Willie Cole FIRE/FLY

While visiting family in Birmingham, Alabama I took time to visit the only art gallery in town I have ever known that shows modern and contemporary art.   It was refreshing to see galleries, shops, and restaurants opening downtown.  Birmingham, my hometown, has been spiraling down since the 70's and some may say since the 60's.   

 

 

beta pictoris gallery 2411 Second Avenue North

 

Willie Cole is known for employing domestic objects charged with his own cultural history.  He repeats the markings of everyday objects that hold the spiritual energy of those who handle them.

 Birmingham Rattle Snake, 2013, enamel on fire hose

Installation view including works on paper. 

Downtown Goddess, 2012/13, bronze, edition of 7 (in different colors)

Willie Cole's work is in numerous private and public collections around the world including our Dallas Museum of Art in Texas.

FIRE/FLY is on view through October 25th.

Triplets

at Small Gallery in Valley View Center to see my friend Bruce Schiefelbein's paintings.   I thought Valley View Mall was empty but instead there are 28 galleries and artist studio scattered around the 2nd floor.   

Bruce Schiefelbein "The Happy Couple"

Bruce Schiefelbein "Lascoon's Bad Day"

Ellen Soffer "Summer Sun"

Laura W. Abrams "Ocean Treasure"

No sign of letting up...

 

Anthony Keith Giannini

Crossing The Line Sept. 6 - Oct 5  

 



Spent a little time with the latest offering by Oliver Francis Gallery of Anthony Keith Giannini's exhibition Crossing The Line.  After about 18 months of pushing the Dallas art followers to re-evalute what the local galleries were displaying  Kevin shows no signs of letting up on the gas pedal .  During this time the gallery and Kevin received more than the fair share of the Dallas press.  He will likely continue to receive the attention he has taken and more importantly earned.   

 

ANTHONY KEITH GIANNINI is an artist based in Providence, RI and recently received his MFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design (2012). Giannini has participated in various solo and group exhibitions internationally, most notably at The Pace Gallery, NYC (group), Betterer. Haderer. Fasterer. Strongerer. 2012 Brucennial by The Bruce High Quality Foundation, NYC (group) and at Trailer Park Proyects in Puerto Rico (solo). His work was also featured at the Art Dubai art fair in 2011.

September 14th

Visited as many galleries as I could on the 2nd weekend of openings here in Dallas.

First stop was Oliver Francis Gallery where my expectations were blown out of the water.  A fascinating exhibition of Anthony Keith Giannini titled Crossing the Line.  Kevin is starting another season off with a lead off homerun.



 2nd stop was 500X for the Members Exhibition.   Clayton Hurt (Lucky Dog) just continues to be a favorite.  

 To Barry Whistler Gallery to see Linnea Glatt's latest work in Current.

 

Next was Kirk Hopper to see the highly anticipated Jim McGee exhibition of Shop Construction and Drawings from the Hill.  I suppose my expectations were so high that this exhibition was just a thud.

Up Central to Talley Dunn to see two exhibitions.  Some New Paintings by Susie Rosmarin and a group exhibition titled Within & Beyond.   Since we visited most of the galleries outside the opening times we had a chance to meet and have a chat with Susie.  What a wonderful down to earth person, my goodness.

 

A quick call to Wanda Dye to check if it was okay to be late visitors.  Back down Central south of downtown to visit RE gallery just after 5pm.  My favorite group of works are by Sam Schonzeit and Gary Farrelly collaboration in Going Postal. 

 

Last stop, the opening of William Bennie's work at Public Trust and Waddy Armstrong's work at Liliana Bloch Gallery.  I was thrilled to see William Bennie's exhibition Terra Incognita.  I have been following his work on Instagram for a year or two and happy to see the work in person.

Waddy Armstrong Re-Invisioning the Sublime

All in all it was a great day for seeing art at some of the best galleries in Dallas.  All of these galleries show quality art and you should take time to visit. 

Sphere

I stopped by Conduit Gallery the last couple of weekends to spend time with Stephen Lapthisophon's latest exhibition "Sphere".  

Copied from Conduit's website
Culling through layers of cultural memory, Dallas based artist Stephen Lapthisophon reticulates art movements, food culture, film, and 20th century music to create drawings made up from and about the “stuff of everyday life.” Lapthisophon’s works on paper are gestural and process driven created with a variety of unorthodox materials such as egg shells, coffee grounds, and pigmented bacon fat. The exhibition, named in part referencing Thelonious Monk’s middle-name, Sphere, includes works that rely on unanticipated compositional forms and materials in like manner to the composer who was known to eliminate notes in compositions in order to create dissonance or as John Baldessari’s Thelonious Monk story recounts, teach the viewer a “different kind of order.”

Absolutely my favorite group of works in the exhibition.  Both AG and Wall (CT) may be my favorite works by Stephen.
LtoR
Don't have the title - will update later
AG, 2013, latex, pencil, chalk, spray paint & pigmented bacon fat, 48x34" 
Wall (CT), 2013, latex, pencil, chalk & pigmented bacon fat, 42x28.5"

LtoR
K, 2012, collage, latex, pencil, spray paint, ink & pigmented chicken fat, 69x45" 
Don't have the title for the torn movie poster - will update later.

LtoR
Don't have the title - will update later.
Burri 1945, 2013, spray paint, ink & coffee grounds, 45x59" 

Conduit Gallery

Sphere opened yesterday, Saturday, September 7th and will be on view through October 5th.  Plenty of time for everyone to visit the gallery.

Conduit Gallery
1626 C Hi Line Dr.
Dallas, Texas 75207
in the Design District

A solo exhibition of Stephen Lapthisophon’s work will open October 27, 2013 at the Dallas Museum of Art as a part of Concentrations Series. The exhibition, Coffee, Seasonal Fruit, Root Vegetables and Selected Poems, will run through March 30, 2014.

If I can sneak a couple of photos at the DMA I will post some from that exhibition too.

September Song

Recent works by Benito Huerta at William Campbell Contemporary in Ft. Worth.  I stopped by during the all day opening with my friend Helen Altman.  Oh yes, ran into Martin Delabano a long time favorite artist of mine.  Back to Benito's exhibition - from the gallery website "The show will feature new and recent paintings, drawings, and mixed media pieces, all focusing on contemporary social themes and informed by popular culture. A visual response to the musical composition sharing its name, September Song incorporates motifs prevalent in the Zeitgeist, the media, and the entertainment industry, such as politics, terrorism, and the violent end of the world."

LtoR:

Shock & Awe, 2009-2013, oil on canvas

Fin, 2000, charcoal and graphite on paper

Meaning of Sight, 2003, charcoal and graphite on paper

 

on right: Intermission, 2013, oil on canvas

27: Calaverosa, 2012, acrylic and oil on canvas (Detail)

29: Bonba Atomica, 2010, acrylic and oil on canvas (Detail)

William Campbell Contemporary Art

BENITO HUERTA

SEPTEMBER SONG
Fall Gallery Night September 7 - October 12, 2013

Gregory Ruppe