This week the Dallas Art Fair takes place. If you’re in town for the major spring fair, be sure to check out the fantastic shows taking place around the city.
Exhibitions by Anna Kunz offer a calming embrace, inviting the viewer to pause and reflect, while Shannon Cannings’ vibrant works deliver a colorful commentary on violence, provoking thought and dialogue. This dynamic contrast between serenity and intensity defies the city’s art scene this season. Join Whitewall as we take you through the must-see exhibitions that are shaping Dallas’s artistic landscape, revealing new perspectives and creative expressions this spring.
Anna Kunz: The Ecstatic Dream
Galleri Urbane
Dallas Design District
Anna Kunz, “Reverie,” 2025, acrylic on canvas, 66 x 60 inches, courtesy of Galleri Urbane.
Anna Kunz, “Swan Attack,” 2025, acrylic on canvas, 66 x 60 inches, courtesy of Galleri Urbane.
Inspired by the vivid colors and floral scents described by filmmaker Jonas Mekas, Anna Kunz‘s “The Ecstatic Dream,” is an exhibition that radiates peace and tranquility. Resonating with the idea of escaping anger through nature, Kunz adopts a diaristic approach reflecting personal experiences through color and surface. The intimate scale of her canvases and the immersive quality of experimental cinema merge in this exhibition, blending time, memory, and perception. It explores time not as a linear progression, but as a dimension of perception. Feminist, vulnerable, and visually evocative, Kunz’s work embodies a progression without narrative, inviting the viewer to embrace the unfamiliar, to be held and liberated, and to accept Kunz’s invitation to optimism.
What we love: Upon entering, visitors encounter a beam that Kunz uses to walk or sit while working between canvases she lays on the floor. This simple yet significant element offers a unique opportunity for visitors to engage with the artist’s process, allowing them to experience her work from her perspective and cultivate a deeper connection both with the space and collection.
Anna Kunz at Galleri Urbane
March 29—May 3, 2025
Terrenos
Keijsers Koning
Dallas Design District
Ever Velasquez, a Los Angeles-based artist and curator, has curated the group show “Terrenos” at Keijsers Koning in Dallas. Works on view explore themes of land ownership, inheritance, and community. Prioritizing the relationship between land and the body–whether through labor, survival, or the concept of borders as cultivation centers for generational wounds–this exhibition highlights the tension between traditional methods of land stewardship and contemporary bureaucratic divisions of property. Through the voices of each artist “Terrenos” encourages visitors to question the true essence of belonging, both within a nation and the land itself. On view are works by artists Cande Aguilar, Verónica Gaona, Audrey Rodríguez, Christopher Nájera, Ruben Luna, Franceska Alvarado, Mitzi Falcon, Jessica Carolina González, Laura Oritz Vega, Jenelle Esparza, Alexandria Canchola, Patrick Martinez, Narsiso Martinez, Ozzie Juarez, Jackie Amézquita, Erick Medel, Elmer Guevara, Eduardo Soto, Daniela García Hamilton, Julio Alarcón, Manuel López, and Glenn Hardy Jr.
What we love: “Terrenos” uniquely integrates the work of various artists to explore a shared struggle with the impact of bureautic divisions and the complexity of contemporary land ownership, creating a deeper dialogue between land inheritance and the modern world.
Terrenos at Keijsers Koning
March 29—May 3, 2025
Shannon Cannings: Distortions
Cris Worley Fine Arts
Dallas Design District
Installation view of Shannon Cannings on view at Cris Worley Fine Art.
Shannon Cannings‘s “Distortions” is her third solo exhibition with Cris Worley Fine Arts. This body of work offers a visual exploration of toy guns and their implications in today’s world. Initially rooted in childhood innocence and her own past inability to play with them, Cannings early fascination took a more playful turn–drawn to the candy-colored aesthetic of toy firearms. In “Distortions”, however, her approach evolves in abstraction, deepening the commentary on Americans’ relationship with toy guns. Turning the subject into the medium, Cannings uses a dye from melted-down toy guns to create abstract, intricate works that beg the viewer to question the evolution of the toy gun.
What we love: Shannon Cannings’ innovative use of toy gun-based dye to create a powerful contrast that blends innocence with a nuanced commentary on the complexities of contemporary gun culture.
Shannon Cannings at Cris Worley Fine Arts
March 1 – April 12, 2025
Lauren Spencer King: Measures of Desire
12.26
Dallas Design District
Lauren Spencer King, “Flower no.24,” 2024, watercolor on paper, 12 x 9 inches, courtesy of 12.26.
Lauren Spencer King, “Flower no.25,” 2025, watercolor on paper, 12 x 9 inches, courtesy of 12.26.
12.26 unveils their spring exhibition “Measures of Desire”, a collection of six watercolor paintings created by Los Angeles–based artist Lauren Spencer King. Expanding on her ongoing exploration of flowers, King introduces fabric as a new subject. Her works feature pure white tulips with ruby red stripes, orange beards with vibrant irises, and intricate depictions of satin bodices and cascading ruffles. King blurs the boundaries between flora and fabric, seamlessly blending them to create patterns that come to life with energy. Through this she delves into the concept of survival, reconsidering color and pattern not as mere decoration but as essential tools for attraction and persistence.
What we love: How Lauren Spencer King’s exploration of flowers and fabrics speaks to the idea of standing out, not only as a form of beauty but as a means of existence, blending nature with art in a seamless, vibrant way.
Lauren Spencer King at 12.26
March 29—May 3, 2025
PANGEOGRAPHY: 30 Years of PDNB
PDNB
Dallas Design District
Mariana Yampolsky, Piñatas Apiladas, 1988, Courtesy of PDNB Gallery, Dallas, TX.
In celebration of its 30th anniversary, PDNB unveils an exhibition that highlights a selection of its international artists. This curated collection features works from artists across the globe, each with their own unique backgrounds and specialties. Among the featured works is Esteban Pastorino Diaz ariel series, created using a kite with a camera attached, as well as Jan Van Leeuwen’s “Barbed Wire” series, which reflects on his childhood memories of Nazi soldiers. The exhibition also includes stunning documentary photography by Wu Jialin, who captures breathtaking birds eye views of Yunnan Province in China alongside surrealist pieces by Spanish artist Chema Madozs. With contributions from numerous other international artists this show is a rich celebration of diverse cultures and artistic creativity, perfectly marking the gallery’s 30 years of dedication to the arts.
What we love: The vibrant diversity present in PANGEOGRAPHYS 30th anniversary exhibition. By showcasing a blend of artists from across the globe, PDNM Gallery has created a show that seamlessly celebrates a number of cultural and creative expressions, making it the perfect exhibition for art lovers of all kinds.
PDNB’S 30 Year Celebration
February 22 – March 22, 2025
