Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/594381
FROM SUBLIME KLIMTS TO MARGARET KEANE'S WIDE-EYED NAIFS HOUSTON FINE ART FAIR V Joe Schenk Wayne Gilbert Christina Girard Felipe Lopez with Penelope CATHERINE D. ANSPON DOES THE RECAP. PHOTOGRAPHY KIM COFFMAN. T his year's Fair was truly Houston-centric, starting with the awards presented to a worthy trio: Patron of the Year Lester Marks, Lifetime honoree Clint Willour and Illumination Education winner Michelle Barnes. Also anchoring the Fair in Houston's own (significant) art history was the Opening Night beneficiary: FotoFest, which presented an exhibition of global talents and prescient themes. Reinforcing the Houston motif was a glorious pavilion of Dorothy Hood canvases mounted by the Art Museum of South Texas, where the late Houston painter's show opens in September 2016. Across from the AMST Hoods, Sandy Parkerson brought a vintage Hood drawing to his booth of secondary-market goodies. Down that aisle, former Houston Chronicle critic Patricia Johnson saluted our most notable with a Hall of Fame section where late abstract painter Joe Glasco — famously the teacher of Julian Schnabel — stole the show. The unofficial honor of most hilarious booth goes to crowd fave Art League Houston, whose quirky installation replicated a hunting camp where works by Randy Bolton mashed up against Paul Middendorf in his role of game master, holding court with sound artist Lina Dib. Nearby, Mat Kubo engaged onlookers in a performance; for $20, you could type on a vintage '70s machine, then leave with an onionskin creation to commemorate a dialogue with Kubo over a typed page of text. Another Houston nonprofit acquitting itself nicely was Alabama Song, where multiples of works by hometown creatives were priced at $100 each — the best buy of the day. At the Katy Contemporary Arts Museum area, which spilled out of its booth, a giant hook in a tank of hapless goldfish conjured the immigrant experience, a creation by emerging Houston talent Felipe Lopez, addressing his Cuban heritage. At Kips Gallery, Korean-born, Houston-based Cheong Ok-Matthews took an ordinary subject — the landscape — and made it memorable with a wall of reductive slices of meadow and sky. Also mining the language of abstraction, West Coast painter Chris Trueman, shown by Patrajdas Contemporary, evoked Rosenquist with a sexy nocturnal palette and slices of intersecting bands of pigment. Gallerist Franny Koelsch injected a note of the outsider with a solo for internationally exhibited Tad Lauritzen Wright's faux folk works. It was impossible not to be won over by Wright's jubilant, witty creations. The biggest surprise was discovering a cache of prints by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele and Alphonse Mucha at Galerie Fledermaus' stand, which was installed with an aesthetic that channeled turn-of-the-century Vienna. Also dealing with historical material, Muzeion from Dallas presented splendors from the kingdom of the Incas, including textiles and ceremonial garb that has survived the centuries. In contrast to these 1900 and pre-Columbian offerings, Sandy Skoglund's strange '70s-era photographs stood out at Yvonamor Palix Fine Art; images from pre-Photoshop days were exercises in pattern and color employing such domestic tropes as frozen peas or luncheon meat and a laminated kitchen counter. Aisles over, the wide-eyed naïfs of Margaret Keane — the artist was played on the silver screen recently by Amy Adams in Tim Burton's film Big Eyes — were a jaw- dropping example of what was once kitsch achieving apotheosis into a potent symbol, which stood for an era. Natch, Fair chairman Deborah Colton's booth boasted an international array stocked with standouts from Oleg Dou's futuristic photos of alien-like beings to Susan Plum's woven glass pendulum. Also memorable was the chilling video by Arab-world talent Mahmoud Obaidi, in which the subject changed religions with dizzying speed by swapping outfits. Breaking business news almost trumped the artworks. While HFAF founder Rick Friedman will remain on as consultant, the Fair has been acquired by Atlanta trade show entity Urban Expositions; UE CEO Doug Miller was strolling the Fair on Opening Night with Friedman. (Urban Expo itself has been acquired, as of September 1, by UK-based Clarion Events, a producer of 200 shows spanning five continents, established in 1947.) What this means for Houston Fine Art Fair going forward continues to be a hot topic. Expect an infusion of capital and the ability to attract additional dealers of the ilk of Gladwell & Patterson (who toted a 1927 Picasso canvas to this year's Fair), therefore encompassing a broader expanse of art history. For more Fair coverage, visit papercitymag.com. NOVEMBER | PAGE 38 | 2015 Claire Cusack Kristen Cliburn Norman Ewart William Smith Anita Smith Gerald Smith Jereann Chaney Jennifer Batchelor Meredith Stewart Kelsey Bielby Ashley Ramos Paola Creixell Catherine D. Anspon chats with honoree Michelle Barnes. Arturo Creixell Vivek Subbiah Ishwaria Subbiah Rich Ferrante Laura Rathe Aaron Abel Star Massing Corbett Parker Steven Evans Lina Dib Paul Middendorf Laura Mudd Luis Bauer Carolyn Farb Frazier King Lisa Slappey Wendy Watriss Fred Baldwin Michael Polk Rabea Ballin Danielle Wilson Joi Maria Probus Jack Massing Honoree Clint Willour Minnette Boesel Tracy Dieterich Valerie Dieterich Guus Kemp John Guess Jr. Chairman Deborah Colton Doug Miller Rick Friedman Gabriel Martinez Penelope Marks Eloise Frischkorn Bauer Honoree Lester Marks