In early 2010, a group of artists got together to create one of the freshest, most exciting local art events in recent memory, Modern Ruin, which took place in a Washington Mutual bank building set for demolition on Greenville Ave. You can read our coverage here. After Modern Ruin, there was some chatter about creating an arts collective to do more projects — or of curatorial team Christina Rees (day job: Fort Worth Contemporary Arts) and Thomas Feulmer (day job: Director of Educational Programming at the Rachofsky House) teaming up for more exhibitions.
But, as things seem to go in North Texas, momentum was lost and the energy fizzled. Blame it on everyone’s multi-hatted responsibilities. Blame it on the wide-open expanse of our metrop-o-sprawl. Blame on the difficulty in actually organizing these kinds of collaborative efforts. Blame it on the lack of a follow-up setting that could match the timely poignancy of taking over a bank building that was built but never used, and then slotted for demolition — all in the context of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Blame it on whatever you like. The reality is, despite the enthusiasm generated by that initial exhibition, things got quite around here and everyone went back to their routines.
But now a reunion, of sorts, of Modern Ruin will take place this Saturday in Fort Worth, in conjunction with the opening of a exhibition of a sculpture by British artist Angus Fairhurst, A Couple of Differences Between Thinking and Feeling, at Fort Worth Contemporary Arts. Many of the artists who participated in “the bank show,” will come together again in a century-old bungalow in Fort Worth to take over the space with site-specific work. It is something of an inverse of Modern Ruin. Rather than taking over a brand new space already deamed derillict, the artists will take over a hundred-year-old space that is still a functioning (though currently uninhabited) residence. With the WaMu show, artists were encouraged — both by the curators and the space — to coopt, reconfigure, or demolish. With ‘Quick and Dirty,’ the press release reminds us: “Be mindful, this is private property.”
The list of artists participating in Quick and Dirty comprises some of the most impressive talents in North Texas, and it should not be missed. Here are the participants:
Frances Bagley
Tim Best
Michael Corris
Thomas Feulmer
M
Shelby Meier
Tom Orr
Kerry Pacillio
Richard Patterson
Chris Powell
Cam Schoepp
Noah Simblist
Terri Thornton
Kevin Todora
Jeff Zilm
There will be gumbo, but you must bring your own beer.
