The Dallas Art Fair will end a tumultuous year on a hopeful note with a hybrid physical and virtual exhibition called Four x Five. It will feature art from nine international galleries at its Dallas Art Fair Projects gallery (formerly 214 Projects) in the Design District and on its digital platform, Culture Place. The exhibit, on view from November 11-25, is the first physical engagement from the fair since it postponed, rescheduled, and ultimately canceled its annual event. It then faced backlash from many of its exhibitors, who received credit for future fairs rather than being reimbursed for lost booth fees.
Fortunately, the Dallas Art Fair has maintained relationships with at least some of its exhibitors: Four x Five includes presentations at Dallas Art Fair Projects from Keijsers Koning and Magenta Plains from New York, Los Angeles’ Night Gallery, and Paris-based international gallery group Perrotin. The virtual exhibition on the art fair’s online marketplace, Culture Place, includes pieces from Beatriz Esguerra Art (Bogotá and Miami), Galerie Droste (Wuppertal and Paris), Kerlin Gallery (Dublin), SOCO Gallery (Charlotte), and Taubert Contemporary (Berlin).
For the in-person exhibition, the four participating galleries will present solo exhibitions from a varied group of international artists. Keijsers Koning will showcase paintings by Jimmy Baker, William Burton Binnie, and Stefanie Popp. Magenta Plains will debut new paintings by Nathaniel Robinson. Night Gallery is bringing four paintings from Baltimore-based Cynthia Daignault. Finally, Perrotin will present all new embroidered and neon pieces by Mexican artist Gabriel Rico. The exhibition will be on view at Dallas Art Fair Projects Tuesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will also be accompanying programming, like curator talks and tours, on Culture Place.
Culture Place and Dallas Art Fair Projects are both somewhat new initiatives from the Dallas Art Fair in an effort to establish a year-round presence and impact in Dallas. At the moment, the fair plans to move forward with its 13th edition in April, pandemic allowing. Much like biennial art festival Aurora, the organization is moving toward smaller, distance-friendly physical events and virtual programming so long as large-scale events like art fairs and festivals remain impossible. Whether an international art fair is doable in April, you can expect these projects to become a bigger part of the Dallas Art Fair’s identity moving forward–especially if out-of-town galleries are more hesitant to participate given the refund fiasco.
