Articles about Arts
Why the Dallas Cowboys Should Join the Dallas Opera
Forget the The Magic Flute simulcast. I mean, it’s a fine idea, but nowhere near as entertaining as the announcement I was hoping for: an opera actually performed on the field at Cowboys Stadium (caveat: acoustics, but amusement trumps). And then I realized how the Dallas Opera could kill a bunch of grackles with one teensy, tiny stone.
Local Newspaper Awkwardly Stretches For Dallas Angle on Oscar Nominations
I spent a number of years writing for community newspapers. I understand that sometimes you’ve got to try to shoehorn national stories into your coverage by dressing up a lede or writing a headline to suggest an AP-written story has more local significance than it really should. But look what DallasNews.com has done with this morning’s Oscar nominations:
By that headline, you might think that Dallas expat actor Owen Wilson were himself nominated for an Academy Award. Though I think his performance might have been worthy, he’s not. Midnight in Paris really only has that single, tenuous local connection.
So it’s a stretch. Which wouldn’t be so bad except that there’s another film on the list of Best Picture nominees that actually had segments filmed in downtown Dallas: Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. The Chapel of Thanksgiving and Reunion Tower can both be prominently seen in the movie.
Plus Art and Seek notes a local nominee in the Best Animated Short category.
But yes, I know, Owen Wilson has got more star power.
Pizza Hut Makes Local Newspaper Editor Weepy
You remember my post about not being able to get through to the Pizza Hut media relations office? I was calling to ask about the H.U.T. Fund, a charity created by Pizza Hut CEO Scott Bergren exclusively to help students at my alma mater, the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
The Booker T. orchestra has a chance to perform at Carnegie Hall in May, but the trip will cost about $70,000. The group already has more than $50,000 in the bank, and a good portion of that money came from the H.U.T. Fund. As a proud alum, I’d like to publicly thank Bergren for his generosity.
You can read more about the Booker T. orchestra in the current issues of Preston Hollow People and Oak Cliff People. And you can hear them perform — for free — at 7:30 tomorrow night at SMU’s Caruth Auditorium.
Mayor Mike Rawlings’ Novelty ‘Playgirl’ Cover Shoot: The Inside Story of a Work of Art
By Michelle Rawlings
We told you a couple days ago about the upcoming art exhibition of work by Michelle Rawlings (the daughter of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings), which starts Jan. 21 at the Oliver Francis Gallery. In perusing the young artist’s website for material about which I might make snarky remarks, one item initially escaped my attention.
It was on my second time through that I looked more carefully at the image you see at right, labeled simply as “uncle — installation.” The strikingly mustachioed man is the focus of the work, so one can easily be forgiven in not noticing the shirtless fellow to the right on the novelty Playgirl cover. Damned if that didn’t look like Mayor Rawlings himself. And it is.
Michelle confirmed as much, via email. And the story she shared about this wonderfully goofy mock magazine cover was surprisingly heartfelt:
Meet Michelle Rawlings, Mayor Mike’s Daughter, and Her NSFW Artwork
"I Love You All" by Michelle Rawlings
FrontRow notes that artist Michelle Rawlings, the daughter of Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, will have an exhibition of her work at the Oliver Francis Gallery starting Jan. 21.
Even if you don’t give a whit about art, please click here and scroll down to behold “Pin the Macho on the Man,” a (NSFW) piece of which her papa must be especially proud.
Meanwhile, I’m going to try to make it compute that the printing of a photo on an inkjet is considered art.
UPDATE: Stop the presses! Is that Mayor Mike himself on the fake Playgirl cover with the uncle?
UPDATE UPDATE: Yes, it is.
Things to Do in Dallas This Weekend: January 6-8
Let’s get right to it:
Friday
I’ll start by noting that if you still want to go to the game out in Arlington that’s not really the Cotton Bowl, there are tickets available online. And if you’re a fan of Anderson Cooper’s favorite “comedian,” she’s in town too.
