Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/806991
THE MAIN ATTRACTION: DALLAS ART FAIR For its ninth year at Fashion Industry Gallery (FIG), the Dallas Art Fair soars to more than 90 galleries. But it's the quality, not the quantity that has garnered attention, not only in America (especially New York) but internationally. Three-dozen dealers hail from London, Bogota, Dublin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Monterrey, Geneva, Madrid, San Juan, Dubai, Berlin, and Tokyo. Go-Go Gagosian: One of 30-plus new exhibitors is the booth that's the talk of town: the $1 billion global Gagosian empire. Will Larry Gagosian make a Dallas PA? You'll have to wait until Thursday, April 6, to find out. Curating a special monographic presentation, Gagosian rolls out a cheeky solo that's locally topical, tapping Italian-born and L.A.-based Piero Golia. No stranger to Dallas audiences, Golia will create an installation based upon his popular evocation Chalet Dallas at the Nasher Sculpture Center (2015 - 2016); included will be a series of Mariachi Paintings, which commemorate his Nasher closing act set to a band of mariachis. The canvases are formed from stretched and cut swatches of the actual stage curtain that came down as an exhibition finale; text fragments are inscribed in cursive letters from the curtain's memorable message, straight out of Looney Cartoons: "That's All Folks!" Collectors will vie for bronze sculptures based upon Golia's Chalet furniture, as well as a miniature model of the artist's fictional studio in the aftermath of the Chalet's disassembly. We'll Take Manhattan: Two other big-gun New York dealers, Lehmann Maupin Gallery and Skarstedt Gallery, are recommended for their powerful stables, filled with names from current and future art history. Lehmann boasts Juergen Teller. If you've dined at the new Forty Five Ten on Main's Mirador restaurant you've encountered Teller's large- scale photographs of color-saturated food dishes. Also in Lehmann Maupin's stable is THE BEST OF DALLAS ARTS MONTH CATHERINE D. ANSPON REPORTS. APEX OF ART The first nine days of April pack enough culture and art action into Dallas' visual mise en scène to comprise its own season. Here's where to be, who to see, what to collect, the biggest buzz, and the prime parties throughout April. Billy Childish, whose idiosyncratic figurative canvases almost pass for outsider artwork. (He's also headlining at The Goss-Michael Foundation). Skarstedt's booth will include figurative master David Salle, last seen at his sensational Dallas Contemporary exhibition in 2015. Also watch Manhattan dealer Bortolami Gallery for an engaging solo by Anna Ostoya, whose work is loosely figurative/architectural and utterly original. And we never miss a visit to Jill Weinberg's Lennon, Weinberg, Inc. for the best tales and infinite knowledge of Joan Mitchell, who was a mentor. You'll always find a killer Mitchell (or two) in the booth, as well as two other good bets: elegiac canvases by Texas-Maine painter Carl Palazzolo and glorious color- field canvases by the late Stephen Mueller. The Internationals: Pay attention to Galerie Perrotin, based in Paris and New York with outposts in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Seoul. The gallery is home court for Daniel Arsham, who has been exhibited in Perrotin's Fair booth every year since 2015. Arsham also generated buzz and acclaim for his collaboration with Pharrell during Dallas' 2016 Soluna. The internationally recognized artist mines the wisdom of ancient civilizations, obsessively incorporating materials imbued with talismanic auras. Nature, science, history, the supernatural, and the unexplained are touchstones of his almost alchemical installations and sculpture. Independents Arise: Indie dealers, especially of the international bent, add a depth and earnestness to this Fair that may even be missing from Art Basel's iterations. Chief among these is Misako & Rosen of Tokyo, whose exhibition program often features small-scale treasures that demand close viewing — the DMA regularly acquires from them — JEREMY BIGGERS COURTESY THE ARTIST AND PDNB GALLERY, DALLAS 46