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GONE GLOBAL HOUSTON FINE ART FAIR BRINGS IN THE INTERNATIONALS. BEHIND THE BUZZ AND INSIDE THE BOOTHS OF YEAR THREE, ARTS EDITOR CATHERINE D. ANSPON DECIPHERS ONE OF THE MOST DIVERSE FAIRS IN AMERICA. FROM LATIN AMERICAN MODERN MASTERS SHOWCASED BY GALLERISTS FROM BUENOS AIRES TO BOGATA — AND, FOR THE FIRST TIME, A PAVILION SERVING CUTTING-EDGE KOREAN FARE — SEE WHO'S ON OUR ACQUISITIONS ANTENNA AT HFAF COME SEPTEMBER. TEN (MORE) TO SEE FAIR GROUNDS Consider the stats: 84 galleries, 14 countries, 34 cities, 40 cultural partners, 12,000 plus expected attendance, millions of dollars of art changing hands. All those numbers add up to a convergence that signals importance when the Houston Fine Art Fair, year three, charges into town at the George R. Brown Convention Center September 19 through 22. Here's why we're going. And what you can't afford to miss. DOWN SOUTH: LATIN AMERICA, CUBA AND MIAMI CALLING The Houston Fine Art Fair mirrors the city's position at the epicenter of modern and contemporary Latin American collecting — and as a force for scholarship, led by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's International Center for Arts of the Americas (ICAA) — by boasting an extraordinary contingent of dealers from Central and South America (Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Mexico) alongside gallerists from Miami, Barcelona and Havana. Pay special attention to Galleria Rubbers International's focus on Xul Solar, a rediscovered Argentine painter known for his eccentric watercolors considered by close pal Jorge Luis Borges to be "documents of the extraterrestrial world." (Solar also makes a PA in the current Venice Biennale and is the subject of a new exhibition opening at the Phoenix Art Museum next month.) Or peruse Local Arte Contemporaneo's mirror on new art from Chile, and check out Miamibased Sammer Gallery's booth stocked with works from a 2007 Rauschenberg Runt to a 1942 constructivist fresco upon canvas from the mighty Uruguay School of the South leader Joaquín Torres-García. Bert Long Jr.'s Quest, 1983, at Deborah Colton Gallery, Houston Seung Mo Park's Hwan, 2012, at Keumsan Gallery, Seoul COUPLE OF YEARS THAT YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SAY THAT THIS IS THE MOST INTERNATIONAL FAIR IN AMERICA, Winston Roeth's Diagonals Gold, 2013, at Bartha Contemporary, London OUTSIDE OF MIAMI BASEL." — Rick Friedman, Houston Fine Art Fair founder, president Hamptons Expo Group, Fair producer PLAYING TRIBUTE, PANELS, SCREENINGS Keun-Byung Yook's The Sound of Landscape = Site Energy, 2010, at Pyo Gallery, Seoul SEOUL SENSATION Another signature is the presence of The Korean Pavilion — the first time ever that new works from Seoulbased galleries have been exhibited in such depth in a contemporary fair outside one devoted strictly to Asian art. Fourteen dealers present the new avant-garde, including Pyo Gallery's immersive nature-based photos by Keun-Byung Yook; Park Ryu Sook Gallery, whose booth stars a bright red Bodhisattva by Ho Yoon Shin; and Keumsan Gallery's captivating stainless-steel wire-mesh 3-D portrait by Seung Mo Park. Also noteworthy and representing the Korean cuttingedge is JanKossen Contemporary, based in Basel, Switzerland, whose booth includes Suh Jeong Min, recently tapped to create a monumental work during this year's installment of the Venice Biennale (presented at Palazzo Bembo). "I'M HOPING IN THE NEXT We highly recommend: among the British contingent, Winston Roeth's pristine geometric paintings at Bartha Contemporary, London; a museum-quality collection of three epic works by the late Houston-based patriarch/Prix de Rome winner Bert Long Jr., at Deborah Colton Gallery, destined to bring a sense of the authentic to the Fair; storied NYC dealer ACA Gallery's AfricanAmerican offerings, from Romare Bearden to Jacob Lawrence and Faith Ringgold; Dallasbased Read Contemporary's take on aboriginal painters; hometown ace Devin Borden's stable of Texas all stars; supercool West Coast painter Chris Trueman's solo at White Box Contemporary, in from San Diego; Michigan-based Habitat Gallery's roundup of hot works in contemporary glass; important international lensmen curated by Pictura Gallery, Bloomington, Indiana; Sandy Skoglund's pioneering constructed images, which are freighted with humor, at Yvonamor Palix Fine Art; and scene-stealing larger-thanlife photographs by Chineseborn new media photog Alex Guofeng Cao, who appropriates all the greats from Lichtenstein to Warhol, at Laura Rathe Fine Art. Rounding out the Fair fanfare is the Opening Night presentation of awards to worthy, world-class Houston honorees, including artist Robert Pruitt, whose trajectory has taken him from Robert Rauschenberg's American Texas Southern University to the Vitamin (Runt), 2007, at Sammer Gallery, Miami Whitney Biennial and currently, Studio Museum in Harlem and the headliner in Hooks-Epstein Gallery's booth. Pruitt is joined by Wendy Watriss and Fred Thursday, September 19. Black Card "Houston Is Baldwin, the globe-trotting Inspired" first-look vernissage founders of FotoFest. Also 6 – 7:30 pm, benefitting watch for panels on topics from Houston Arts Alliance's "Managing Your Collection as an Business Volunteers for the Asset," organized by US Trust, to Arts; VIP Preview Party, a Wendy Watriss led Q-and-A 7:30 – 9 pm on contemporary photography. Fair Days: Friday – Saturday, We're also lining up for September 20 – 21, 11 am – film screenings including, 7 pm; Sunday, September 22, at the top of the list, 11 am – 6 pm Bert by John Guess Where: George R. Brown Jr., an extraordinary Convention Center Tariff: $250 Black Card includes documentary of the Fifth Opening Night first access, Ward-born Bert Long Jr.; VIP Lounge, panels, parties, a peek at provocative tours and admission all performance art, Marina three-days; $125 VIP Card Abramovic: The Artist includes Opening Night Ho Yoon Shin's There is no Is Present; and Houston essence: Red Guan Yin party at 7:30 plus all the talent Tara Conley's above perks; $40 three-day Bodhisattva, 2011, at Park Ryu Sook Gallery, Seoul cinematic feminist pass; $25 one-day pass statement, My Life as a Doll. Tickets/info: houstonfineartfair.com READY, SET, COLLECT: Alex Guofeng Cao's Elvis vs. Warhol, 2012, at Laura Rathe Fine Art, Houston SEPTEMBER | PAGE 22 | 2013