I am not an art collector. If I could afford it, I suppose I would be, but at this point in my life I cannot claim it as a hobby. But as an arts journalist, I find myself staring at the price tag of a piece at a gallery scheming about selling my beat-up Prius for a particularly eye-catching painting. Yesterday, for example, I attended the Dallas Art Fair preview at the Fashion Industry Gallery and picked out a few favorites that I present here for you to share in my art lust. I'm not going to analyze them or attempt to put them in historical context, so think of this as a simplistic guide to my personal aesthetic. If you don't like color, you should probably skip this virtual tour.
Marlborough Chelsea's Andrew Kuo paintings This New York gallery shows just off the foyer of FIG. Why do I like this one? Color. Color. Color. And its retro flair.
Samsøñ's Steve Locke neon This Boston gallery shows in Booth B10 on the second floor near the back. I'm glad I traipsed through the booths to find this eye-catching neon sculpture.
C. Grimaldis Gallery's Chul Hyun Ahn sculptures This Baltimore gallery had a series of sculptures that used mirrors to reflect lights into infinity. The above sculpture was placed on the ground and you look down into it, as though it is a never-ending hole in the ground. I whispered aloud, "I feel like I'm going to fall." To which the kind gallery owner said, "Then, we will catch you." It was seriously a lovely day.
Ambach & Rice's 3-dimensional reliefs The picture doesn't do it justice. The reliefs shown by this Los Angeles gallery draw you in close to see the intricate layers that give it the 3-dimensional structure.
RO2 Art's Brian K. Jones mixed media Sure, I've seen it before at the downtown Dallas gallery, but I would be remiss not to mention it on this virtual tour of my favorite pieces at the Fair. Every time I see this piece I smile.
OHWOW Gallery's Nick Van Woert sculptures I fell victim to the bright colors in this Los Angeles gallery, especially artist Nick Van Woert's sculptures. Of course, it didn't hurt that they were directly across from the champagne bar.
c.nichols project's Warhol In addition to satisfying my art cravings, I met a great deal of lovely people during my laps around the Fair, including the owners of this Mar Vista, California gallery. Plus, Warhol.
Thomas Solomon Gallery's textual print It's predictable that textual art appeals to me, since I'm a writer and all. Throughout the day, I returned to the booth of this Los Angeles gallery, each time with a new guess of what had been marked out of the sentence.
RE Gallery's Eli Walker paintings This Dallas gallery presented its full roster of artists, including several paintings by Eli Walker, in which he used a gingham base to layer on rich colors and shapes that read like a trippy summer picnic.
Hexton Gallery's series of Eric Fischl paintings and sculptures The above painting was a stunning watercolor between two equally beautiful pigment prints that captured beautiful colors, shadows and the graceful animalism of the human body. As my friend Lee repeated, "Her bent knee. Damn it."
Galerie Frank Elbaz's Mungo Thomson mirrors This was a missed opportunity for a selfie inside an oversized Time magazine. But all the work in this Paris gallery was too captivating to spend any time looking at myself.
Galleri Urbane's Susan O'Mally textual art I've seen her work at the Dallas gallery before, but as evidence by the above choices, this piece perfectly blends my penchant for color and use of linguistics.
