Excitement is building as Texas Contemporary is just a month away, announcing its list of exhibitors, compelling programming and an expanding list of supporters for its inaugural art fair at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center from October 20 – 23, 2011.

“Texas Contemporary will bring a group of the best contemporary art dealers from around the country to exhibit alongside some of the most interesting programs in Texas today,” said artMRKT Productions co-founder and fair director Max Fishko. “What that creates is an exhibition that will showcase what is unique and special about the Texas art scene in the context of the larger contemporary landscape. We are thrilled and honored to present a fair in Houston, a vibrant, progressive, and extremely relevant market in the global art sphere.”

Exhibitors:
Fair directors Max Fishko and Jeffrey Wainhause are pleased to announce a growing list of participating galleries, including: ACME (Los Angeles), Art Palace (Houston), Boltax Gallery (Shelter Island, New York), Bryan Miller Gallery (Houston), Catharine Clark Gallery (San Francisco), Champion (Austin), Charlie James Gallery (Los Angeles), Cosmocosa (Buenos Aires), CYNTHIA-REEVES (New York), David Shelton Gallery (San Antonio), DCKT Contemporary (New York), Dean Project (New York), Eli Ridgway Gallery (San Francisco), Exquisite Corpse Bookseller (Houston), Fred Torres Collaborations (New York), Fredericks & Freiser (New York), Fredric Snitzer (Miami), Gallery Sonja Roesch (Houston), Gering and Lopez (New York), Inman Gallery (Houston), Jack Fischer Gallery (San Francisco), Kopeikin Gallery (Culver City), Lawrence Markey (San Antonio), Lawrimore Project (Seattle), Lennon Weinberg (New York City), Like the Spice Gallery (Brooklyn), M Contemporary (Annapolis), Manneken Press (Bloomington), Mindy Solomon Gallery (St. Petersburg), Misako and Rosen (Tokyo), Moody Gallery (Houston), Morgan Lehman (New York), Muriel Guepin Gallery (Brooklyn), Nancy Hoffman Gallery (New York), Paul Thiebaud Gallery (San Francisco), P.P.O.W. (New York), PX Photography (New York), Rena Bransten Gallery (San Francisco), Samuel Freeman (Santa Monica), Sicardi Gallery (Houston), Steve Turner Contemporary (Los Angeles), Susan Inglett Gallery (New York), Tally Beck Contemporary (Bangkok / New York), Texas Gallery (Houston), Turner Carroll Gallery (Santa Fe) and Wade Wilson Art (Houston), with additional galleries still to be announced.

Non-Profit Exhibitors / Installations / Presentations:
In addition to the national galleries listed above, select non-profit galleries and spaces from around the state of Texas have been invited to exhibit their programs, offering an opportunity to showcase their work to fair attendees and collectors. Those exhibitors include: Artpace (San Antonio), Ballroom Marfa (Marfa), Blue Star Contemporary Arts Center (San Antonio), Project Row Houses (Houston) and Rice University Gallery (Houston). Special installations, performances or lectures will also be presented by Art League (Houston), Blaffer Art Museum (Houston), DiverseWorks (Houston), contemporary@mfah (Houston), Orange Show for Visionary Art (Houston) and SKYDIVE (Houston).

Special Events / Programming:
An exclusive benefit preview party opens the fair on Thursday, October 20 from 6 - 7:30 p.m., with proceeds earmarked for the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, followed by a VIP preview party on the exhibit floor from 7:30 – 10 p.m. Those purchasing Benefit Preview Party Tickets may attend the entire evening, with the second part of the evening open to all VIP Pass holders. The preview party kicks off a series of events and programs for fair-goers to consider attending.

The Texas Contemporary Discussion Series will present informative discussions throughout the weekend intended to engage, educate and enlighten participants, with many topics reflecting the fair’s theme of energy and sustainability. Presentations will appeal to the savvy aficionado as well as the new collector, and will include topics such as: The Collector, The Patron, and The Museum: Strategies for Collecting Today, a panel discussion organized by Alison de Lima Greene, MFAH Curator of Contemporary Art and Special Projects in conjunction with contemporary@mfah; Solar Nothing: One Artist’s Perspective on Diminishing Natural Resources presented by artist Edgar Orlaineta of the Steve Turner Contemporary; Legitimizing Trash and Gentrifying Icky: Rediscovering Our Humanity by Dan Phillips, Smither Park Artistic Director and sustainable builder; and Houston, State of the Art Scene: Then and Now presented by PaperCity's Catherine D. Anspon featuring four artists from her renowned book Texas Artists Today, including H.J. Bott; followed by a book signing. Additional presentation topics will include Be Here Now: The Demands of Temporary Art; The Economics of Art Collecting and The New Collector: Navigating the Art Market, among others. Discussions will be open to all fair attendees and are scheduled to take place in the presentation theater all three days of the fair.

Also playing into the fair’s theme of energy and sustainability, Texas Contemporary has partnered with
Belgrave Trust, making each guest's attendance to the event carbon neutral. Belgrave Trust inspires people to evoke a wider conversation about sustainable living, by offering a smartly curated line of high-design products that support clean energy projects around the world.
As part of the fair experience, Texas Contemporary has arranged offsite museum and private collection tours as well as onsite fair tours throughout the weekend. The invitation-only offsite museum and private collection tour series will make stops at some of Houston’s most impressive private and corporate collections, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and several exclusive museum tours. The onsite fair tours will be open to all attendees, and will be held during fair hours, offering an inside perspective on the fair’s highlights and exhibiting galleries.

