Frida Kahlo, Samara Golden, and More of the Most Exciting Dallas Art Exhibits Opening Fall 2024

From a deep dive into who Frida Kahlo was as a person to mind-bending sculptural installations, these are the top Dallas art exhibits opening this fall 2024.

Frida: Beyond the Myth

Dallas Museum of Art

August 18 through November 17

This new Dallas art exhibit will explore the life of one of the 20th century’s most celebrated artists, Frida Kahlo, but more specifically how she saw herself. Sixty works including paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs will be presented chronologically and dive into “the defining moments of her life and how she embedded symbolic motifs in her self-portraits and still lifes to cryptically express her emotive reactions to major events.” There will also be photos taken by her friends and other artists who knew her so we can get a better glimpse into who Frida Kahlo really was.

Hugh Hayden: Homecoming

Nasher Sculpture Center

September 14 through January 5, 2025

New York-based artist Hugh Hayden works in wood carving and carpentry, building sculptures and installations that explore the idea of the “American Dream.” One of his pieces is a simple dining table and chairs, but sharp thorns are carved into the work to convey a more sinister message of the pain a human can endure from coming into contact with this item (or memory).

“For his exhibition at the Nasher Sculpture Center, Hayden will mine memories from his childhood in Dallas, nodding to homelife, school, and play from youth to adolescence. As a key component of Homecoming, Hayden will create a rendition of a children’s playground covered in thorns carved from the base material.” This is an instance where “Don’t Touch the Art” becomes very important.

Samara Golden

Nasher Sculpture Center

September 28 through January 12, 2025

A Los Angeles-based installation artist, Samara Golden “will create a new installation conceived for the [Nasher’s] Lower Level Gallery — a room fronted by windows, approached from a descending staircase. Visitors entering the gallery will encounter a seemingly infinite and fantastic space evoking cascading pools, ranging from the fetid to the paradisical—a place where memories, emotions, and possibilities converge.”

Golden is known for her installations that use mirrors and architecture to create disorienting atmospheres. She explores people who have spoken in the past about “experiences of violence and its aftermath, disparities of class, or illness and recovery.”

Chivas Clem: Shirttail Kin

Dallas Contemporary

October 17 through January 12, 2025

This fall, Dallas Contemporary presents a Paris, Texas-based multimedia artist’s first solo museum exhibition. Curated by Alison M. Gingeras, Shirttail Kin features an archive of over 70 photographs spanning over a decade. Chivas Clem documents a local community of transient men whom he frequented upon his return to his hometown after an illustrious career in New York.

“Turning his attention to his native landscape, Clem captures some of the region’s most pressing issues. His intimate images disclose complex and surprising constructions of masculinity, while also capturing an empathetic picture of a misunderstood and largely forgotten population.”