I've been slacking when it comes to seeing all the exhibitions happening in and around Dallas. I don't know if it's been the weather, or what you might call being in "a funk," but I'm slowly emerging from my shell to see everything out there. This list is a healthy mix of things I can promise are worth seeing from personal experience, as well as a few educated predictions for the weekend.
A Flexible Arrangement Nathan Green has had a great year. This Dallas-based artist is showing throughout the city and the world, and is a name you need to know. This weekend, he flexes his curatorial muscles with a group exhibition that explores "the ways that a photograph can exaggerate, mask, and distort reality." He brings together the work of six artists, including Dallas-based Kevin Todora and several members of Austin-based collective Okay Mountain, of which Green is a member. See the work at Gray Matters (113 N. Haskell) during the opening reception 6-9 p.m. Saturday.
Fractal Logic 2 If a painting is a collection of brushstrokes, then is a collection of paintings something new entirely? It's one question curator George Fowler is asking in the current exhibition at Kettle Art Gallery. By far one of the most impressive things I've seen at the gallery, Fractal Logic 2 is an exhibition for which selected artists - mostly Dallas-based - make one large work comprised of smaller works. The gallery is overflowing with work from illuminated photographs by Daniel Driensky, leatherwork from Scott Horn, and paintings from Dan Colcer and Hatziel Flores, and so many others.
Whyte Window, Black Mirror and Black Burka Not only has the World Wide Web turned the most sheltered among us into cosmopolitan bon vivants, it's changed the way artists interact with, discuss and create art. Three such artists are the elusive, questionably real trio: Whyte Window, Black Mirror and Black Burka. By all accounts, these artists use the Internet as a tool to disrupt and engage in artistic conversation. But in the age of anonymity, half the fun is questioning the identity of certain artists. Think of the upcoming show at Beefhaus (833 Exposition Ave.) as the "experiment in digital art" that the artists want it to be and you're bound to find the show intriguing. Worry too much about who these artists are and you might find yourself miffed. Decide for yourself during the one-night-only show from 8-11 p.m. Saturday. More information lurking somewhere on the Internet. Check Facebook.
Caroline Mousseau This will likely be the most traditional show you'll ever see at Cydonia Gallery, the Design District's new internationally focused space. It's a thoughtful, well-crafted painting show by the young, Vancouver-based artist Caroline Mousseau. The works in the show, at once varied and similar, challenge the viewers to explore the canvas, to think about the craft of painting as precise, yet messy, and complicated, yet meaningful. The show seems as much about the impulse to paint, as the work itself -- which may seem obtuse, but the show brings to life these questions, frustrations, and the beautiful conclusions Mousseau has reached. The show remains on display through April 3. Cydonia is open 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
La La Land Revisited There seems to be a great deal of conversation about the ties between music and art, which will be the focus of a one-night exhibition at Circuit 12 Contemporary. Scott Tucker, the frontman for local band The Orange, opens a solo exhibition of work inspired by musical creation. He describes the works on display -- focused on the color blue, which stands opposite to orange in the natural color wheel -- as the physical expressions of his musical work. See the work and hear The Orange perform during the opening reception at 7 p.m. Saturday.
