What to Collect at Dallas Art Fair, Year 18

Dallas Art Fair arrives Thursday, April 16 – Sunday, April 19 at Fashion Industry Gallery (FIG) in the Dallas Arts District. PaperCity‘s Catherine D. Anspon queried an art advisor, collecting couple, and auction-house expert on what to ponder. 

Adam Green, founder Adam Green Art Advisory, on why Dallas merits two fairs, why collecting from them is de rigueur, and which artists he’s steering his clients to.

Dallas has become one of the country’s most serious and influential collecting communities. That long-term evolution is especially evident in today’s art market climate. As the art market has softened, galleries have become more selective about the fairs they participate in, concentrating on cities where sustained collecting activity, strong institutions, and enduring relationships justify the investment.

In that context, the fact that leading galleries continue to choose Dallas each spring is meaningful. It reflects their confidence in our community’s seriousness and willingness to engage and support. The city’s ability to sustain both the Dallas Art Fair and the Dallas Invitational speaks directly to the depth of our collector base.

Showing up, spending time with galleries, and supporting their programs will ensure both fairs in Dallas remain strong and continue to grow in the years ahead. Below are a few of my personal highlights for this year’s Dallas Art Fair.

Freya Douglas-Morris at Alexander Berggruen: Douglas-Morris’ beautiful, dreamlike landscapes are drawn from memory and imagination rather than specific places. The Dallas Art Fair Foundation acquired one of her paintings for the Dallas Museum of Art from the fair in 2023.

Genesis Belanger at Perrotin: Belanger creates playful wall-based mosaic reliefs that combine stylized flowers with gridded tile structures. The works are constructed in pigmented clay, linking them directly to her sculptural practice.

Sky Glabush at Philip Martin Gallery: Glabush paints large-scale landscapes built from dense layers of paint and sand, depicting forests, lakes, and skies. His textured surfaces give these scenes a powerful physical presence.

Sheryl Adkins-Green, collector, who speaks for herself as well as her husband, Geoff Green, on their must-sees at the fair.

Khalif Tahir Thompson at Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery: I’m often drawn to artists whose work blends lived experience with imagination, creating something that feels both familiar and new. That is what first drew me to Khalif Tahir Thompson. His paintings have a rhythm that feels musical, with layers of color and gesture. The work feels intuitive and resonates in a place like Texas, where storytelling is deeply rooted.

Daniel Rios Rodriguez at Seven Sisters Gallery: This Texas-born artist makes work that reflects his roots and surroundings. His paintings combine craft traditions with a contemporary sensibility, often incorporating found objects, rope, and carved wood. These everyday elements are transformed into something unexpected, capturing the resourcefulness and creative spirit often associated with Texas.

Gabriel Mills at Alexander Berggruen: Mills’ paintings reward slow looking, with soft shifts of color and subtle compositions that unfold over time. In a fast-moving city like Dallas, where ambition and momentum shape daily life, his work offers a welcome sense of calm. The paintings encourage you to pause and spend time with them, reminding us of the value of stillness.

Frank Hettig, Heritage Auctions vice president of modern & contemporary art, on which international galleries he’s tracking at the fair.

Khalif Tahir Thompson at Zidoun-Bossuyt Gallery: Making their fair debut is Zidoun-Bossuyt, with locations in Luxembourg, Dubai, and Paris. The gallery will spotlight American artist Khalif Tahir Thompson (born 1995).

Known for paintings such as the monumental Diner Scene, 2025, Thompson depicts intimate moments from African American domestic life. Drawing from the extensive photo archives compiled by his grandmother — who meticulously documented family life throughout the 20th century — he treats these albums as historical source material, a true gold mine of lived experience. Rather than reproducing images directly, the artist fragments and reconstructs them into layered compositions. Increasingly, his works incorporate collage elements such as papyrus and leather, alongside painted surfaces and subtle typographic interventions.

Magali Cazo at Wishbone Gallery: Another first-time exhibitor is Wishbone Gallery from Montreal, recognized for its strong representation of women artists. For Dallas, the gallery presents works by French artist Magali Cazo (born 1979).

Working primarily in ink on paper, Cazo embraces the medium’s fluidity and unpredictability. Through an intuitive and spontaneous process, she allows landscapes to emerge organically, shaped by memory and sensation rather than direct observation. Ink functions not simply as a tool, but as an active collaborator — its movement and transparency guiding the final composition.

Steve Driscoll at Nicholas Metivier Gallery: This Toronto-based gallery features Canadian artist Steve Driscoll (born 1980) as a centerpiece of its presentation. Driscoll’s immersive, color-saturated landscapes stem from lived experiences in nature, particularly hiking and camping across Canada and the United States. His distinctive process combines oil pigment with industrial urethane, creating a liquid medium that behaves almost like watercolor.

Working wet-on-wet on panels laid flat on the floor, he moves quickly and instinctively, allowing forest canopies, lakes, and sweeping vistas to emerge through movement and chromatic intensity rather than detailed rendering.

Dallas Art Fair, Thursday – Sunday, April 16 – 19, at Fashion Industry Gallery. For tickets and full list of exhibitors, go here.