VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

artMRKT Productions, a newly formed Brooklyn-based organizer of modern and contemporary art fairs, announces Houston as the host city for its inaugural Texas Contemporary Art Fair taking place October 20 – 23, 2011 at the George R. Brown Convention Center.

“Texas Contemporary will bring a group of the best contemporary art dealers from around the country to exhibit alongside some of the most interesting programs in Texas today,” said artMRKT Productions co-founder and fair director Max Fishko. “What that creates is an exhibition that will showcase what is unique and special about the Texas art scene in the context of the larger contemporary landscape. We are thrilled and honored to present a fair in Houston, a vibrant, progressive, and extremely relevant market in the global art sphere.”

Exhibitors:
Fair directors Max Fishko and Jeffrey Wainhause are pleased to announce a growing list of participating galleries, including: ACME (Los Angeles), Art Palace (Houston), Boltax Gallery (Shelter Island, New York), Bryan Miller Gallery (Houston), Catharine Clark Gallery (San Francisco), Champion (Austin), Charlie James Gallery (Los Angeles), Cosmocosa (Buenos Aires), CYNTHIA-REEVES (New York), David Shelton Gallery (San Antonio), DCKT Contemporary (New York), Dean Project (New York), Eli Ridgway Gallery (San Francisco), Exquisite Corpse Bookseller (Houston), Fred Torres Collaborations (New York), Fredericks & Freiser (New York), Fredric Snitzer (Miami), Gallery Sonja Roesch (Houston), Gering and Lopez (New York), Inman Gallery (Houston), Jack Fischer Gallery (San Francisco), Kopeikin Gallery (Culver City), Lawrence Markey (San Antonio), Lawrimore Project (Seattle), Lennon Weinberg (New York City), Like the Spice Gallery (Brooklyn), M Contemporary (Annapolis), Manneken Press (Bloomington), Mindy Solomon Gallery (St. Petersburg), Misako and Rosen (Tokyo), Moody Gallery (Houston), Morgan Lehman (New York), Muriel Guepin Gallery (Brooklyn), Nancy Hoffman Gallery (New York), Paul Thiebaud Gallery (San Francisco), P.P.O.W. (New York), PX Photography (New York), Rena Bransten Gallery (San Francisco), Samuel Freeman (Santa Monica), Sicardi Gallery (Houston), Steve Turner Contemporary (Los Angeles), Susan Inglett Gallery (New York), Tally Beck Contemporary (Bangkok / New York), Texas Gallery (Houston), Turner Carroll Gallery (Santa Fe) and Wade Wilson Art (Houston), with additional galleries still to be announced.

Non-Profit Exhibitors / Installations / Presentations:
In addition to the national galleries listed above, select non-profit galleries and spaces from around the state of Texas have been invited to exhibit their programs, offering an opportunity to showcase their work to fair attendees and collectors. Those exhibitors include: Artpace (San Antonio), Ballroom Marfa (Marfa), Blue Star Contemporary Arts Center (San Antonio), Project Row Houses (Houston) and Rice University Gallery (Houston). Special installations, performances or lectures will also be presented by Art League (Houston), Blaffer Art Museum (Houston), DiverseWorks (Houston), contemporary@mfah (Houston), Orange Show for Visionary Art (Houston) and SKYDIVE (Houston).

Special Events / Programming:
An exclusive benefit preview party opens the fair on Thursday, October 20 from 6 - 7:30 p.m., with proceeds earmarked for the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, followed by a VIP preview party on the exhibit floor from 7:30 – 10 p.m. Those purchasing Benefit Preview Party Tickets may attend the entire evening, with the second part of the evening open to all VIP Pass holders. The preview party kicks off a series of events and programs for fair-goers to consider attending.

The Texas Contemporary Discussion Series will present informative discussions throughout the weekend intended to engage, educate and enlighten participants, with many topics reflecting the fair’s theme of energy and sustainability. Presentations will appeal to the savvy aficionado as well as the new collector. Discussions will be open to all fair attendees and are scheduled to take place in the presentation theater all three days of the fair.

As part of the fair experience, Texas Contemporary has arranged offsite museum and private collection tours as well as onsite fair tours throughout the weekend. The invitation-only offsite museum and private collection tour series will make stops at some of Houston’s most impressive private and corporate collections. The onsite fair tours will be open to all attendees, and will be held during fair hours, offering an inside perspective on the fair’s highlights and exhibiting galleries.

Aligned with the mission of the fair to reach out to new and potential collectors, Texas Contemporary will be hosting a Young Professionals Night on Friday, October 21, offering young affinity groups from around Houston an opportunity to tour the fair with friends and colleagues, followed by an after-party and gallery crawl at Isabella Court in midtown. Information about offsite and onsite tours as well as all programming listed above can be found at www.txcontemporary.com.

Cultural Partners:
Contributing to establishing the art fair’s unique atmosphere, many local and regional cultural partners will be onsite to present information and join in the contemporary dialogue of the fair.

MRKTworks Auction:
As a means to give back to the local community, a select group of the cultural partners will benefit from artMRKT Production’s innovative program, MRKTworks, a small-scale online and live auction that pairs local  non-profits with works donated by some of the fair’s participating dealers. The general public may bid on the works on the Texas Contemporary website beginning two weeks prior to the fair, starting on Monday, October 3 at 3:30 p.m., as well as on-site at the fair until Saturday, October 22 at 3:30 p.m., with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Houston non-profits. This year’s MRKTworks beneficiaries include: Community Artists’ Collective, Galveston Arts Center, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Orange Show Center for Visionary Art and Women and Their Work.

Upload the press release to read more.

For more information on Texas Contemporary, visit www.txcontemporary.com.

Pictured:

Sun Burn (Rainbow) 2 (detail above, full image below)
Emily Joyce 2010
Unique silkscreen on paper
51 x 51 ¼ inches
Inman Gallery
Houston

Traces of Absence #4
Carl Palazzolo 2009
Oil, acrylic, ink and pencil on canvas
22 x 22 inches
Texas Gallery
Houston