Today, just after the 1 p.m. launch of Idiotarod Dallas 2011, bands of costumed “idiots” will mush their modified and decorated shopping carts across roughly 5 miles of the city’s streets as they compete for prizes in the first Dallas version of the race. Clearly inspired by Alaska’s annual 1,150-mile…

In the 1970s Elliott McDowell excelled at traditional photography techniques, acclaimed for his keenly printed photographs of unusual, mostly staged shots of comical people and quirky subject matter. The Santa Fe-based photographer’s early black and white images aren’t easily forgotten, and ones like “The Wolf,” “The Bachelor,” “Moonrise Over Rolls…

The New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham has haunted the streets of New York City for decades, snapping shots of the best dressed of the rich and famous and down and out in The Big Apple. In his columns “On the Street” and “Evening Hours,” Cunningham chronicled fashion trends for…

For a body of work that may cause some viewers to doubt the reality of every photographic image they ever see again, Every Doubt That Holds You Here is an ambitious title for an impressive installation by contemporary artist Ted Kincaid. His photographically based, digital creations are clearly inspired by…

Ancient Greek and Roman nymphaeums were grottoes built up around naturally occurring grottoes traditionally thought to house water nymphs. Originally the nymphaeums sprung up near naturally occurring springs and streams, later the monuments were filled with flowers and greenery and decorated with mosaics, sculptures, painting and fountains. These ornate spaces…

While Chinese-born, U.S.-based contemporary artist Xiaoze Xie’s works possess clearly political undertones, the figures and depictions in most of his works are reduced to abstract forms highlighting the transitory nature of time and its effects on memory and history—collective and individual. He’s known for photo-realistic paintings of stacked newspapers and…

The popular Mexican game of chance La Loteria is nothing like the lottery, but a bit like the Texas Lottery’s “Loteria Texas” scratch off tickets based on the game. A traditional Loteria game is a lot like bingo played with images instead of numbers. A caller officiates the game by…

For those who aren’t schooled in the indigenous people of Panama and Columbia, molas are colorful, ornate fabric panels that comprise part of the traditional costumes worn by the Kuna women. These bright, mesmerizing, geometric panels are created using an incredibly labor-intensive appliqué and reverse appliqué technique. Dallas-based painter and…

Since hosting its first exhibit in 2002, Magnolia Gallery—the unorthodox gallery located upstairs and in the bar inside the Magnolia Theatre in the West Village—has been entertaining and inspiring movie-goers with a new show spotlighting local talent each month. Through May 27, Magnolia Gallery’s Nicole Cullum Horn and Scott Horn…

Emerging conceptual artist Teresita Fernandez’ creates intimate, often experiential, installation pieces that evoke clouds, rainstorms, fire, waterfalls and stars floating in the night sky. In Fernandez’ hands objects like glass cubes become starfields when mounted to walls, and something like a pile of natural, jagged shards of graphite becomes bubbling…

When it comes to childhood fantasies fully realized, an event like the 2011 Texas Pinball Festival sure seems like an epic dream come true. Because a 10,000-square-foot game room filled with more than 200 vintage and new pinball machines, classic video games and slot machines and other game room oddities…

To the casual first-time viewer, The Maltese Falcon’s plot — loaded with red herrings, rabbit trails and double crosses — must seem dizzying. But, as Roger Ebert writes in his book The Great Movies: “the plot is the last thing you think of about The Maltese Falcon.” Rather, it’s the…

As an increasing number of middle-age couples struggle to keep their marriages afloat while juggling raising their kids with helping (or housing) aging or ailing parents, films about Sandwich Generation families hardly fall under the umbrella of escapist fantasy for many American families today. With his feature-length film debut, Every…

Comic Book Literacy, North Texas filmmaker Todd Kent’s feature-length, award-winning (read: festival-approved) indie documentary, operates under the premise that comic books tend to be thought of as some kind of “ghetto medium,” or inferior “junk food for the brain.” Seeking to shatter negative stereotypes, the film instead paints comic books…