Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1094656
65 A dozen exhibitors mine depth via solo presentations at their booths, including the vibrational stripes of Las Vegas painter Tim Bavington at Morgan Lehman Gallery; Clare Woods at Simon Lee Gallery (celebrating her River Bend public art piece); Jonas Burgert's oddly compelling figuration and implied narrative at Blain|Southern; L.A. painter Alec Egan, a young master of domestic interiors spun around wallpaper and text fragments, at Anat Ebgi; and Juno Calypso's staged self-portraits at Division of Labour & TJ Boulting — our top pick for the fair. London-based Calypso's photographic setups in odd environments address femininity and desire, serving up a millennial take on ideas first enacted by Cindy Sherman that are so in keeping with our times. SINGULAR SOLOS DALLAS CONTINGENT I n keeping with fair tradition, it's an even playing field with galleries from Detroit (Library Street Collec- tive), Dublin (Kerlin Gallery), and Dubai (Green Art Gallery, Carbon 12, Lawrie Shabibi) rubbing shoul- ders with Dallas gallerists. As in years past, more than 10 percent of the exhibitors are local. Dallas dealers range from stalwarts of the scene such as Valley House Gallery and Conduit Gallery to the new energy represented by the recently minted programming of Sean Horton (Presents) and Gal- lery 12.26. Liliana Bloch Gallery — where the Dallas Art Fair Founda- tion went shopping last year for the DMA — debuts a new series of Leigh Merrill photos in black-and-white, while Sputnik Modern interjects a welcome dose of design. Rounding out the Dallas contingency are And Now, Cris Worley Fine Arts, Erin Cluley Gallery, Galleri Urbane, and PDNB Gallery, joined by Fort Worth's William Campbell Contemporary Art. W hat's a fair without accompanying pop- ups to interject a dose of the unexpected and amp up affordable options. Former Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Core Fellow Bill Davenport travels from Houston to reprise Bill's Junk Road Show at Talley Dunn Gallery. A cross between a junk store, a retro tourist trap filled with collectible oddities (giant yarn balls, the world's largest trove of macramé owls), and Davenport's own museum-exhibited take on Pop art, this is a must for every high-low collector. And, Jordan Roth is at it again; his bookend to Dallas Art Fair 2018 was a place of exuberant art shopping and an impromptu after-party following the Eye Ball. Reprising his successful locale from last spring, Ro2 Art returns to 1508 Commerce at the base of the historic Dallas Power & Light Building. Jordan told PaperCity that he'll present a solo for Texas/Nigeria-based Akirash, fresh from a performative exhibition at Houston's Lawndale Art Center, as well as a sampler of gallery talent. N inety gallerists descend upon Dallas from L.A., New York, San Francisco, Dublin, Berlin, Detroit, Dubai, Tokyo, Paris, Florence, Brussels, Mexico City, London, Bogotá, and Madrid. Previewing the lineup, we'd single out those arriving from across the pond, beginning with the UK contingent. Don't miss London power trio Sadie Coles HQ, where YBA Sarah Lucas is a best bet; Lisson Gallery, showing a football-related sculpture by Hugh Hayden that gives visceral pause; and Blain|Southern, traveling to Dallas for the first-time. Also from London, Hales Gallery shows the luminous, geopolitically charged canvases of Frank Bowling, whose work is powerful enough to be the sole artwork in a room, as witnessed in his current installation for the entry of The Menil Collection in Houston. From the Arab world, Carbon 12's booth will feature an assemblage culled from weaponry and war by Sara Rahbar, last seen here in a solo at the Dallas Contemporary timed to the 2018 fair. Another newcomer, Voloshyn Gallery, Kiev, offers a haunting view of life in the Ukraine, including Zhanna Kadyrova's apartment- block sculpture series, honed from acrylic bricks. Always a prime player, Perrotin's booth includes work by Paola Pivi, the Italian installation artist who captivated audiences with her bears at the Dallas Contemporary in 2016. At Mexico City gallerist Enrique Guerrero, check out layered collages from the "Panamerican Suite" by Pablo Helguara. At James Cohan, Trenton Doyle Hancock's saga of the Mound continues in all its glory, nicely timed to the artist's concurrent shows at The Menil Collection and MASS MoCA. Among West Coast exhibitors, investigate light-and-space urethane blocks by Peter Alexander at Parrasch Heijnen Gallery. Other welcome voices from L.A. are Anat Ebgi, Night Gallery, Luis de Jesus, François Ghebaly Gallery, and newcomer The Landing, which resuscitates artists from the dustbin of history. SIDE SHOWS THE NATIONALS +INTERNATIONALS Laura Owens' Untitled, 2006, at Dallas Museum of Art Clockwise from top: Juno Calypso's A Clone of Your Own, 2017, at Divison of Labour & TJ Boulting; Dorothy Hood's Untitled 1036, at McClain Gallery; Frank Bowling's Madambutterfly, 2011, at Hales Gallery.