{"id":238083,"date":"2025-09-19T04:39:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T04:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238083\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T04:39:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T04:39:13","slug":"the-best-booths-at-the-first-untitled-art-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238083\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Booths at the First Untitled Art, Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAs the old saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas. It was ironic, then, that the inaugural edition of Untitled Art, Houston was small\u2014at least in comparison to the fair\u2019s Miami Beach counterpart, which is roughly two times the size. Still, the 88 galleries who showed at the Houston fair made this event feel mighty, despite its size. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThere was space for memorable installations by artists such as Mel Chin and Isabelle Brourman; equally memorable booths were located. And there were also noteworthy works dealing head-on with pressing political issues in a time when addressing topics like the healthcare crisis vis-\u00e0-vis the Luigi Mangione trials and immigration between the United States and Mexico can be risky for both artists and dealers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ a-font-body-m     \">\n\tHouston newcomers and locals alike from near and far, and there was an excitement among the attendees here that has been rare since the start of the Covid pandemic. Talk of a market downturn seemed not to deter visitors from drinking in the Southern hospitality and the daring selection of works in multiple mediums.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ a-font-body-m     \">\n\tDespite the extravagance of the event, I was drawn to some of the fair\u2019s quietest works. Here are a few that stood out.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"pmc-fallback-list-items lrv-a-unstyle-list lrv-u-margin-t-2\">\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\tShuling Guo at Laura (The Gallery)<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-artnews-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Shuling Guo at Laura (The Gallery), Untitled Art, Houston, 2025.\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2031.jpeg\" data-lazy- data-lazy-\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Francesca Aton, ARTnews\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe ethereal glow of Chinese-born, Philadelphia-based artist\u00a0Shuling Guo\u2019s oil on linen paintings are inspired by her time living at sea and the birth of her daughter in 2022. One painting even seems to refer to the latter directly: a flame gives way to what looks either like a butterfly or a female reproductive system. These transcendent works recall mystical painters like Hilma af Klint and Agnes Pelton. The small scale of the works only adds to their intimacy and their otherworldliness.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\tGillian Brett at Don\u2019t Look Projects<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-artnews-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Gillian Brett at Don\u2019t Look Projects, Untitled Art, Houston, 2025.\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2017.jpeg\" data-lazy- data-lazy-\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Photo Francesca Aton, ARTnews\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ a-font-body-m     \">\n\tAt first glance, plants appear to grow out of the wall of this booth. Upon further inspection, however, one begins to notice that these plants are comprised of computer circuitry and wire cables. The work cleverly intertwines concerns about modern agriculture practices and climate change, showing how human reliance on technology has reshaped the natural world for the worse. Images of the night sky captured by the Hubble telescope also appear here on fractured LCD screens that disturb their beauty.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\tJamal Cyrus at Inman Gallery<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-artnews-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Jamal Cyrus at Inman Gallery, Untitled Art, Houston, 2025.\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2013.jpeg\" data-lazy- data-lazy-\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Francesca Aton\/ARTnews\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ a-font-body-m     \">\n\tDrawing on the storied tradition of quilt-making within Black American culture, Jamal Cyrus layers pieces of denim jeans marked with phrases and symbols that speak to present-day experiences and concerns from the<strong> <\/strong>demarcation of one\u2019s breathing to the hum of a song. Others hint at the joy and sorrow encapsulated in music, as they appear to have been turned into instruments ready to be played\u2014however impractical they may be. Rhombus or Humming Song (2-5-1),\u00a02025, for instance, is a small bronze, wood, and brass sculpture that has been turned into a tambourine.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\tTaisiia Cherkasova at Lazy Mike Gallery<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-artnews-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Taisiia Cherkasova at Lazy Mike Gallery, Untitled Art, Houston, 2025.\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2025.jpeg\" data-lazy- data-lazy-\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Francesca Aton\/ARTnews\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ a-font-body-m     \">\n\tThe best laid plans can often go awry, and Lazy Mike Gallery found out the hard way. The gallery had planned to show a collaborative project by Taisiia Cherkasova, who has been corresponding with a childhood friend living in war-torn Ukraine who was drafted into the armed forces. The gallery had planned to show this exchange in the form of images skyscapes and landscapes, but the works got stuck in customs and did not make it to the fair in time. Instead, Cherkasova pivoted, creating related postcard-sized works to the originals she could not exhibit.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\tVer\u00f3nica Gaona at Keijsers Koning<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-artnews-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"Ver\u00f3nica Gaona at Keijsers Koning, Untitled Art, Houston, 2025.\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/IMG_2029.jpeg\" data-lazy- data-lazy-\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\tImage Credit: Francesca Aton\/ARTnews\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ a-font-body-m     \">\n\tFor these sculptures, Ver\u00f3nica Gaona salvaged metal from large Ford F150 trucks, causing all the scraps to look like crumbled pieces of paper when hung in the booth of Keijsers Koning. (Disclosure: I previously worked at the gallery when it was known as LMAK.) These cast-aside pieces of detritus were collected along the Rio Grande River and are here collaged with personal photographs of the artist\u2019s family and friends. Mapping oneself and one\u2019s family directly onto the surface of discarded trucks draws out issues related to migration between the United States and Mexico\u2014a particularly haunting topic in Texas, given its location along the United States-Mexico border.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the old saying goes, everything is bigger in Texas. It was ironic, then, that the inaugural edition&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":238084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[4345,358,3187,127588],"class_list":{"0":"post-238083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-houston","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-tx","11":"tag-untitled-art-houston"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115229121962057451","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}