An innovative gallery featuring multi-layered art and entertainment from established and emerging artists is making its debut in West Dallas near Trinity Groves: Called Gallery Defi, it’s located in a former manufacturing building at 2200 Evanston Ave.
The gallery has been in the works for more than two years, and is set to open this fall. It's from co-founders and friends Trey Swofford, Kyle Sauter, and Travis McCann. McCann is an artist who works under the name "not.travis", and Sauter is an artist manager and entrepreneur.
They've signed on about 40 artists whom they'll exhibit, ranging from local to international names including not.travis, Miss Universe 2022 R’Bonney Gabriel, Tex Moton (who created a mural for Dallas Love Field), Brandon Adams, Risk Rock, and Rick Fairless (of Strokers Dallas Custom Motorcycles fame), most of whom make edgy, vividly colored, (and some street-style) art.
The media will include murals, sculptures, mixed-media, photography, fashion & design, large-scale installations, and augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR).
Though everything displayed in the gallery will be available for sale, there’s no obligation for visitors to purchase anything.
“Travis and I have experienced it from the other side, in terms of being participants, and the experience is not always favorable for artists,” Sauter says. “We want to make this an artist-first project, from the way the contracts are structured to connecting our artists with opportunities beyond our walls."
In addition to operating as a fully curated art space, the gallery will also serve as an artist collective.
Mural artists Zuzu Perkal and Phoebe Joynt on a collaboration.Zuzubee
“Aside from the exhibits, the heart of what we do is creating opportunities through collaboration for our artists,” Sauter says. “Defi will act as a creative collective pairing artists with other artists, artists with brands, as well as mural projects with municipalities and developers.”
The three chose the space because there’s a lot of development in the area, such as the planned Harold Simmons Park along the Trinity River.
A walk-through of the space in progress displays a few walls that have already been covered in murals, including a Muhammad Ali mural with plexiglass for viewers to essentially put themselves in the piece.
There are a few things that stand out about this gallery, like projection mapping— which projects light or images onto an object— to bring out certain colors in pieces. This technique is used on James Goldcrown’s mural piece with white and neon-colored hearts.
There are two rooms for an even more immersive experience: one is an augmented reality AR/VR interactive room, and another is a floor-to-ceiling piece with hand-painted words by Leah Kirsch.
Aside from art exhibits and pop-ups, the founders plan to host music performances, artist discussions, and fashion shows. The ultimate goal is to make art more accessible to new art collectors by offering multiple levels of participation, from art prints to large sculptures.
“We wanted to stay true to being in Dallas,” Sauter says. “There is a lot of history and culture in this area as well as a heavy art influence from the artist studios, from the Tin District to the murals all around us. We want Dallas to be a part of the national art conversation with Miami, New York, and LA.”
