MTV RE:DEFINE?at?The Goss-Michael Foundation?? Septemeber 13-22.1405 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas, TX 75207.
There?s a tendency, and not just in Dallas, to use art as an excuse for something else ? an overt display of wealth or societal clout, a prominent display of munificence ? so much so that the work itself is consumed by the context of its utilization. We wonder, what is the import, value, and meaning of a work of art when its real use and function has become an excuse for the pageantry of conspicuous transferring of the wealthy?s excess capital to the coffers of a charity? Can we really claim that the work has a life, an existence outside of this context, and can it be viewed as such, as it sits on the wall, waiting for the activity that has brought it into the space for auction? How do we consider a thing when we know it has been vetted and selected precisely because of the qualities that lend it a consumptive desirability, prepped like a piece of fish on a plate in a photographer?s studio before a magazine shoot?
And once it is bought and shipped and hung in the confines of someone?s sleek and generically modern domicile, what is then? Can it shake the echo of its traumatic distribution through the mechanisms of the economic machine that is, at least in part, its raison d? ?tre? In this context it seems that all work becomes like Duchamp?s Fountain, only it is not a banal accessory of daily life elevated to art through the recontextualizing power of the gallery space, but rather the reduction of each work of art to banal accessory through the recontextualizing power of the action block.
More and more it seems that art appears in Dallas as a kind of prop, caught up in the context of various forms of ulterior performance. And this co-option of the product of the labor of the artist into the larger pageantry of an orchestrated performance, which uses so-called works of art to grist the gears of its own self-serving and cursory aims, is hardly limited to the high-end auctions or A-list social bangers. Groups that stage ?art events,? superficial soir?es that cast the display of art as one of a number of sideshows, sideshows that don?t so much entertain as they help extract from the presence of art work a kind of feeling of cool, or mood of cultural presence.
We also have of late the proliferation of consciously engendered art ?scenes,? roving bands of party-minded youths co-opting the language, dress, and attitude from avant-gardes of the past ? plucked with the haphazard algorithmic association of a Google image search ? scenes-stagers who become ends in themselves, to whom art is merely a means by which these well-meaning enthusiasts can live out their bohemian fantasies.
Then we have the pseudo-intellectual hucksters who eschew commitment to real curatorial rigor and vision for the jesterly performance, the art event that cultivates enthusiasm and acclaim around the cult of the fool. In fact, art is so often reduced to accessory ? in the auctions and art parties, in the hyped-scenesterism and anti-intellectual sophistry ? that we can hardly claim any idea what art?s actual purpose and role is anymore. Perhaps that?s precisely the point, that just as painting has supposedly died, now art has too. Is it silly, uneducated, foolish, or embarrassing to even assert that art has a role or purpose any more?
Yet, given the great groaning of the current political moment, the shrapnel fragmentation of the contemporary world, the blurring of the boundaries of reality between the natural and the digitally-produced, the unreliability of our perceptions, the dizzying senselessness or dubious nature of the structures of meaning that have given shape to culture and society for centuries and yet now appear inadequate for our day ? given all of this, where is the urgency for grappling with the real questions we face? Where is the hope that fuels and gives life to our grappling, that bolsters the resolve of our artists, our poets, our thinkers? Where are the sane, sensible art spaces? I think I can say there are only a handful, places like The Reading Room, The Free Museum of Dallas, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, and the third floor of The Power Station as it hosts its video art retrospective.
But what has otherwise happened is that we suffer from a cultural bends, a thinning of the blood brought on by the desire to seek relief from the unbearable pressure of an incomprehensible contemporary life. We have risen to the surface too quickly, and that?s where we now lie, stricken and helpless and breathless, on the surface of things.
Here are the gallery openings:?
?Y?UTOPIAS: An Almanac (of sorts) of Sustainable and Off-The-Grid Living in Texas? by Janeil Engelstad, at The Reading Room ? September 22 : 7-9 p.m.?3715 Parry Avenue,Dallas, Tx 75226.
Spend some time on Engelstad?s website, particularly her MAP project, and don?t miss this show.
?Four Nights, Four Decades??at?The Power Station???September 20 at 7:30 p.m. 3816 Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75226:
The retrospective culminates Thursday night with that hard to categorize decade: the aughts. But the capstone of the series comes with rare exhibition of Anthony McCall?s ?Line Describing a Cone??at Angstrum this Saturday. Here?s a taste of what?s in store, and here?s more on te event.
?Duality Reality? by Jordan Castilleja, Katherine Habeck, Justine McGregor, Lauren McKillip, Taylor Smith, Emmie Skinner, Floy Giadarski, Andrew Piepenburg, Eric Docherty, and Chris SooHoo, at the Ro2 Art Downtown Gallery ? September 20 : 6:00 PM ? 8:00 PM;?1408 Elm Street, Dallas, Tx 75202.
?I Can See Myself ? a collection of self portraits by Texas artists? at Kettle Art ? September 20, 7-10 p.m. 2714 Elm St., Dallas, TX75226.
?A Rebirth in Every Cell? by Dr. Samuel Lam, at Trenz Gallery ? September 20 : 7:00 PM ? 8:00 PM;?1315 East Levee Street, Dallas, Tx 75207.
ART BEEF: soft opening by Art Beef ? September 22, 7-11 p.m. 1802 Greenville Ave. Dallas, TX 75206.
?No WayUp But Down? New Art By Bruce Lee at Might Fine Arts ? September 22, 6-9 p.m. 419 N. Tyler, Dallas, TX 75208.
?Feed Bag? By In Cooperation With Muscle Nation. A Collective at The Lemon Bar ? September 22: 7-9 p.m.3699 McKinney Ave. Ste 106B,Dallas,TX75206.
?The Cycle Of The Fig Tree? by Carlos Cazares, at Mokah Art Gallery ? September 22 : 6:00 PM ? 9:00 PM;?2803 Taylor Street,Dallas,Tx 75226.
?100 Years of Oak Cliff Art??by Chris Bingham, Robert Bittle, Katherine Colin, Ray-Mel Cornelius, Richard Doherty, Bryan Florentin, Art Garcia, Bryan Gooding, Donna Harris, Kyle Hobratschk, Duke Horn, Jeffrey Jensen, Tray LaCaze, Rosie Lindsey, David Lyles, Cynthia Maute, Lyndon Mitchell, Charley Mitcherson, Kim Cadmus Owens, Larry Pile, James Schroeder, Kitty Alice Snead, Tamara White, Scott Winterrowd, and Debra Witter, at the?Turner House?of the Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts ? September 22 : 6:00 PM ? 8:00 PM;?401 North Rosemont Avenue, Dallas, Tx 75208.
?Focal Point??by Edward Ruiz, Eric Trich and Kristin Swenson, at the?WAAS Gallery?- September 22 : 7:00 PM ? 11:00 PM;?2722 Logan Street,Dallas,Tx 75215.
DADA?s?Fall Gallery Walk?- September 22 : 2:00 PM ? 8:00 PM
?49th Annual Members Exhibition? at the Southwest Watercolor Society ? September 22 : 6:00 PM;?PFAMILY ARTS,4017 Preston Rd. #544, Plano, Tx 75093
Image at top: Mat Collinshaw, Last Meal On Death Row, Texas (Martin Vegas), 2011 (detail) 64?46 cm C-Print framed with Red Grandis timber, rubbed back with black lacquer finish (Work included in this weekend?s MTV Re:Define auction at The Goss-Michael Foundation.
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