Those who prefer a higher brow evening should hit the First Friday at the Modern in Fort Worth. I know, I know, it’s such a long drive to get to Cowtown, but where else are you going to be able to enjoy cocktails, dinner, jazz by the group Outer Circles, a docent-led tour of the museum galleries, plus a movie about the Shakespeare of Germany, Young Goethe in Love? Yep, nowhere else.
Why You Should Visit the Nasher Before Sunday
I am reminded that the Tony Cragg exhibit at the Nasher ends this Sunday. Here’s a great interview our own Peter Simek did with with the British artist. Here’s what some other smart people have said about the show. Here’s what I’ll say about the exhibit: I took my 6-year-old daughter to see it. She really dug it. And, because she is 6, she wanted to touch everything. So did I. I had to consciously keep myself from reaching out to explore Cragg’s work. The sculptures beg to be touched. Really, it’s a wonderful show, and you should see it.
Here’s something else I’ll share with you: I’ve recently learned that the best time to visit the Nasher’s garden is before, oh, 3:30 p.m., because something frightening happens every day at that time. Anyone who has driven Central Expressway during certain hours of the day knows how the gold Pegasus building (which will always be the Fina building to me) can focus the sun’s rays directly into your eyes. On Central, the danger is that you will drive off the road and die in a fiery crash. The same phenomenon now occurs at the Nasher — except the sun’s rays bounce off the new Museum Tower (pictured), and the danger is that you will mistake Magdalena Abakanowicz’s Bronze Crowd for an approaching zombie mob and embarrass yourself when you turn to flee and run headlong into the trunk of an oak (or a better joke).
Anyway, you’ve been warned and notified.
Things to Do in Dallas Tonight: January 5, 2012
Let’s talk about sex. Would you believe that not every world religious tradition carries around the sort of puritanical baggage we’re often stuck with here in the God-fearing United States? According to the Dallas Museum of Art, “sexual pleasure and religious ecstasy were often united in ancient India.” Yes, we’re talking about the Kama Sutra, that Hindu pleasure manual you quickly sneak peeks at whenever you happen across it while browsing at Barnes and Noble.
Tonight offers the chance to shine a harsh academic light upon this object of your titillated curiosity, by attending a DMA lecture discussing works in the museum collection that depict the intersection of sex and the Hindu religion. “The Hindu Art of Love: Illustrating the Kama Sutra” will be presented by Dr. Anne Bromberg, the DMA’s curator of ancient and Asian art.
There are other happenings at the museum as well, so you’ll have excuses to give your prudish, judgmental friends for where you’re going tonight. There’s jazz in the DMA atrium starting at 6 p.m., and an “artistic encounter” about creativity (where you’ll get the chance to learn about how to put creative thinking tools into practice) that starts at 6:30 p.m. The sex talk doesn’t get going until 7:30 p.m.
Too racy for you? Find other things to do in Dallas tonight right here.
Our Favorite Pictures of 2011 From D Magazine
Dallas by night provided scenery worth capturing.
Selecting the most memorable images from D Magazine this year was tough. At first it was going to be a list of the 10 best, but that proved impossible. Then it was going to be the best 12 or 13, but that still left too many out. So I included even more.
See for yourself. Click here for my review of the best pictures of the year.
Tony Cragg Show in the Wall Street Journal
Sometime D Magazine contributor Willard Spiegelman has a piece in the Wall Street Journal today about the Tony Cragg show at the Nasher. His lead: “If you suggest that artists should create beautiful things, you risk being branded an old fogy. Still, few major artists today make objects as joyously beautiful as the British sculptor Tony Cragg, whose work is having its first U.S. exhibition in two decades at the Nasher Sculpture Center.” Spoiler alert: Willard digs the show.
Why You Need to Go Get Your FrontRow Live Tickets Right . . . Now
FrontRow Live, presented by Chevy at the Dallas Contemporary, is THIS THURSDAY, November 3 from 8 p.m. to midnight. You are going to be there.
Why, you ask? Simple.
