Best Gallery

Young artists Davin Watne and Leo Esquivel have neither money nor status to lose. They rely on firsthand knowledge of what makes good art, and close ties with other artists, to keep their Dirt Gallery afloat. The gallery specializes in innovative, short-lived shows and opening-night parties that bring in DJs, bands and other kinds of entertainment (but no finger sandwiches). Joyous crowds of people end up dancing and talking along the streets and loading docks of the West Bottoms -- though not inside, where the art is refreshingly unobscured. The gallery's Fourth of July party was particularly boisterous, with the American flag wrapped around bare bodies and ever-more-uninhibited partiers removing their shirts to keep dancing in the heat. The Dirt changes shows more quickly than other galleries because it's out of the way and artists rely on opening-night crowds to get people in to see their work -- that gives the shows a sense of immediacy. Artists range from young locals who are still experimenting and established elders like Scribe and Gear who want a venue that will let them do whatever they want (including painting the floor), to national figures like Daniel Himbinder, whose illustrations of trippy contortionist people awed viewers in May. The combination of sincerity, quality work, fearlessness and fun remains unparalleled.