An internationally renowned contemporary art phenomenon is landing in Texas this fall. Founded in Miami in 2012, Untitled Art is one of the top fairs concurrent with Art Basel Miami Beach’s tony affair every December. Now, Untitled is launching its inaugural Houston fair this September.
In celebration of its upcoming debut, Untitled Art curated a VIP weekend in Houston for the collecting set. A reception and panel discussion at private social club Park House Houston kicked off the cultural convergence. This Houston art weekend also included a walkthrough of “Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream…” with the artist at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, a cocktail tour of a private art collection, and a visit to the University of Houston School of Art MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Blaffer Art Museum.
In her welcoming remarks at Park House, Untitled Art executive director Clara Andrade Pereira talked about how pleased she was at the support that the fair has been receiving from the city of Houston and its arts community. She then introduced Michael Slenske, director of Untitled Art, Houston, and announced that PaperCity will be the media sponsor for the Houston fair.
A lively panel discussion followed, moderated by PaperCity’s Catherine D. Anspon. Slenske was joined in conversation by four other luminaries of the arts world: Nate Freeman, culture correspondent at Vanity Fair; fair exhibitor Betty Moody, owner and director of Houston’s iconic Moody Gallery; fair exhibitor Jesús Alberto Flores, founder and director of Colector, which has just opened a Houston project space; and Aliyya Stude, VP of international business development at Sotheby’s.
Anspon began the conversation by remarking that the “degree of excitement in our town is unparalleled” for the upcoming arrival of Houston’s first international art fair. Slenske then took the spotlight, sharing that his interest in Houston started with a press assignment more than 15 years ago, initially drawn to the “no-zoning-ness” and “collision” of the city. (Slenske has an impressive arts byline. His writing has appeared in Architectural Digest, W Magazine, New York Magazine, Los Angeles Times, Gagosian Quarterly and other publications)
Slenske revealed that the upcoming Houston Untitled Art Fair will feature more than 80 galleries. Each booth will include “more curated positions” with fewer artists to “slow people down,” instead of showing an overwhelming number of artists.
Betty Moody also discussed her trajectory as a gallerist in the Houston arts scene. Moody opened her eponymous gallery in 1975, and kept the gallery afloat during the economic downturn in the 1980s by participating in art fairs. She believes that art fairs offer the opportunity to “cross pollinate” between dealers and that she is looking forward to the gallery’s booth at the upcoming fair.
Jesús Alberto Flores is the founder of Colector Gallery in Monterrey, which recently expanded into Texas, opening a location in Dallas and a project space on Gallery Row in Houston. The gallery is currently in the process of moving its headquarters from Monterrey to Dallas. Untitled was the first art fair in which Colector participated outside of Mexico, with a memorable design-heavy booth that “opened a lot of doors” for the gallery, Flores says. The upcoming fair in Houston will be Colector’s second time showing with Untitled.
Aliyya Stude discussed the art market from her global perch at Sotheby’s. She shared that Houston acquires more secondary market works, while Dallas buys more emerging artists, but that collecting contemporary art is growing in Houston. She also divulged that Impressionist and modern art are the top collecting categories in Houston, despite them being declining collecting categories overall. She notes that there is likely more collecting of contemporary art through galleries and art fairs such as Untitled Art, rather than at auction.
Freeman, who pens widely read weekly columns for Vanity Fair, many of which have been about the arts and about Texas, offers a unique perspective on the Houston art scene.
“Houston has this mythos among people in New York and Los Angeles, and the fact that Untitled is opening a fair here is such an exciting phenomenon because it represents Hosuton’s real emergence on the global art scene,” he says. “We are at this moment where there is so much excitement, in New York and LA and globally, about Houston.
“This is where the juice is, this is where the action is.”
PC Seen: Lester Marks; Jereann Chaney; Carrie Brandsberg-Dahl; Barbara Hill; Taylor Chalmers; Dan Zimmerman; Jonathan Mok; Natalie Freeman; Russell and Lisa Sherrill; Erin and Scott Podsednik; Houston Museum of African American Culture CEO John Guess, Jr.; Melissa Dobrowski; gallerists including Barbara Davis, Eduardo Portillo, Hollis McGregor, Rajiv Menon (in from Los Angeles), and Andrew Rafacz (in from Chicago); artist LaMonté French; art advisors Jessica Phifer and Moriah Alise; Laura Day Webb; Hollis McGregor; and Houston Arts Alliance team including CEO Taylor Jackson with colleague Carrie Ermler and board chair Michele Leal Farah.
Untitled Art, Houston will take place Friday, September 19 through Sunday, September 21 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The VIP Vernissage event will take place Thursday, September 18. For more information and tickets, go here.
Listen to a full recording of the Untitled Art Fair panel here.