French Twist

Paris art gallery owner eschews New York and LA to open in Dallas

With a reputation for producing thoughtful shows since 2002, Paris-based Galerie Frank Elbaz has made inroads into Dallas over the last three years through its participation in the Dallas Art Fair. Getting up close and personal with the local scene led founder Frank Elbaz to realize our city is fertile territory for a new space with its own unique vision.

“New York is too expensive and competitive, and I don’t see the point of being one more gallery on the list,” Elbaz says. “There is a trend to go to LA for many European galleries, and I love Los Angeles, but the market there seems difficult to me.

“In the last three years, I’ve been working with great people and great institutions, and I love Dallas’ location between East Coast and West Coast.”

Measuring 2,500 square feet with 14-foot ceilings, the temporary locale at 136 Glass St. offers a heady mix of French and American artists, pairing pieces from French artist Davide Balula and painter Bernard Piffaretti with the works of Americans Sheila Hicks, Kaz Oshiro, Mungo Thomson, and Blair Thurman. All are included in the introductory show opening September 17.

“[The show] is an introduction to painting and sculpture from most of my artists,” Elbaz says. “The gallery is in a temporary space, from now to December, and we’ll see if it will work.”

One way to assure its success is to highlight the work of Texas artists. The gallery’s second exhibition in October focuses on provocateur Mark Flood, which Elbaz delights in because, “It’s very interesting to see a French guy from Paris opening a space in Dallas with an artist from Houston!”

“I went to Houston to visit him and realized he’s more than an artist. He’s very charismatic and has a huge personality that goes beyond the art. I also like his work: It’s a bit white trash, and in a way reminds me of Paul McCarthy, but a Texas version.”

Although Elbaz says, “I do not provoke to provoke,” an envelope-pushing agenda has been in place for most of his career.

Starting out as a “salesman” for a modern Parisian gallery in 1988, he went to Tokyo to deal art and stayed on for a decade. Returning to Paris in the late ’90s, Elbaz shifted his focus into contemporary art, beginning with small group shows that American minimalist artist Carl Andre helped to facilitate.

When he was ready to open his space in the Le Marais district of Paris, he had deep enough relationships with the artistic community to bring A-list talent to his roster.

Known for rediscovering (and repping the estates of) historical artists such as the Gorgona Group, Tomislav Gotovac, and Mladen Stilinovic, Elbaz also discovered neon artist and painter Thurman, and is the primary gallery for the Californian conceptual artist Thomson.

It goes without saying that Elbaz hopes his programming resonates with art-hungry Dallasites, and that this temporary space will attain a more permanent stature.

“In Hollywood, those people prefer to buy a Tesla car and not a painting,” he laughs. “In Dallas, I’ve noticed in three years there’s a new kind of people who remind me of the people I met in New York and LA. They work in tech and fashion.

“When I tell people I’m going to open a gallery space in Dallas, they say people there are very provincial and still believe it’s cowboy hats and cowboy boots. I have to tell them I see very sophisticated people and excellent public and private collections.”

Galerie Frank Elbaz is opening its temporary space at 136 Glass St., across from the Dallas Contemporary.

Photo courtesy of Galerie Frank Elbaz

Galerie Frank Elbaz is opening its temporary space at 136 Glass St., across from the Dallas Contemporary.

galleries openings

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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