DALLAS, TX.- Gabriel Ritter has been appointed The Nancy and Tim Hanley Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, it was announced today by Maxwell L. Anderson, the DMA’s Eugene McDermott Director. He will begin work in Dallas on May 14, 2012. Ritter has extensive knowledge of modern and contemporary art. He has worked internationally in museums and has served as an independent curator, organizing exhibitions of emerging artists from the United States, Europe, and Asia. “Gabriel’s great enthusiasm and sincere interest in connecting artists globally with the collection and the community in Dallas will add depth and excitement to our increasingly diverse and energetic programming in contemporary art,” said Anderson.

Ritter is currently completing his Ph.D. in Art History at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he also earned his masters of art history, and is completing a Doctoral Fellowship at the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. Previously a Curatorial Assistant at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) for three years, Ritter organized Out of the Ordinary: New Video from Japan and MOCA Focus: Karl Haendel, the first solo museum exhibition and publication dedicated to the artist. As Curatorial Assistant to former MOCA Senior Curator Ann Goldstein, now Director of the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Ritter also assisted on a number of exhibitions including The Art of Richard Tuttle and Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective.

Ritter has delivered numerous scholarly papers and contributed to publications, including essays for monographs on the artists Makoto Aida and Koki Tanaka. His dissertation, Kitawaki Noboru and Surrealism in Japan, 1930–1951, explores Noboru’s involvement with surrealism in Japan during the 1930s and 40s. Ritter most recently organized Sculpture by Other Means, currently on view at the ONE AND J. Gallery in Seoul, Korea, featuring work by Masaya Chiba, Teppei Kaneuji, Yuki Kimura, and Koki Tanaka. Jeffrey Grove, The Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, notes that “Gabriel’s depth of knowledge as a scholar and breadth of interest as a curator will be an invigorating complement to the contemporary art program at the DMA,” adding that “he will also be a passionate advocate for the concerns and practices of artists working today in Dallas, nationally, and internationally.”

It was recently announced that Ritter will serve as one of three curators for the upcoming 2013 Roppongi Crossing exhibition held by the Mori Art Museum, Tokyo. He is one of the first non-Japanese curators to participate in this reoccurring series of exhibitions founded in 2004. At the DMA, Ritter will work closely with Dr. Grove on a number of projects, including the organization of exhibitions in the Concentrations series, focused on overlooked and emerging artists, as well as other exhibitions. Ritter will work with artists and organizations in the area to strengthen relationships and programs, as well as conduct research on the collection, make acquisitions, and collaborate on installations of the collection in galleries throughout the Museum.