Some thoughts on the Dallas Art Fair

An on-the-ground report 🌙

I chatted with the art writer Angella d'Avignon yesterday, who told me two things are trending in Dallas: landscape painting and Indigenous textiles. The latter, she said, held a tinge of discomfort, with galleries “discovering” artists at local flea markets. When something meaningful becomes trendy, it’s always worth looking closely at the circumstances.

d'Avignon points to Madeline Peckenpaugh, showing at Alexander Berggruen, as an example of the landscape painting trend. Her large gestural paintings aptly demonstrate how abstract a landscape is. I loved her show at Towards Gallery in Toronto a few months ago.

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I think it makes sense for landscape painting to be popular in Texas. Similar to Canada’s preoccupation with the genre, when surrounded by vast landscapes, you tend to wonder about them. The landscape dominates—physically, mentally, emotionally—so that when you’re in it, it’s the only thing you can think about. Artists exploring landscape painting, when done right, are trying to replicate that awe-inspiring feeling.

Here are my favourite quotes from d'Avignon’s article in Hyperallergic:

• “It’s said you can’t rush a Dallas collector through a sale, and it’s the Southern style to wait for the preview to pass before closing.”

• “Thinking they were leftover dishes, a catering staff member drifted into Alexander Berggruen’s booth and attempted to clean up Stephanie H. Shih’s sculptures, consisting of a porcelain 7-Eleven bag paired with a glassy pouch of Funyuns chips.”

Stephanie H. Shih’s ceramics, “Oh Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven” (2024) and “Funyuns Onion Flavored Snack” (2024)

• “According to a young gallerist, landscape paintings in particular are selling like hotcakes. Abstraction in dense compositions and vivid color palettes dominated the booths with sprawling depictions of the natural world, with Western aesthetics and cowboys coming in a close second.”

Here are my Dallas Art Fair picks:

Elise Lafontaine at Jack Barrett:

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Larry Madrigal at Nicodim Gallery:

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India Sachi at Deli Gallery:

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Jo Dennis at PM/AM:

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I’ll be in Texas in the Fall—I can’t wait. Please let me know if you have any recommendations for things to see or do or places to eat! Get ready for a lot more Texas trend reporting from me ;)

🤠