El Tocadiscos is out on tour with Avril Lavigne...

Major Weekend Event
40th Annual Art Fest @ Fair Park
Memorial Day Weekend, May 22-24, 2009
artfest500.com
$6 at the gate / $5 in advance at your neighborhood Tom Thumb store(s)

My parents volunteered at Art Fest every year when I was really little. I got to ride around on a golf cart. I mostly remembered the smell of cheap tap beer in plastic cups. One time I tripped on a curb and got hot tar all over my new shirt. Good memories.

Thursday, May 21

Cynthia von Buhler (NYC), Miguel Paredes (Miami), and Scott Bakal (NYC)
4th Wall Gallery
Opens Thursday, May 21, 7-10:00 PM

"The 4th Wall has been defined as 'feeding one’s mind and soul through imaginative artists and is sure to tantalize and impress the minds of both the beginning and the experienced art collector.'" Evidently this show is some kind of collection of "Lowbrow artists", i.e., "the underground visual art movement that began in LA in the late 1970’s and now is a widespread populist art movement that has been called pop surrealism."

I can't get through von Buhler's site (flash madness), but evidently she's a contemporary surrealist (okay, I did find the paintings eventually, and I'd put some of it on my wall). Paredes is evidently a hip hop chef by day/night; painter by other times. His retarded web site plays music automatically when you visit... just in case you wanted to inform all your co-workers that you're not working. Scott Bakal's stuff looks delicate.

Friday, May 22

Inki Min: Bear Necessities
Dahlia Woods Gallery
Opens Friday, May 22, 6-8:30 PM

I can't really find much out about Inki Min, but this stuff looks pretty amazing. She or he "blends abstract expressionism, realism and whimsy to create a deeply affecting vision." Featured image above.

Photoworks 2009
Jose Briseno, Megan Charter, Amber Clark, Hubert Duong, Leah Foster, Tim Kingsbury, Kari Kolodzie, Mark Lauman, Melissa Muilenburg, Long Nguyen, Rhea Phelan, Natalie Price, Daniel Song, Lezlie Strickland, Nathan Woodruff and Kia Wright
UT Dallas Visual Arts Building
Opens Friday, May 22, 6:30 pm

I was tempted to look all these artists up... but, can anyone tell us who doesn't suck?

"The Martin Mixer"
Christopher Martin Gallery
Friday, May 22, 8-11:00 PM

Not sure what this event is, but it sounds kind of seedy. I picture showing up to a sleek Uptown loft, standing around awkwardly for about thirty minutes, wanting to get another glass of wine, but not wanting to look like an alcoholic or cheapskate... then the lights go down, you're one of only four people there, two of whom are twice your age... and then the home made porn starts on a massive television panel hanging on a white wall. Mommy.

Saturday, May 23

Please cut my balls off now and save me the trouble of attending the Centraltrak Panel Discussion entitled:
Janus Face, Antipode, or Homologue - Feminism and Conceptualism 1965-75 with Fran Colpitt, Marilyn Waligore, Noah Simbalist, and Eric Stryker
CentralTrak
Saturday, May 23, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

I hope sweet, sweet Charissa Terranova gives a 30-minute-long introduction... and someone else gives her a 15-minute introduction including an entire resume review.

"This is.... Still Life" by William Martin
Cameron Gallery
Opens Saturday, May 23, 6 - 9:00 PM

Martin Family represent this weekend! But Cameron Gallery's flash web site freezes up halfway through loading, so I have no idea what this is. And the guy's name is too common to google, unless he's the artist who died in 1867. That would certainly be still life! Har har! Fuck me.

Image courtesy of Dahlia Woods Gallery