Winter Rusiloski and Angel Fernandez created deadWEST: GALLERY AND STUDIO as an alternative artist space in North Texas, with a location that is due west of the Dallas and Fort Worth Cultural Districts. Rusiloski is a transplant of the Northeastern United States to Texas, and Fernandez is a transplant of Mexico to Texas, to the Northeast and back to Texas.

In conjunction with the Fort Worth Art Dealer’s Association Spring Gallery Night, deadWEST and Arstspace 111 will present the exhibition “Strange Affinities,” featuring the work of San Antonio artists John Mattson and Danville Chadbourne.

Strange Affinities presents art works by painter John Mattson and sculptor Danville Chadbourne, two thoughtful, productive, mature artists who approach their work with similar formal and conceptual concerns, yielding very different results. Curated by Diana Roberts, the exhibition explores the underlying affinities between the works of two friends committed to commenting on the human experience through distinct yet curiously compatible means.  This is not an exhibition of collaborative works - neither artist works particularly well in that mode. Rather, Strange Affinities explores how each artist arrives at a distinct visual manifestation from similar concerns and tendencies, highlighting the tangential threads that unite them visually and conceptually. Exhibited together, the strange affinities found in these works – and the artists themselves – emerge from the dialogue between them.

Originally exhibited at the Weil Gallery at Texas A&M Corpus Christi in 2013, the exhibition is documented in a catalogue with an essay by curator and art historian, Diana Roberts. As Chadbourne’s wife and a close friend of Mattson, Roberts shares insights garnered from the shared conversations and studio practices of both artists.