Prelude To A Dream

‘Prelude to A Dream’ offers the public an opportunity to see some of the most important living contemporary artists in the nation. With time, Fort Works Art has slowly built a powerful roster of artists that is expansive and diverse. This exhibition will showcase these artists and offer the public an opportunity to be introduced to a wide range of new works, and see the caliber of artists who they would normally have to travel to an Art Fair or New York City to see. 

With  our physical gallery temporarily closed, we are focusing on our digital spaces to share the incredible work of our artists and allow our patrons to continue to experience this special group exhibition. We are proud to host Prelude to A Dream as an online exhibition initiative that brings together 20 national and local artists that we are extremely proud to work with. We hope you enjoy!

Jerome Lagarrigue

Jerome Lagarrigue (b. 1973, Paris, France) lives and works in New York. Lagarrigue combines figuration and abstraction in his paintings, transparencies and dilutions, reliefs and layers, in order to capture the double dimension of existence. An extension of the philosophical conflict between pragmatism and the metaphysical, his works have two visions, that were opposed until now, reunites them and opens the way to a sensorial and emotional interpretation of form and of substance.

Alonsa Guevara

Alonsa Guevara (b. 1986, Rancagua, Chile) spent her childhood living in the Ecuadorian tropical forest with her family, growing up surrounded by magnificent landscapes and environments that influence her love of light, nature and colors.​ Alonsa received her BFA from the Pontific Catholic University of Chile in 2009, and moved to New York in 2011. She graduated from the MFA Program of the New York Academy of Art in 2014 and was granted the Academy's Fellowship award. Alonsa is currently based in Brooklyn, New York.

Reisha Perlmutter (b. 1990, Naples, Florida) is a painter best known for representational imagery of women and water, where she explores the relationship between body and environment as well as perceptions of beauty. Her work is collected and shown internationally. She has participated in museum shows both in the United States and Europe, and her work has been auctioned off several times at Sotheby’s. She continues to live and work in New York City.

Douglas Hoekzema, aka Hoxxoh, is an American Street Artist from South Florida who lives in Miami. He is known for his geometric and at times abstract styles of painting filled with energy. Part machine, part mad-scientist, he uses logarithmic spirals to chronicle the passage of time and the universal parallels between control and chaos. He references the spiritual, natural and instinctual pull toward balance. As Hoxxoh’s pendulum swings, never touching the canvas, it's hypnotizing motions serve to show us that in the end, everything seems to have ended up in its proper place. 

Crystal Wagner (b. 1982, Baltimore, Maryland ) received her MFA from the University of Tennessee in 2008 and her BFA from the Atlanta College of Art in 2004. After teaching as a college art professor for five years, Crystal left academia to focus exclusively on her studio practice, currently based in Los Angeles, California. Wagner’s interest in combining 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional forms, alternative use of materials, and hybrid approaches to printmaking, and massive site-specific installations, have led to her artwork being exhibited extensively in the U.S and abroad. Notable commissions include a large-scale installation for the internationally recognized band The Flaming Lips. a large shadow box for GNU a snowboard company out of Portland, OR, a large-scale installation piece for NIKE, presented in the Shrine Auditorium for The KOBE X Blackout Experience, and two installations for Viacom, one of which is a 117 ft piece at their headquarters in Times Square.

Arthur Brouthers (b. 1977) is well known in the world of social media as a pioneer of an abstract fluid painting technique that achieves cellular like separations, with the use of acrylic paints and other chemical agents. In his figurative works, these unconventional methods are used as bottom layers or the “skins” of his subjects. Arthur uses anywhere from 4 to 15 layers of clear resin between layers of acrylic paint, pigmented inks, and spray paint to show depth, giving a 3D effect.

Sean Augustine March (b. 1982, New York) is self-taught and has focused exclusively on his sculptural work since 2013. Working primarily with dichroic glass, March casts light as a sculptural material and explores how it plays with the viewers' perception. Whether the artist is working in glass, wood, or acrylic, he explores optical effects and continually researches phenomenological theories that inform his artistic practice. Sean Augustine March currently lives and works in Brooklyn NY, and his works have been exhibited at MOMA Design Store, Corning Museum Of Glass, Galleria Melissa Soho, and featured in Vogue, WWD, Glamour, and Wired.

