Museums Rule
Start your summer with Ben Jones’ way-out, color-suffused, digital-era storytelling at The Modern, part of its “Focus” exhibition (hurry, ends June 6) ... While you’re in Fort Worth, head to the Amon Carter Museum for a masterful American lensman showcased in “Ansel Adams: Eloquent Light” (through November 7). This tightly focused show — which is ultimately about the wonders of the American West — exhibits 40 stunning prints from the Carter’s coffers and a private collection that veer from the heroic to the intimate and highlight Adams’ considerable range ... Fort Worth Museum of Science and History marries science and art with Leonardo da Vinci: Man, Inventor Genius.” The exhibition revels in the Renaissance luminary’s art making and especially extols his futuristic vision, vis-à-vis models of the immortal Leonardo’s flying machines, robots, scuba gear, submarines and solar-powered devices (through September 6) ... At the Nasher Sculpture Center, international contemporary Rachel Whiteread is limelighted in a retrospective that explores her process via works on paper; organized by the definitive Hammer Museum in L.A., the exhibit serves up more than 150 drawings and collages, many straight from the artist’s London studio (through August 15) ... Prepare for a blockbuster at the Dallas Museum of Art, which ignites the summer with the first-ever U.S. retrospective for Belgian painter Luc Tuymans, co-organized by SFMOMA and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio (June 6 – September 5). Tuymans’ expressionist paint handling bridges past and future, existing between Dürer and Bacon, Neel and Peyton.
Galactic Galleries, On the Block
Just in: Jimmy and Dena Katz’s compelling take on traveling carnivals and the folks who inhabit their sideshows, “World of Wonders” has been extended at Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery (through July 24). The exhibit is presented alongside a museum-caliber gem, “Photographs & Etchings: Lee Friedlander + Jim Dine,” from the 1969 portfolio of the same name (June 19 – July 24). Also, catch PDNB’s poignant traveling show, “Shine,” which pairs vintage shoeshine stands with photogs who captured this subject, on view at the Center for the Visual Arts in Denton (June 11 – August 1) ... Deep Ellum denizen Barry Whistler Gallery brings together a Texas/Berlin/New York triangle in “Berlin Geschicten,” based on the creative convergence of Terrell James, Adam Raymont and Bo Joseph last fall in Germany (June 5 – July 10) ... Heritage Auction Galleries’ modern and contemporary art director Frank Hettig curates a one-day sale at the auction house’s Design District Annex June 9, at 10 am, including Impressionist treasures, red-hot contemporary Chinese work and modern and contempo Cuban and Latin American offerings (online preview, fineart.ha.com).
Image: Ben Jones’ Black Math 8, 2010, at The Modern in Fort Worth