Where have you ever been in your entire life in which in one space on one night there was: three DJs blasting an eclectic mix of electronic music; a band of buskers, playing under the night sky surrounded by five food trucks; a video artist mixing visual projections to accompany the musical performances; a classical violinist; a pop-up coffee shop via Pearl Cup; live screen printing; a short film/video art screening room; three galleries full of visual art; a troupe of street dancers; and a series of spontaneous live theater performances? Where? The closest I can claim to have come is a warehouse party on the outskirts of Rome I attended a decade or so ago, but even that featured only two-thirds of the artistic offerings we’ve mashed-up for FrontRow Live.
Oh, and did I mention the event was FREE and your first four beers were FREE too?
Right, so go here now and get your tickets. And go here to find out about all of our performers. Oh, and one thing to note: though the event and your first four beers are free, do bring some cash for the food trucks. Which food trucks? Here’s the list:
Cavalli’s Pizza (oven)
FrontRow Live’s Lineup Expands as Violinist, Buskers Join Nov 3 Mayhem
I hope you’ve already secured your FREE tickets to FrontRow Live, which will take place at the Dallas Contemporary on November 3, from 8 p.m. until midnight. If you haven’t, you can get them right here. If your response to that sentence was, “what the what?” then allow me:
FrontRow Live is something we’re calling the “one night high brow, low brow blowout,” and all that means is that we have created an event at the Dallas Contemporary that will bring together an eclectic mix of all sorts of cultural exploits.
Like what? Jump
Down and Out at the Rachofsky House
Everybody knows that each year around this time, the international arty set descends on Cindy and Howard Rachofsky’s Dallas show house for the 2X2 fundraiser. Celebrities like Stanley Tucci, big-buck auction sales, major air-smooching, ascots and high-water pants with no socks–you know the drill. But Saturday night, passing by the art hoedown off Preston Road, one could see a guy lying face-down in the roadside greenery while cellphone-camera-wielding onlookers snapped away, capturing the scene for posterity. Was he high on goofballs, and decided to take a nap? Maybe he was a dead-drunk still life? Then again, maybe he just fainted away after realizing how much his Platinum card got dinged for that “Portrait of a Lady With Five Eyes.”
Dallas Museum of Art Picks New Director
As Krista mentioned below, our own Peter Simek has proven himself to be something of a soothsayer. Only with a twist. He predicted the future by saying the future was exactly what wouldn’t happen. How (kinda) embarrassing. Our November issue won’t hit newsstands for another 10 days or so. In it, Peter writes about the Dallas Museum of Art and how they don’t know what they’re doing (my words, not his). He says if they knew what they were doing, they would hire as their next director a fellow Maxwell Anderson (pictured) from the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Well, as we learned today, the DMA went out and hired Anderson. Two things: in fact check, the DMA people told us a new director wouldn’t be named until the new year. Second, Peter swears he hadn’t heard Anderson’s name whispered before he wrote his story. I believe him. Why? Because he wouldn’t have written “the current DMA brass lacks imagination” if he’d thought there was a possibility that Anderson would get the gig.
In any case, why wait to publish? Here’s what you’ll read in your November issue of D Magazine:
Peter Simek Is a Fortune Teller
Our November issue comes out next week. In it, Peter Simek has an article about who he thinks should be the next director at the DMA. A spokesperson told Peter (and then confirmed with me) that no announcements of the new director would be made until next year. Well, that was rubbish. As Peter explains on FrontRow, the new director is none other than Maxwell Anderson, the man Peter said the DMA should hire. Look forward to reading why he thinks Anderson is the perfect fit in the new issue. And now I’m going to go get my fortune read by Peter.
Home |
Masthead |
News from D |
About Us |
Contact Us |
Subscribe |
Advertise |
Privacy Policy |
Customer Service |
Awards | Archives | Reprints | d custom | Jobs | Advertiser's Index
Awards | Archives | Reprints | d custom | Jobs | Advertiser's Index