Ruth Leonela Buentello is an interdisciplinary artist from San Antonio, TX. She is known to create narratives, installations, murals rooted in her Xicana cultural identity. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011 and is a recipient of the 2017 Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors grant.  Her work has been selected to be apart of the Outwin Boochever National Portrait Competition at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. opening Oct 25, 2019. She is currently a full tuition scholar at Maine College of Art, where she will receive her MFA in 2021.

Greg Bahr is an artist living and working in Fort Worth, Texas. He received his BFA from Texas Christian University with an emphasis in painting. Whether working with painting, screen printing, or photography, his work incorporates formal elements such as pattern, color, and repetition. He draws inspiration from everyday, seemingly mundane tasks. He is also heavily inspired by his work at The Amon Carter Museum, where he has worked as a preparator for over 15 years.

Austin Fields received her BFA at UTA in glassblowing. Working freely and quickly she bends and forms orbs in a very organic and sensual way. Drawing from her love of the figure, she creates works that undulate with the naturally occurring curves of the female form. She will be exhibiting her often seen “mirrored orbs”, which are clear blown glass that she later mirrorizes. This reflection allows the viewer to see themselves in the work.  Their faces and bodies, contorted to the curves of the sculptures, offer a physical invitation to exist within the work. She will pair these with other sculptures of varying forms and colors.  

Carlos Donjuan (b. 1982, San Luis Potosi, Mexico). A graffiti artist for the past decade, Donjuan has been creating art since he was old enough to wield a pencil. His art is powerful, yet playful, and often depicts sub-cultures that the artist is interested in or involved with. His graffiti reflects his interest in street fashion, underground music, and the diverse and always changing culture he hails from, while his portraiture is more classic, mixing old and current ideas to create a statement about his surroundings that is fresh and new. Donjuan's main goal is to showcase both the influences from his origins and his training in academia. Carlos Donjuan is currently Assistant Professor of Art and Art History at University of Texas At Arlington.

Ari Brielle is a painter currently based in Dallas, Texas. In 2016, Brielle graduated with her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Art and Design from the University of North Texas. In her work, Brielle delves into “black femininity, identity, and softness.” Her first solo exhibit, “We Made Cool,” was at Dallas’s 500x Gallery in 2017 and explored, using bright, candy-colored paintings, how black culture regularly informs and is appropriated in popular culture. Brielle’s most recent exhibit, “Safe Place” looked at how black women maintain agency and community. Her work evokes feelings of safety and familiarity, like looking at portraits of friends and family members, even when some of the topics she touches on aren’t quite as comforting.

Hillary Dohoney is an artist based in Paris, France. Texas born, she has a BA in Studio Art and Art History at Trinity University in San Antonio. She received Trinity University's Excellence in Art Award upon graduation. She is currently an artist represented by Fort Works Art Gallery. Hillary has been a finalist in the Hunting Art Prize. Conversant in French, she studied abroad in Paris in 2014 where she was a docent at the Musée d’Orsay and an official copyist of the Louvre. Mainly working in oils, she takes the classical approach of trompe l’œil to render unconventional entities. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including in Paris, Miami, and New York.

Ashley Stecenko spent her childhood growing up all around the Midwest. She is currently a graduate student earning her MFA in Studio Art at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. She received her BFA in Painting from Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ashley’s work focuses on interests in family dynamics, displacement, and memory. Through a process of solvent-based image transfers, she removes the image from its original context in order to construct a psychological space– exploring the places where emotional states collide

Mariell Guzman is a mixed media painter, muralist, illustrator and installation artist currently based in Dallas, Texas. She was born in Michoacán, Mexico. Her Mexican heritage has deeply influenced her relationship and interaction with art. Her personal experience with the richness of color and diversity of artistic expression in Mexico intricately sculpted the development of her creative process. She pursued a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin. Recently, she's partnered up with clients such as KIA, Facebook and Dickies. Her bold and colorful murals can be found throughout DFW.