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A PERFECT TEN BY NATALIE GEMPEL. PHOTOGRAPHY EXPLOREDINARY. T he most artful weekend of the year in Texas heralded the first decade of the Dallas Art Fair. The Fair's Preview Gala was the place to be. The packed event drew the most interesting mix of Texas, national, and international gallery owners, artists, collectors, and social swells — an important and heady crowd befitting DAF's milestone marker. For the 10th edition of the ever-expand- ing fair, founder John Sughrue and Dallas Art Fair execs Kelly Cornell and Brandon Kennedy curated the nearly 100 galleries that filled the sprawling Fashion Industry Gallery. The discerning art crowd followed, including many regulars on the Artnews Top 200 Collectors list. During the exclusive Preview Gala, they were quick to buy, knowing that museum-worthy works never last long at the fair. The scene inside FIG was buzzy, fueled by Ruinart Champagne and bites from The Joule. Based on party chatter, it was clear that some of the most show-stopping booths came from first-time exhibitors. New York's James Cohan Gallery made a dramatic debut, with fascinating works from Xu Zhen (especially the canvas covered in puffs of meringue-like pink oil paint), Byron Kim, Simon Evans and others. The Hole NYC was another show-stealing newcomer. Standing out among the Dallas dealers were Talley Dunn Gallery, showing a huge Richard Serra canvas; Bivins Gallery with a symphony of light, color, and sound from Bay Area artist Mary Hull Webster; and Liliana Bloch Gallery, where the DAF Foundation itself purchased — a first from a Dallas gallerist — a searing portrait by Alicia Henry, which now enters the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art. SEEN: Dallas Museum of Art director Agustín Arteaga, Nasher Sculpture Center director Jeremy Strick, and Dallas Contemporary director Peter Doroshenko, their museums all Preview Gala beneficia- ries; and Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, Deedie Rose, Nancy Dedman, Cindy Schwartz, artist Arthur Peña, Zoe Bonnette, Janet Gridley, Bill Hutchinson, Christen and Derek Wilson, Brad Kelly, Rhonda and Fraser Marcus, Jo Marie Lilly, and Joyce Goss. A work by Awol Erizku at Night Gallery Marlene & John Sughrue Kelly & Jack Cornell Kimberly Schlegel Whitman & Justin Whitman John & Deborah Scott Nancy Dedman, Brad Kelly John & Muffin Lemak Courtney Dallaire, Zoe Bonnette Kim Morton, Janet Gridley Francisco Moreno, Jen Ray, Monica Salazar Miwa Komatsu performs Spiritual Guardians Cindy & Howard Rachofsky with Ed Fornieles' Mother, 2017, from Galerie Division Tom & Jennifer Karol Agustín Arteaga 25