New York’s Venerable Art Show Spotlights Houston’s Robust Gallery Scene — H-Town Art Takes Manhattan
Everything You Need to Know About a Major Moment For the Bayou City's Creative Scene
BY Catherine D. Anspon // 10.07.24Houston-based Delita Martin's "Looking Behind," 2024, incorporates intricate hand-stitching and liquid gold leaf into the canvas and is on view at Art Dealers Association of America’s The Art Show in the McClain Gallery booth. (Courtesy of the artist and McClain Gallery, Houston)
Art Basel Miami Beach, move over. For its intimate size, venerable roster and old-guard venue, there’s nothing like the Art Dealers Association of America’s The Art Show in New York. This grand showcase of America’s most vetted gallerists — acceptance as a member is a lengthy, challenging and often elusive process — is moving to an earlier fall date this year, with the fair’s Benefit Preview set for Tuesday, October 29, and show days running Wednesday, October 30 through Saturday, November 2.
What stays the same? The Art Show’s venue, the grand 19th-century Upper East Side edifice, the Park Avenue Armory, a medieval-inspired monument of Manhattan’s Gilded Age, which offers a respite from convention hall fairs. For Texans, especially Houstonians, great excitement among collecting circles swirls around the debut of the fair’s fresh initiative, “Spotlight On,” which focuses on a United States city known for its robust art scene. The inaugural year’s showcased metropolis is Houston.
If you’re a beginning to advanced collector, supporting the hometown team is now in play. Four ADAA member Houston dealers will be showcased, alongside a full day of Houston cultural programming on Wednesday, October 30. The Bayou City gallerists’ booths all will be devoted to a solo or doubleheader presentation of either Houston talents or those with H-Town connections.
Here’s what to know first and foremost before checking out other Art Show action. Inman Gallery is putting on a tour de force of works by painter David McGee, including his Avenging Angels large watercolors. Josh Pazda Hiram Butler is showcasing painter Ana Villagomez’s compelling language of abstraction. McClain Gallery is going with late titan of Texas abstract painting Dorothy Hood paired with Delita Martin’s powerful figuration formed from collage and printmaking. Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino is putting on a politically charged solo exhibition for Cuban-born conceptualist Reynier Leyva Novo alluding to memory and Confederate monuments. That is some significant Houston art power.
The Art Show also does good. All ticket proceeds benefit New York City’s Henry Street Settlement, a nonprofit which provides social services. Since its first fair in 1989, the ADAA has raised an astounding $37 million for Henry Street.
Benefit Preview tickets for Tuesday, October 29 start at $200. Fair tickets for Wednesday, October 30, through Saturday, November 2 cost $20 a day with multi-day passes for every day of the show running $80. Get more information on the “Spotlight On…Houston” programming here. Purchase fair tickets here.