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.”
Letitia Huckaby, What a Woman Got, Aurora 2013, screen print on heirloom textiles and video.
