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AUGUST | PAGE 6 | 2014 When has fall been, well, so momentous in the Texas art world? Houston heats up with not one, but two art fairs: Texas Contemporary Art Fair (September 4 -7) followed in short order by Houston Fine Art Fair (September 18 - 21). Read our exclusive insider preview of the Texas Contemporary (page 32). Next month, we'll delve into the Houston Fine Art Fair experience … Right after both fairs wrap, we'll be headed to Bentonville, Arkansas, for our region's answer to the Whitney Biennial: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art's 100-plus artist roundup of what is truly going on in American art — beyond Brooklyn, that is ("State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now," September 13 - January 19, 2015). Six Texas artists will be among the headliners, including Houston performance talent Autumn Knight. More in our September issue … Meanwhile, here are five must-sees for August: Dario Robleto at The Menil Collection; Michelle White curates (August 16 — January 4). Expect an elixir of history, science and beauty; the human heart and its heartbeat is the topic, and Robleto taps into resources from the Houston Medical Center to NASA … For something very grassroots, investigate the eight-person Houston collective Sketchy Neighbors at Nicole Longnecker Gallery. The works often takes a dive into a deep end of surprise including altered cereal boxes and Easy- Bake ovens (opening night Saturday, August 16, benefits Neighborhood Centers, through September 6) … Other worthy energy includes McMurtrey Gallery's very cool backroom space — the smart and pristine, Hello Project — directed by Jon Hopson (inaugural show through August 16) … Also tune to "Rumpus Room" at David Shelton Gallery, where Nancy Douthey and Shane Tolbert concoct curatorial action including the only known collaboration between late L.A. master Mike Kelley and Brooklyn- and Austin-based Michael Smith (through August 15) … Finally, we are so very impressed by the well-edited eye of artist Mel DeWees and wife, design maven Elizabeth DeWees. With colleague/artist Mike Smith, this trio is amplifying the art energy at The Houston Design Center via the newly minted Gray Contemporary. Don't miss the grand- opening show, rounding up talents from L.A., Ohio, Vermont and Tennessee. It's a well-honed, exquisitely reductive view and very strong debut (through August 9). Also at Gray, we're keeping our sights on Korean-born Californian Myungwon Kim, a master printer at Gemini Graphics, whose confident, heroic works on paper are knockouts. Next up, opening August 15: the summery "Aloe Vera" (through September 5). Catherine D. Anspon Art Notes U pdate: Houston Fine Art Fair returns for year four, continuing to occupy a prime calendar spot in the third week of September and holding court yet again at NRG Center (formerly Reliant Center). Opening night on Thursday, September 18, benefits Asia Society Texas Center — an international leitmotif that threads through exhibiting galleries and nonprofit partners such as FotoFest. Chairman Deborah Colton and Fair founder Rick Friedman present galleries spanning the post-war period to today, with a global emphasis. Just in: Colton's own booth features prominent mid-career Turkish art star Ferhat Özgür, whose pedigree is biennial heavy (from Berlin to his hometown, Istanbul), as well as recent solos at MoMA PS1 in New York and Marabouparken, Sweden, and turns at the Pompidou, Paris, and the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh. Özgür holds a position at Yeditepe University in Istanbul. He crafts smart videos and photo-based work that examine the intersection of modernity with tradition and the individual within society — holding up a mirror to contemporary Turkish life during a time of accelerating change. Known for humor mixed with irony, the artist places everyday people in his cinematic narratives, including his mother and her neighbor, to create filmic moments that are compellingly human. September 18 through 21, houstonfineartfair.com. An International Stance Detecting a dearth of beauty-industry apps, Houston lawyer turned stay-at-home mom Kathleen Jennings had an epiphany. Why not fill the void with an app that would be part primping portal, part beautification blog? Enter BeautyNow, her app with an apt tagline: "Turn free time into me time." Born of its founder's need to locate quality beauty treatments, rather like an OpenTable concept for salons and spas, the free app searches for the treatment you're seeking, when you need it, wherever you happen to be — concierge-level scheduling with a simple click. From a last-minute mani/pedi or blowout to med-spa services such as Botox and fillers, BeautyNow helps you find a salon that works with your schedule and lists the price, address and available appointments. One more tap, and you're booked! Jennings has sourced more than 4,500 salons and spas, covering most U.S. metropolitan areas; all are perfect in a pinch, whatever your zip code. But that's not all. BeautyNow's blog, spearheaded weekly by Jennings and contributor Lauren Mills, is a wealth of information about style, cosmetics, trends and beauty products — recent posts included a gorgeous Mara Hoffman bikini and drugstore makeup finds that are healthy for both the complexion and the checkbook. Download the app for free and read the blog today via beautynowapp.com. Caroline Starry LeBlanc Kathleen Jennings with her children, James and Wade Brenda Cruz-Wolf's Frosted Flakes, 2014, at Nicole Longnecker Gallery Ferhat Özgür's Remains of the Day, 2013, at Deborah Colton Gallery COURTESY DEBORAH COLTON GALLERY L ike mother, like daughter. The Vintage