Change is good, at least where the Goss-Michael Foundation is concerned. Open for nearly nine years in the same Design District locale, the foundation is packing up its precious archive of British contemporary art and moving to a newly renovated warehouse one mile away at 13015 Wycliff Ave.
Six months in the making, the reason for the move isn’t just the inevitable escalating rents of the red-hot Design District core (although that is a consideration). With lower overhead, the nonprofit foundation will be able to devote more time and energy to both its charitable programs and exhibitions of both emerging and leading contemporary British artists.
“As a nonprofit, we can spend less and give a lot more back,” says co-founder Kenny Goss, who established the foundation in 2007 with pop star George Michael. “Ideally there’s not going to be a lot of change; it’ll just be a little more interesting. We can be just as cool, but now we’re the size of a good-size gallery, not a mini-museum.”
The foundation will continue its artists-in-residence program, of which Goss says he wants to have “more than a couple a year.” As former participants Neal Raitt and Dan Rees have gone on to notable art world success, whoever follows in their footsteps will find a less daunting area to fill with their work — at 5,000 feet, the new location is half the size of its first iteration.
The (Feature) program highlighting significant Dallas-based artists selected by Kenny Goss and curator Michael Mazurek will continue as well.
Although they won’t be officially moved in until mid-March — without the Damien Hirst bull in tow, as it’s going into storage for the time being — Goss-Michael is still kicking things off with a bang: a show from Chicago-based multimedia artist Paula Crown on April 7. Crown’s 2014 MRI-based “Inside My Head” exhibition at the Dallas Contemporary was a literal look inside the artist’s brain, and Goss says her new pieces are equally heady.
“Her work is based in film, paintings, and photography, lots of installation work,” he explains. “A lot of my girlfriends are female artists, and their work can be based on how they feel at that moment, but Paula is very cerebral in her approach. And I just like her as a person. She’s our art chair for MTV RE:DEFINE, along with C. J. Jones.”
Ah, yes, RE:DEFINE. Lest someone think one of the spring’s most anticipated fundraisers will change with the move, think again. Returning for its fifth year April 8 at the Dallas Contemporary, Goss promises it will be bigger and better than ever, with an all-killer no-filler roster that he’s not quite ready to reveal.
“There’s less works, but I’m really proud of the works I’ve got," he says. “We’ve outdone ourselves this year, we’ve got some incredible artists.”
Tracy Emin, Drunk to the Bottom of My Soul, 2002.
