Review: Revolver Galeria's 'Nomos' on Peden Street

When Fredericka Hunter and Ian Glennie closed Texas Gallery in February 2026 after more than fifty years on Peden Street, it felt like the end of an era. The gallery that had shown Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra, Lynda Benglis, and Pat Steir — that had, in many ways, put Houston on the contemporary art map — was done. The space at 2012 Peden sat empty, loaded with history and expectation.

So when Revolver Galeria moved in and opened "Nomos" as its inaugural Houston exhibition, the art world was paying attention. And the show is worth the scrutiny. Glasstire covered the opening as one of the more significant gallery debuts Houston has seen in years.

Curated by Reynier Leyva Novo, "Nomos" brings together works by Elena Damiani, Giancarlo Scaglia, Alberto Borea, Mel Chin, Jerry B. Martin, and Novo himself. The title refers to the Greek concept of law or custom — but more precisely, to the moment when land transcends its condition as surface and becomes territory. When "terra" becomes "-orium." When ground gets charged with belonging.

It's a heady premise for a gallery debut, but Revolver isn't here to play it safe. Founded by Megan Olivia Ebel — the Canadian-born curator who also runs RUBY Projects and the La Ruche HTX residency — Revolver arrives in Houston with a program rooted in Latin American contemporary art and a track record of international circulation. The gallery has shown at Art Basel and is positioning Houston within a broader transnational discourse. Our profile of Megan Olivia Ebel tells the story of how she built both spaces.

The inclusion of Mel Chin, the Houston-born conceptual artist whose work has always interrogated the politics of place, feels particularly resonant in this context. Chin's presence alongside Latin American artists creates a dialogue about what it means to claim territory — physically, culturally, politically — in a city that is itself a gateway between the United States and Latin America. That argument runs through everything happening at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston right now, where the Latin American art program is one of the most significant in the Western Hemisphere. How Houston became the U.S. capital of Latin American art.

That Revolver chose this particular address is no accident. Texas Gallery's legacy hangs in the air at 2012 Peden like a benediction. By occupying the space, Revolver isn't erasing that history — it's extending it, redirecting it toward the hemispheric conversations that Houston, more than almost any other American city, is positioned to host.

The works themselves reward slow looking. Elena Damiani's geological abstractions — layered prints that compress millions of years of sedimentary history into flat, luminous surfaces — quietly argue that territory is never stable, never fixed. It shifts beneath us, literally. Giancarlo Scaglia's photographs of Peruvian landscapes register similar instabilities, finding in eroded hillsides and exposed strata the same precariousness that shapes political borders. Alberto Borea's sculptural interventions use sand, concrete, and found materials to mark the tension between what is built and what is eroded — a tension that Houston, a city perpetually under construction and perpetually threatened by flooding, understands intimately.

The gallery space itself has been thoughtfully reconfigured. Where Texas Gallery favored white-walled neutrality, Revolver has introduced architectural interventions — partial walls, angled sightlines — that force the viewer to navigate the exhibition physically, echoing the show's thematic insistence that territory must be traversed, not merely observed. The lighting is precise without being clinical. The scale of the rooms, generous by Houston gallery standards, allows each work breathing room while maintaining a coherent curatorial argument across the full space.

What comes next for Revolver will matter. Ebel has already announced a fall program that will include a solo presentation by a Mexico City-based artist and a group show drawing from her years of curatorial work across Sudan, China, and France. If the ambition of "Nomos" is any indication, Revolver Galeria is not here to fill a vacancy — it's here to make an argument about what a Houston gallery can be in 2026 and beyond.

"Nomos" runs through July 17 at Revolver Galeria, 2012 Peden St, Houston, TX 77019. Free admission.