DALLAS OBSERVER • KALEIDOSCOPE 7 Art in Bloom The season’s best museum and gallery shows offer a colorful reason to see art in Dallas. BY KENDALL MORGAN A h, spring! The most hopeful time in North Texas (aside from the allergies, of course). The weather is balmy, the Dallas Art Fair is on the horizon, and most of our major muse- ums are staging their best shows of the year. In other words, it’s the perfect time to shake off that ex- istential dread and get thee into the environs of an artistic space. We’ve curated the best of the best exhibitions to brighten your outlook for the season and beyond. Here are the best upcoming museum and gallery exhi- bitions this spring: Aurora Video Art Night 2025 April 11 Between its bigger biennial productions, the local orga- nization Aurora mounts an amuse bouche exploring the moving image to hold over local fans of immersive art. This year’s Video Art Night, from 6 to 10 p.m., will high- light work from regional talent on a giant screen during the Dallas Art Fair week. Best of all? The event is free and its loca- tion in a new TBD downtown spot should reach the maximum number of viewers possible. Dallas Art Fair April 11–April 13 The Dallas Art Fair is a highlight of spring among the co- gnoscenti. The main event at the Fashion Industry Gallery (1807 Ross Ave.) also livens things up with an assortment of satellite exhibitions and parties popping up all over town. For the fair’s 17th edition, newcomers including Tokyo’s Koki Arts and London’s LBF Contemporary will join interna- tional veteran Perrotin (among other starry blue-chip spaces) for an impressive total of 90 exhibitors. While you’re out and about, make sure to reserve an after- noon to pop by the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek (2821 Turtle Creek Blvd.) for the Dallas Invitational, an indie fair on the hotel’s first floor that complements the main event, which will be held from April 10–12. Dallas Contemporary, You Stretched Diagonally Across It: Contemporary Tapestry April 11–Oct. 12 Dallas Contemporary (161 Glass St.) offers an examination of tapestry organized by guest curator Su Wu. You Stretched Diagonally Across It highlights the myriad ways thread can be woven to explore imagery. This show should satisfy shopahol- ics as well — the Los Angeles-based vintage textile library Kneeland Co. will activate the Contemporary’s shop with a collection of specially designed textiles, ceramics, jewelry and collectibles for sale. Dallas Museum of Art, Marisol: A Retrospective Feb. 23–July 6 It’s always nice when a female artist gets their due, so we’re extra excited by the DMA’s retrospective of one of the most enigmatic pop artists of the 20th century. This comprehensive study of Marisol Escobar’s work (the most extensive ever assembled) examines the breadth of her oeuvre, including sculptural self-portraits and pieces examin- ing issues such as environmental precarity, social justice, feminism and war. In other words, the same stuff we’re con- tinuing to deal with today. Also on the must-see list at the DMA (at 1717 N. Harwood St.) is the highly anticipated return of Yayoi Kusama’s made- for-social-media All the Eternal Love I Have for the Pumpkins infinity room, which hasn’t been seen at the institution since 2018. Ready, set, selfie! Dallas Contemporary, Velvet Faith: EJ Hill and Martin Gonzalez Feb. 28–Aug. 31 If there’s anything the Dallas Contemporary (161 Glass St.) spring exhibitions have in common, it’s their ability to hit the sweet spot between art and craft. Velvet Faith is a collab be- tween artists EJ Hill and Martin Gonzalez featuring a site-spe- cific roller coaster of wood and metal, soft sculptures and new paintings. Visitors can’t ride the thing, but they can bring the kiddos for a special public program, Art Sundae, on March 30 from 1–4 p.m., featuring a hands-on art-making experience led by contemporary artists in conjunction with the Art Produc- tion Fund. Kimbell Art Museum, Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910-1945: Masterworks from the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin March 30–June 22 If you’ve explored the city of Berlin, you’ve learned that you must dig a little beneath the surface to get a clear view of what led the country from the last years of the German Em- pire to the freewheeling, queer-positive Weimar Republic to the rise of National Socialism. There may not be a lot of insti- tutions that examine this trajectory through ephemera or ar- chitecture, but the city’s Neue Nationalgalerie does a fantastic job of distilling political oppression via works of art. And now the Kimbell (3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., Fort Worth) has culled the cream of the collection for its Modern Art and Politics in Germany 1910–1945 exhibition. Since most exhibi- tions are years in the making, this is a particularly timely show for America’s current era of disinformation. After all, art al- ways is (or at least should be) political. Haegue Yang, “Umbra Creatures by Rockhole,” 2017-2018. Nasher Sculpture Center
