After more than a year’s absence, the Dallas Art Fair returns for its 13th edition this fall November 11–14, bringing 58 international galleries to the city’s Fashion Industry Gallery downtown. While the fair itself will offer enough art to saturate the eyes of cognoscenti and amateurs alike, a special off-site installation by Caledonia Curry—better known as Swoon—means that visitors will want to add one more stop on their art itinerary.
The installation The House Our Families Built (2020) will be presented by Santa Fe’s Turner Carroll Gallery at Klyde Warren Park during the fair’s run. The eye-catching sculpture transforms a 14-foot box truck into a fantastical, mobile “home” filled with scenes of domestic life. Swoon created the work last year in collaboration with PBS’s American Portrait storytelling series. The work, which has previously been displayed in New York and New Mexico, will be on view in Texas for the first time.
Swoon, The House Our Families Built (2020). Courtesy of Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe.
“The process to bring it here has been very collaborative, which is something we wanted to highlight at this year’s fair—the idea that we are all better when working together,” said fair director Kelly Cornell. “The work itself is centered on community, ancestral history, and domestic beauty, which are all themes for which the world has found a renewed appreciation.”
The choice of location was strategic, too—Klyde Warren Park is centrally located, bridging uptown and downtown. “Not only is it a large work, but having it at Klyde Warren Park makes it far more accessible to everyone. The park means a lot to these Dallas neighborhoods, which were previously separated by a highway,” Cornell explained. “So, as an incredible resource for community development, it is the perfect spot for this project.” The sculpture will be on view the public for the duration of the fair.
Other highlights of the fair’s 2021 edition include a solo booth of new paintings by Hong Kong native Chris Huen Sin Kan, presented by Simon Lee Gallery; new work by German painter André Butzer, presented by Nino Mier Gallery; psychedelic new pieces from Dylan Vandenhoeck, via New York’s Jack Barrett Gallery, as well as an array of ceramics, embroidery, paintings, and collages at McClain Gallery’s booth. See the full exhibitor list here.
Swoon, The House Our Families Built (2020). Courtesy of Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe.
Swoon, The House Our Families Built (2020). Courtesy of Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe.
Swoon, The House Our Families Built (2020). Courtesy of Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe.