Kaleidoscopography: Dallas Design District
Light & Sie Collection

The Dallas Design District offers a Wild Wild West environment that is lined with dusty streets and signs of civilization. This is a business district and is full of one-floor brick structures that resemble a row house type environment. During the day, warehouses are bustling with workers. Trucks are being readied for delivery. Goods are being carried along the streets. All this has been spackled with art galleries. Herein lies Light&Sie Gallery.

I pulled up to Light&Sie’s building and stepped up to the entranceway that presented a faux tunnel. The entrance is inset and the angles serve to funnel your perspective. The first angle is the inclined walkway. This serves to slow your approach so you may begin to notice the gallery’s space. Next is the glass wall whose presence demands that you track the art all the way to the back of the gallery. From inside, the floor tempts your feet to walk through the hidden boundary, but the glass wall defines reality. The space is vast and well suited for contemporary art. The tunnel has accomplished its objective well, such that, one does not take notice of the entrance’s left side.

Once inside, the whitewashed walls and lighting help to transition the eyes so they focus on the art. As you turn to take in the space, you quickly forget about another hot Dallas afternoon. My eyes naturally tracked the art down the long wall to the front. When my eyes passed across the entrance, I saw a corridor that had previously gone unnoticed.

I walked over to the corridor and was intrigued by an orange hue in the corridor. My focus shifted down the corridor and saw the source was a small room. I could see the windows were covered with orange blinds whose purpose was to soften the bright Dallas afternoon.

Though the blinds dispersed the light and filled the room with an orange hue. However, the several of the orange beams escaped their boundary and headed down the corridor. Their attempt to reach me failed at my feet, but their effort was not in vain. Their futility had marked a path for me to follow and find a treasure.

The Dallas heat was pressing against the window. The orange blinds became sails to catch the heat. The light that powered the heat was translated into the orange hue, which filled the window’s sails. Now, orange beams bounced off the walls. Maybe they thought I could free them from their continual and futile attempt at escape. But it was I who was trapped by this moment.

This setting created a surreal ambience that exposed my imagination. To me, this room was a work unto itself and the basis for this contemporary art study.