5 Art Exhibitions to See in Dallas This Weekend

Lorem Ipsum
When an art director or graphic designer wants to see what text will look like on the page or in an online post, he or she will often use the Latin words Lorem Ipsum as placeholder text. Sometimes the text is used because a writer has blown a deadline for submission, but often it’s a method of removing distraction — to see if the design of the words contributes something effective and singular. In a new collaborative exhibition in SMU’s Pollock Gallery (3140 Dyer St.), curators will wrestle with a similar question. Does it matter how the art is arranged? The work of 19 artists will be reworked throughout the exhibit’s run by multiple curators, in a running commentary about the use or necessity of a curator today. You can keep up with this challenge by stopping by the gallery during open hours or visiting loremipsumexhibition.tumblr.com, which will be updated regularly with the changes.
 
The Instigators
Kettle Art Gallery is a special place. A staple in the Deep Ellum neighborhood, and a great place to kick it with local artists or pick up a new painting for your collection, Kettle is the first stop before a concert or the last stop after a happy hour. And this weekend, Kettle turns 10 — a feat for any business in that neighborhood. It's one of the few galleries in this city set on mentoring or incubating young artists with no strings attached. Stop by the gallery from 7-10 p.m. Thursday to celebrate with owners Frank Campagna and Paula Harris, and see the work of some of the original instigators. More at kettleart.com.

John Wilcox: Diptychs and Polyptychs 
John Wilcox was one of the great artists Dallas can claim. A native of Denison, in the 1970s Wilcox worked at The Modern in Fort Worth, where he met and worked alongside Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella and Dan Flavin. He moved to New York in the ’80s and received accolades from The New York Times and Art in America before returning to Texas in the ’90s and working in a studio near Fair Park. His last one-man show while he was living was at Barry Whistler Gallery in 2010, and was inspired by the friends he’d watched succumb to AIDS in New York. But his old studio, The Wilcox Space (824 Exposition Ave.), has hosted several posthumous shows of Wilcox’s work, which his family and supporters curate occasionally throughout the year. From 6-8 p.m. Saturday, view an exhibition focused on the diptych and polyptych formats Wilcox employed throughout this career. It will be a two-part installation curated by Sarah Koszlowski and Benjamin Lima. More at johnwilcoxart.com.
    
Doug Land: Overwhelming Nostalgia
Artist Doug Land is interested in the connections there are to be made between nature and objects. In each of his works, you'll see elements familiar and renewed. For the final weekend of his show in RO2 Art's project space, more works have been added to the exhibit, Overwhelming Nostalgia. Swing through the closing reception 7-9 p.m. Thursday. More at ro2art.com.

Kyle Hobratschk & Shelley Scott
This weekend at the art gallery in One Arts Plaza, JM Gallery, a two-person exhibition opens that's interested in a viewer's perception of space. The work of Kyle Hobratschk takes interest in architectural structures. He creates aquatint prints and oil paintings that hint at cornerstones, headstones, ancient temples and more, without clear representation. Shelly Scott uses sculptural images to blur the difference between two and three dimensional space. See the work in an opening reception from 5-8 p.m. Saturday.