Dallas Museum of Fine Arts
NEWS RELEASE
Immediate Release Contact Pat Porter
Today's Art is Focus of BMFA Exhibitions

Two exhibitions, dramatically divergent in concept, but both focusing upon the art of today have opened the fall season at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts Fair Park, on Wednesday, September 16.

The exhibitions, Modern Art: A Guide to Looking and Rugs Designed by American Artists, offer visitors an opportunity to see and understand the work of the contemporary artist. Both exhibitions have been locally assembled, the Rug show by Everlasting Productions of Fort Worth and the Guide Exhibition by DMFA Rockefeller Intern, Sue Graze, with the assistance of McDermott Intern, Katherine Solender. This Exhibition will continue through December 26.

The educational exhibition, Modern Art: A Guide to Looking will include 30 paintings and sculpture from the Museum's permanent collection, private collections in the city and from Fort Worth Museums. Presenting ideas about the content and form of modern art, the exhibition will discuss the role of ordinary objects in works of art, the artist's ability to transform the physical environment, contemporary self-portraits and the twentieth century urban environment.

By asking visitors to the exhibitions to respond to a variety of questions outlined in a booklet, the exhibition will examine ideas concerning abstraction, color, space and form. The exhibit has been installed in Gallery A so that viewers may make comparisons between works, draw parallels and observe the progression and maturity of new art ideas.

Regarding this exhibition, Museum Director, Harry S. Parker noted that, "The Museum is in the business of public education and we are trying in this show to be as helpful as we can to people who haven't understood modern art in the past, and still be challenging to art lovers looking for even richer experiences.

This show will include a number of excellent pieces from private collections, never placed on public exhibition prior to this event. Explanatory material will be mounted near the art works and related by color coded text material. A booklet guiding the visitors through the collection will culminate in an opinion card which may either be mailed or discussed with a member of the staff who will be present at the exhibition at all times.

For centuries the Zapotec weavers of Oaxaca have created masterpieces in tapestries and rugs. Combining this ancient art with today's designs, the Museum will display some 30 rugs featuring original copyrighted designs by American artists which have been translated into handwoven rugs by these native artisans. The designs are from some of Texas' and California's best contemporary artists and include such names as A; Bengston, John Fleming, Ed Ruscha, Robert Wade, Kenny Price, Boyd Elder, Nanci Lamb, Larry Bell and Joni Mitchell.

The rugs are woven under the direction of Jerminio Martinez by the weavers of Teotitlan del Valle, a center of the Oaxacan weaving industry in Mexico. It took six months for the village weavers (virtually every home in the village has a loom) to produce the rugs to be exhibited at the Museum through October 17.

The exhibitions have been scheduled to relate to the important American Art Since 1945 exhibition which is currently on view at DMFA, and serves as both an aid in looking at contemporary art and as a guide to developing appreciation for the art in that show. Modern Art: A Guide to Looking will continue through December 26.

Dallas Museum of Fine Arts Fair Park Dallas Texas 75226 Telephone: 214/421-4188