Contessa & Princessa, written by Donae Cangelosi Chramosta (the Vintage Contessa herself) and her six-year-old daughter, Bella, tells a poignant story exemplifying the true luxury in life: moments with those you most love. Chramosta, owner of the Houston go-to vintage boutique and online destination known for its designer handbags, was inspired to give back by writing a children's book based on her goddaughter's battle with cancer (half of the book's profits go toward pediatric cancer charities across the nation). The fairy tale starts like this: Once upon a time, the Contessa and Princessa planned "a posh [charity] event filled with pageantry for all the party patrons" in Mademoiselle's honor to raise proceeds for those with cancer. While the party doesn't go exactly as expected, in the end Princessa learns the invaluable lesson that "people are largely more important than things." Told with cheeky caricatures by Marina Saba, the beautifully illustrated children's book is chock-full of style with a generous dose of love, hope, family and friendship. $24.99, at luxury retailers, Barnes & Noble, amazon.com, thevintagecontessa.com. Anna Schuster A Contessa for Your TYKE Primping Portal for Beauty Contemporary Canvas: Skylar Fein BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE TEXAS CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR One of America's most intriguing rising art stars is New Orleans-based Skylar Fein, a Whitney-collected artist who stirs debate through works that address politics, history and sexuality. His much-talked-about sculpture Remember the Upstairs Lounge, for example, examines the unsolved 1973 arson targeting a gay church meeting in a French Quarter bar; it's now in the permanent collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art. Jonathan Ferrara Gallery brings Fein's latest to the Texas Contemporary Art Fair in September — works that are much lighter in spirit: giant painted metal matchbooks that merge Pop with the tradition of text-based art- making. We caught up with Fein via email to learn more. Your artistic predecessors for this sculpture. If I'm going to give credit where credit is due — and I should, for once — then it's Claes Oldenburg who gets the shout-out here. His giant sculptures of electric plugs, typewriters and cheeseburgers pushed Pop deep into the macabre. Why matchbooks? Because a common object is a perfect meeting place. That's an Oldenburg quote, actually — from the 1980s, if I remember correctly, but it's still true: In objects, we discover society, and in objects, society discovers itself. The most banal objects are anything but. Do you see this series following in the tradition of text-based artists such as Ruscha or Holzer? I've made a lot of text-based work. Man, does it drive people crazy. You'd be amazed at how many people are bothered by art with words. They're just annoyed. And they're always haranguing me about it. It's like 1890 all over again. I'm always telling these people, "Modernism happened." For inspiration, I'm always going back to the beginning. For really dense text pieces, check out the Russian Constructivists, who were proud graphic designers, or the Italian Futurists, who were unapologetic bookmakers. Are these sculptures based on actual match covers? So far, all the matchbooks have been giant-scale versions of very real matchbooks. I got the best ones from my mother. Who knew that the Pentagon had matchbooks? (Glittery silver on black, no less!) But pretty soon, I'm going to throw some curveballs. Let's see if you can spot them. Skylar Fein's What You Want Is Alive and Real, 2014, at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery Skylar Fein COURTESY JONATHAN FERRARA GALLEY, NEW ORLEANS September 4 – 7, 2014 H O U S T O N txcontemporary.com Way Good Serva-Teria food truck, 1919 W. Alabama St. (at McDuffie), 832.651.6186, waygoodfoodtruck.com The West Alabama Ice House has been in business since the year Al Smith was chosen to run as the Democratic Party candidate for president during the national convention in Sam Houston Hall on Bagby. The Hall is no more, and few people can recall Governor Smith — but the icehouse is still doing well. For more than a few new arrivals in Houston, going to the icehouse and ordering a longnecked bottle of Lone Star Beer represented their first step toward going native. The venerable establishment has also become the home berth of the Way Good Serva-Teria, a food truck run by two native daughters of Houston, Karen Fergus and her sister Kathryn. The cheerfully decorated truck — previously Papou Jerry's Gyro Truck and operated by one of the two brothers who inherited the icehouse from their father, Jerry — now serves up made-from-scratch versions of foods that beer drinkers crave: warm, salty and rich. There are panko-crusted fried mac-and-cheese balls in various flavors; brisket-topped nachos made with meat smoked in a cooker situated next to the truck; much-talked-about sweet potato fries; potato-chip-coated fried chicken breasts; plus sliders, hamburgers and daily specials created by chef Karen, who spent a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area catering and soaking up the culture of the foodiest city in the United States. (A recent special of fried risotto balls — known as arancini in Italy — had munchers moaning like moonstruck calves.) Sister Kathryn has a degree in marketing and public relations and coined the term "serva-teria." Together, the pair man their truck every day of the week, 11 am to 11 pm, which should earn them some sort of Hero of Capitalist Labor award in addition to culinary laurels. George Alexander HOW TO Serva-Teria Man Kathryn Fergus, Karen Fergus MAX BURKHALTER JACK THOMPSON