You're going to hear a lot of people telling you what #DallasArtsWeek and the Dallas Art Fair mean for the city this week. No matter what they say, roll your eyes, sip your champagne, and adopt the most blasé tone you can muster and say, "Vous sentez come le boeuf et le fromage." If it means what I think it means, that'll shut 'em up.
This weekend join in on the Dallas art world's adult spring break. Crash the party at the Art Fair during Young Professionals Day Friday (free passes with the code, DAFProfessional2015), then find your own ways to crash all the other fancy people parties if you're into that thing. Or just revel in the overflow.
Wednesday The Seven Exhibition What is this? Actual art that's actually part of Dallas Arts Week? Quelle bonne idée! At noon Wednesday, the mayor hosts a press conference to unveil The Seven, an exhibition that features work from the faculty and students of the seven community colleges throughout Dallas. See the work at Dallas City Hall through June 5 on your way to complain about the potholes in East Dallas.
Inner Voice Art Exhibit From 6-8 p.m. Wednesday night, the gallery space in an office building at 211 Ervay St. downtown hosts an opening reception for an exhibition of the international artist Berna N. Arpaci. They also say that the "guests of honor" will be performing artists Sagopa Kajmer and Kolera, so perhaps this cocktail reception will also include a performance?
Thursday Chit Chat with David Salle If you can sneak away from your desk at 10 a.m. Thursday, the Dallas Contemporary hosts a midmorning chat with the current headlining exhibiting artist, David Salle. He will discuss his work with Richard Phillips, who was the subject of the Contemporary's art fair exhibition last year. The chat is free.
Retrospect Hey, in addition to Dallas art month, it's also Architecture Month. The Dallas Center for Architecture hosts regular tours of the Skyline in Klyde Warren Park, and exhibitions in their office space off of Woodall Rodgers Freeway but this month they host even more events. This year, the center celebrates its 25th anniversary of the annual NorthPark Center exhibition, Retrospect, with a big party at Pirch -- the coolest store in the mall. Tickets are $35 for food, dancing, and drinks.
Grit Also happening this month is the Big D Reads program -- a branch of D Magazine that encourages all of Dallas to read the same book. As an extension of that, Kettle Art Gallery hosts an exhibition of works related to the themes of the novel, True Grit. See it in opening reception from 7-10 p.m. Thursday.
Beethoven Piano Concerto No 4 at Dallas Symphony Orchestra Take a break from visual art and listen to some piano music. Also on the docket are Rouse's Iscariot (Dallas premiere) and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Scottish. Performances at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Prism At the end of every night, Prism leaves behind a new painting in its wake. Think of it as action painting. This piece of physical theater is a movement based work from the young company that takes a special interest in the material of paint. They move through a sort of birth of humanity, from dark to light to color, and end the play in a paint fight. There will also be a concurrent exhibition of work on the same themes from artists at the Haley Henman Studio. See it at 8 p.m. Thursday in preview or 8 p.m. Friday for opening night. Tickets are $20.
Friday Concentrations 59: Mirror Stage--Visualizing the Self After the Internet In the upcoming exhibition at the Dallas Museum of Art, a group show of international artists reflect on who you are, or who you become when channelled through the Internet. How do you develop a sense of self beyond mirror image and human reaction? See the work starting April 10 through December 6 during museum hours. Admission is free.
Hecho En Dallas If you're interested in seeing an array of work by Dallas-based artists, the Latino Cultural Center presents its 12th annual Hecho en Dallas this weekend. This juried exhibition features work from a strong variety of artists. Opening reception is at 6 p.m. Friday.
Saturday Slideluck Dallas Slideluck Dallas is part potluck meal, part art exhibition. From 7-10 p.m. Saturday (weather permitting), this lawn party will take place at the Annette Strauss Square under the Winspear Opera House. The multimedia slideshow exhibit is curated by Leigh Arnold, who is the assistant curator at the Nasher Sculpture Center and a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Dallas. She's included work from Jesse Morgan Barnett, Zeke Williams, Letetia Huckaby, Margaret Meehan, Nathan Green, and more.
Jonathan Hammer Talk at the Nasher Sculpture Center As part of its 360 Speaker Series, the Nasher brings in artist Jonathan Hammer, an artist who uses varied techniques including etching, Japanese screen-making, 16th-century marquetry and the ancient art of bookbinding. He creates a vocabulary of clowns, old toys and antiquated landscape to explore narrative, with an interest in roles of power. Hear him talk at 2 p.m. Saturday, RSVP to [email protected].
"Wanna See Some Shapes?" You just never know what to expect from Shapes artist and zine maker Randy Guthmiller. On Saturday afternoon, keep an eye out for a friendly, bespectacled young artist asking the slightly provocative question, "Wanna See Some Shapes?" He's asking if you want to check out his zine, which is filled with Shapes. Now that he's taken on the production of zines from other artists, here's hoping he'll peddle those as well.
American Fantasy Classics & Homeland Security From 5-10 p.m. Saturday head to the Cedars for a collaborative art event at Homeland Security Domestic (1715 Gould St).
Photokopy by Hatziel Flores One of my favorite pieces at the recent Kettle Art exhibition, Fractal Logic 2, was a Hatziel Flores piece. He plays with femininity in a real interesting, exacting way in his art. This show features sculpture, paintings, and a large scale mural which he is currently working on this week. Head to Atama in Mockingbird Station at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Family Ties at 500 X If you're looking for a few places to hit up head to Expo Park and start with 500x Gallery's Family Ties. It's a show curated by Bonny Leibowitz and Julie Torres of both Dallas artists and Brooklyn artists. It features a bevy of artists and should be a fun collaborative show. Opening reception takes place from 7-10 p.m. Saturday.
Devil Particle Head down to Beefhaus next to see a selection of new work from the collective, Art Beef, which runs the space. Reception from 7-10 p.m.
Sunday, April 12
Palestine,Texas/Noah Simblist Over at Reading Room there's an exhibition by artist Noah Simblist in which he "tells the parafictional history of a small American town, unearthing the frontier culture of manifest destiny." It's probably something that is best seen in conjunction with an artist talk so head to the Reading Room at 4 p.m. Sunday.
