Houston Mayor John Whitmire visits Untitled Art, Houston during the VIP and Press Preview at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Artworks are displayed throughout Untitled Art, Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Artworks are displayed throughout Untitled Art, Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Artworks are displayed throughout Untitled Art, Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Houston Mayor John Whitmire visits Untitled Art, Houston during the VIP and Press Preview at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Artworks are displayed throughout Untitled Art, Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Houston Mayor John Whitmire visits Untitled Art, Houston during the VIP and Press Preview at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Houston rapper Bun B visits Untitled Art, Houston during the VIP and Press Preview at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Attendees explore Untitled Art, Houston during the VIP and Press Preview at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The contemporary art fair returns for its second Houston edition with 98 galleries from 20 countries and territories.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Attendees explore Untitled Art, Houston during the VIP and Press Preview at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. The contemporary art fair returns for its second Houston edition with 98 galleries from 20 countries and territories.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Two years into Untitled Art Houston, folks have already started calling the fair ‘art week.’ The moniker took hold in roughly one year.
In 2025, when the contemporary art fair blew into town from Miami’s tented beaches, where it was founded in 2012, people had questions.
Why the George R. Brown Convention Center? What about parking? Can art fair be successful in Houston?
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Untitled answered. And they were good answers.
The George R. Brown never looked better. Parking downtown isn’t so bad, as it turns out. And several exhibitors sold out last year before the fair’s doors opened to the public.
VIP opened Oct. 1 at 3PM. General admission runs Oct. 2-6.
“You start with a fair as an art event. It becomes a cultural event, then it becomes a destination event — which is what you want,” said Michael Slenske, Untitled Art Houston director. “We’re in that growth phase. We did the proven concept thing last year, and now we’re very quickly approaching that cultural event moment.”
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The fair has expanded, from 88 inaugural class exhibitors to 99 at current count. Some, such as the David Shelton Gallery in Montrose, waited and watched to see how year one would play out.
From a programming perspective, trendlines emerged.
There are 11 site specific special projects in various spaces throughout the fair. Each are interactive in some way.
Dave Muller’s Record Pavilion 2.0, a fully functioning walk-in record store assembled from the artist’s personal collection of records, paintings and ephemera, is displayed as one of 11 Special Projects at Untitled Art, Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. Untitled Art Fairs
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
Dave Muller’s ‘Record Pavilion’ sculptural installation includes works from the artist’s Top Ten record portraits series, plus an opportunity to commission your own; a David Hockney book-cover painting; records for sale at their sticker price; plus and in-person DJ.
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Muller spun an ephemeral set from his own turntables during Wednesday night’s Untitled Art Exhibitor Party at La Colombe D’Or. Those records, he cautioned encroaching guests, were not for sale.
“The Iconic Portrait Strand by Nestor Topchy” grew a solid fan base at the Menil Collection in 2023. That show was part religious experience, part game, turning the faces of family members, friends and friends of friends into Byzantine miniatures and a Guess Who for onlookers.
The popular show has been reconfigured for Untitled.
“This is an extension of that in a way. It’s a street-style version of that,” Slenske said. “Anyone can become a Byzantine icon.”
He and Untitled Executive Director Clara Andrade Pereira didn’t set out have create more interactive experiences for 2026. It came together organically.
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“Nestor offered to sketch me, and I just said, ‘Why don’t we do this at the fair?'” Slenske added. “There’s been this openness from the artists and galleries to go there. A willingness. They’re experimental, open, and dare I say fun?”
The podcast lounge, presented in partnership with SoHo House, will broadcast before a live audience from six tablescapes inspired by vanished, LGBTQ venues, such as Mary’s.
A few exhibitors are happy to be a little hidden. Mark Flood’s “Daily Flood” is necessarily a secret, though it is meant to be discovered.
Interior designer Gin Braverman took the opposite approach when outfitting the VIP and public lounge spaces.
Artworks are displayed throughout Untitled Art, Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle
“I collabed with the textile artist Rachel Hayes, who hung a crown from the ceiling so you could see it across the fair. It’s 18-feet in the air, this circular canopy of fabric that floats above the public lounge,” she shared. “I said, ‘Let’s put it in the center. Let’s make it a destination.'”
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For VIP she looked to Andy Warhol’s tin foil room for inspiration.
“We really designed it with the opening party in mind. I wanted (VIPs) to feel like they were art event — something different and special,” Braverman continued. “The parties in the Factory were always this upper echelon of artists, musicians and creators. How do we riff on that, and bring that playfulness into the VIP lounge? A lot of people drink in VIP so we wanted it to be kind of wild.”
As the fair has expanded, it has also become more expensive. Single day tickets last year started at $25; this year, that cost has jumped to $35.
Prices for exhibitors to show in a booth or as part of Adam Marnie’s Artist Market rose, too. A few vendors from 2025, such as Rising Tide Projects who peddled affordable pens and notebooks, couldn’t stomach the increase.
Expenses are up, though arguably, so is the city’s excitement.
Nearly 200 art lovers gathered early Wednesday afternoon for Mayor John Whitmire’s ribbon-cutting to officially open Untitled Art Houston 2026.
“Ok,” someone declared post-ceremony. “Let’s do this!”