Joan Davidow, Site 131 Co-Founder and President. Photo: John Haynsworth Photography

Joan Davidow likes to walk.

And walk she does. The Co-Founder and President of Site 131 logs about 2 miles a day in her treks around downtown Dallas and Uptown.

On one of those walks, during the early days of the pandemic, Davidow was struck with artistic inspiration. Ordinary things she encountered brought to mind important works of contemporary art. She started pairing photos of these pairings for Site 131’s weekly blog, Art in Life.

“I call it Art in Life and it’s really life in art. And it’s that I see something that looks artful to me,” said Davidow. “It’s just happening in real life because I come across it in my daily sojourns and then I equate what I come up in life with art that reminds me of it.”

Blue cones guard a small lot and ‘Les Deux Plateau/Colonnes de Buren, Paris 1985

One of the first parings Davidow captured was  a large spool of brightly colored industrial hoses sitting on the corner of Wolf and Harwood. She matched them with the Ellsworth Kelly banners located inside the Meyerson Symphony Center.

Spools at Harwood & Wolf paired with ‘Dallas Panels’ (Blue, Green, Black, Red) by Ellsworth Kelly. Photo: Joan Davidow

Davidow says when the gallery closed on March 13 she suddenly wasn’t thinking about curating an exhibition, so she was free of distractions. Her mind quickly shifted to curating an outdoor exhibition: everything she saw was museum quality, and these objects remind her of art she’s seen before.

On Site 131’s web site, Davidow includes details about the famous artworks – the piece, the artist who created it, details about the work, and its reason for being. The pairing guides visitors to see in new ways and learn about contemporary art.

Davidow also invites everyone to submit their own couplings to the blog.

“There’s one from a friend, early on, of people having a picnic in Lee Park near where she lives and it reminded her of Monet,” said Davidow of her friend Gail Sachson’s submission.

Friends gather at Turtle Creek by Gail Sachson and ‘Luncheon on the Grass’ by Claude Monet.

Even though Site 131 is closed, Davidow says Art in Life has helped the gallery stay connected artistically to its audience.

“It’s a way to stay inventive and creative in a time we least expected.”

You can find all the Art in Life parings at Site 131’s website. Or, to submit a pairing, email hello@site131.com.

Got a tip? Email Therese Powell at tpowell@kera.org. You can follow her on Twitter @TheresePowell13

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