Megan and Murray McMillan

Laura Owens, Untitled, 2004

A week in Dallas means trips to as many of the splendid area museums as we can talk our patient family members into accompanying us, starting, naturally, with the Dallas Museum of Art. Fault the DMA if you will for succumbing to the King Tut cash cow, but the Dallas institution will always have my heart: it’s my hometown museum and the first place I fell in love with art. And what fun to see one of my favorite LA painters, Laura Owens, (one of Christopher Knight’s “top 45 LA painters under 45”), now part of its permanent collection.

We also saw a surprising exhibition of Indian painting that kept us under its spell for far longer than we had planned. Chock full of narrative works that had much in common with contemporary graphic novels. Also, the Phil Collins three-part video installation, the world won’t listen, part of the DMA’s Concentrations series is slapstick funny and sad and profound all at once.

Ellsworth Kelly, Untitled, 1982-1983

Mark Handforth, Dallas Snake, 2007

Zaha Hadid, Bench, designed 2003, executed 2006

Of course, you can’t go to the museum without spending time in its gorgeous sculpture garden. When it’s 67 degrees a few days before Christmas, there’s not much better than taking in an Ellsworth Kelly from a Zaha Hadid bench in the bright winter sun.

Domains of Wonder: Selected Masterworks of Indian Painting
November 18, 2007–January 27, 2008

Phil Collins: the world won’t listen
November 9, 2007–March 23, 2008

And here’s an excellent interview with LA painter Laura Owens.