has been covered in all media. On April 1, 2016 The Art Guys announced “The Art Guys are not artists” thus beginning a radical experiment to move beyond the definitions and limits of art itself. Michael Galbreth died in Houston on October 19, 2019.
Notes: Pete Gershon interviewed Michael Galbreth at the Art Guys HQ in Houston on August 1, 2019. Galbreth discusses his background growing up in Nashville; early artistic endeavors in Memphis and Murfreesboro; being drafted by James Surls to attend U of H for graduate school; formative years at Lawndale; interest in sound art; experience installing ‘Collision: Independent Visions’ at Lawndale in 1984; directing the Houston iteration of the New Music America festival in 1986; early and mid-career work with the Art Guys. As a narrator, Michael was funny, candid, and thoughtful, and we miss him terribly.
Further Resources:
The Art Guys Records, 1986-2013, U of H Special Collections 08/2013-001
The Art Guys, The Clothes Make the Man, 1997-2000, MFAH Archives MS37
This project was funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance