Six Dallas Artists to Watch in 2016

If you're interested in emerging talent, Dallas is teeming with it. Just stop by a show at 500X Gallery, Kettle Art Gallery, Random Art Gallery or Beefhaus and dig through the names on the walls. It's amazing how much work is being made in this city at any given time, and some artists are primed for a breakout year. Here are a few Dallas artists to keep an eye on. 

Sheryl Anaya 
A longtime photographer, Anaya's practice is currently focused on her work in fiber art creating delicate, colorful suspended sculptures. The creations are site-specific, occupying space to interact with the viewer on a larger than life scale. The forms often twist or loop in the air, creating the illusion of a figure stuck in motion. Each work is new, taking her practice in what promises to be an interesting direction. You can see her latest work at 500X Gallery beginning January 9, 2016. Later this spring she will install a work at Kirk Hopper Fine Art, and in April, she will have a solo exhibition at 500X Gallery. 

Randy Guthmiller 
Guthmiller's name makes it into the public sphere every once in a while for his zine, Shapes, which evolved into a small publishing arm and last year the first annual Dallas Zine Party. (Full disclosure: He published a poetry zine I created.) But not everyone knows his sculptures — the 3-dimensional manifestations of his interrogation of the commonly accepted canon of shapes. In his show at The Safe Room in early 2015, his array of small-scale works sat on shelves throughout the space. He will collaborate with Anaya for a show at 500X that opens January 9. In the spring, he will be part of a three-person show alongside Shelby David Meier and Paul Winker at Pariah Arts. 

Pierre Krause 
Dallas-based artist Krause's work has been featured in a number of interesting group shows including Sundowner, which started at Circuit 12 and traveled internationally, as well as the critically lauded Girls at Night on the Internet at Alt Space in Brooklyn. Recently Krause's work was the subject of a solo show at the domestic gallery Gimp Room in Houston, and Krause took a curatorial turn for an exhibition at Beefhaus, titled SOFT4SOFT. Primarily conceptual and often text-based, Krause's work is imbued with vulnerability and ideas of isolation. 

Jeff Parrott 
Jeff Parrott's work completely fills up a viewer's headspace. His visual language seems messy but the components are clear. They are colorfully nightmarish visions of psychedelia overwhelming the entire canvas in interesting ways. This summer he participated in the group show Irrational.City. Here's hoping we see more of him in the coming months.

Rachel Rushing
Artist Rachel Rushing centers her practice around the idea that humans can effect change. She is fully engaged with the concept of engagement. Through photography and various media, she's interested in constructing environments in a gallery space that pull the viewer into the natural world. But her practice pushes beyond her immediate art-making into the community, as she and her husband Ryan host Art Funk podcast, and she recently was the recipient of the CADD FuND for Sunset Art Studios: an Oak Cliff, artist-run studio and exhibition space she founded with Emily Riggert. 
Haylee Ryan
Dealing mostly in figurative painting, Ryan's work explores issues of memory and ideas of humanity. She wrestles with concepts of beauty and history in many of her works in subtle ways. Recently she exhibited as part of the Art Con collective during Art Walk West, taking over a wing of Fabrication St. Yard with an installation of her paintings and sketchbooks, giving visitors insight into her thoughts, dreams, observations and ideas. It's this openness that makes Ryan's work interesting, and I have a feeling we'll see more of it in the year to come.