“Rehearsal,” by Francis Alys. Photo: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
We’re squeaking in one last look at 2014. KERA Commentator Joan Davidow sent along her 14 favorite art sites in 2014. Enjoy!
1. DB 14 closing exhibition @ West Dallas’ “green” warehouse: Inventive mix of visiting international sculptors with area talent, video, installations, and sound in dark, vacuous industrial space; curated by Michael Mazurek & Jesse Morgan Barnett on a personal dime!
2. One Night Stand @ Barry Whistler Gallery: One night became 2 weeks of a bright summer mix of 4 artists curated by John Pomara; Nathan Green’s dynamic wall installation matched with paintings & videos (included my family member, Sally Glass)
3. México Inside Out curated by Andrea Karnes @ Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth: Dynamic collection of new art concepts from Mexico. Particularly struck by Idaid Rodríguez’s private longings hiding in the wall, Francis Alÿs’ endless video of a VW trying to top a hill, Thomas Glassford’s installation incorporating broom sticks he buys from street sweepers & Teresa Margolles’ concrete lounges made with the sanitized water that washed homicide victims in the Guadalajara morgue.
4. Thomas Heatherwick @ Nasher Sculpture Center: A most clever, inventive, hard-working young architect conceiving notions incorporated in projects that seem as fresh as a daisy, such as the delightful oversized structure at UK Pavilion at Expo 2010 tipped with seeds gathered from all over the world & rotating lounges everyone wanted to “ride.”
5. Rick Lowe @ Vickery Meadows to celebrate Nasher’s decade: Smart, sensitive conceptual artist who engaged a forgotten neighborhood into becoming communal & arranged to add three handsome, white cube exterior exhibition spaces for community sharing & enrichment.
6. Kiki Smith, artist residency @ UNT in Denton: Imaginative & figurative, this established artist used her Denton residency to create supersized landscape prints celebrating Texas wildflowers developed into large-scale tapestries she elaborated on in a public talk at the university
7. Robert Smithson in Texas projects curated by Leigh Arnold @ DMA: Intimate drawings of five inventive projects Smithson proposed utilizing the Texas landscape including clever projects conceived for the wide expanse of runways at the proposed DFW international Airport. Imagine what landing in a “sea” of contemporary sculpture would have been like!
“Sane” by John Wilcox
8. John Wilcox curated by Rick Brettell @ Wilcox’s former studio: To savor John Wilcox’s talent longer than his shortened life allowed, a highly sensitive exhibition selected from Wilcox’s oeuvre to savor the spare & elegant minimal paintings of the deceased artist in the intimacy of his atelier.
9. Paho Mann’s oversized photography @ The Reading Room: Enveloped by Mann’s life-sized photograph, I felt the sweet intimacy of the small-scale gallery ever more, experiencing two uniquely different spaces simultaneously.
10. Ludwig Schwarz’s Walk-in Closet @ Conduit Gallery: As only the clever artist Schwarz can conceive, his light-hearted summary of moving into a new home with a walk-in closet makes clothes hanging in the gallery along with a food-strewn dining table an experience to delight & cherish.
11. Otis Jones & Bret Slater @ Holly Johnson: Area master artist Jones takes on a budding graduate arts student as an assistant that creates a lasting bond & cross-fertilization for both the young & senior artists.
12. Julieta Aguinaco’s closet @ Cydonia Gallery: Surprisingly another clothes rod bulges with garments, this time to acknowledge the intimate passage of time: each of three generations of women’s wear hanging on their original hangers & photographed as worn by the artist. Watch for international talent @ Cydonia, this new kid on block.
13. Benjamin Terry @ R E Gallery: Raw wood, wall hung sculptures, so clever & charming as they peal off the wall, with even the edges as important as the fronts.
14. Jeff Gibbons @ CentralTrak: This artist/inventor/scientist blew the top off in his MFA exhibition of artworks that bubbled & sizzled. One tiny work in the front window mimicked an imaginary caterpillar nibbling a dear message on a small green leaf.
