Destiny King does not talk about art as if it belongs behind glass. For King, art moves. It spills, tags a wall, flickers through video, hangs inside a restaurant, drifts through music and pulls a crowd into the same room until something larger than an exhibition begins to happen.
That restless, democratic energy is what fuels Concurrence 2026, the latest large-scale activation from King’s Dallas-based artist hub, Tuesdaze Urban.
Set for Saturday, May 9, from 3 to 10 p.m., Concurrence 2026 takes over Barro East Dock as part of the opening of the new space, with added support from Armando Aguirre, an Oak Cliff muralist and co-owner of the immersive art gallery DFW Art House, on the paint fest side. The result is less a conventional opening than a city-sized pulse check: more than 55 artists in one event, including 39 exhibiting inside and 16 muralists painting live on-site. Photography, street art, live painting, music, food and a curated vendor market featuring local small businesses will all collide under one roof.
And “collision” feels like the right word.
This is not a show built around polite distance. It’s built around presence.
King, who is non-binary, founded Tuesdaze Urban to create the kind of space they didn’t see enough of in Dallas. What began with a strong focus on photography has grown into something broader and more porous: a platform for multidisciplinary artists, especially Black and Brown creatives, LGBTQ+ artists and others who may have felt overlooked by more traditional gatekeepers.
“I’m trying to give people an opportunity who felt like they never had the opportunity,” King tells the Observer. “I just want to create breaks for artists here locally in Dallas.”
That mission has steadily expanded in scale and ambition. The Dallas Observer recognized Tuesdaze Urban as Best Indie Zine in 2024, a nod to the platform’s early editorial identity and its role in amplifying underrepresented voices. But King is clear that the project has evolved.
Adaptive Art
“Tuesdaze Urban is no longer a magazine,” they say. “We are now just an artist hub for artists here in Dallas.”
That shift feels important. It tells you something about King’s instincts — they are not precious about format. The goal is not to preserve a brand shape; the goal is to build a living structure that serves artists.
King’s own path helps explain that elasticity. They are a multidisciplinary artist from Dallas, originally from Garland, though they laugh about claiming the city proper with more affection than apology. Their creative life began in movement.
“My artistry actually started with dance,” King says, noting a dance background from Texas Woman’s University. Photography came later, then video, then curation. Across all of it, one thread remains constant: motion, color and emotional charge.
“A lot of my photography is inspired by movement in some way,” they tell us. “A lot of my models kind of embody the feeling of a powerful woman or a powerful being.”
In King’s work, nostalgia is never just soft focus. It has an edge. Childhood references, cartoon palettes, bold color theory and feminine power all show up in images that feel dreamy at first glance but carry a firmer interior logic. A shoot might pull from the sweetness of Strawberry Shortcake and bend it into something mature, sensual and self-possessed. Their video work moves differently, often into abstraction and political subtext. Beauty is still present, but it arrives with a second meaning.
“That’s what I mean about how the work has a double meaning,” King says. “It’s beautiful but has a deeper meaning.”
That instinct also shapes how they curate. King says the selection process for Tuesdaze Urban artists is both intuitive and rigorous.
“I just like what I like,” they say. They look for seriousness, for artists who can articulate a vision, for work that pushes against the expected. “You can tell when someone is passionate about their project,” they say.
That belief is central to Concurrence, a title that suggests simultaneous action and layered meaning. King defines it simply: “Two things happening at once.” Last year, the first Concurrence unfolded in a house. This year, it arrives at a much larger scale, inside and around one of Dallas’ most intriguing new spaces.
New Year, New Canvas
Barro East Dock is the latest concept from longtime Oak Cliff local and Nova Dallas part-owner Robert Ramirez, developed with Chef Eric Spigner, whose résumé includes a 2021 win on Food Network’s Chopped. The Latin American restaurant is designed to be expansive in more ways than one. Its menu rotates regionally, drawing from culinary traditions across Central and South America. Guests can expect housemade aguas frescas, globally minded cocktails, a ceramics-forward market element and a patio overlooking Cedar Creek and the Dallas Zoo.
The setting matters, too: East Dock was originally built in 1915 as an industrial warehouse and has been restored to preserve its historic essence while embracing a new wave of local businesses. King also points to Haley Leavitt, Manager of Business and Community Development at Proxy Properties, as instrumental in making the event possible, praising her steady support throughout the process and expressing deep respect for her vision for East Dock as a community-rooted cultural space.
For King, the partnership matters not just because of the square footage, but because it signals trust.
“It’s a major milestone,” they say. “This is something I’ve always wanted to do, is to work with established organizations and also organizations that are wanting to bring art to the community, and not only to the community, but local art.”
That local emphasis runs through everything they say. Dallas has no shortage of talent, King argues. What it often lacks is equitable visibility.
“There’s so many people outsourcing art in different states, different countries, when literally we have it right here in Dallas,” King says. “We have local artists that are from Oak Cliff who are in the show, and they’re just as good as the artists overseas.”
That conviction gives Concurrence 2026 its weight. Yes, the event promises spectacle. Sixteen muralists and live painters at work in real time will do that. So will the crowd, the sound, the layering of mediums and the energy of artists making and responding on-site. But beneath the scale lies a deeper argument about where Dallas art is heading: toward grassroots, artist-led, community-built experiences that refuse to be confined to narrow categories. King sees that as both necessary and hopeful.
“What keeps it hopeful is how genuine the individuals who apply to this show [are],” they say. “How friendly and how nice.”
King describes Tuesdaze Urban as an “open source of art,” one that tries to bridge the gap for artists who never felt they had a place. That bridge extends beyond one event. King recently got into Parsons School of Design in New York for an MFA in Design and Technology, a move that aligns with their growing interest in experimental practice and cross-medium work. They speak about wanting to connect Dallas and New York, eventually creating pathways for artists in both directions.
“I’m hoping to basically have a chapter here in Dallas and hopefully in New York, bridging the gap for these artists here in Dallas to possibly show their work in New York and also bridging the gap from New York and bringing it to Texas,” King says.
That future-facing ambition doesn’t read as fantasy. It reads as the natural next step for someone who has been building with urgency and intention for years.
There is also, in King, an unusual mix of candor and discipline. They speak openly about reflection, about growth, about changing their own habits to make the work possible.
“If I’m gonna make this thing happen, I’m gonna have to start changing some things in my life and sacrifice some things to make this happen,” they say.
You can hear that seriousness in the structure of Concurrence 2026. This is not a loose vibe disguised as a happening. It’s an organized act of belief. A restaurant becomes a gallery. Exterior walls become live surfaces. Small businesses share space with exhibiting artists. Fine artists, muralists and taggers all operate in the same current. The point is not to flatten those differences, but to let them speak to each other in real time.
That may be King’s clearest gift as a curator. They understand that a scene is not built by taste alone. It’s built by proximity, by trust, by invitation, by showing artists that their work belongs in the room.
And for one long Saturday in May, that room gets very big.
Concurrence 2026 takes place Saturday, May 9, from 3 to 10 p.m. at Barro East Dock (900 E. Clarendon Drive, Suite 100). Tickets are $15 online and $20 at the door.