Reception: November 17, 2007, 7 ~ 9:30p

Dallas Contemporary announces its upcoming exhibition Open Doors Expansion, is viewable Saturday, November 10 through January 12, 2008. Open Doors Expansion features large-scale, site-specific installation works by Open Doors Collective, an Austin, Texas based group of artists. A members’ opening reception, to which the public is invited at a $10 entry, is set for Saturday, November 17, 2007, 7 ~ 9:30 pm.

Co-curated by Texas artists Hunter Cross, Terra Goolsby, and Jacob Villanueva, Open Doors Expansion comes to Dallas for its first showing as another dynamic project of the Open Doors Collective.

Six artists will showcase new large-scale, site-specific installations that are multi-sensory, spatial, material inventions: Nancy Brown [Dallas] graces the wall with delicate assemblages; Hunter Cross [Austin] constructs a two-story steel stairway covered in collected trophy statuettes; Terra Goolsby [Austin] builds an environment of suspended acrylic spheres and discs decorated with nail-polish; Eduardo Navarro [Buenos Aires] sets up a bank of fax machines to fill the gallery with daily transmitted drawings; Maximilian Toth [New Haven] draws a large mural in his signature style; and Jacob Villanueva [Austin] combines cellar doors and video projections challenging the viewer’s notion of space and locality.

Six large-scale installations

Terra Goolsby manipulates translucent spheres injected with nail polish and suspended in arcing organic shapes to create an environment whose beauty compels the viewer into its formal grasp. Goolsby exposes the organic qualities of her hand-picked and deftly manipulated synthetic materials.

Hunter Cross has collected once coveted, but now unwanted, trophies from all over the United States and Canada. These golden statuettes cover his 20-foot ascending Stairway. The mini figures set in contrast to the black painted steel hardware deal with contemporary American culture’s complicated relationship with competition. The strangely beautiful collection of discarded memories becomes an abstract representation of a population connected by competition and collaborating with contributions.

Nancy Brown uses thousands of tiny pins to create representations of the many poses of a wild fox. Brown’s visual language communicates the movement and mischievousness of the fox. In her previous works, Brown explored the symbolism of animals in Grimm’s fairy tales and the figurative possibilities of “wall-stickable” materials.

Eduardo Navarro will draw directly on his recent experiences within the international art world. Working from his studio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Navarro will transmit daily drawings to the gallery via a bank of 8 installed fax machines. In the tradition of deceased artist Felix Gonzales-Torres, these drawings will be available to visitors of the gallery for free. Navarro’s work is about building a relationship with space that involves exchange. Visitors who experience his work inevitably complete the work by choosing to leave or take the drawings, giving shape to his work.

Jacob Villanueva’s previous sculptural video work has been leading to this installation of three cellar-like constructions that contain high definition LCD screens. The screens will be populated with new videos during the exhibition’s run that will show residential and industrial sites important to Villanueva. The artist continually challenges himself to incorporate the latest video technologies into his process while at the same time keeping his installations accessible and austere.

Maximilian Toth’s paintings use multiple layers of meaning and symbolism to depict images from personal experiences, his friends’ stories, ancient mythology and gossip from his childhood town in Massachusetts. His images are raw, arresting and filled with the sinewy stress of excess, aggression and unfiltered loss. This mural of white lines on black ground is the largest work Toth has yet to complete, covering an entire wall of The Dallas Contemporary.

A history of installations

Site-specific installations have been an essential element in Dallas Contemporary’s exhibition history: including works in Building Blocks, Wall Power, Siting Sculpture, Constuctions & Architecture, and New Art in Austin: 22 to Watch. Mix! Artists such as Luz Maria Sanchez, Alejandro Almanza Pereda and Jose Krapp add spice to our site-specific history.

Showing concurrently with Open Doors Expansion are two exhibition series: in Hallworks, Sara Ishii presents paintings of faces emerging from poured paint, and in 3 D on Swiss, Jorge Misium creates an outdoor, site-specific piece of tensioned wire and bent shapes.

Dallas Contemporary publishes a color brochure to accompany each exhibition. The German art historian, independent curator and critic Till Richter is the guest essayist for Open Doors Expansion. Richter holds a Master’s degree from the Sorbonne, Paris and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in contemporary art history at the University of Texas at Austin.

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