Dallas Art Fair Crushes

The Dallas Art Fair was going on this past weekend and I was able to spend a bit of time there. All in all, there was plenty of interesting artwork and the mix of exhibiting galleries was diverse in terms of geographical location and point of view. My only complaint is that the average price point was pretty high, especially for new collectors and young buyers. Next year I would love to see the DAF add an emerging artists section to the lineup to not only offer exposure for up-and-coming artists, but also to engage buyers that can't afford to spend $10-100K+ per piece.

Anyhow, among the list of exhibitors, I coveted work by artists represented at the Thomas Solomon Gallery in LA, Alpha Gallery in Boston, Cris Worley Fine Arts in Dallas, Artspace111 in Fort Worth, and Marty Walker Gallery in Dallas.

By far, my favorite artist that I found is Brad Eberhard who is represented at the Thomas Solomon Gallery. I would do bad things to get my hands on any of his work, but especially the following pieces:

Woodpecker, 2011, Oil on canvas, 48 x 36"

The Little Richard Story, 2011, Oil on canvas over panel, 48 x 64"

Fish Finder, 2009, Collage, acrylic and oil on paper, 19 x 24-1/2" Frame: 22-1/2 x 28"

A.B.C., 2009, Oil and acrylic on linen over panel, 24 x 24"

Low Tide, 2010, Oil and acrylic on canvas over panel, 24 x 36"

And from a gallery on the opposite coast, Stephanie Pierce's work caught my eye in the Alpha Gallery booth. After looking through her portfolio, this is one of my favorite pieces:

Stephanie Pierce - Untitled, 2010, oil on canvas, 46x60"

Finally, I was immediately pulled in by one of Dion Johnson's large paintings in the Marty Walker Gallery space.

Flipside, 2011, acrylic and Flashe on canvas, 60 x 40"

Curve, 2010, acrylic and Flashe on canvas, 60 x 80 inches

 Rave, 2011, acrylic and Flashe on canvas, 40 x 23.5"

I'll stop there with the images because digital pics don't do the artwork justice...it's such a different experience to see a piece in person. Nevertheless, I wanted you to get a sense of the work created by these new favorite artists of mine. Since I found new art crushes - both artists and galleries - I'd definitely consider my Dallas Art Fair experience a worthwhile one.

To me, a good art fair presents the opportunity to see works from galleries all over the world. It's an excellent venue for discovering new artists and galleries and more generally, for exposing yourself to lots of quality work in one fell swoop. If you're like many of my clients and want to start buying art but don't have the time to gallery hop, then make plans to go to a pedigreed art fair. It's a fun experience and a great way to dip your toe into the art world!