Untitled Art, Houston returns with 98 galleries and fast early sales
Untitled Art, Houston opened its second edition with 98 galleries and two early sales close to US$100,000 each.
The fair fills the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. It held a VIP and press preview — an early opening for invited guests before the public doors open — on 1 October, and runs for the public from 2 to 4 October, according to The Art Newspaper. The focus this year is Houston itself: its galleries, collectors and institutions.
An art fair works like a temporary market. Galleries, called exhibitors, each take a stand to show and sell work over a few days. It is brisk, crowded and built for browsing.
This year’s line-up is up from 88 exhibitors at the inaugural edition. That is an 11% rise. Growth is modest. It matters because fairs live or die on whether galleries rebook.
About one-fifth of this year’s exhibitors hail from Texas. Organisers list 19 Texas galleries in a line-up drawn from 20 countries and territories, according to the exhibitor announcement published in June, reported via Untitled Art. For a general visitor, that means familiar local names sit a few steps from booths that have flown in from abroad.
Buying started fast. Moody Gallery sold Mary McCleary’s Earth Felt the Wound for US$80,000 during the 1 October preview. McClain Gallery sold Dorothy Hood’s Tixo in the Morning for US$95,000 to a new local collector, The Art Newspaper reported.
Two sales do not make a season. But early deals matter. They pay booth costs and set the mood on the floor.
Not everyone came back. All five Dallas-based exhibitors from last year are sitting out this edition. No reason was given in the published report. Their absence leaves Texas representation centred on Houston and other cities in the state.
Untitled Art was founded in 2012 and now organises annual fairs in Miami Beach and Houston, according to Untitled Art. The Houston edition is paired with citywide programming and institutional and cultural partners organised around the main event.
For visitors, this means a fair still small enough to walk in an afternoon. Three days. One hall. Work to look at, and people to ask about it. If you go, start with the local booths. That is where the home crowd is buying.
