An Insider’s Guide To Houston’s New Vaunted Fair With Miami Beach Hype — Diving Into The Untitled World
An Art Experience That Nods To the Bayou City's Distinct Clout
BY Catherine D. Anspon //Evita Tezeno's "Big-boned Sally and Little Milton," 2024, at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles
If an art fair were a game of cards, Untitled Art, Houston, would hold four aces. Set to run September 18 through September 21 at George R. Brown Convention Center, this art fair lands in H-Town with a vaunted reputation.
Its original edition — Untitled Art, Miami Beach, now in its 13th season — pairs curatorial excellence and the avant-garde, with booths that burst free from walls and a VIP lounge/performance art spot where drinks might be poured by a surreal pair of floating gloved hands. It’s also your best chance to acquire a talent before the work hangs on the walls of the Whitney or MoMA.

The backstory of what makes this presentation unique has been told before, but it’s worth rehashing. A nationally published magazine writer comes to Houston on assignment and discovers an untapped, multilayered, well-moneyed art scene. He then convinces a good friend/collector/art fair founder to forge a new addition to his art fair enterprise, and voilà! Untitled Art, Houston, comes to life.
The key players are Los Angeles-based Michael Slenske, whose brilliant byline has graced publications from W Magazine to Gagosian Quarterly. Slenske is serving as fair director for the inaugural edition, joined by entrepreneurial fair founder Jeffrey Lawson and executive director Clara Andrade Pereira.
Mighty 87
Aligned with its Miami Beach mother fair, Untitled Art, Houston, brings on the curatorial rigor. Eighty-seven international, national, and Texas galleries hold court at the George R. Brown Convention Center, whose cavernous spaces are being reimagined for the fair by Michael Hsu Office of Architecture, led by firm partner/architect Jay Colombo.
The global perspective of this new Houston art fair is sky-high. Every continent but Antarctica is represented, as 29 galleries from 21 different countries travel to Houston to showcase their programs. They will arrive from Kyoto (Cohju), Osaka and Tokyo (YOD Gallery), Lima (Revolver Galería), Brussels (Stems Gallery), Bogotá (SGR Galería), Bologna (Galleria Studio G7), Madrid (Marc Bibiloni, Max Estrella, El Apartamento, also based in Havana), Milan (SECCI), Nassau, Bahamas (Tern with its unique Caribbean-focused stable), and London (Cecilia Brunson Projects unveiling newly commissioned work by indigenous artists from Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela; and Pi Artworks with a solo for Turkish artist Kemal Seyhan’s architecturally informed painting).

Art dealers from United States culture capitals also will be make a statement. Those hailing from New York City include Hollis Taggart’s solo for painter Tim Kent’s psychologically tinged interiors inspired by Houston places, bitforms gallery, Marc Straus, Yossi Milo, and Swivel Gallery’s crafty showing for NH DePass.
Los Angeles is represented in abundance, notably by Michael Kohn Gallery, Charlie James Gallery, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles presenting Dallas art star Evita Tezeno’s take on Black joy and La Loma’s one-person booth devoted to the feminist ceramics of Jasmine Little. San Francisco-based Jessica Silverman’s fair time features the iconic Judy Chicago, whose work shares affinities with Beverly Fishman, both stars of Silverman’s stable.
Chicago dealers include The Mission Projects and Andrew Rafacz. Also making anticipated showings are Philadelphia’s Pentimenti, Detroit’s buzzy Library Street Collective and Miami’s Spinello Projects.
In the Nest
Adding a sense of discovery and the new, Untitled Art expands upon its Nest section, whereby gallerists receive booth subsidies, allowing for a jolt of the experimental, emerging and/or underrepresented. Included among this must-investigate list are Hair + Nails (Minneapolis); Alice Amati (London); Constitución (Buenos Aires); Piermarq (Sydney); Los Angeles contingent Megan Mulrooney, Murmurs, One Trick Pony Gallery, and de boer; and deCERCA (San José, Costa Rica).
Texas players figure large in Nest, too. Houston’s Seven Sisters, F, Laura (the gallery), and Basket Books & Art; Dallas-based 12.26; Austin’s Martha’s and Northern-Southern; and longtime legendary Dallas photo dealer PDNB Gallery, now relocated to Denton, presenting a solo for grand-master lensman Earlie Hudnall Jr., a 2022 Lifetime Achievement honoree from Art League Houston.

Talking Texas
Besides the phalanx of Texas-based galleries highlighted in Nest, Untitled Art presents some of the Lone Star State’s most notable in the tightly curated main section of the fair.
Place these on your list: Barbara Davis Gallery (ask to see Teresa Serrano’s 1990s-era sculpture); Bond Contemporary (a solo presentation for CAMH- and MoMA-exhibited photographer Ming Smith); Colector (also with locations in Dallas/and Monterrey, showcasing Angelbert Metoyer’s intuitive cycle of large drawings); Inman Gallery, focused upon Houston greats Francesco Fuchs (concurrently on view at The Menil Collection) and Jamal Cyrus; McClain Gallery’s adroit pairing of Texas-born painters Dorothy Hood and John Alexander; Moody Gallery trifecta of Randy Twaddle, Tracye Wear, and Sarah Williams; Latin American powerhouse Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino, where a classic Carlos Cruz-Diez geometric abstraction promises to captivate; joined by the University of Houston School of Art and Public Art.

