Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1538827
If a n a r t f a i r were a game of cards, Untitled Art, Houston, would hold four aces. Opening September 18 through 21 at George R. Brown Convention Center, this fair lands with a vaunted reputation. Its original edition — Untitled Art, Miami Beach, now in its 13th season — pairs curatorial excellence and the avant-garde, with booths that burst free from walls and a VIP lounge/performance art spot where drinks might be poured by a surreal pair of floating gloved hands. It's also your best chance to acquire a talent before the work hangs on the walls of the Whitney or MoMA. The backstory of what makes this presentation unique has been told: nationally published magazine writer comes to Houston on assignment and discovers an untapped, multilayered, well-moneyed art scene; convinces good friend/collector/art fair founder to forge a new addition to his art fair enterprise, and voilà! Untitled Art, Houston, comes to life, officially announced last November. The key players are L.A.- based Michael Slenske, whose brilliant byline has graced publications from W Magazine to Gagosian Quarterly. Slenske serves as fair director for the inaugural edition, joined by entrepreneurial fair founder Jeffrey Lawson and executive director Clara Andrade Pereira. Mighty 87 Aligned with its Miami Beach mother fair, Untitled Art, Houston, brings on the curatorial rigor. Eighty-seven international, national, and Texas galleries hold court at the George R. Brown Convention Center, whose cavernous spaces are reimagined for the fair by Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, led by firm partner/architect Jay Colombo. The global perspective of this fair is sky-high: Every continent but Antarctica is represented, as 29 galleries from 21 different countries travel to Houston to showcase their programs. They arrive from Kyoto (Cohju), Osaka and Tokyo (YOD Gallery), Lima (Revolver Galería), B r u s s e l s ( S t e m s G a l l e r y ) , B o g o t á ( S G R G a l e r í a ) , Bologna (Galleria Studio G7), Madrid ( M a r c B i b i l o n i , Max Estrella, El A p a r t a m e n t o , also based in Havana), Milan (SECCI), Nassau, Bahamas (Tern with its unique Caribbean-focused stable), and London (Cecilia Brunson Projects unveiling newly commissioned work by indigenous artists from Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela; and Pi Artworks with a solo for Turkish artist Kemal Seyhan's architecturally informed painting). Art dealers from U.S. culture capitals also make a statement. Those hailing from NYC include Hollis Taggart's solo for painter Tim Kent's psychologically tinged interiors inspired by Houston places, bitforms gallery, Marc Straus, Yossi Milo, and Swivel Gallery's crafty showing for NH DePass. Los Angeles is represented in abundance, notably by Michael Kohn Gallery, Charlie James Gallery, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles presenting Dallas art star Evita Tezeno's take on Black joy, and La Loma's one-person booth devoted to the feminist ceramics of Jasmine Little. San Francisco-based Jessica Silverman's fair time features the iconic Judy Chicago, whose work shares affinities with Beverly Fishman, both stars of Silverman's From top: Ming Smith's Grace Jones at Cinandre, 1974, at Bond Contemporary. Sarah Williams' East Drake Street, 2024, at Moody Gallery. Untitled Art, Houston, plays its hand. By Catherine D. Anspon Fair Time Ups the Art Game 44