Founded by Hanh Ho and directed by Briana Williams, Cydonia
Gallery is a venue for emerging artists located inside a historic
gemstone: the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff. The gallery has developed a
track record of creative curating practices, exhibiting thoughtful and
challenging juxtapositions of art objects. Objects made of different
media, from different artists from various places around the world, that
exhibit different philosophies are installed to create dialogues and
ask viewers new questions.
Commercial viability needed to be balanced
conceptually and aesthetically. The gallery curated every presentation,
for every exhibition, at both fairs and in its physical spaces.
In August 2019, the Dallas Morning News brought attention to the the curated exhibition “In Memory." The exhibition reflected
Briana Williams' desires to connect the gallery to the neighborhood,
challenging the general public's ideas of what is 'high' and 'low' art.
Undertaken in tandem with community art center, Mercado369, the art space's
neighbor on Jefferson Boulevard, the art the exhibition explored
intersections between global contemporary and traditional artisans and
what the contemporary art sector has generally classified as 'craft.'
The exhibition featured pottery from Mercado369 in conversation with
Alicja Bielawska, who had her first show with Cydonia in 2015.
Mata Ortiz ceramics from Chihuahua, Mexico reflected age-old indigenous
techniques, techniques which had been revived in the 1970s through the
efforts of Juan Quezada Celado. With a location adjacent to ruins where
ancient potters originally created the ceramics, the municipality of
Mata Ortiz reemerged as an epicenter for contemporary artisans.
Alicja Bielawska’s drawings provided an alternative center of gravity in
the exhibition.
The contemporary Polish artist previously explored
colorful, eye popping installations, drawings, and sculptures in several
presentations with the gallery. For this particular exhibition, Bielawska
created ink, pen, and collage pieces, representing a more understated
and methodical approach.
In keeping with Cydonia Gallery's historically democratic curatorial
approach and mission to make contemporary ideas more accessible, the
exhibition pairing was aimed toward erasing lines that demarcate what
constitutes “real art” and presenting the artistic process as a
continuum that spans geographies and generations.
