A prominent gallery in Dallas' Design District is closing: Site131, which has been holding forth as an innovative non-profit contemporary artspace for 10 years, will close at the end of 2024.

According to a release, the gallery will close with its final exhibition, Reply All featuring artist SV Randall from September 14 ~ December 14, 2024, memorializing co-founder Seth Davidow.

Site131 was created in 2015 by Joan Davidow, following decade-long stints as Director of Arlington Museum of Art and Dallas Contemporary, with her real estate investor son, the late Seth Davidow.

The gallery closed in 2022 in response to the pandemic, but subsequently reopened. Seth passed away in 2023 from complications related to Amyotrophi Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease).

When they opened Site131 at 131 Payne St., it was the first art space to venture west of Dragon Street, despite a perceived reluctance that Dallas art collectors would be comfortable visiting "the wrong side" of Riverfront. Artists and galleries now proliferate west of Riverfront.

Starting out in the early 1980s as an arts commentator on North Texas public radio and for NPR, Davidow has curated more than 165 exhibitions advancing careers of over 1,000 artists: from small solo shows to large group presentations addressing a themed concept. She's earned numerous awards and acknowledgements including recognition for Dallas Contemporary as a “museum to watch” by The Wall Street Journal and the international Saatchi website.

Key exhibitions
Site131 has debuted art from Texas, the U.S. and internationally. Key exhibitions include:

• Dropout, guest curated by New York gallerist Photios Giovanis featuring the puzzling art of Lee Lozano
• BLACK Paintings: responses to Jackson Pollock
• Fragments with Swiss artist Manuel Burgener
• Structured with Danish designer Anne Damgaard
• Howard Rachofsky’s private collection of emerging artists

A savvy collector, her own collection began modestly in her Florida family room, with paintings borrowed from the library. It burgeoned into a sizeable and respectable collection which she has donated to three colleges on the University of Texas at Dallas’ campus: the Jindal School of Management, and two buildings on the Harry W Bass Jr. School of Arts, Humanities and Technology campus.