Your Show of Shows

New Dallas-Fort Worth galleries top this month's essential art stops

Bright new galleries and can’t-miss pop-ups make up October’s best exhibits. Whether it’s a sneak peek at the MAC (that will also help you through post-Aurora withdrawals) or an exciting new space in North Texas, here are your essential artistic events for the month.

“Pop Up Show,” Ushio and Noriko Shinohara, at Kirk Hopper Fine Art
Reception: October 17, 6:30-8:30 pm

Anyone who has seen the Oscar-nominated documentary Cutie and the Boxer knows the high-energy paintings of Japanese artist Ushio Shinohara and the piquantly sweet ink-washed scenes of his wife, Noriko. Kirk Hopper, who formerly staged a show of these two talents, is bringing them back on Saturday night for a one-evening-only engagement on the heels of Ushio’s appearance at the Dallas Museum of Art for the “International Pop” exhibit.

Hopper, who got to know the duo through one of the artists in his stable, is taking the opportunity of exhibiting new works and T-shirts, and attendees will get a chance to meet and mingle with the mediable pair.

“The film is fantastic, but when you meet them, you fall in love,” he says. “She is a cutie, and they’re just a great artist couple. They had a show at the Tate in London, and now the DMA is bringing them to Dallas. They have time to do art too. She’s going to be doing some new pieces for the show.”

Despite their fame, the Shinoharas’ prices are surprisingly affordable, and the evening will be a great chance to snag a work from a pop art icon and his talented, loyal wife.

“Weatherproof” and Aurora wrap party, various artists, at McKinney Avenue Contemporary
Reception: October 17, 3 pm-midnight
Exhibition dates: October 19-23, noon to 5 pm

One of the most exciting things to happen to the Cedars in 2015, the relocation of McKinney Avenue Contemporary to 1601 S. Ervay St. solidifies the area as Dallas’ newest arts enclave. For anyone who didn’t get in on the space’s walk-through in September, the post-Aurora wrap-up combined with the MAC’s annual member artists show is the perfect sneak peek of the space.

Says MAC director Rachel Rogerson, “Our annual membership show is usually in September. It was delayed this year because of our move, and I felt it would really coincide with Aurora. This is a really great event for us because our new space is going to have one gallery dedicated to new media, and to have our inaugural exhibit completely devoted to this it gets the message across to Dallas that this is what we want to focus on.”

The space is still “a blank slate,” according to Rogerson, who says the early 1900s warehouse (and possible former Model T showroom) is the idea pristine gallery to exhibit the projections and immersive pieces cooked up by Aurora artists Jeff Gibbons and Gregory Ruppe, Letitia Huckaby, Jeremy McKane, and Emilio Muniz. Beginning with a lecture by the MAC architect Dan Shipley and ending in the wee hours after a performance by the Warren Hood Band, the night will be an opportune chance for members and VIPS to soak up the space, which should open in its entirety in 2016.

If you don’t manage to join in time, the membership show will be up the following week from noon to 5 pm for further viewing.

Solo works, Phil Crawshay, at Crawshay Gallery
Exhibition dates: Ongoing

When an artist is tired of dealing with galleries taking a piece of the pie, there’s only one solution: open one yourself. That’s just what photographer Phil Crawshay did this month with the unveiling of his eponymous space on Dragon Street in the Design District.

Having formerly owned two Austin galleries, Crawshay felt the Design District was the perfect locale to house his oversized works. The super-high-res, super-saturated images mounted on Plexiglas capture natural wonders like the streets of London, the Grand Canyon, and Hamilton Pool in the Hill Country, and the works are just the thing for Ansel Adams fans that prefer their lush landscapes in glorious technicolor.

Although the pieces won’t be rotated out as frequently as traditional galleries, Crawshay says, “I do rotate the work … when I take it. My shooting schedule often depends on the time of year, and as we are entering the fall, I have a busy time ahead capturing the beautiful colors that appear at this time of year.”

Crawshay says he will occasionally feature an artist of a different genre, but in the meantime the space is just the place to find a scenic vista to add to your space.

