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Cinco + Seven Dazzling Days and Provocative Nights at the Dallas Art Fair, Year Five Cindy Schwartz CATHERINE D. ANSPON RECAPS TEXAS' ORIGINAL INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR. PHOTOGRAPHY JASON ACTON, PAUL LASTER, JENIFER McNEIL BAKER, JAMES BLAND. Global Art Central at Fashion Industry Gallery John Sughrue Marlene Sughrue Chris Byrne Howard Rachofsky Cindy Rachofsky Jeny Mullen Jennifer Karol H ow to possibly cover an international art convergence that lured 8,000 visitors and 83 international, national and Texas dealers, plus seven more in a special side fair, and spilled from the Fashion Industry Gallery to the Dallas Contemporary, with a few hot parties at The Joule Hotel, The Goss-Michael Foundation and the Nasher Sculpture Center. Well, here goes — our fave experiences from the Dallas Art Fair 2013, year five. Opening night: We arrived on the late Viktor side, but thankfully the Preview Gala kept Horsting going for an extra hour while we chatted up co-founder John Sughrue. He revealed that Hudson (the Prince of the art world who does not use a last name) had nearly sold out his Feature Inc. booth stocked with Douglas Melini's geometric op paintings. We saw a who's who of the Texas art world, including exhibiting icon Betty Moody, in from Houston; Galveston Arts Center's Clint Willour; Dallas collectors Cindy and Armond Schwartz, dashing into Danese's booth; Dallas-based curator and social practices activist Cynthia Mulcahy and artist husband Robert Hamilton; and NYC powerhouse exhibiting dealers Tanja Grunert and Marlborough's Michael Gitlitz, all brushing up against Forty Five Ten's Brian Bolke and his posse, including the inimitable Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, holding court and creating a jam in the F.I.G. atrium. The next morning, bright and early, co-founder Chris Byrne texted, "Please come to Seven at Dallas Contemporary at 11 am." So, we obeyed. Our Houston contingent including artists Selven O'Keef Jarmon, Thedra Cullar-Ledford, and Christy Karll and neo-jazz crooner Zoë Jackson-Jarra, all headed to the fair-within-a-fair at the Dallas Contemporary. There was one theme to Seven, Kerry Inman explained: the idea of "truth versus fiction." It was installed like a group show, rather than a warren of booths, and the exhibition walk-through was stimulating, even inspiring. We were proud of hometown gallerist Inman and her trove of works by Whitney Biennial talent Dario Robleto. Then we were thrilled to meet Pierogi's Joe Amrhein, founder of Seven, with his artist Brian Conley, Nancy whose recreation of actual battles in Iraq and Afghanistan rendered as toy soldiers in dioramas Whitenack was both tantalizing and chilling. We were obsessed with the pop photographs by British artist Boo Ritson, a standout with BravinLee programs; owner-director John Post Lee let us in on the process, which included the model being slathered in paint head to shoulders then snapped. (Talk about artifice and sacrifice.) The Fair in daylight hours yielded an afternoon of art coming at us at warp speed. Personal highlights: San Kelly Francisco's Hedge and its exquisite Coppock design-centered program curated by Antonio Amertrano; meeting Misako and Jeffrey Rosen, in from Tokyo, with their jewel-box Misako & Rosen booth that not only sold out but was shopped by the Dallas Museum of Art's Jeffrey Grove; tête-à-têtes with L.A. first-time exhibitors, the eponymous Anat Ebgi and Various Small Fire's Esther Kim Varet, whose presentation for mid-career California sculptor Anna Sew Hoy alongside atmospheric abstract painter Amir Nikravan was nuanced and important. (Works by both artists went to new homes; a DMA trustee acquired a Nikravan to join his Impressionists collection.) Dallas hospitality was warm, and a lot of the action also happened outside the booths. We enjoyed a brunch Saturday morning at the One Arts Plaza sky pad of artist Jay Shinn and real estate man Tim Hurst, attended by Houston collectors Poppi Massey Erin and Sanford Dow, and met Dallas- and Cluley Munich-based private-art-tour leader Halina Von Kempski Rakoszyn, who is rumored to have amazing access to some very tony European private collections that reside in castles. The art tale continues at papercitymag.com ... Megan Meigs Catharine Clark Jereann Chaney Beth Shapiro Anne Underwood Sue Fair Alison Cohn Nini Nguyen Rolf Snoeren Ricky Grunden Lisa Cooley Jeffrey Grove Nadia Dabbakeh Laurie Ann Farrell Derek Wilson Ken Downing Christen Wilson Bruce Perlstein Gracia Perlstein Sahar Saman Elizabeth Guber Esther Kim Varet Zoë JacksonJarra Cece Smith Hudson Jeremy Strick Mike Rawlings Mikki Rawlings Joshua Von Ammon Kenny Goss Sam Saladino Dan Rees Betty Moody Steve Christensen Jessica Jessica Silverman Silverman Wanda Dye Clint Willour Capera Ryan Christopher Martin Kerry Inman Lauren Christensen Lisa Brown Lee Steffy Deborah Scott Walter Van Beirendonck Laura Rathe Peter Doroshenko Deborah Colton