Because, presumably, his stadium was not yet opulent enough, Jerry Jones decided recently to toss his hat into the ever-expensive business of commissioning high profile contemporary art.
The Dallas Business Journal reports that Jones, along with wife Gene, daughter Charlotte Anderson and niece Melissa Meeks, has unveiled the Dallas Cowboys Art Program, through which contemporary art will be commissioned and displayed in "high-traffic" areas of Cowboys Stadium.
The program will begin with 14 pieces, most of which are scheduled to be up in time for the September 20 opener against the Giants.
"From top to bottom," Jones said in a statement, "we’re taking a whole new approach to what a national sports arena can be.”
“Cowboys Stadium isn’t just a place to go and see a game or a concert, it’s an experience you share with your family and your community," the statement continued. "That will include things that a lot of people wouldn’t anticipate seeing at a stadium — like contemporary art. Football is full of the unexpected and the spontaneous — it can make two strangers into friends. Art has the power to do that too, to get people talking, and looking, and interacting. It’s not just about what you see on the field or on the wall, it’s about creating exciting experiences.”
Putting up a few pieces of art is one thing. But Jones isn't commissioning just any old pretty picture.
The list of prominent artists who have signed on to the project includes Olafur Eliasson, a Danish-Icelandic installation artist, German painter Franz Ackermann and American conceptualist Mel Bochner, all of whom have had (or currently have) pieces displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
The Jones family has assembled an advisory council to assist in overseeing the project, which, according to The New York Times, will include the head curators of the Modern Art Museum of Ft. Worth and the Dallas Museum of Art, as well as local collectors.
