Slip Into Abstraction
BY TERRI PROVENCAL
Art Ball’s ’60s theme coincides with DMA’s timely exhibition.
T
hrough painting, sculpture, and performance, the Dallas Museum of Art’s Slip Zone: A New Look at Postwar Abstraction in the Americas and East Asia, mines key contributions to artistic innovation in the mid-20th century. Through the lens of Slip Zone, we reconsider the influence of international movements such as Gutai and Mono-ha, Dansaekhwa, and Brazilian neo-concretism, and essential Black and women abstract artists who questioned abstract expressionism, minimalism, and color field movement perceptions in the US. Curated from the DMA’s contemporary holdings and loans
from local private collections, the exhibition is on view during the museum’s signature fundraiser TABLEAUX: 60 Years of Art Ball (1962–2022). “Slip Zone celebrates everything that makes the DMA special… inclusive in nature, international in vision, and a reflection of the generosity of Dallas,” says 2022’s Art Ball chair Brian Bolke. Choosing a ’60s theme, he adds, “This Art Ball is a love letter to the DMA, a look back at an institution that has always looked forward.” Here we asked patrons to select favorites from the show.
BRIAN BOLKE “The rawness of this photograph…a testament to the passion of creation…spoke to me. Seeing the scale and the intensity as well of the physical nature of the painting method reinforces that behind even the most simple-seeming work is true technique and craft.”
Kiyoji Ötsuji, Gutai photograph, 1956– 1957, printed 2012, black-and-white photograph. Overall, 14 x 11 in. Mat dimensions 20 x 16 in. The Rachofsky Collection and the Dallas Museum of Art through the TWO x TWO for AIDS and Art Fund.
SHERYL AND GEOFF GREEN Sam Gilliam’s Leaf feels like a visual expression of a jazz song. The artist’s canvas drapes, pleats, and expressively reaches out into our space. The rhythmic array of colors melodically swirl and dance. We also love that Gilliam employed abstraction as a means of supporting change and growth on the heels of the Civil Rights movement. Leaf is uplifting, inspirational, and if you look close enough, you may just get swept up in it. Sam Gilliam, Leaf, 1970, acrylic on canvas, 121.75 × 186 × 12.50 in. Dallas Museum of Art. Gift of Timothy C. Headington.
Helen Frankenthaler, Myth, 1973, acrylic on canvas, 55 x 106 in. Private collection of Jennifer and John Eagle.
SHARON YOUNG It was so difficult to select only one piece from this amazing show! Abstract painting is my favorite form of art, which made it almost impossible to choose a favorite. In the end, I settled on Helen Frankenthaler’s Myth from 1973. I tend to walk around an exhibit quickly the first time, but this stopped me in my tracks. The opacity of the paint, the blurring of the edges of the pale colors with the red paint, the sliver of white canvas in the middle—all of this and more rooted me to the spot. It’s the kind of painting I would want installed in my bedroom—the first thing I see in the morning and the last thing at night. I also love the installation of the Lynda Benglis piece, Odalisque (Hey, Hey Frankenthaler)—made me laugh and appreciate our great curators!
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