THURSDAY, January 14, 2010

Themes and Variations
David Bates
Dunn and Brown Contemporary Gallery
5020 Tracy Street, Dallas, TX 75205
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

The artwork of David Bates is flat-out amazing, and he's possibly the best thing we have from Dallas so far. I've kind of yacked about him before, but haven't been able to find too much to talk about from online research. And having started his career before the series of tubes was created, he doesn't even have an Inter-net World Wide Web page. Anyway, here's a collection of some of the better links at which to see his work: here and here and here. And maybe read this Dallas Morning News article about his Hurricane Katrina series. And/or maybe go to this show opening Thursday night.

FRIDAY, January 15, 2010

What Came First?
Minmyo Kim
Alex Leme
Decorazon Gallery
417 N. Bishop Avenue, Dallas, TX 75208
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Surprise! An artist statement that doesn't suck is tied to Minmyo Kim's half of the show: "We Can Fly compels the viewer to reexamine life by facing the unavoidable death and provides the viewer with the opportunity to be reborn through the virtual experience of death. In our life-affirming society, death is something that we avoid to talk about. This work asks people to face the death rather than fear and realize that life is short, but worth it to challenge our selves to be free."

The other half of this What came first? show is a creepily-intimate look at eggs by Brazilian photographer Alex Leme. While we're on the subject of un-sucking artist statements, Mr. Leme managed to pull it off, too, here. I think it's just the way he writes frankly instead of bullshitly, even though he still kind of states the obvious by saying photography is "an examination of the world around me". Check out the series set in a public library on his site, title Literary Ghosts.

SATURDAY, January 16, 2010

EXPO 2010 Juried Show
500X Gallery
500 Expositon Avenue, Dallas, TX 75226
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Let us know if you or someone you know is in the this one. [update from Billy Zinser via email - he'll be in the show plus Rachel Cox. Feel free to add any more in the comments section.]

Arrivals and Departures
John Pomara
Barry Whistler Gallery
2909 Canton Street, Suite B, Dallas, TX 75226
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Common Ground
Eddie Castro and Miguel Donjuan
Kettle Art Gallery
2714 Elm Street, Dallas, TX 75226
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Live
J. D. Miller
[show details]
Samuel Lynne Galleries
1105 Dragon Street, Dallas, TX 75207
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

The amount of paint used by JD Miller and Phil Romano (yes, the restaurant guy) makes me slightly uncomfortable. Maybe they're trying to corner the cadmium market?

PS: You might be interested in this article from a few months back about the stage curtain at the new Winspear theater downtown, designed by Guillermo Kuitca.

PPS: Also, if you haven't heard about this yet, they're going to build a park over Woodall Rogers Freeway in downtown to create a unified arts district connected to Uptown. Totally amazing!

Image not really courtesy of David Bates, woodcut titled "Full Moon" (2006).