With spring comes an optimistic outlook, both in and outside the gallery walls. For March, we’ve got a young Canadian painter’s Dallas debut, the return of the prodigal gallerist, high-impact primary hues and a can’t-be-missed textural talent.
Caroline Mousseau at Cydonia
Reception: March 6, 6-8 pm
Exhibition dates: March 6-April 3
Cydonia owner Hahn Ho has been ambitious in the programming of her 6-month-old space, but she’s not yet embraced painting as a medium — until now. For her big spring show, Ho is bringing in the work of up-and-coming Canadian artist Caroline Mousseau, who was named one of Beers Contemporary gallery’s “Painters of Tomorrow.”
Says Ho, “My stable is heavily conceptual, and I don’t consider her that. When you look at her work, she’s existing in this tiny sliver of progress.”
Taking a textural, abstract approach, Mousseau “dulls down” her colors with wax, allowing her to lose control even as she honors the history of her medium.
The artist explains, “You’ve got so many advances explored in paint, and there’s this rich history to address. But everything I create out of my work is linked to an idea of paint as mud. I move to define and explore various points of reference within this floating material.”
COED, Josh Reames and Amber Renaye, at OFG.XXX
Reception: March 14, 7-10 pm
Exhibition dates: March 14-April 4
When Kevin Rubén Jacobs became curator of the Goss-Michael Foundation, he found himself not having the time to devote to his own space, the envelope-pushing Oliver Francis Gallery. Now Jacobs has left his day job to devote more time to his “baby,” rebranding it as OFG.XXX, the space’s URL.
“I’ve been building it up for the past three-and-a-half years and to see it not anything killed me,” he explains. “I would hear [Oliver Francis Gallery] referred to as OFG, so I ended up buying this domain and it became its identity.”
OFG.XXX will be “more focused” with less Dallas-based work and an informal artist-in-residency program that led to the relaunched space’s first show, a dual exhibit by Josh Reames and Amber Renaye. Originally from Dallas, the duo has spent the last few years in Chicago, stopping off in their hometown to use OFG as a studio space before relocating to New York.
Reames’ emoji-based paintings are a complement to Renayes’ more conceptual work, and this show is but a glimpse at the type of programming Jacobs is looking to do in the future. Berlin-based sculptor Rachel de Joode arrives in December for a residency with a show on the docket for the following spring, and Jacobs’s relationship with the Austrian contemporary art foundation TBA 21 means more adventurous programming will be coming our way in the near future.
Blue, Yellow, Red at Barry Whistler Gallery
Reception: March 7, 6-8 pm
Exhibition dates: March 7—April 25
As children, we’re undeniably attracted to red, yellow and blue. Those who are lucky enough to grow up to become working artists or enterprising gallerists find themselves continually compelled by these most essential of hues.
Barry Whistler belongs in the latter group, and a 2007 viewing of Barnett Newman’s “Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue” in Berlin’s National Gallery inspired his current vibrant show. Featuring sunny photographs by Allison V. Smith and Ann Stautberg, paintings by the late John Wilcox, and rare lithographs by Ellsworth Kelly, the exhibition is the ideal opportunity to get in touch with your primary nature.
Leonardo Drew at Talley Dunn Gallery
Reception: March 20, 6-8 pm
Exhibition dates: March 20-May 16
Although a piece by Leonard Drew looks as if it were cobbled from found or destroyed objects, the Brooklyn-based sculptor actually purchases his materials — cotton, iron, mud or wood — and ages and deconstructs them before assembling.
A former artist-in-residence at San Antonio’s Artpace, Drew is returning to Texas this month for a solo show at Talley Dunn, where attendees can view his transformation of space in an up-close-and-personal setting.
Showing seven to eight of his smaller works, viewers can explore the themes of life, decay and time, as well as meet this dynamic, engaging talent.
175T by Leonardo Drew at Talley Dunn Gallery.
Miranda Lambert, right, with rodeo queens onstage at the 45th Cowgirl Hall of Fame Induction Luncheon at Dickies Arena. Photo by Ashley Gongora 