“Regional Quarterly Vol. 1: Cross Talk” at Circuit 12

In a few days I get up on a stage at the DMA with two other artists to talk about the state of the arts in Dallas; in other words, Dallas’ “scene.” One of the things I hope to chat about is that artists are increasingly driving the culture here by describing their own space and making their own rules in all kinds of ways—curated shows in new galleries and unlikely places, panel discussions, performances. I’d venture to say that things have gotten so tolerable up here in North Texas that we’ve even gained a few new artists to the area recently that have helped fortify the energy here.

One of those additions is Nathan Green, artist and member of the famed collective Okay Mountain out of Austin, a booted lot of artists who started with a gallery and ended up making work together. (Of course. That’s what happens when artists hang out together and think together—they end up making things together, even if that just means food and drinks.) Nathan just curated a show at  Circuit 12 Contemporary—a great new space run by Dustin and Gina Orlando which shows work by a bevy of hip artists, mostly young, working all over the country. The show is called Cross Talk and features a pairing of work by artists Sterling Allen and Brad Tucker. The show is the first in what will be a new exhibition strategy for the gallery called Regional Quarterly, in which the gallery brings together “contemporary artists and visionaries throughout the state of Texas to share concepts and dialog with the Dallas market place, providing a platform for regional artists to expose their works and network with other Texas-based creatives.”

Good idea. Just the sort of thing we’ve been needing out of our galleries.

The show Nathan has put together for Regional Quarterly Vol. 1 is great. Really refreshing. Brad Tucker is a contemporary Texas treasure, and shoot, so is Sterling (who is also a member of Okay Mountain).

Of the show, Nathan says:

“Oscillating within a spectrum of mediums and modes of production, these artists defy categorization and straddle traditional divisions of creative output. The unusual combinations and cross-talk of painting, sculpture, drawing and photography create playful, idiosyncratic works that reside in a dynamic space in between states.”

Sterling Allen’s work here is a hybrid of Daniel Buren and Tom Burr—fabric assemblages and shelves of framed ephemera, paintings and photographs. Everything feels somehow both incredibly calculated and totally off-handed.

Brad Tucker’s wall of sculptural squiggles and bursts is playful and Keith Haring-ish, and may be a clear inspiration to Keith Allyn Spencer’s work, which showed recently at Oliver Francis Gallery. (Be sure to check out Tucker’s work on view at the DMA right now in the show Variations on a Theme.)

So glad to see this new initiative by Circuit 12 and Nathan Green. We’re looking forward to what visual and actual dialogues are presented throughout the rest of the year.

Images courtesy Rachel Van Horn, via Facebook.