A hometown genius is leaving town, kids. The And/Or Gallery’s Paul Slocum is moving to New York City. Slocum makes unpredictable and hilarious videos from old video games and cheesy TV sitcoms. His name is known nationally as part of the vanguard of new media art.

We all feel just like that little kid at the end of Shane, don’t we?

Direct from Facebook e-mail:

When are you leaving?

Around September.

Why are you leaving?

Primarily to be able to hang out with the other artists who work in my field. Most of them are in NY, and a couple more are in the process of moving there.

Also, I’m just worn out from fighting the fight to make things happen here in Dallas. Many of the people who control the bulk of the arts money in Dallas do good things, but are stubborn, shortsighted and old fashioned. The reason And/Or survived as long as it did was due to a collector in Belgium and a guy in D.C. Probably 90 percent of our income was from them. I always felt like we had great support here in every way except financially, but without financial support there’s not much room to grow. And I should say a big thanks to the few people in Dallas who did support us by buying artwork. THANKS!

Are you going to something?

No, nothing specific. I’m just going to continue my artwork and music and collaborate with other artists there.

Are you changing your name as a symbol of a brand new start? ( I did that in college.)

Nope, still Paul. ;o)

What is the fate of the And/Or Gallery, besides hooking up words and phrases and clauses?

The gallery as it is will close. I will probably continue the business without a space as a producer of video editions. And/Or Video Editions. Another veteran gallery-owner in New York and I have been discussing eventually starting up a new space in Brooklyn that would have some similarities to And/Or. I’m currently talking to some other curators about starting a new gallery in the And/Or space.

Does “last formal show” mean last show under the And/Or name or last with your presence?

We will be doing one more show after the one this weekend, but it will be a conceptual show that will reveal everything about how the gallery was operated during its 3 1/2 year run. We also may do a few events this summer.

– paul

The opening reception for And/Or Show #23 is this Saturday. There will be a fake prom next door at House of Dang. Bring yearbooks.