Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1535713
O ther programming highlights included the cheekily titled Morning After Brunch on Friday at The Cedars Union, where 18 artists welcomed guests into their micro- studios, and Saturday's Nasher Sculpture Center Art Talk, where High Line director/ chief curator Cecilia Alemani dished with Nasher interim director/chief curator Jed Morse about insider tales on biennials from Venice to Santa Fe — topics Alemani knows well, as she served as artistic director of the 2022 Venice Biennale and has an upcoming curatorial turn for SITE Santa Fe this summer. Fair Fever All this action bookended the de rigueur evening of the entire Arts Month: The Dallas Art Fair Foundation VIP Preview Benefit, funding the city's celebrated museum trio: Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center, and Dallas Contemporary. In addition to receiving first access to important works, the party doubles as one of the best nights for fashion in Dallas. It's a crowd where you'd almost seem eccentric if you wore J. Crew instead of, say, a hoop skirt woven from the plastic that goes around a six-pack of Diet Cokes. It's fabulous. Just beyond the entrance to F.I.G., guests crowded around the bar, where they air-kissed and toasted with beverages from Dry Farm Wines, LALO Tequila, and brews from Manhattan Project Beer Co. There was even a pop-up to debut the launch of Forgrave, a tea company and brainchild of Dallas-born Catherine Hicks Cosgrove, in from New York City. Throughout the expansive space, servers from The Caviar Co. wore holsters of caviar around their waists as if they were 1960s cigarette girls, offering cowboy caviar "bumps." These clever culinary and bar details got collectors in the mood for bold buying moves. Late Night Après wandering the galleries for the VIP opening, we made our way to The Conservatory's Teak Room for a dinner party hosted by Brian Bolke and Sarah Calodney, heralding the launch of brilliant Loïc Gouzer's (formerly of both Sotheby's and Christie's) highly curated art auction platform, Fair Warning. A small-plates dinner was served, including caviar baked potatoes, lamb meatballs, and an art-crowd favorite — French fries — while hundreds of candles illuminated the space. DJ RomiQ was behind the turntables, keeping the vibe chill for whispered conversations about purchases made at the fair. Even with the appearance of a famous mother/daughter duo (Nicky and Kathy Hilton stopped by after an earlier event at Alice + Olivia in the Village), the true marquee stars were two works of art brought in for the Fair: a Texas-centric Jean- Michel Basquiat untitled work from 1987 and Kai Althoff's Untitled (Girl with a Suitcase). Post-dinner, a nightcap up at Park House seemed a good way to compare notes about the upcoming weekend; our motley crew made our way upstairs, but who was in that group and what was discussed is hush-hush. State of the Arts Of course, all this social frisson, with lavish soirées and elevated art experiences, wouldn't happen annually without a very successful fair. This year's edition demonstrated not only optimism in the art market but the connoisseurship and deep-pocked commitment of Texas — and especially Dallas — collectors. Buyers knew what they were seeking and took home the prizes to prove it. Just a few examples: First-time exhibitor Tokyo gallery Koki Arts sold 50 haunting small portraits by Japanese painter Ryoichi Nakamura; NYC dealer Hollis Taggart successfully placed more than half a million dollars of important modern art, including works by giants of abstraction Sam Francis and Friedel Dzubas; Inman Gallery sold a heroic portrait, The Modernist, by Houston painter David McGee (featured in PaperCity's Arts Month issue); and Dallas collectors snapped up four collage paintings by Dallas talent Evita Tezeno from L.A. dealer Luis de Jesus Gallery for a total of $85,000. PC Seen: Collectors Katherine and Eric Reeves, Zoe Bonnette, Nancy Nasher, Janelle and Alden Pinnell, Peter Augustus Owen, and Christen and Derek Wilson; art advisor Cindy Schwartz; lifestyle influencer/author Moll Anderson; from the fashion world Reed Robertson, Sabrina Dee, and Forty Five Ten's Dianna Miller, Robin Wilkes, and Kyle Branch; Klyde Warren Park president and CEO Kit Sawers; Capera Ryan of Christie's; Phillips' Joyce Goss; recently retired director of the Nasher Sculpture Center Jeremy Strick, NBC 5's Meredith Land; Park House's Deborah and John Scott; Alice + Olivia CEO Stacey Bendet; interior designers Doniphan Moore, Gonzalo Bueno, and Janet Gridley; Fair co-founder John Sughrue's wife Marlene Sughrue; artist collective The Cedars Union's Emma Vernon; and relatively recent West Coast transplant Kasey Lemkin; joined by Matrice Ellis-Kirk and Ron Kirk, Kaleta Blaffer Johnson, Tanner Ewing, Porschla Kidd, Annika Cail, Suzanne and David Droese, Tina Craig, and Pete West. Artapalooza Five Days + Nights in Dallas Brian Bolke, Christen Wilson Simon Okoro Billy Fong Annika Cail Maria Flash, Paola Rozo 68