Eight original visual artists who helped define Deep Ellum's artistic rebirth in the 1980s are returning for a group exhibition titled "OGs Return to Deep Ellum" at Kettle Art Gallery in Dallas. The show, opening June 6 and running through August 16, features Bill Haveron, Brad Ellis, Brad Smith, Clay Austin, Dwayne Carter, Greg "Ozone" Contestabile, Thor Johnson, and gallery founder Frank Campagna, with tributes to the late Albert Scherbarth and David "Mosquito" Hawley. The exhibition highlights the neighborhood's visual identity, which was built through murals and street art that transformed a half-empty district into a cultural hub.
This exhibition matters because it reclaims the visual art history of Deep Ellum, a neighborhood often mythologized through its music scene. Artist Brad Smith describes the era as "art-based economic development," where murals became tools for civic transformation, drawing people, money, and attention. The show underscores how public art can reshape a city's evolution, even as murals remain impermanent and vulnerable to development. It serves as a homecoming for the artists who laid the groundwork for Deep Ellum's creative renaissance, reminding audiences that paint, not just sound, built the neighborhood's legendary character.