HFAF Papercity November 2014

STYLE

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FASHION

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SOCIAL

HOUSTON NOVEMBER 2014

MIND

FALL

ARMOR DENYING

CONFORMITY THE ROYAL

TENENBAUMS

CAROL ISAAK

BARDEN

AT HOME LOVING

LOULOU DE LA FALAISE

TRENTON

DOYLE HANCOCK JOOYOUNG CHOI

PHOTOGRAPHY SHAYNA FONTANA. STYLIST DIAMOND MAHONE. HAIR KIRSTEN MITCHELL. MAKEUP CARMEN WILLIAMSON. MODEL DEVON YARBROUGH, KIM DAWSON AGENCY, DALLAS. COAT AND SKIRT BOTH TOME, THROUGH SAKS FIFTH AVENUE. PA P E RC I T Y MAG . CO M

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ANDY + ULTRA, CÉLINE + OSCAR

Homage to Warhol

Neiman Marcus kicks off Houston Fine Art Fair

CATHERINE D. ANSPON OBSERVES THE SOCIAL SCULPTURE. PHOTOGRAPHY PRISCILLA DICKSON.

IT WAS A BLITHE NIGHT — and a fitting fusion of Andy Warhol and Ultra Violet with Balenciaga, Valentino and Dior — when Neiman Marcus curated The Art of Fashion and kicked off year four of Houston Fine Art Fair. Guests flocked to the second-floor couture galleries for a fashion show of artful Fall 2014 looks from Stella McCartney, Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera and more. Nearby hung ’60s-era photos of Andy Warhol

by William John Kennedy, while at the top of the elevator bank, Factory muse and artist Ultra Violet’s rainbow neon sculpture beamed upon all.

Neiman’s visual manager Dale Kiroff had a fine time with clever touches such as the limited-edition Campbell’s Warhol Chairman Deborah soup cans cheekily deployed as props and filled with carnations.

Colton Meanwhile, the official ambassadors of the night, Fair chairman/exhibiting gallerist Deborah Colton and Neiman’s ringleader Bob Devlin (a collector himself), worked the crowd who came for inspiration on what to wear to the Fair’s vernissage and to snap up VIP and Black card passes for all the action, which unfolded the following week. Mariposa catered light bites, complemented by champs, white wine and crafty Austin Cocktails, while DJ Martin Prendergast (no relation to the painter) plied his trade with the vinyl.

Among the art Stella brigade: exhibiting Fair McCartney Kara on the gallerists Franny Koelsch, Smith runway Laura Rathe, and Zoya Tommy Kemp, with artist/ husband Guus Kemp; Jonathon Glus and Alton LaDay; mega collector Ken Christie; Deborah Elias; Neiman’s Liz Zaruba, Stacey Swift, and Amy Gilbert; Michael Pearson; Karina and Carlos Barbieri; jazz crooner Kristine Mills and sister Amy Gordon, who’s with The Art Institute of Houston; Kathy Frietsch; Lisa Slappey; Jeff Shell; Cherise Luter; Alicia Murray; Joann Klein; and Theresa Roemer of the famous closet.

Jacques Davis

Guus Kemp

Bob Devlin

Hil Huckaby

Laura Rathe

DaRhonda Williams

Zoya Tommy Kemp

Mahdi Alkhanfar

Andrea Donelson

Denise Westfall-Mclin

Rosemarie Johnson

Karina Barbieri

Liz Zaruba

Carlos Barbieri Michael Pearson

Elina Htun

YEAR IV

Wade Wilson

Jeff Shell

Theresa Roemer

HOUSTON FINE ART FAIR, Caroline Tyson

Patrick Bell

Jacquie Baly

Parissa Mohajer

David Graeve balloons buoyed the crowd.

CATHERINE D. ANSPON DOES THE RECAP. PHOTOGRAPHY DANIEL ORTIZ, EMILE BROWNE.

THE Peggy Kostial Wendy Watriss

Martha Finger

Grant Roane

Sheri Roane Brian McCulloch

Bette Thomas

HFAF internum VIP Lounge

Dean Giuffre

Stacy Andell

Talal El Khayat

John Andell

Ceron Tarek El-Bjeirmi

Rachel Walton

Hasti Taghi

fall season without the Houston Fine Art Fair would have been much poorer. There was a lot to love about the fourth iteration of HFAF, but also some misses. Fair founder Rick Friedman, an entrepreneur turned collector, was the first to bring an international art fair to town and truly has a passion for our community, if not always the perfect curatorial eye.

Friedman was smart enough to tap Deborah Colton Gallery to chair this year’s installment, and to choose Asia Society Texas Center to receive the largesse of the Opening Night proceeds (and also host the kickoff party, which boded well for the Fair). Another plus: the scholarly prowess of art historian David E. Brauer, who deservedly received the inaugural Illumination Award for his achievements as lecturer at the MFAH since 1976. By saluting Brauer, followed by bestowing its Honoree Lifetime Achievement Award on MFAH photo curator Anne Tucker, David E. this Fair recognized two brilliant minds in our midst. Tucker’s Q&A by Brauer FotoFest’s Wendy Watriss was one for the history books (and, like Brauer’s talk, worthy of its own YouTube video; both were captured by the Fair’s videographer).

Also contributing to HFAF’s salute to Houston art history was long-time Houston Chronicle critic Patty Johnson’s Hall of Fame exhibition. The scene stealers were Jackie Harris’ Fruitmobile (Houston’s very first art car) and Jesse Lott’s fantastical, gargantuan horse sculpture. Formed from a cascade of twisted wire, it typified the raw, raucous energy that defined Eric the 1970s and 1980s here.

Dorton Alton Standout booths were Houston’s alternative space Alabama LaDay Song, which even boasted a ping-pong table; Deborah Colton Gallery’s mash-up of scientific artist Suzanne Anker with major Arab world star Khaled Hafez; Redbud Gallery’s museum quality show for historic Latin American works on paper (a museum did make an acquisition) including a surreal little watercolor by Diego Rivera depicting a former lover; Persian light and sound artist David Abir at Shulamit Gallery, presented in a chapel-like space; and Dan Allison’s Texas-centric rollout of Ken Little’s big-money dress formed from dollar bills, mixed in with Kelly Moran’s dexterous retro-anthropomorphic characters. Placed up front, Mark Borghi also earned kudos for resurrecting geometric minimalist/’60s-era painter Neil Williams and showed the potential of what HFAF could be at its best.

More of the above for year five please. Another wish for 2015: Do vet more important international galleries, especially the real Korean players, Nancy and keep the Fair on the level that mirrors our town — lose the canvases Allen of jockeys. Do bring back the authentic ones, such as Alabama Song.

Carla Munoz

Jonathon Glus

Ivan Del Puerto

Honoree Anne Tucker

Julie Deal

Maryam Afshari

Rick Friedman

NOVEMBER | PAGE 68 | 2014

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