Gross sales in the course of the VIP preview of the inaugural Untitled Artwork Houston truthful on Thursday (18 September) have been uneven in keeping with exhibitors, although lower-priced works particularly offered properly. Curiosity about Houston and town’s first new truthful in years has taking part sellers feeling hopeful the occasion will assist kickstart a brand new nationwide appreciation for Area Metropolis’s artwork scene.
Houston was beforehand dwelling to 2 different now-defunct artwork gala’s, the Houston Nice Artwork Truthful and the Texas Up to date Artwork Truthful. The Houston Nice Artwork Truthful got here first, organised by Rick Friedman with Max Fishko on board as a advisor. The 2 had a falling out, in keeping with the Houston Chronicle, and Fishko teamed up with Jeffrey Wainhouse to launch the Texas Up to date Artwork Truthful. Native sellers say the dueling gala’s, held weeks aside, did not work collectively to assist construct up the native artwork scene—however many Houstonians are optimistic about Untitled Artwork truthful’s entry into the market.
“I used to be very sceptical to start with. My coronary heart’s been damaged too many occasions with artwork gala’s right here,” says longtime Houston seller Robert McClain, whose McClain Gallery took half within the earlier gala’s in addition to the inaugural Untitled Artwork Houston. “I’ve actually been pleasantly shocked by the dedication of the truthful organisers. This truthful has been a catalyst for plenty of collectors who’ve reached out to us who knew Untitled was occurring. Simply the thrill of it appeared to spur them to make choices on shopping for different issues.”
McClain Gallery offered Life on a Merry-Go-Spherical (2010) by the Texas-born painter John Alexander for $125,000 in the course of the VIP preview to a Houston-based collector, in keeping with the gallery. In addition they positioned two work by Dorothy Hood, a pioneering Modernist Texas artist, for $75,000 every. Houston has at all times had a robust marketplace for main materials by artists from the area, McClain provides.
Swan Mom (2022) by Clare Rojas at Jessica Silverman’s stand. Courtesy Untitled Artwork
The Houston-based gallery Sicardi Ayers Bacino reported probably the most precious transaction of the truthful up to now, a piece by Carlos Cruz-Diez that offered for $415,000.
The San Francisco-based gallery Jessica Silverman positioned an version of Clare Rojas’s figurative bronze sculpture Swan Mom (2022) for $150,000, in keeping with the gallery. The work is featured within the truthful’s Particular Shows part. On the gallery’s stand, it reported promoting a 2025 acrylic-on-cardboard work by Andrea Bowers for $38,000, Infinite Cat’s Whispers (2025) by Masako Miki for $20,000, in addition to Equilibrium (C.9) (2025) by Beverly Fishman for $55,000 and three editions of a 2025 tapestry by Rupy C. Tut for $20,000 every.
Philip Martin Gallery from Los Angeles says it offered a portray by Sky Glabush for $25,000, whereas Stems gallery, first based in Brussels, offered a Olivier Souffrant portray for $24,000. The Manhattan-based seller Hollis Taggart offered three work by Tim Kent; one for $32,000, and the opposite two for $12,000 every.
The Los Angeles-based gallery Megan Mulrooney offered out its stand of work by TJ Rinoski and Mason Owens, priced between $2,500 and $6,000, and $2,000 and $8,500, respectively, in keeping with the gallery. Simply two weeks in the past, the gallery had a equally profitable outing at The Armory Present in New York, promoting out its stand of works by the San Antonio-born artist Piper Bangs. (Final week, the gallery opened a solo present at its Hollywood headquarters devoted to the Austin-based painter RF. Alvarez.)
“I’ve at all times been a Texas fan. I present lots of Texan artists,” Megan Mulrooney says. “I had at all times had actually nice connections with collectors right here in Houston, in addition to nice artwork advisers, which I feel is vital to town. There are severe collectors right here who go to all of the gala’s. So it actually made [Houston] a vacation spot that I used to be actually desirous about.”
The Houston-based gallery Seven Sisters reported promoting two mixed-media work by Daniel Rios Rodriguez in the course of the VIP preview. One went to Bay Space collectors for $7,000, the opposite to a Houstonian assortment, through an area artwork adviser, for $6,500. The gallery says it additionally offered a piece by the Houston-based sculptor Jamie Sterling Pitt for $2,800.
Time for a holistic have a look at Houston
Megan Mulrooney’s stand at Untitled Artwork Houston. Courtesy Untitled Artwork
The brand new truthful “feels actually vibrant, like all the same old suspects are out, but additionally a very nice collection of regional curators”, says Seven Sisters director Erin Dorn. “Having simply come off the heels of [The Armory Show], lots of curators and public sale home folks from Los Angeles and New York are interested by how this may unfold. That curiosity is starting lots of fascinating conversations, and enthusiasm for a extra holistic have a look at the Houston artwork scene.”
