Joan Davidow’s Zika-Inspired ‘Site 32’ Art Gallery Turns 1

It is a truly honorable mention when art stands for a cause. This time it is related to the deadly virus Zika, which has been claiming a number of lives in various parts of the world.

According to Dallas News, a Design District Gallery named Site 131 started on an idea inspired by a mosquito-eating bird called Purple Martins. This bird is an insect predator and eats mosquitoes, the carrier of the deadly Zika virus in a large number. The owner of the gallery, Joan Davidow with her son Seth invited eight architects to make homes for the aforementioned birds and 50 more artists to make sky and space related sculpture and drawings. This, she said, was her way of "addressing the Zika problem."

Davidow went on to exhibit the pieces in an auction to commemorate the first anniversary of the gallery. All the homes were auctioned off and they raised $43000 for the non-profit organization Site 131 which is named as a reference to its address 131 Payne Street in Dallas. The event was sponsored by Heritage auctions and comprised of awards for the best purple martin house. The award was developed by renowned wood sculptor Sean Springer.

According to Culture Map Dallas, the gallery will be presenting a total of four art exhibitions per year. They will feature mostly emerging and under-recognized artists who need patronizing. In a recent press release, Seth said, "I wanted to create, together with my mother, a venue to engage her passion for unveiling new art and making contemporary art accessible to other young collectors." Joan who is locally known for her exquisite taste of art has been attracting artists from the USA and abroad to showcase their art in their gallery.

Site 131 is located on the west part of Dallas and is built over a portion of a newly restored Trammell Crow industrial warehouse. The opening exhibition featured artworks from the likes of Lauren Muggeo, Marjorie Schwarz, and Art Peña. They had their own ways of depicting the subtlety, integrity, and comeliness of the artworks and did a fabulous job at the very first exhibition hosted by Site 131.

The exhibition art gallery will surely inspire many new and lesser known artists and bring a number of mesmerizing artworks to be displayed for its patrons to cherish.

TagsZika, Joan Davidow, Site 32, Art Gallery, Dallas