A Dallas Art Adventure Awaits
Dallas’ art scene is an art-lover’s dream. Every corner of the city is enhanced and enlivened by public art, much of which is created by local and regional artists. With hundreds of murals, sculptures, and exhibits on display, here are some standouts you’ll want to add to your list.
Abstract Artifacts
Head to the Downtown Arts District to check out all the wonders of the Latino Cultural Center, a multidisciplinary arts center dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Latino and Hispanic arts and culture. Inside this colorful building, you’ll be introduced to Celia Álvarez Muñoz, a conceptual artist with many pieces on display both at the Center and in the DFW area. Her installation, Orientations, is a mesmerizing, digitally enhanced photo mural that draws you in with its changing colors that reflect themes of permanence, poetry, and passion.
A few minutes North, you’ll find more fiery passion, this time with the famous stained-glass piece Beacon by Texas artist Rex Kare. Kare is known for his luminous stained glass creations, and this oversized piece symbolizes the interplay of fire and water through his careful use of thousands of pixelated glass panels. This piece was created for the Dallas Fire Department and hangs in Fire Station 27 in University Park — it can be viewed from the outside or inside.
Light It Up
Downtown, you’ll also encounter Dallas’s most iconic artwork — the Red Pegasus — which floats atop the Magnolia Building. Built in 1934, the winged horse has long been a famous fixture in the Dallas skyline, thanks to its remarkable scale and impact. Measuring 35 feet wide by 50 feet tall and clocking in at just over 15 tons, this gorgeous illuminated sculpture can be seen by pilots from as far away as Waco. This is partially due to the quarter mile of neon tubing that gives it its characteristic warm glow. You can’t really claim to be a Dallasite until you’ve taken a sunset selfie with this amazing illuminated backdrop.
Just two blocks from the Pegasus, you can experience even more nighttime art in motion at the AT&T Discovery District, a buzzy new entertainment plaza that excels at both arts and eats. Next to its large food hall, step inside the Experience Studio — an immersive art exhibit full of LED lights and mirrors perfect for photo ops.
The art continues in the Plaza, with a color-changing light-up tunnel sculpture you can walk through and an enormous wrap-around media wall. This 104-foot screen gorgeously displays 9,300 square feet of abstract artwork in 6K resolution. Like the Pegasus, it’s the kind of mesmerizing art that’s best experienced at night.
Sculpture Culture
In addition to its murals and paintings, Dallas also has hundreds of sculptures dotting its public parks and businesses, including Sky by Hatcher, Brower and Marly Rogers — a circular ceiling sculpture dedicated to all things that fly. This impressively scaled sculpture is made from hundreds of fiberglass rods and thousands of placed objects, including bees, clouds, and birds. You can check it out next time you hit the skies — it’s located within the Dallas Love Field, an airport that’s poured millions of dollars into public art in the last decade.
Another Dallas favorite is William Martin’s Crystal Chandelier in Music Hall in Fair Park. Inside this baroque building, you’ll find a modern maximalist take on the classic opera hall chandelier — a piece that gorgeously reflects the natural light.
A recent sculptural installation reminds Dallas dwellers that they are part of a diverse community — and that everyone is needed and valued. Comunidad by Brad J. Goldberg is an interactive minimalist piece that’s reminiscent of a shared table. The artist invites the community to join together as friends and neighbors, claiming the artwork is incomplete until people come and sit side by side.
Off the Wall
Murals have long been a part of Dallas culture, from classically painted pieces to more modern renderings. You won’t walk a few blocks in Dallas without encountering this famous style of street art.
One of the more famous murals from the early 20th century is found on the rear wall of the South Texas Room in the Hall of State. James Owen Mahoney’s Allegorical View of South Texas is among the many classical murals in Dallas that point to a historic view of the city. The figures depict the diversity of Dallas and pay homage to the natural bounty of the land.
If modern murals are more your speed, you can scope out dozens of them in just a morning when you head to the cool corners of the Bishop Arts/Oak Cliff neighborhood.
A stroll down Bishop Avenue takes you past the famous Y'all Wall mural, giant pastel flowers, cowgirls, cacti, and comic heroes. Carry your camera or phone with you — there are a lot of fun options for photo ops.
From modern masterpieces to timeless installations, living in DFW makes it easy to enjoy public art in any style and in every medium. Just about everywhere you turn, you’ll be reminded why Dallas rules the Texas art scene.
