Gross sales through 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 the 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 house to 2 different now-defunct artwork gala’s, the Houston Tremendous Artwork Truthful and the Texas Modern Artwork Truthful. The Houston Tremendous 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 Modern Artwork Truthful. Native sellers say the dueling gala’s, held weeks aside, didn’t 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 at first. My coronary heart’s been damaged too many instances with artwork gala’s right here,” says longtime Houston vendor 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 numerous 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 through 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 powerful 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 beneficial transaction of the truthful thus far, 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 Displays 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 vendor 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 quite a lot 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 believe is essential to the town. There are critical 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 all in favour of.”
The Houston-based gallery Seven Sisters reported promoting two mixed-media work by Daniel Rios Rodriguez through 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 take 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 standard suspects are out, but in addition a extremely nice collection of regional curators”, says Seven Sisters director Erin Dorn. “Having simply come off the heels of [The Armory Show], quite a lot of curators and public sale home folks from Los Angeles and New York are interested in how this can unfold. That curiosity is starting quite a lot of attention-grabbing conversations, and enthusiasm for a extra holistic take 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 the town’s wide selection of artistic exhibition areas and infamous lack of zoning legal guidelines makes it simpler to create and present unconventional work right here.
“You’ll be able to open one thing and perhaps not have all thr planning or permits that you have to (in different cities),” Dorn says. “It’s that sort of wildcatter factor that Texas is understood for, proper? You construct it and then you definately apologise later. A number of enterprise folks in Houston have that confidence.”
The Houstonian artwork adviser Lea Weingarten known as the town “a fantastically saved secret”.
“Folks stereotype us as being a typical southern metropolis, however we have now gems just like the Menil Assortment, the Museum of Tremendous Arts, Houston and we have now a kunsthalle within the Modern 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 skills because of a plethora of various venues to exhibit, a powerful philanthropy scene that’s supportive of artists and a extra reasonably priced price of residing 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 when it comes to why folks come right here, I believe 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 implies that we’re capable of help them.”
Guardians of Tales and Land (2025) by Joya Mukerjee Logue. Courtesy Rajiv Menon Modern
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 celebration
The truthful’s director, Michael Slenske, was tasked with organising the truthful’s exhibitors, touchdown on 88 sellers from 22 international locations, with practically one quarter hailing from Texas. This yr’s members 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 very good celebration,” Slenske says. “You don’t need everybody to be on the similar stage, and also you don’t need everybody to be from the identical place. You need folks to come back 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 sequence of 14 works featured on the gallery’s stand was commissioned specifically for the truthful to “give the chance for brand spanking new collectors to know”, says Jesús Alberto Flores, the gallery’s director.
Total, Untitled Artwork Houston exhibitors bringing extra reasonably priced works and smaller items reported a better 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 general international 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 format, 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 they’d relied on distant gross sales organized earlier than the truthful to maneuver stock and weren’t as profitable in-person through the VIP preview. Sellers have been hopeful gross sales would proceed over the weekend, not in contrast to 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 taking a look at Houston for an growth way back to 2013, however he and Slenske started significantly sizing up the 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 intently, to actually hearken to what it’s that they want, and do one of the best that we will to help them,” Lawsons says of the downturn available in the market because the speculative increase 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 the town’s infrastructure.
“That is an artist’s city greater than anywhere in Texas,” Slenske says. “It’s the final metropolis of this scale to not have an artwork week, and I believe that’s an oversight. The extent of curators and artists on this metropolis may stack up in opposition to quite a lot of artwork capitals.”
Untitled Artwork Houston, till 21 September, George R. Brown Conference Middle, Houston
