Photographs Do Not Bend
In celebration of the centennial anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, PDNB Gallery is highlighting the work of dozens of female photographers in Women We Have Known. The show does not aim to offer a counter to the male gaze, or explore how womanhood may shape an artist’s perspective. It just provides a platform for female artists without judging how their work is influenced by their gender.
“Is a woman’s vision different than a man’s? This is not the point,” reads the press release. “We simply cannot accept the absence of the female in our lives, our children’s lives.”
Accordingly, the exhibition presents a wide range of photographic styles and methods. There are traditional landscapes, painterly still life, cinematic portraits, and journalistic photos. Highlights include intimate snaps of Frida Kahlo by Lucienne Bloch, Marta Maria Perez Bravo’s surreal captures of the female body, and Patty Carroll’s portraits of anonymous forms swathed in fabric.
The show is viewable online, and there are additional video tours and artist interviews on the gallery’s YouTube page. You can also visit the gallery in person by appointment only.
Nasher Sculpture Center
The Nasher reopened this week after closing in mid-March. If you visited at the beginning of the year, you’ll have already seen the exhibitions on view; if not, they’re definitely worth a visit. Barry X Ball: Remaking Sculpture is up in the main gallery, and the artist also curated a selection of artwork from the Nasher collection for Foundations: Barry X Ball in the adjacent gallery.
Ball’s work mimics and mutates art history, reproducing and reimagining classic artworks with old techniques and the help of new technology that allows him to work with ultra-stubborn precious stone.
The materials–Belgian black marble, pink Iranian onyx, golden honeycomb calcite–glow and breathe new life into familiar forms. You can read my full review of the show from January here.
In addition to those two exhibitions, there are two other shows in the museum’s smaller galleries, a duo of works by 2020 Nasher Prize Laureate Michael Rakowitz, and Resist/Release, a dialogue including several new acquisitions. The Nasher has also continued its Windows series with an installation by Lily Hanson.
The museum is currently open Thursday-Sunday. Plan your visit here.
Ro2 Art
Ironically, Ro2 Art had to cancel its 10th annual group exhibition, Chaos, because the year has been too chaotic. In lieu of the planned exhibition, the gallery is presenting works that explore current events and feelings, simply titled 2020. The show includes a long list of local and not-local artists, including Brandon Thompson, Justin Archer, Bartosz Beda, Michael Benson, Lauren Cross, Danielle Georgiou, Lillian Young, and many others.
2020 is viewable in person at the downtown location by appointment only, but you can experience some of Ro2’s other offerings online. The gallery has virtual tours of group shows My Corona and from a distance, both inspired by this unusual period in time.
The Pollock Gallery
For the latest exhibition at SMU’s Pollock Gallery, gallery director and curator Sofia Bastidas Vivar collaborated with artists Fred Villanueva and Juan Cruz to create a space that reflects the environment they’ve cultivated at Ash Studios in South Dallas. The community arts center is designed to engage the viewer and open a dialogue around the art. With Collective at the Pollock Gallery, the artists and curator create a new channel for conversation.
There are four paintings by Cruz, and 11 paintings and two sculptures by Villanueva. According to the press release, “the works embody the artists’ interest in the city as a space for collective learning and creation.” The exhibition leaves room for the viewers to collaborate; taking a cue from Ash Studios, there are pieces of colored paper set aside for guests to experiment with.
Due to the pandemic, the gallery is open by appointment only. Email [email protected] or [email protected] to schedule a visit.
