The Dallas Invitational Art Fair, a new fair organized by a local gallerist and featuring established and emerging artists, will debut next month, coinciding with the Dallas Art Fair.
James Cope, who served as a former director of the Goss-Michael Foundation and currently runs And Now gallery, is organizing the fair. The idea for launching a small satellite fair in Dallas came to him during Art Basel in Miami Beach. Inspired by the Gramercy International Art Fair, now known as the Armory Show, the invitational will showcase artworks inside guest rooms throughout a hotel. This concept is similar to other events that run in conjunction with larger art fairs, including past editions of the Satellite Art Show in Miami, the Felix Art Fair in Los Angeles, and the Pan Art Fair, which ran in conjunction with the 2012 Texas Contemporary in Houston.
A fairgoer browsing in one of the hotel’s rooms at the 1994 Gramercy International Art Fair in New York. Colin De Land Collection, 1968–2008/Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Running the Saturday and Sunday of the Dallas Art Fair, the invitational will take place at the Fairmont Hotel, across the street from the Fashion Industry Gallery which hosts the Dallas Art Fair. While the Dallas Art Fair boasts nearly 90 vendors, the Invitational will feature about a dozen galleries for its first year.
The Fairmont Hotel, Dallas, TX
Mr. Cope’s And Now is the only Dallas-based gallery taking part in the inaugural fair, though the others are familiar with Dallas’ community of collectors. Other galleries participating include Lomex and Simone Subal from New York; Commonwealth and Council, Hannah Hoffman, Kristina Kite, and Stars from Los Angeles; Emalin, Soft Opening, and Project Native Informant from London; Edouard Montassut from Paris; and Felix Gaudlitz from Vienna.
The Dallas Invitational Fair will be free and open to the public, and will take place Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23 from 11 am to 6 pm at 1717 N. Akard Street.
3 comments
Adding to your list of other similar events held in conjunction with the DAF, “Art in the District 2010” organized by Jordan Roth was also held at the Fairmont Hotel and Brian Gibbs’ “Suite Art Fair” held at the Belmont Hotel in 2011 are worth mentioning. Not to mention “Fallas Dart Air” 2012 and 2013 held at Shamrock Hotel Studios and Mama Faye’s BBQ respectively organized by Ludwig Schwartz, Mai Koetjecacov and myself.
Thank you Peter Ligon for your important points!
Perer, those were the days.. Yes, Fallas Dart Air was another good one!