There\u2019s no local gallery quite like Tureen. From the start, owners Cody Fitzsimmons and Christopher Scott eschewed the Design District, opting to take over a former pharmacy space in Oak Cliff with chipped tile floors and tin ceilings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They didn’t program like their peers, either. Fitzsimmons, an art advisor and collector, had an eye for showcasing underrepresented artists and ambitious new talent. Choosing a name inspired by American photographer Louise Lawler\u2019s seminal image Pollock and Tureen, this off-the-beaten-path space opened in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our niche is not having a niche,\u201d says Fitzsimmons of his stable, which includes multimedia works from artists all over the globe. \u201cThe biggest compliment I ever got about the program was from an artist who told me it seemed like we were into the ideas of the artists rather than our own tastes, and I think that\u2019s a really good way of putting it. I only like to operate off my gut. I know what I want and what works.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When not traveling to art fairs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or Paris,\u00a0Fitzsimmons hangs work that will contrast the show that came before. You\u2019ll never see dual abstract-painting shows or conceptual-sculpture exhibitions back-to-back. Instead, he prefers to highlight River Shell, a multimedia artist and cofounder of the artist-run space PRP (Permanent Research Project). \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they are painting unlike anyone else in Dallas,\u201d Fitzsimmons says. \u201cThey\u2019re known for blending abstract works with figurative works. The body is their focus, so there are a lot of figures in the show.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Named after a background prop in the film Paris, Texas, \u201cThe Dust is Here to Stay\u201d is cinematic and\u00a0diaristic. Ranging from found objects (such as a rearview mirror from Shell\u2019s former car) to luminous sunflowers and watercolor torsos, the pieces are impactful for the stories that continue just outside the image\u2019s frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI make films and such, so I\u2019m just moved by images,\u201d Shell says. \u201cAnd so much of my work is about time \u2014 not having it, making time, trying to escape time. I\u2019m a color guy, somehow. I\u2019m split in two. There\u2019s a part of me that\u2019s quite dark and a part that\u2019s light. It\u2019s quite jazzy, what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n