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22 FAIR FIELD By Billy Fong. Photography Exploredinary. D allas Art Fair kicked off its 11th year with the de rigueur Thursday-night preview party at Fashion Industry Gallery. The gala always benefits a trio of Dallas institutions — the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Contemporary, and Nasher Sculpture Center — and offers patrons a first chance to shop the renowned galleries. This year, the fair edged towards 100 exhibitors, who traveled to Texas from 30 different cities across the U.S., as well from as Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Guests were abuzz over an exciting announce- ment that had been made earlier that day. The Dallas Art Fair Foundation Acquisition Program, now up to a hefty $150,000 — generously funded by a group of 19 big-pocketed donors plus the Foundation itself — revealed the latest entries to the DMA's permanent collection. Museum director Dr. Agustín Arteaga and senior curator Dr. Anna Katherine Brodbeck anointed eight artworks; chosen artists were Sheila Hicks (Paris/Dallas dealer Galerie Frank Elbaz), Arcmanoro Niles, Samuel Levi Jones, Emmanuel Van der Auwera, Maja Ruznic (Dallas' Conduit Gallery), Nobutaka Aozaki, Dike Blair, and Don Dudley (NYC gallery Magenta Plains, directed by SMU grad Olivia Smith). Talk about a munificent gesture segueing into a megawatt, art-filled fête. Although the night's seemingly nonstop flow of Ruinart champagne is certainly a draw, the Preview Benefit's hot-ticket status is due to the fact that collectors call dibs on works of art before the fair opens to the public the next day. Ask some of our city's top-tier collectors, and they'll explain that this gala is equal parts social and strategy. Chatting with art-world friends may be important, but so is claiming a prized piece of art before someone else. Dallas art consultant Ashley Tatum revealed that the clients she brought around to this vernis- sage were impressed by offerings at Kerlin Gallery (Dublin) and Whitestone Gallery (Tokyo). "10 Hanover brought a marvelous Robert Rauschenberg … they always have a strong booth," Tatum noted. She also singled out Hollis Taggart for its curation of formidable 20th-century women, some known (Ninth Street painters Helen Frankenthaler and Grace Hartigan), and others discoveries, such as Michael Corinne West and contemporary abstract painter Chloë Lamb. Kaleta Blaffer Johnson Elana Soboleva, Warnez Monia Arthur Peña, Kevin Rubén Jacobs, Francisco Moreno Alden & Janelle Pinnell Sabrina Dee Jenny Esping Kirtland Brandon Kennedy, Kelly Cornell Sarah Blagden, John Sughrue Agustín Arteaga, Ceron