Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1094656
OBSESSIONS. DECORATION. SALIENT FACTS. 24 D ecades before globalism held sway, Francesco Clemente was mining moments, scraps of memory, and elusive fragments from ancient civilizations. During the 1980s, his Neo- Expressionistic paintings commanded notice and established then unheard- of prices. It's fitting, then, that Dallas C o n t e m p o r a r y d i re c t o r P e t e r Doroshenko places Clemente front and center for the DC's opening that coincides with Dallas Art Fair week. Clemente follows Doroshenko's curatorial spectrum for '80s talents Julian Schnabel, David Salle, and, last spring, Eric Fischl; all have had ambitious survey or focus shows at the museum. Clemente's solo will be unique in its specificity to Dallas and its environmental/cultural emphasis. The epic installation is composed of four wall paintings crafted by Oaxacan sign painters, paired with a six-piece suite of cast-aluminum sculptures. The artist's subject is the Trinity River and its mid- 19th-century utopian settlement — the nearly forgotten La Réunion, a community along the banks in Oak Cliff and West Dallas where politics, religion, and social agency intersected crafts. A pendant idea to this exhibition was realized in 2016 for the Springs Center of Art in Beijing. The Dallas exhibition will be the first monumentally scaled installation of Clemente's art in North America. "Watchtowers, Keys, Threads, Gates," April 13 – August 18, at the Dallas Contemporary, 161 Glass St., dallascontemporary.org. Catherine D. Anspon FRANCESCO CLEMENTE: A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT C all it the city's most a n t i c i p a t e d f a s h i o n exhibition since Jean Paul Gaultier's retrospective at the Dallas Museum of Art in 2011. Next month, the DMA opens another coup of a show, "Dior: From Paris to the World" — the first major U.S. retrospective on the fashion house founded by Christian Dior in 1946. News broke late last year that the show's second and final stop would be Dallas. Organized by the Denver Art Museum's curator of textile art and fashion, Florence Müller, the exhibition is incredibly robust, featuring a close historical examination of Dior's haute couture, accessories, photographs, DIOR, IN FULL MEASURE O nce a year, the Nasher Sculpture Center's renowned garden turns into a fantastical scene for a younger variety of art patron. This is The Great Create: A Coachella for kids, with a few grown-up perks for moms and dads. The daytime event, sponsored by PaperCity and set for Sunday, April 28 is a must attend. Rarely is there a party where tots can run amok amongst museum-worthy art. Leading this year's charge are co-chairs Catherine and Douglas MacMahon and Sylvia Cespedes and Hernan Saenz. The Great Create, Sunday, April 28, 1 to 4 pm, at the Nasher Sculpture Center, nashersculpturecenter.org. Christina Geyer CALL IT COACHELLA, BUT FOR KIDDOS original sketches, and runway video footage. The exhibition spans generations, tracing its evolution and impact on the world of design, from Monsieur Dior's revolutionary New Look collection, which debuted in 1947 and forever changed fashion, to the influence of his contemporary artistic directors — Yves Saint Laurent, Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, Raf Simons, and Maria Grazia Chiuri, who leads the fashion house today. For those who may have seen the exhibition in Denver, expect something experientially different in Dallas. The DMA is staging an entirely new architectural and design installation for the show, led by the DMA curator of decorative arts and design, Sarah Schleuning. "Dior: From Paris to the World," May 19 – September 1, at the Dallas Museum of Art, 1717 N. Harwood St., dma.org. Christina Geyer Installation, "A Nomadic Life: Francesco Clemente in China," at Springs Center of Art, Beijing Christian Dior, 1948 COURTESY SPRING CENTER OF ART, BEIJING The Color Condition at The Great Create, 2018