Here a Horn, There a Horn: A Salvaged Longhorn Migrates from the Shipping Canal to Museum District

I know that was a tortured title, but bear with me.

General Supply & Equipment - Houston, TX

General Supply and Equipment, 3201 Engelke St, Houston, TX 77003

I made a field trip to this mundane yet amazing salvage company in December of 2010.  Mundane, because most everything was slightly broken, heat-damaged and/or not retrotastic.  However, it was great because what it lacked in cool collectables, it made up in large piles of what it did have.   Check out this review from Google…


“This has to be the largest collection of random crap in the city of Houston. If you are looking for anything industrial and/or vintage from HISD, HPD or god knows where else, this is the place for you. Oh you need some casters? They have like 500 million of them. Elementary school cafeteria tables? Check, Old servers? got’em. Ancient off brand laptops? Yes! I love looking around for parts and pieces for at home DIY projects, great fun. Staff is friendly and will load things for you if you need them to.”

So, it’s full of crazy, confusing piles of random crap.  Including one huge, fiberglass long horn (pictured above, outdoors looking like a big, white thing on top of some red, rusted things and shrubs.)

Untitled

Rice University Art Gallery, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 77005

6 years later and 6 miles away, the horn has moved inside as part of Thorsten Brinkmann’s “The Great Cape Rinderhorn” exhibition. Like General Supply, this exhibition is cluttered and confusing, and a bit fun. Unlike the salvage place, there are no elevator shafts to fall into, and my fear of needing a tetanus shot was almost nonexistent at the art gallery.
Here’s my review….  fun and junky, yet not dangerous.  And don’t forget to crawl through the tunnel in back of the movie theater in the crate under the longhorn. 

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