Finally, kudos to Dallas gallerists for signing on to present their respected programs at Untitled Art, Houston. Erin Cluley Gallery (painter Karen Gunderson is a compelling calling card), Galleri Urbane (also check out the fair’s special project for gallery artist Karen Navarro on view near the cafe), Keijsers Koning, and Meliksetian | Briggs are all in.
Prodigious Programming + Shop the Art Market
Podcasts, special projects arrayed throughout the public spaces, and a lively artist-fueled market are among the unique offerings that move Untitled Art, Houston, beyond the predictable into a fresh, unexpected terrain. This fair brand’s is celebrating podcasts, ensuring that Houston’s current cultural ecosystem is recorded for posterity after this inaugural edition of the fair wraps. Speakers will be revealed soon, dialoging on topics that address the ongoing art history of America’s fourth largest and most multicultural metropolis.
Discussions will encompass the significant contributions of Houston’s Black community; Texas and Latin American connections; and the city’s fabled artist-run spaces and their underground role on the creative zeitgeist.

With its love letter to Houston, Untitled Art is saluting the Bayou City’s cultural spaces and nonprofits, offering booths to Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC), Rothko Chapel, Project Row Houses, Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Lawndale Art Center, and Asia Society Texas. PaperCity dedicates its space to Art League Houston, previewing Texas Artist of the Year Dario Robleto’s upcoming exhibition (opening Friday, September 26, at Art League).
Underscoring diversity and the significant artists working in our midst, special projects arrayed throughout the fair mirror our time. Check out El Franco Lee II painted tableau interweaving the personal and political presented by HMAAC; Project Row House co-founder Rick Lowe’s curated booth of talent including collage queen Kaima Marie Akarue; Mel Chin’s monumental sculptural installation questioning proscribed gender roles supported by the PAC Residency; Karen Navarro’s photo-based commentary on race presented by Galleri Urbane; Reynier Leyva Novo’s politically charged, yet enigmatic installation presented by Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino; NYC artist Isabelle Brourman’s courtroom sketches from high-profile trials; and Galeria SGR’s presentation of Ernesto Restrepo’s Cosecha de papas project, critiquing colonialism.

Then who can resist a little retail therapy inserted into a high-brow art fair. Near the cafe, you’ll find an organic Houston Artist Market, cleverly curated by F’s Adam Marnie (among the dealers in Nest). Investigate offerings including publications from Rising Tide Projects and Basket Books & Art, Jardin (fashion and collectibles), Reeves Art + Design (affordable, portable art), Picnic (surfing vibe), Flats (photo finds), and St. Agnes Academy (emerging talents).
Be a VIP: Tours, Panels, Parties
What’s an art fair without the VIP experience. Get illuminated, be enlightened, take a tour, catch a panel or an artful party to celebrate your new Angelbert Metoyer, Evita Tezeno, or Tracye Wear.
Untitled Art, Houston, VIP tickets will get you on the list to all the fabulous collector and studio tours, plus parties, and four-day admission, including to the Vernissage on Thursday, September 18. With fair dates happening Friday, September 19 through Sunday, September 21, tickets cost $150 for a VIP Pass for two; with daily ticket running from $35 per person and three-day pass $74 per person. A portion of ticket proceeds benefits Rothko Chapel.
Also recommended: Join Houston Museum of African American Culture’s Untitled Art VIP program, a salute to year one of the Houston fair. This free experience is offered Friday, September 19 and Saturday, September 20, and includes talks at HMAAC, Art Is Bond, Studio Eight 08, and HMAAC’s booth at the fair. Headlining speakers are John Guess Jr., Janice Bond, India Lovejoy, Carla Bisong and Robert Hodge.

Then Houston Arts Alliance and PaperCity are set to step up among the sponsors for Moriah Alise’s Alise Art Group presentation of GloryLand, spun around Untitled Art, Houston. Ticketed activations begin Friday, September 19, with panels at Hotel Saint Augustine, a private tour of the fair, and a grand art bash at the historic 24th floor of the Esperson on Saturday, September 20 (tickets from $35 with all-access pass $150).
Finally, if you’re looking for a way to navigate the art world, investigate the Houston launch of Austin-founded Campbell Art Collective this fall, aligned with Untitled Art’s arrival. Established by erudite Brit art adviser Nick Campbell, CAC members get insider access to artist studios, collections, and galleries, as well as a guided tour of the fair and visits to some of Campbell’s favorite art haunts in Houston. campbellartcollective.com.
Untitled Art, Houston is set to unfurl Friday, September 19 through Sunday, September 21 at George R. Brown Convention Center. The VIP preview will take place Thursday, September 18. Buy tickets and learn more here.