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Photos by Ronald Stoops. All courtesy of the artist. Walter Van Beirendonck © 2013.

WALTER VAN BEIRENDONCK
Lust Never Sleeps - Silent Secrets

EXHIBITION DATES
12 APRIL - 18 AUGUST 2013

Born 1957 in Brecht, Belgium.
Currently lives and works in Antwerp, Belgium.

Avant-garde fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck is one of the most renowned trendsetters of men's fashion. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Van Beirendonck joined the revolutionary Antwerp Six in 1987, a collective of influential fashion designers. By 1999, he had coined the nickname Cultural Ambassador of Flanders. Van Beirendonck is known for his strong graphics, innovative cuts and unexpected color combinations. Each collection combines his fascination for pop music, comics, science fiction and cultural traditions; incorporating untraditional materials, including synthetic fibers, plastics and rubber.

exhibition sponsors:

All images courtesy of the artist. John Pomara © 2013.

JOHN POMARA
Wipeout

EXHIBITION DATES
12 APRIL - 18 AUGUST 2013

Born 1952 in Dallas, Texas.
Currently lives and works in Dallas, Texas.

WIPEOUT is a collection of re-worked, appropriated imagery posted by females on the popular site, Tumblr. Pomara prints the low-resolution images repeatedly using custom digital glitches. Creatively disrupting the initial picture, the images are altered into a new digitized abstraction, producing a fresh new version of the mediated image. The final result is works printed on a transparency film that floats unframed on the gallery walls. Pomara is interested in the human element of technology. His spare, abstract paintings depict blurs, glitches, and printing imperfections, contradicting our vision of modern technology as seamless, cold, and rational. Inspired by entropy and mechanical failure, Pomara uses copy machines, printers, and the Internet to create visual representations of error. Dragging an image across a moving photocopier, he creates a blurred "glitch" that may be incorporated into a mature painting. When arranged serially, the works recall film stills and their attendant implications of moving and inert images, as well as the motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge.

All images courtesy of the artist. SONER © 2013.

SONER
Electric Circus

EXHIBITION DATES
12 APRIL - 18 AUGUST 2013

Born 1974 in San Diego, California.
Currently lives and works in Dallas, Texas.

Local graffiti artist SONER is a San Diego native but has called Dallas home since 1995. He began painting in 1989, inspired by the graffiti of California gang culture. SONER practiced graffiti after local writers Sken, Crim and Escape had appropriated the medium. _SONER keeps a low profile but uses graffiti as a mark-making technique in his day-to-day life and travels. The city itself does not affect the outcome of each work; instead, SONER credits his inspiration to the work of his crewmates. Challenging himself to learn the techniques of others, SONER contributes to the dialogue with his own style, performed on the street and within the institution. SONER's exhibition here at the Dallas Contemporary includes two major wall paintings and one interactive community artwork where visitors are able to create their own graffiti writing inside the museum.

All images courtesy of the artist. Josephine Durkin © 2013.

JOSEPHINE DURKIN
Gathering Flora

EXHIBITION DATES
12 APRIL - 18 AUGUST 2013

Born 1980 in Leesburg, Virginia.
Currently lives and works in Greenville, Texas.

Josephine Durkin's research and studio practice involves the creation of drawings, videos, sculptures and large-scale interactive and kinetic installations that personify recognizable or manipulated objects and materials. These are then used to suggest, mimic, invite or isolate human gestures, activities and relationships. She generates her drawings and paintings from object-making processes. The artist photographs leftover studio residue and prints them on heavyweight papers. The photographs are then used as a source material for her work in other media.

Shepard Fairey mural. Courtesy the artist.

SHEPARD FAIREY
Citywide Street Mural Project

04 FEBRUARY 2012 - ONGOING

Dallas Contemporary has invited Los Angeles based street artist SHEPARD FAIREY to create more than 12 murals throughout the city with a focus on West Dallas. Known for his iconic designed President Obama HOPE poster, Fairey has worked as an artist creating works on the streets and globally in public spaces using posters, stickers, wheat paste and painted murals.

CLICK HERE to view mural location map.