7 minute read
HAILING DALLAS ARTS
DEEP IN THE ARTS
DALLAS CELEBRATES CREATIVITY IN APRIL
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By Holly Haber
April is a heady time when area arts institutions put their best foot forward for Dallas Arts Month.
The lynchpin is the 12-yearold Dallas Art Fair, a vibrant international showcase of 85 galleries from April 21 to 24 at Fashion Industry Gallery. "It’s fun way to experience art from all over the world," says fair director Kelly Cornell.
The fair got the citywide art theme rolling in 2013 when it self-proclaimed Dallas Arts Week, Cornell explains.
Then, former Mayor and longtime art lover Mike Rawlings embraced the concept as a civic asset and useful tool for a metropolis eager to brand itself as an arts center. In 2017, the city established April as Dallas Arts Month. "The museums push their programming to synch with the fair because we have national and international press and all this great attention on Dallas," Cornell says. "The city really got behind this project, and with everyone together we are making great things happen across the arts in Dallas for the whole month."
The celebration quickly grew to encompass theatre, dance, and music.
Who's Who at the Art Fair
Situated a block from the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), the art fair was launched in 2009 to capitalize on the city's significant base of contemporary art collectors, which has grown since with the surge of businesses and people relocating to Dallas, especially from California. "People are moving here who may already be established collectors, and they are getting involved on the philanthropic and social levels," Cornell points out. "There is a bigger emphasis on local artists than a decade ago, and it's really important for the whole ecosystem."
This year's fair draws gallerists from coast to coast plus Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Asia. Among them are Archeus/ Post-Modern, Hales, Hollis Taggart, Kasmin, Kerlin, Marlborough, Night Gallery, Perrotin, and Turner Carroll.
Prominent local galleries also exhibit at the fair, including Cris Worley Fine Arts, Conduit, Erin Cluley, Galleri Urbane, and Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden.
Largely focussed on contemporary art, this year's fair may well feature more figurative works, Cornell speculates. "A couple years ago things were far more abstract, and over the pandemic we've seen a lot more figurative work coming out," she observes. "People were attracted to seeing it. A lot of it is self reflection, identifying yourself, or someone you love or hate in these works."
The fair is quite the social event. Its opening soiree on April 21 attracts big spenders seeking first dibs – Dallas Cowboys co-owner Gene Jones and other major collectors have been spotted there – and ticket sales benefit a fund for the Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center and
Clockwise from top, Starr Hardridge’s “Cosmic Twins” at Dallas Museum of Art, JooYoung Choi’s “Tourmaline the Celestial Architect” at the Crow Collection of Asian Art, and Heather Guertin’s “Tulip” at Dallas Art Fair Akos Ezer’s “Procession” at Dallas Art Fair
Dallas Contemporary to buy works from emerging artists at the fair.
Another highlight is the fabulous Eye Ball fete, a creative affair on a Main Street lawn that boasts a massive hyperrealistic sculpture of an eyeball. Headington Cos., which owns the green, the Eye, and the posh Joule hotel across the street, hosts the bash.
A $500 Party Pass gets you into the fair, the opening champagne party, and the Eye Ball; simple art fair entry is $25. Visit dallasartfair.com for tickets.
The Museum Scene
In a nod to the on-going fascination with 1950s design, the Nasher Sculpture Center stages a retrospective of sculpture, furnishings, and unusual percussive instruments by Harry Bertoia, a key figure of midcentury art best known but for the iconic wire Diamond Chair manufactured by his famous colleague, Florence Knoll. "Many people seem not to know him even though his work in some ways is everywhere, almost hiding in plain sight," observes Nasher director Jeremy Strick, citing Bertoia's many major contemporary works by tribal descendants who reference their artistic heritage. The show is a trove of carved pendants, stone and ceramic human-effigy pipes, elaborately carved conch shells, and other ritual objects from Spiro Mounds, an important archaeological site outside Spiro, Oklahoma. The find was heavily looted in the 1930s, which makes this exhibition more rare and poignant. The Crow Museum of Asian Art is bursting with colorful soft sculptures, paintings, commissions in buildings by and video art by Houstonpremiere modernist architects based artist JooYoung Choi, such as Eero Saarinen, Edward whose work animates her Durrell Stone, and others. personal story of being "Here was this artist adopted in infancy from who was ubiquitous in Korea and reared by a white conversations about art and family in New England. culture midcentury who, by In "Songs of Resilience from the time we get to the 2000s, the Tapestry of Faith," Choi is largely forgotten," says says she wanted to celebrate curator Jed Morse. "We wanted the experiences that gave her to provide a fuller view and the faith and courage to go to give people a better sense Korea to find her birth family. of the influence he had." Dallas Contemporary offers
Running through April 24, "Harry Bertoia: Sculpting Mid-Century Modern Life" brings together all aspects of his work for the first time, including metal and glass sculpture, jewelry, and distinctive metal "sounding sculptures."
The Dallas Museum of Art delves into art and culture circa 1200-1400 of the Mississippian peoples, a cooperative cluster of native American tribes whose territory stretched from present-day Missouri to Florida. "Spirit Lodge: Mississippian Art from Spiro" also features Lonnie Holley's "Memorial at Friendship Church” at Dallas Contemporary
Still from a Roxanne Minnish video at Aurora Video Art Nights
four solo exhibitions opening April 16: Joseph Havel's totemic bronze and resin sculptures, Lonnie Holley's new ceramics, Borna Sammak's mixed-media riffs on American culture, and Natalie Wadlington's brightly colored figurative paintings.
If classics are your style – and even if they are not – visit "Murillo: Picturing the Prodigal Son" at the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University. It which reunites six lush 17th century paintings that illustrate, in expressive detail, the biblical parable about forgiveness.
Happenings & Performing Arts
Aurora, the city's biennial outdoor exhibition of illuminated works that blend art and technology, is staging free Video Art Nights every Friday in April at public spaces across downtown. An eclectic group of regional and national digital-media artists will be featured in four-hour screenings at Pegasus Plaza, the Dallas Arts District, and West End Square. Visit dallasaurora.com/videoart-nights for information.
The annual Deep Ellum Arts Festival is a free three-day explosion of art, music, and food in a hip neighborhood that's packed with restaurants and bars. The jubilee presents live music on five outdoor stages – everything from classical to hip hop – from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on April 1 to 3. See deepellumartsfestival. com for details.
Dallas has a lively thespian community led by the Tony Award-winning Dallas Theater Center, which presents "The Sound of Music" through April 22.
Additional top shows are Dallas Opera's "The Pearl Fishers" April 2, 6, 8, and 10; TITAS's always spectacular "Command Performance" featuring dance greats on April 23; "Encore! Rising Excellence"
Natalie Wadlington’s “Snapping Turtle at Dog Park" at Dallas Contemporary
by the cracking Dallas Black Dance Theatre; and the shrewd, witty "Dry Powder" from April 6 to 23 by talented indie company Second Thought Theatre.
The emphasis on creativity during Dallas Arts Month is hardly an isolated affair.
As arts patron Susan Ernst says, "There is so much going on now year round in the whole arts scene in Dallas that I don't just focus on one month."
For a comprehensive listing of fine and performing arts plus literary events, visit artandseek.org.
“Untitled (Sunburst)” by Harry Bertoia at Nasher Sculpture Center
Dallas Opera's "The Pearl Fishers"
Borna Sammak’s "Powermad Dude" at Dallas Contemporary
