Here are this weekend’s gallery openings.

Image: From Jonathan Cross, ‘Plane Forms’

“Art with a View” by David Leonard at the BarBelmont in the Hotel Belmont – November 30 : 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM; 901 Fort Worth Avenue, Dallas, Tx 75208.

“Reflections” by Betty Sewell at the Cohn Drennan Contemporary – December 1 : 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM; 1107 Dragon Street, Dallas, Tx 75207.

“The Cologne Portfolio” by Thomas Zitzwitz at Gremillion and Co. Fine Art – December 1 : 5:00 PM – 7:00 ..read more

Way back in March, we wrote about the lawsuit brought against the Dallas Museum of Art by an heir to the Reves fortune that alledged that the museum and former president of UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dr. Kern Wildenthal, bullied Wendy Reves into leaving her art collection to the Dallas Museum of Art.

Well, that claim apparently had no ground, as a federal judge has dismissed the dispute. You can read the full opinion here, but, in short, the court found that Arnold Leon Schroeder Jr., the heir, failed to prove fraud against the DMA, and even if he had, the statue of limitations had expired.

We thought Jaime Foxx was making his way back to Texas this week (and we had tickets to giveaway), but now comes word that the actor and musician has pulled out of his Winspear appearance. If you are the type of person who immediately wants to find someone to blame, then turn your gaze to Mr. Quentin Tarantino. Foxx is playing the title character in an upcoming movie by the director, Django Unchained, work on which has purported required his ..read more

You may have noticed, but we get a kick out of reality TV around here. That’s why I share this next bit of news with mixed feelings. On the one hand, if you show up at Primo’s in Uptown on December 1, you may have a chance to be the next Kardashian by starring in the second season of NBC’s “Love in the Wild.” That’s because the producers are holding an open casting call at Primo’s for the dating reality show tomorrow. The bad news is, of course, if you actually succeed in getting on the show, then you’ll be subject to the razor sharp wit of one Ms. Laura Kostelny. It’s a toss up. I leave it to you to decide. Here are the details. Be sure to bring your bikini bod.

Mon Julien, “Darkest Hour” (listen) – I mentioned the new local supergroup of sorts in a fall preview a couple of months ago. It’s fronted by Black Tie Dynasty’s Cory Watson and Brian McCorquodale, with production help from Mark Pirro (Tripping Daisy, the Spree) and McKenzie Smith (Midlake). Pirro and Smith also play on Mon Julien’s self-titled album coming out in January. Watson’s in fine voice on “Darkest Hour,” a likely first single from the new record. Lovers of Black ..read more

UPDATE: Apologies, but we just got word that the Jamie Foxx show has been canceled. 

Who is Eric Bishop? Jamie Foxx answers that question and shares other stories he’s gathered as an actor, singer-songwriter and stand-up comedian in almost two decades at the Winspear Opera House on December 1st. We have two tickets to giveaway, to get your hands on them all you have to do is answer the question in the from below: Foxx was born and raised a Texas ..read more

Did you know that the best way to distract a possible alcoholic from drinking is with horseback riding? Had you any idea that you need a colonic to participate in certain auctions? Were you confused as to whether all people—gay, straight, breathing—hate speed dating? We learned all that and more on this exciting episode—”Horseplay,” if you must know—of The A List Dallas.

I have a little something that I need to talk about. After making millions of dollars from her cutting-edge ..read more

Over on Glasstire there is an interesting article on the art installed at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, which takes up a question that was still left open when I toured the facility shortly after the art was installed in early 2010. Ryan Sachetta traveled from San Antonio to watch a game see how the art integrated itself into the average fan’s experience. His answer? Not very well.

The care taken with placement and presentation of these works is museum-quality. Each is ready to be noticed, ready to engage the viewer. But it’s not enough.

It’s not only that the art, much of it bold and accessible, is competing with high-tech wonders like the Largest Television in the World. Sachetta goes on to look at the cost of going to a Cowboys game, and how fans laying out big bucks for food and football are unlikely to feel compelled to spend their precious time in Jerry Jones’ “spaceship” glaring at art.

While bringing cutting-edge contemporary art to a new audience is commendable, there’s nothing remotely populist about this superficially populist gesture. It feels more like a justification for increasing ticket prices than something that is supposed to possibly inspire and engage visitors.

There is one corollary point Sachetta leaves out about Cowboys Stadium that may actually help explain its art problems. Cowboys Stadium is a terrible place to watch a football game. I have been frequenting the “Death Star” this year for a D Magazine article, and I happened to be at the game Sachetta attended. The House That Jerry Built is designed to maximize sensations of comfort and bedazzlement. It lulls screaming fans into timid complacency. It reduces football and art alike to incidental sideshows. To stand in Cowboys Stadium’s monstrous inside-space is to be in its own kind of outside, its own Babel-like microcosm that scatters and confuses, dilutes and diffuses until all you’re left with, as Sachetta eloquently captures in his piece, is the game of taking photos of photos on the giant big screen. It is a self-reflexive feedback loop that produces a dizzying substitute for a real sense of place; it is a false world, a spaceship that transports you to a banal kind of nowhere. It is without a doubt both fascinating and nightmarish to visit.

In New York City in the 1980’s artists were overwhelmingly affected by AIDS. Entire performing companies were destroyed. A generation of creative people disappeared. In the early days, media outlets were unwilling to give the appropriate attention to AIDS. The combination of sex and death seemed more difficult to write about because the community most affected by AIDS was gay. As a result, AIDS prevention and treatment were delayed and many thousands lost their lives to this horrible disease.

In 1981, ..read more

The Dallas Opera’s General Director’s Roundtable series continues next Monday, December 5 with a panel discussing the role of new art works – both operatic and in other musical forms – in the context of the life of a performance arts group. Joining the Dallas Opera’s General Director Keith Cerny on the panel will be Moby-Dick librettist Gene Scheer; Ann Williams, founder and artistic director of the Dallas Black Dance Theater; and baritone Robert Orth. And the panel will again ..read more