“deadWEST: Place and Identity,” various artists, at deadWEST Gallery and Studio
Reception: October 24, 4-8 pm
Exhibition dates: October 24-December 11

A new venue opening October 24 in Lakeside, Texas, deadWEST was conceived as an alternative artists’ space by artists (and spouses) Winter Rusiloski and Angel Fernandez. Serving as both an exhibition venue and a studio, deadWEST will explore place and identity in a geographic location that served as the inspiration for its name.

“Just as dead-on suggests a higher degree of ‘on’, we thought of deadWEST as an emphasis on the westward location,” Fernandez says. “The thought was also a play on the little artistic venues that exist to the west of Fort Worth.”

The second and third exhibitions are already booked, taking deadWEST through the rest of 2015. In the future, Fernandez says, they “want to provide the space as an alternative to artists who have a large-scale project to create but may not have the studio space to do it. In a sense we want to provide a space for serious and dedicated artists who need a place to realize an ambitious vision.”

Heyd Fontenot, Cris and Brian with Two Angels, at deadWEST.

Photo courtesy of deadWEST Gallery and Studio

Heyd Fontenot, Cris and Brian with Two Angels, at deadWEST.

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RIP Albert

Colorful and iconoclastic Dallas artist Albert Scherbarth dies at 70

Courtesy

Dallas artist Albert Scherbarth

Dallas artist Albert Scherbarth, known for his jubilant creativity which he displayed in a wide range of media, died on February 18; he was 70 years old. According to friends, he suffered a heart attack.

Scherbarth's myriad "canvases" ranged from printmaking to furniture to steel and metal working. He was a colorful presence in the Dallas art scene with a shock of thick hair that stood tall, definitive horn-rimmed glasses, and an unfiltered, no-nonsense personal style.

He was also a key figure in The Cedars district: an urban pioneer who settled in the area directly south of downtown Dallas in the early '80s when the neighborhood was a mostly-deserted collection of abandoned warehouses, before it became a major art nexus.

A post by Lee Harvey's, the Cedars District bar, said that "Some people don’t just live in a neighborhood — they leave their mark on it. Albert did exactly that. Through his art, his presence, and his time at our bar, he became part of the story here. We’ll miss him more than we can say. Rest easy Bert."

He was a real character, as well — a stocky physical presence (he played football in high school) who'd fix his stare upon you as if you were a critter to be studied.

One friend said, "I always feel that Albert is going to spring some meta shit on me every time i see him and he rarely disappoints. What a cool cat."

A native of Nebraska, Scherbarth moved to Dallas in 1979 to earn a master's in fine arts at the University of Dallas, Irving. After graduating in 1981, he began teaching in the community college district, including Brookhaven College, Northlake College, University of Texas at Dallas, and the Creative Art Center, as well as at Dallas' Arts Magnet.

Sculpture by Albert Scherbarth which appeared at the State Fair of Texas in 2018.Laura Walters/Facebook

After graduating from art school, he felt the need to do "real" work like his father, and took jobs in construction and woodwork, which helped shape the very physical nature of his art.

He was one of the early and many artists who resided in the Continental Gin Building, where he worked on his designs and commissions, fabricated other artists’ ideas, and helped galleries with installations, crating, and shipping.

Through the years he made furniture, got into fused and cast glass, poured concrete countertops, and painted, including a successful era of doing giant flower paintings. In his latter years, he acquired a welding machine and worked with builders, designers, and architects constructing screens, fences, furniture, and sculptures.

His works around town include a giant wine tree for Fleming Steakhouse in Frisco, and a sculpture named, "Cecil, age 12" up on Henderson Avenue at Capital Street which was was a finalists for the Henderson Art Prize. He also worked on the famed Bowler Hat sculpture in the Cedars.

In an interview with Voyage Dallas, he said, "I’m constantly looking for more meaning and more permanence in the work that I’m doing," and acknowledged that "I’ve been very, very fortunate to get a lot of really great commissions over the years. I’ve sold a lot of work and fallen into great studio situations – large spaces, cheap rent and wonderful landlords. Today, I think my ignorance of all the pitfalls ahead allowed me to storm through life and I have a certain stubbornness, a dogged determination to succeed."

"My grandfathers died before I came of age, my father died, my favorite uncle died so there was not much in the way of male guidance or perspective on how to be a man, so I’ve just kind of made it up on my own, stumbling through, winging it and I’m still alive, amazingly enough."

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