5 Art Events to Attend in Dallas this Weekend

Joachim West: Mother Earth Is a Dirty Whore — In Color and Uncensored
Artist Joachim West weaves a tangled web of humanity’s darkest obsessions. His paintings and drawings portray the grotesque underbelly of society, turning metaphor into reality. His work will fuck your mind up and leave you wrestling with your own ideas of yourself. Saturday, he mounts an exhibition of his work, called Mother Earth Is a Dirty Whore – In Color and Uncensored, at a pop-up gallery in Oak Cliff (810 W. Davis St.). See the work in its twisted glory from 6-8 p.m. More on Facebook.

For the Love of Artists 
The follow-up to the wildly popular For the Love of Kettle — for which artists donate work and 100 percent of the proceeds go to keeping the gallery afloat — is the inverse, For the Love of Artists. This time around the same artists keep 100 percent of the proceeds. It's the gallery's way of saying thank you, because no one understands more than Kettle the symbiotic relationship between artist and gallery. The event takes place from 7-10 p.m. Thursday. 

Asian Art 101
In the center of the Arts District is a stunning collection of Asian art. The Crow is a beautiful place to spend an afternoon gazing at the latest exhibition of contemporary Asian art or geeking out over the antiquities. It's also a place to learn more about the history and development of art in the Eastern world. At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Dallas Contemporary's senior curator Justine Ludwig will discuss contemporary Asian art, including new media art in India and the Superflat movement in Japan. Don't know what those are? Learn. Admission is $10 for Friends of the Crow and $20 for general public.

Gallery Talk with Annette Lawrence
Currently on display at Conduit Gallery is a map of time. Artist Annette Lawrence surveyed 25 years of journal entries, marking the presence and absence of entries on each day and layering them into a sculpture that reveals both pattern and chaos. She'll discuss the work during an artist talk at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Admission is free. 

Films about Art: Herb & Dorothy
It's rarely — if ever — said that art is an aphrodisiac, but there must be some truth to it. It sparks conversation, creative energy, and if you're staring into the right person's eyes, it might spark love. Certainly eccentric New York collector couple Herb and Dorothy Vogel were brought closer together by art. This weekend, the collaboration between the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Texas Theatre to show films about art continues with Megumi Sasaki's award-winning documentary Herb & Dorothy. See it at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Texas Theatre for just $5. It's the perfect mid-afternoon Valentine's Day date.