Aligned with the mission of the fair to reach out to new and potential collectors, Texas Contemporary will be hosting a Young Professionals Night on Friday, October 21, offering young affinity groups from around Houston an opportunity to tour the fair with friends and colleagues, followed by an after-party and gallery crawl at Isabella Court in midtown. Information about offsite and onsite tours as well as all programming listed above can be found at www.txcontemporary.com.

Cultural Partners:
Contributing to establishing the art fair’s unique atmosphere, many local and regional cultural partners will be onsite to present information and join in the contemporary dialogue of the fair. These partners include: Art Car Museum, Artpace, Art League Houston, Ballroom Marfa, Big Medium, Blaffer Art Museum, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas, Community Artists’ Collective, contemporary@MFAH, DiverseWorks, Fluent~Collaborative, Galveston Arts Center, Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Houston Center for Photography, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Houston Museum District, Mexic-Arte Museum, Orange
Show Center for Visionary Art, Project Row Houses, Rice Gallery, SKYDIVE, Spring Street Studios, Smither Park, Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Talento Bilingüe de Houston, Winter Street Studios and Women and Their Work.

MRKTworks Auction:
As a means to give back to the local community, a select group of the cultural partners will benefit from
artMRKT Production’s innovative program, MRKTworks, a small-scale online and live auction that pairs local non-profits with works donated by some of the fair’s participating dealers. The general public may bid on the works on the Texas Contemporary website beginning two weeks prior to the fair, starting on Monday, October 3 at 3:30 p.m., as well as on-site at the fair until Saturday, October 22 at 3:30 p.m., with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the Houston non-profits. This year’s MRKTworks beneficiaries include: Community Artists’ Collective, Galveston Arts Center, Houston Museum of African American Culture, Orange Show Center for Visionary Art and Women and Their Work.

Host Committee:
Working in close collaboration with Houston-based dealers Kerry Inman of Inman Gallery and Fredericka Hunter of Texas Gallery on all aspects of the fair, Texas Contemporary has engaged a vibrant assembly of host committee members to further increase the visibility of the fair’s significance to the greater Houston region. That committee includes Carlos Bacino, Clare Casademont, Jereann Chaney, Susie and Sanford Criner, Fairfax Dorn, Marita and JB Fairbanks, William Goldberg, Melissa Grobmyer, Janet Hobby, Sissy and Denny Kempner, Julie Kinzelman, Dillon Kyle and Sam Lasseter, Virginia Lebermann, Marley Lott, Libbie Masterson, Kelie Mayfield, Judy Nyquist, Leigh and Reggie Smith and Lea Weingarten.

Sponsors:
artMRKT Productions would like to thank the national, statewide and local media who have come on board to support the fair, including The Art Newspaper, Art in America, Arts+Culture magazine, Art Info, art ltd., American Art Collector, Artlog, artnet, Ask Art, Art Price, d’Art international magazine, Glasstire,
Houston Chronicle, Houston magazine, Houston Press, Houston Public Radio stations KUHF 88.7 FM
and KUHA CLASSICAL 91.7 FM, Modern Painters, NY Arts Magazine, Visual Art Source and Yelp. Also
making the event possible are the following generous sponsors: Bernstein Global Wealth Management,
Agana Rain Water, Belgrave Trust, Cellars at Jasper Hill, City of Houston, Kinzelman Art Consulting,
Mana Contemporary, M.K.G. Art Management and Saint Arnold Brewing Company.

Texas Contemporary show information:
HOURS:
Thursday, October 20
Benefit Preview Party for Contemporary Arts Museum Houston 6 - 7:30 p.m.
VIP Preview Party 7:30 - 10:00 p.m.
Friday, October 21 - 11 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 22 - 11 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 23 - 11 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

TICKETS:
1 Day Ticket - Valid Friday, Saturday OR Sunday - $20 online / $25 at the door
3 Day Ticket - Valid Friday, Saturday AND Sunday - $40 online / $45 at the door
CAMH Benefit Preview Party Ticket - $100 online / $110 at the door
*Includes Thursday Night Benefit Preview Party + Thursday Night VIP Preview Party + all day Friday, Saturday
AND Sunday.
Student Ticket - Valid Friday, Saturday OR Sunday - $10 at the door

About artMRKT Productions:
artMRKT Productions is a Brooklyn based organizer of contemporary and modern art fairs. Co-founded in 2010 by Max Fishko and Jeffrey Wainhause, artMRKT Productions currently presents three fairs annually throughout the United States – artMRKT San Francisco, artMRKT Hamptons and Texas Contemporary. artMRKT Productions combines a selection of internationally renowned modern and contemporary galleries, in addition to individual regional focuses, creating unique marketplaces that enable visitors access to the art world’s emerging contemporary talents and historically significant works. For more information about artMRKT Productions, visit: www.art-mrkt.com.
For more information on Texas Contemporary, visit www.txcontemporary.com