Xue Art Gallery

by Michael Westfried

photos by Nicholas Bostick

Xue Art Gallery is a fresh, exciting, adventurous gallery that always seems to have energy crackling in the air.  Perhaps this energy is the result of the large amount of beer, wine and Redbull that litters a large table in the gallery’s “lounge” area.  It may also come from the turn tables of the DJ’s that work the event or it may just be the crowd.  College students, professors, hairdressers, artists, designers mingle in a hodgepodge of every type of person that you might imagine from men in fine suits to punk rock girls.

We stopped by on the second of April to enjoy the art, drinks, and crowd for the opening of their new Threshold exhibit.  Xue Gallery is young, has a lot of space and is not tied down by preconceived notions about what a gallery should be.  There is nothing pretentious about the place and it gives artists and the galleries director an opportunity to experiment.  For example, there was a large hole dug into the wall at eye level.  At first, I thought that there might have been some sort of accident but when I looked into the hole I saw someone peeking back at me.  Nick Hutchings, a professor at Brookhaven College created this installation with an eye on liminal space, drawing from philosophy and theology to create a body of work that deals with the veil between the physical and the spiritual.  As you might imagine, his work is highly conceptual and uses everything from gold to dirt to convey his ideas.

I also enjoyed seeing the paintings of Shelly Hampe which depicted strange surreal trees painted in muted tones with colorful patterns that show through slits in the bark.  Displayed in the gallery, this series of gouaches appear cleanly painted, so that from a distance I had thought that they might have been prints.  Several were painted on paper, others were collaged with old photographs and one was painted on canvas but with a less traditional approach as she had cut into the canvas to pull back the canvas layer and reveal the patterns underneath.  I understood her idea more fully when I realized that her website features interventions in nature where she incorporates quilts into the crevices of trees.  http://www.shelleyhampe.com/

Xue Gallery shows contemporary fine art and for anyone interested in the Dallas art scene, it is worth checking out.  Dallas needs galleries like the Xue Gallery if we want to have a diverse, exciting and active art scene.  The director, Orlando Sanchez is easy to talk to and truly cares about art.  He has made it clear that he is interested in showing work that matters.  The next opening will be in May so keep an eye open for a chance to see what they have in mind for their next show.

http://www.xueartgallery.com/