PDNB Gallery, formerly known as Photographs Do Not Bend, is a gallery dedicated to photography, which has been located in the Dallas Design District since 2006. It is one of the smaller spaces in the area but presents a rich collection of photographs. Because of its simplicity and relevance, PDNB has a particular resonance with younger gallery visitors.
PDNB is currently showing the first solo exhibition by Swedish artist Joakim Eneroth. His exhibit, “Comfortably Secure,” is composed entirely of photographs of red houses in the Swedish countryside. He portrays only one side of the house and one without windows. The same image is seen in all of his photographs in the exhibit, slightly disarming the viewers as they look for differences. The gallery directory explains that in this exhibit Eneroth “examines the idea of home as a perfect place.” The repetition of houses “conveys a false sense of security, or a warped sense of the ultimate dream home.”
The other artist featured at PDNB is Peter Brown, whose photographs were recently compiled in a photo essay entitled “West of Last Chance,” also the title of the exhibit. It represents small-town America through photographs of a dusty Wal-Mart, and ancient and deserted general stores and gas stations. There are also many landscapes included in the exhibit representing the expanse of the Western plains and pictures that display the ferocity of an oncoming storm wherein Brown captures the stunning darkness of the sky and the fear that comes with the storm clouds.
Although the temporary exhibits are fascinating and serve as the cornerstone of the gallery, their stable collection is also in partial view and includes both national and regional artists dating from the early 20th century to the present.
Across the street sits another gallery vastly different from the space at PDNB. Artizen Fine Arts is a contemporary art gallery whose interior can be best described as trendy. In contrast to other galleries, the director at Artizen has seemingly made tremendous efforts to enhance the aesthetics of the space aside from simply the art itself.
What sets Artizen apart are the many unique art forms on exhibition. Although the gallery is entirely composed of canvases, there are many artists presented who dabble in mediums other than your run-of-the-mill oils and acrylics.
One artist currently exhibited in the gallery, Mary Farmer, utilizes a form of painting called encaustic, which involves the use of heated beeswax with colored pigments. The mixture is typically applied to wood, although Farmer applies her mixture to panels. Her paintings have a simple look and appear watery and translucent.
Another unique artist currently on exhibit at the gallery is Stefany Hemming, whose paintings easily catch the visitor’s eyes with their vivid colors and seemingly never-ending tangle of what appear to be branches. The series of paintings on exhibit have titles such as “Folly” and “Grudge,” and Hemming has stated that her paintings represent nests. As Hemming explains, “In these nests, the figurative or imagined personal enclosure is exposed as if to reveal some secret truth.”
There are many other unique artists and works currently exhibited at Artizen that certainly merit any gallery-hopper stop.
While the works exhibited at PDNB are vastly different from those at Artizen Fine Arts, each of the galleries manages to present truly unique and fascinating pieces of art. With both galleries exhibiting very contemporary art and art forms, they also manage to attract a younger crowd of art collectors and lovers, making these galleries particularly inviting to college students.
