5 Stops To Make On Saturday at Dallas Gallery Day

Dallas Gallery Day is an art fanatic’s dream. Organized by The Public Trust’s Brian Gibb in 2012, Gallery Day is a sort of organized welcome mat that encourages the public to visit an impressive assortment of the city’s best art galleries. If you’re not really dedicated to the art scene, you probably don’t make it out to many opening receptions or special exhibitions, but Dallas Gallery Day is a great way to take the pulse of the local art scene at warp speed.

This Saturday, more than 30 galleries across Dallas will open the door to their air conditioned, art-filled oases in an effort to get more people out looking at, and hopefully buying, art. If you’re planning to check out this most massive of art walks — and you definitely should — be sure to stop at these seven galleries.

Atama
It isn’t often that you find one-of-a-kind toys and progressive art installations in the same place, but Atama is the most interesting of exceptions. This Mockingbird Station gallery is currently showing Shamsi Roomiani’s ethereal and earthy Flora Obscura, along with their usual selection of illustrations, prints, and toys for cool-ass grown-ups. You’ll also find some budget-friendly ways to spruce up your home’s aesthetic with design-forward touches.

Erin Cluley Gallery
Dallas Gallery Day marks the last day of the Erin Cluley Gallery’s exhibition of Zeke Williams’ Heat Check, a vibrant and striking collection of acrylic-on-canvas paintings that explore “the intersections of contemporary fashion, the female form and technology.” If you’ve missed this exhibition, Williams’ first, make it a point to stop in and check it out. You’ll certainly be seeing exciting things to come from this artist.

The Reading Room
If you prefer a little politics with your art, Aaron Krach’s Will You Come Back? at The Reading Room is an excellent choice. In this exhibition, the New York City-based artist has produced a broadsheet newspaper that centers around the provenance of a Gauguin painting that sold for an exorbitant sum. According to the artist, Will You Come Back? pays homage to the work of Gauguin and “raises questions of value in the art market.”

Liliana Bloch Gallery
Since making the move from Deep Ellum to the Design District, the Liliana Bloch Gallery has been doing some pretty damn interesting things. At present, the Gallery is home to And They Papered The Room, a collaboration of 14 artists from Dallas and beyond that explores new and innovative ways that contemporary artists can work with paper, the world’s oldest medium that isn’t an actual cave. If you want to see an impressive variety of styles, influences, and shapes, stop here.

Cydonia
If it seems strange that twin brothers would both grow up to be excellent artists, that’s probably because it is. Michael and Alan Fleming have been working together for most of their artistic careers, and their current exhibition at Cydonia, Gemini, is a complex investigation of the relationship between people and space, that often features the artists themselves. Even if you missed the live performance piece at Klyde Warren Park when the show opened, this is still a show worth seeing.