Sellers throughout the board cited Houston’s variety as a power for its artwork scene, permitting artists to entry a broad array of influences. Many additionally mentioned town’s wide selection of inventive exhibition areas and infamous lack of zoning legal guidelines makes it simpler to create and present unconventional work right here.
“You may open one thing and possibly not have all thr planning or permits that you’ll want to (in different cities),” Dorn says. “It’s that type of wildcatter factor that Texas is thought for, proper? You construct it and then you definately apologise later. A variety of enterprise folks in Houston have that confidence.”
The Houstonian artwork adviser Lea Weingarten known as town “a superbly saved secret”.
“Individuals stereotype us as being a typical southern metropolis, however now we have gems just like the Menil Assortment, the Museum of Nice Arts, Houston and now we have a kunsthalle within the Up to date Arts Museum Houston,” she says. “As a cultural vacation spot, we’re one of many few cities within the nation that has symphony, ballet, theatre and museums.”
However part of Houston’s “secret sauce” is its potential to draw robust, rising abilities due to a plethora of various venues to exhibit, a robust philanthropy scene that’s supportive of artists and a extra reasonably priced value of dwelling in comparison with coastal artwork hubs like New York and Los Angeles, Weingarten says. Houston’s artwork market has additionally been capable of climate the worldwide artwork market downturn comparatively properly, maybe aided by the area’s various economic system, she says.
“Right here in Texas, we’ve actually been robust, we’ve by no means actually had that dip. And by way of why folks come right here, I feel that they’re sensing the market,” Weingarten says. “Individuals are spending cash. They’re constructing homes, they’re paying architects, they’re paying inside designers and so they’re paying artwork advisers, which signifies that we’re capable of help them.”
Guardians of Tales and Land (2025) by Joya Mukerjee Logue. Courtesy Rajiv Menon Up to date
Rajiv Menon, who grew up within the Houston space earlier than founding his eponymous gallery devoted to South Asian artists in Los Angeles, says he offered a large-scale portray by Joya Mukerjee Logue to a Texas-based collector for $30,000, in addition to seven work by Mustafa Mohsin ranging in worth from $1,200 to $10,000.
Programming the right occasion
The truthful’s director, Michael Slenske, was tasked with organising the truthful’s exhibitors, touchdown on 88 sellers from 22 nations, with practically one quarter hailing from Texas. This yr’s individuals vary from established New York Metropolis galleries headquartered in Chelsea to younger, scrappy Houston sellers.
“You need an artwork truthful to have the curation of a great occasion,” Slenske says. “You don’t need everybody to be on the similar degree, and also you don’t need everybody to be from the identical place. You need folks to return right here and discover new issues, so it’s about discovery.”
Colector, a gallery hailing from Monterrey, Mexico with areas in Dallas and Houston, offered 9 works on paper by the native artist Angelbert Metoyer for $7,000 every. The collection of 14 works featured on the gallery’s stand was commissioned specifically for the truthful to “make it possible for brand new collectors to understand”, says Jesús Alberto Flores, the gallery’s director.
Total, Untitled Artwork Houston exhibitors bringing extra reasonably priced works and smaller items reported the next quantity of gross sales. This dynamic aligns with the findings of the newest version of the Artwork Market Report revealed by Artwork Basel and UBS, which discovered that gross sales of works priced beneath $50,000 elevated by 8% year-on-year in 2024, regardless of total world gross sales of artwork dropping by 12% over the identical interval. Nonetheless, not all sellers reported profitable gross sales throughout Thursday’s preview; some mentioned the truthful’s structure, designed with twists and turns to encourage guests to discover all of the stands, saved some attendees from visiting the exhibitors positioned within the again. Others mentioned that they had relied on distant gross sales organized earlier than the truthful to maneuver stock and weren’t as profitable in-person in the course of the VIP preview. Sellers have been hopeful gross sales would proceed over the weekend, not not like the gradual burn tempo that’s typical down the street on the Dallas Artwork Truthful.
The Untitled Artwork truthful’s founder Jeff Lawson first began Houston for an enlargement way back to 2013, however he and Slenske started critically sizing up town in preparation for the truthful three years in the past. The artwork market was in a really completely different place then.
“It makes us much more delicate to the galleries’ wants, to speak with them extra, to work with them carefully, to actually hearken to what it’s that they want, and do the perfect that we will to help them,” Lawsons says of the downturn out there for the reason that speculative growth of 2021.
Slenske says the plan is to carry the truthful once more subsequent yr in the identical venue, the George R. Brown Conference Middle downtown, and assist construct up town’s infrastructure.
“That is an artist’s city greater than anyplace in Texas,” Slenske says. “It’s the final metropolis of this scale to not have an artwork week, and I feel that’s an oversight. The extent of curators and artists on this metropolis might stack up in opposition to lots of artwork capitals.”
Untitled Artwork Houston, till 21 September, George R. Brown Conference Middle, Houston
