Call them artist-run, DIY or underground, unconventional galleries aren't new to North Texas. But over the past year, a wave of independent venues has emerged.
Because these spaces typically depend on precarious venues and funding, many disintegrate just as quickly as they appear.
In 2024, for example, artists transformed the historic Belmont Hotel into temporary studios and exhibition spaces ahead of its renovation and then moved on after legal ambiguities created problems.
A few spaces have endured, notably, 500X, an artist-run exhibition space established in 1978.
One gallery, PRP, has operated for a decade and many of the new spaces cite it as inspiration. Here鈥檚 what鈥檚 on view in the scene today.
508 Fabrication St., Dallas
Recent exhibition: 鈥淯se Value鈥� closed May 17
Next show: No title or date, but the next exhibition should open late June.
PRP, or Permanent Research Project, pronounced 鈥減erp,鈥� lives in a little white house on an unassuming block in the Trinity Groves neighborhood. Its paint is chipped, its plumbing fickle. A chain-link fence sags around the yard. Sometimes, an affectionate tortoiseshell cat named Oscar curls up on the porch.
The most recent exhibition, 鈥淯se Value,鈥� took place in the gallery and in a former carpet warehouse down the street. PRP founder Michael Mazurek and Greg Meza, the founder of the nomadic gallery Jessamine, curated the exhibition. Both are artists themselves.
The last exhibition was a meditation on how bodies are treated in visual culture. One work by the Dallas artist Krissy Bodge depicts bunching fabric draped over crossed arms, offering a foil to the exhibition鈥檚 many portrayals of the female nude.
鈥淭he curation part is an extension of our practice as artists. We collect things, filter those things. It's the same if you look at one of my works,鈥� said Mazurek.
3002A Commerce St.鈥�, Dallas
Current exhibition: 鈥淢inor Regional Novelist鈥� closes May 23. .
Coming up: 鈥淓arthlicker,鈥� June 27- August 15.
Visit: Thursday - Saturday, 12鈥�5pm
After a series of moves due to zoning issues, Nature of Things put down roots in a Deep Ellum loft apartment, complete with brick interiors and an elaborate bathtub.
Founder Tessa Granowski goes above and beyond to attract patrons. At a previous gallery in Montana, she roasted a pig to serve at every opening.
Their most recent show featured only Texas artists. Granowski hopes to bring attention to artists who Dallas museums and commercial galleries 鈥� which often highlight works from outside the state 鈥� have missed.
鈥淚'm trying to appreciate the soil right beneath our feet,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you're seeing how beautiful your own backyard is, you'll want to take care of it more.鈥�
609 North Lancaster Avenue, Apt. 209, Dallas
Upcoming exhibition: 鈥淧eggy in Introspection,鈥� through May 24.
Visit: By appointment via DM
Ryan Semegran and Kassidy Stines occasionally turn their Oak Cliff apartment into a gallery. They call it 2 BED 1 BATH.
String lights frame the front door. One painting is slightly obscured by a pink cat tree. Another work is hidden when the fridge door is open.
Despite the humor and whimsy of the setting, the previous exhibition, titled 鈥淚nstitutional Critique鈥� was an ambitious act of political commentary.
After the University of North Texas shut down an exhibition critical of Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this year, Semegran, who is an alum, decided to exhibit work by the school鈥檚 art students as protest.
Against a broader climate of censorship, anti-DEI policy shifts and right-wing extremism, the project asserts a simple premise: it is more important now than ever that voices critical of the political situation shouldn鈥檛 be suppressed; that universities and other institutions should not bend the knee in advance.
鈥淎ll this work deserves to be shown,鈥� Stines said. 鈥淚f an institution isn鈥檛 going to do it, then we鈥檙e going to do it ourselves.鈥�
2500 Mansfield Street
Dallas
Upcoming exhibition: 鈥淭he Left Handed Moon,鈥� May 30-June 20.
Visit: Open Saturdays,1-4 pm and by appointment.
Cheerleader is a gallery in a corrugated metal shack surrounded by steel manufacturing plants. During the day, there鈥檚 quite a bit of hammering and sawing going on outside. Cheerleader does not have a bathroom, though curator Brent Birnbaum points out a gas station nearby. Inside the gallery, there are metal barn doors and exposed rods on the ceiling. It鈥檚 hard not to be charmed by the whole operation.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to change too much,鈥� he said. 鈥淧erfect museum walls seem really boring.鈥�
The most recent exhibition paired John DeSousa鈥檚 textiles with Rebecca Potts鈥檚 playful ceramics, all of which seemed to benefit from the rawness of the setting.
Birnbaum established two other galleries in New York before deciding to set up shop at Cheerleader.
鈥淚 saw opportunity here,鈥� he said.鈥淚n New York, there's 75 spaces like this and here I knew of two. So I thought I can make a bigger impact here for the community.鈥�
Birnbaum believes galleries like these open the door to new ways of engaging with art since they allow for independent curatorial decisions. He is particularly enthusiastic about working with artists who rarely show.
鈥淚 can take risks with artists because I don't have to sell to get by,鈥� he said.
810 W Congress St., Denton
Upcoming exhibition: 鈥淰erMen,鈥� May 23-June 14.
Visit: Opening reception 11 a.m.-4 p.m. May 23. Appointments via DM.
The Shed Show operates out of a plywood鈥損aneled shed in Jillian Wendel鈥檚 backyard. During its most recent show, the plywood was covered in pinstripe wallpaper. Artists Kaylyn Beam and Joseph Schuler constructed an uncanny living space inside the shed using furniture from their childhoods. They installed a wall outlet with no electrical connection, and other utilitarian but non-functioning objects, rendering them decorative.
鈥淚t feels like a dollhouse to me,鈥� Wendel said of the installation. She founded The Shed Show and organizes its rotating exhibitions.
鈥淲hen I was really young, I would ask my dad to buy me a shed and turn it into a dollhouse, and he never did. So I guess this is me doing it now.鈥�
Wendel encourages artists to modify the shed as much as they want. The only rule is that any changes must be temporary.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that we could have done this anywhere else,鈥� Beam said.
That freedom has led to increasingly immersive transformations. For an earlier show titled 鈥淧ublic Sex,鈥� Wendel and artist Nailah Otunba wrapped the entire shed in plastic.
The Shed "is focused on helping artists realize what they want to do, rather than trying to conform to this prescribed notion of contemporary art,鈥� said Wendel.
