JRB Art at the Elms

Popped in here this afternoon because we had a bit of art fever today, and my kids, despite not being gallery perfect, were treated with kindness and respect. We wandered the gallery and were assisted when we had a question.
The gallery was beautiful and displayed a good variety of desirable art (my favorite was a mixed media piece by Denise Duong and an encaustic painting (so beautiful!), my son found a centaur (!), and my daughter loved the bronze pieces). Our hosts gave the kids a calendar of upcoming events so we would come back.
Five stars for a warm, friendly welcome and beautiful gallery.

Great gallery. Terrific building and wonderful art. Awesome location too. By far one of the best places to see art in the city. It’s located in the paseo arts district, so you could spend the after noon wandering around and be happy.

I feel like this gallery always gets left out during the monthly art walk since it’s off to the side and not directly on the Paseo strip. I stopped by here this past weekend during the Paseo Art Festival. I loved the building. It was beautiful inside and out. There were several rooms to go through with lots of artwork. Out of all the galleries on the Paseo, this one impressed me the most. All the art was fantastic! They didn’t just have splatters of paint on a canvas and then slap a $ 100 price tag on it. I found so many things that I would love to purchase if I had enough money.

If I ever have $ 60,000 to blow (a pipe dream at the moment; having excessive amounts of money to spend frivolously) and for whatever reason, I still happen to be living in OKC when I have this imaginary boatload of money, I will come to JRB and buy a naked woman statue. Because nothing says artsy like naked women. Done tastefully of course… I’m sort of joking about all of that, except the price tag. There really is a sculpture in there for $ 60,000. Actually, I’m not even sure if you can buy that.
The musicians (i.e. the pianist and flautist) at JRB are for the lack of a better word, amazing. I think I spent more time listening to them than looking at the exhibition pieces. Most people probably came for the free champagne and hor d’oeuvres while pretending they cared about art that costs more than their cars (more than my car, anyway); there were a lot of college-​age people who probably have even less money to spend than I do. I’m totally judging a book by its cover.
The level of ostentation can be stifling, even off-​putting if you’re not used to being around overly pretentious people who think themselves to be culturally enlightened. As an Indian I’ve dealt with a fair share of my own people who think they’re a bigger deal than they are, but even I reached my limit at the 40 minute mark. If I rolled my eyes anymore than I already was at some of the nonsense spewing from the mouths of the wannabe art critics present, it would have looked like I was having a seizure.
Art is an odd thing to me; I don’t get most of it, and in my humble opinion, a good deal of «contemporary» art is self-​indulgent garbage. What I do like, I couldn’t begin to describe to you on why I like it. Don’t talk to me about feelings. I had someone ask me yesternight, «Why do you like that Van dyke brown print specifically?» Shut up, that’s why I like it. But he wasn’t willing to let it go, and he coaxed the answer out of me. Something about an urban element contrasting the traditional setting, and the emotions felt by the… something, something. It was $ 550. I would actually pay that. I’m not rolling in money yet, so I’m not in impulse buy mode, but I know where to go when I want to decorate my house. I doubt my favorite piece will still be there because a lot of people seemed to gravitate toward that one. C’est la vie. I need to finish this review before I start throwing anymore French around.

A true art gallery. This gallery rivals any gallery I have been to in Santa Fe. Great location. Super Art. Knowledgeable owner and staff.