5 Art Events for Your Weekend: November 24-27

Jay Shinn: Air Space
Barry Whistler Gallery
315 Cole St., Suite 120
12 to 5 p.m., closing Saturday

If you know what a decahedron is, you are either a high school geometry teacher or the artist Jay Shinn. Shinn uses the 10-faced, three-dimensional wooden shapes as canvasses for Air Space, his inaugural solo exhibition with Barry Whistler Gallery. The collection pairs new painted works with an original wall installation combining neon and projected light.

The Magnolia, Arkansas, native’s artistic repertoire consistently explores what he calls “minimal geometric abstraction,” most recently via the use of slightly altered light to create illusions. Some of his works are simple and monochromatic (see 2015’s “Circus”); others explode with emotion and color (see “Celestial Candyland,” his kaleidoscopic, Easter egg-hued banner currently on display at Houston Intercontinental Airport). Expect more of the same from Air Space, which promises liberal usage of pastels. It’s literal eye candy.

The Trains at NorthPark
NorthPark Center
8687 N. Central Expressway
9 a.m. Friday and Saturday
Take one cursory look at the trains at NorthPark and tell us they’re not art. Benefiting the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas, The Trains at NorthPark features more than 750 rail cars on a 1,600-foot-long intricate configuration of tracks set against iconic Dallas landmarks. Now in its 29th year, the exhibition features a Dallas cityscape, replete with the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge and Fair Park; New York City’s Times Square and Grand Central Terminal; Washington, D.C., with The White House; and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. That’s just a smattering. Tickets are free, but ambitious types can rent a caboose for $225 or an engine for $325. This beloved Dallas holiday tradition will take the Grinch out of you whether you’re 7 or 70.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Alamo Drafthouse – Cedars, 4:45 p.m. Thursday
Alamo Drafthouse – Richardson, 100 S. Central Expressway, 1:45 p.m. Thursday
Sure, you could sit around the table listening to your red-hatted uncle and smug younger sister spew election vitriol back and forth like mashed potatoes. Alternately, you could retreat anonymously into a dark theater with a huge beer and watch what’s arguably the most underrated holiday movie of all time. Remember Planes, Trains and Automobiles? This perennial slice of holiday cheer follows the misadventures of a curmudgeonly businessman (played by Steve Martin, who evidently picked up a banjo long before his recent stint with Edie Brickell) and an unnaturally happy curtain ring salesman (played by the inimitable John Candy) as they attempt to get home for Thanksgiving. Catch the movie Nov. 24 at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – Cedars at 4:45 p.m. or Alamo Drafthouse – Richardson at 1:45 p.m.

Abhidnya Ghuge: Flight of the Canyon
Crow Collection of Art
2010 Flora St.
Closing Sunday

For Flight of the Canyon, Abhidnya Ghuge draws inspiration from her Indian heritage, using tedious printmaking techniques to carve her own woodblocks with henna-laden creations. After carving them, she inks thousands of disposable paper plates with varying shades of robust colors. The end results of her works are intriguing, organic site-specific installations.

The patterns and forms of the final multidisciplinary pieces were crafted to resemble microscopic and organic elements found naturally within the human body. Who would have thought that disposable paper plates could so accurately depict the fragility of life and human existence?

Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel – The Exhibition
Fair Park
10 a.m. Friday through Sunday
If you can’t make it to Rome this Thanksgiving, poor you, see the Sistine Chapel in Fair Park. This sweeping exhibition recreates Michelangelo’s renowned ceiling frescoes from Vatican City, reproduced via photograph and displayed in their original, grandiose sizes. The bigger-than-life interpretation of the timeless masterpieces can be viewed up close, including The Creation of Adam and The Last Judgment. The exhibition is located at the Women’s Museum building at Fair Park. Tickets are $16.