Untitled Art Gives Houston A First-Class Art Fair
Untitled has been an elegant annual celebration of art in Miami since 2012 and now has a Houston branch running this weekend
Houston as a city has never hurt for places to display art, but it’s still rarely mentioned in the same sentences as metropolises like New York, San Francisco, and Miami. But over the past decade, the city has slowly made a name for itself in contemporary art circles thanks to a network of more than 60 galleries, as well as institutions like the Menil, the Orange Show, and Contemporary Art Museum Houston.
What is lacking, though, is a first-class art fair that invites galleries from across the globe to showcase in Houston. Thanks to Untitled Art, Houston finally crosses that off the list. Untitled has been an elegant annual celebration of art in Miami since 2012 and now has a Houston branch running this weekend at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
“There have been past art fairs in Houston. I’m sure you’ve heard of them, of course, that like a little bit fumbled,” said Erin Dorn, who was onsite representing Houston’s Seven Sisters Gallery. “And so, I feel like this one’s gotten off on such a great footing and there’s so much momentum and energy focused on Houston in the last few years, especially the art scene. I feel like that it’s reinvigorating and putting wind in the sails for this fair.”
The Seven Sister booth is a great example of what is happening on the floor of Untitled. Almost all the spaces are simple cubes open on one side with white walls, an art gallery in miniature with just enough room to hang some work and set up a table with more information.
For many attendees, it’s a chance to reconnect. The art world is smaller than most people think, and the convention floor is alive with colorful outfits and the jangle of jewelry as people hug each other. It takes Dorn several minutes to pull herself from old friends to be interviewed.
To showcase her gallery, she selected works by Daniel Rios Rodriguez from San Antonio, an idiosyncratic artist who specializes in painting on wooden panels, giving his vibrant creations an incredibly tactile vibe. Rodriguez fits in well with the international showcase that surrounds his work. In fact, the entire Untitled area has an odd feeling of collage. Though there is little thematically that unites the collections across the convention center floor, there is a certain level of quality and care that gives the whole thing heft. Houston doesn’t feel out of place.
“I was reading that somebody from the Coast Committee had said Texas is all cowboys and kind of that there’s a lowbrow aesthetic, but I think if you spend time here you realize it’s really sophisticated,” said Dorn. “There’s a maturity to how people are interacting with art and life on a level that’s very authentic. I think there’s also a keen interest in storytelling and narrative that is maybe part of the Southern Gothic tradition that makes it, I think, really rich fodder for exploration.”
Untitled has built a well-deserved reputation in Miami for bringing in a wide variety of international galleries, and that carries through to the Houston incarnation. Gallery owners and curators from Spain, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, and more were all present. One display that stood out was a project called Postcards From the Bomb Shelter, presented by Lazy Mike, a gallery based in Seoul, Korea.
Postcards is the work of Ukrainian artist Taisiia Cherkasova, whose friend is currently serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces as the invasion from Russia continues. Her friend would send her pictures of his everyday life, and she would respond with paintings as postcards.
The small works aren’t war images. They are banal pictures of skylines, interpretations of memes, or other people. Gallery founder Mike Ovcharenko said that it shows that even in trying times, life continues.
“They all want their regular life back, and no matter what is happening, the regular life is still the same,” he said. “The photographs he’s sending would have a kitten on them or like some car or just the leaves or foliage. It’s not connected a lot to the wartime; it’s showing just the regular things you show every day.”
From sculpture to fabric art to video installations, Untitled does a fine job of creating a cross-section of the contemporary art world in an accessible manner for both the average appreciator and the widening network of galleries. The fact that Houston can hold its own well in the company of so many others is further testament that the city has arrived as a contemporary art center. While there is still a long way to the top, the city is definitely gaining the recognition it deserves.
Untitled Art, Houston runs September 19-21 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Tickets and information can be found at untitledartfairs.com
