Houston, TX. August 20, 2025 – Untitled Art unveils a first look at its inaugural programming for Untitled Art, Houston, taking place at the George R. Brown Convention Center from September 19–21, 2025, with a VIP and Press Preview on September 18. Led by Founder Jeffrey Lawson, Houston Director Michael Slenske, and Executive Director Clara Andrade, the inaugural edition’s curatorial initiatives spotlight Houston’s rich cultural fabric through Special Projects, prizes, live podcast panels, institutional presentations, and community partnerships, furthering Untitled Art’s mission to champion creative innovation in contemporary art and reflect Houston’s distinct cultural identity and international reach. Additional program details will be announced in the coming weeks.
Special Projects will be presented throughout the fair, calling attention to key issues through local and international voices and offering exhibitors and artists an opportunity to expand their curatorial presentations. Highlights include Prologue (2025), presented by Rick Lowe Studio, featuring five emerging Houston-based artists at the threshold of emerging practices: Crystal Coulter, Ian Williams, Kaima Marie Akarue, Roslyn Dupre, and Sajeela Siddiq. Working across diverse media, the presentation foregrounds personal vision, material risk, and cultural memory in a moment of dynamic artistic expansion in Houston. Isabelle Brourman’s Big Time, A Portrait through the American Psyche (2022–2025), presented by the artist, examines the media spectacle surrounding recent high-profile U.S. trials. From Trump to Luigi Mangione, Brourman transforms public records into intimate, if expressionistic, visual testimony. Her work is less about the verdicts than the spectacle itself—how justice, celebrity, and narrative blur in the American psyche of 2025. The Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC) presents Street Campaign (2025) by El Franco Lee II, a tribute to the artist’s late father, Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee. The immersive installation features paintings by the artist alongside ephemera from Commissioner Lee’s time in office, exploring the intersections of art, politics, and Black legacy in Houston. Pool of Light (2024) by Mel Chin, presented by the artist and PAC Public (a division of PAC Art, Houston) honors mid-20th-century women who worked in administrative office roles, drawing inspiration from Pat Fender, a longtime secretary at Chin’s local insurance office in North Carolina. Approximately one hundred office chairs were disassembled and re-formed into a monumental chandelier, elevating the nine-to-five worker and the countless hours spent laboring at desks under corporate hierarchy.
Untitled Art will introduce a new initiative, Houston Artist Market. Curated by Adam Marnie, editor of F Magazine and director of F, a local exhibitor in the fair’s Nest sector, Houston Artist Market offers a retail format for local artists and collectives to present their work in an accessible, dynamic environment. This initiative reflects Untitled Art’s ongoing commitment to community engagement and equity within the contemporary art world. Participants include St. Agnes Academy (Houston), FLATS (Houston), PICNIC (Galveston / Dallas), Reeves Art + Design (Houston), Rising Tide (Galveston), Basket Books & Art (Houston), The Reading Room (Houston), and Jardin (Houston).
Throughout the fair, booth presentations by Houston’s leading institutions will offer visitors meaningful opportunities to engage with the city's renowned cultural landscape. Participants include Asia Society Texas, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Lawndale Art Center, Orange Show Center for Visionary Art, Project Row Houses, and The Rothko Chapel. A portion of ticket sales will benefit the Chapel.
The Untitled Art Podcast will also return for its sixth year with a dynamic series of on-site conversations spotlighting Houston’s vibrant and international creative community. The program brings together artists, curators, collectors, and cultural leaders to discuss urgent and timely topics such as sustainability, cultural exchange, diasporic identity, and the evolving role of artist-run spaces.
Participants represent a broad spectrum of the art community, including artists Anne Samat, Earlie Hudnall, Jr., and Yifan Jiang; gallerists Rajiv Menon (Rajiv Menon Contemporary), Kristin Calabrese (Serious Topics), and María Inés Sicardi (Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino Gallery); Houston’s own Bun B, Grammy-nominated artist and entrepreneur, and Chris Shepherd, James Beard Award-winning chef and restauranteur; and a range of institutional and curatorial voices such as Ryan Dennis, Co-Director and Chief Curator at CAMH; Mari Carmen Ramírez, Wortham Curator of Latin American Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Anita Bateman, Founder of AnB Art Consulting, Creator of Black Art Houston™, and Vice President of Creative Direction at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture; Patton Hindle, Executive Director of Artadia; Paola Creixell, Co-Founder of PAC Art; and Manjari Sihare, AVP at Sotheby’s.
Untitled Art has also joined forces with the Cistern at Buffalo Bayou Partnership to present a landmark, site-specific performance by Light and Space legend Lita Albuquerque and her daughter and collaborator, Jasmine Albuquerque, a renowned dancer and choreographer. Staged deep within the raw, echoing chambers of the historic Cistern—a subterranean reservoir turned art space—this immersive work is designed for an intimate audience, with access limited to a select number of visitors. Known for her poetic meditations on light, landscape, and the cosmos, Lita Albuquerque brings her signature vision to this rare collaboration, merging movement and myth in a setting unlike any other. The artist will also be featured at Untitled Art, Houston with Michael Kohn Gallery. Further details on the performance will be announced soon.
In support of emerging artists, Untitled Art, Houston introduces four new prizes, awarded during the fair:
CAMH Commission Prize —backed by Untitled Art and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH)—was launched to offer financial and institutional support to artists exhibiting at the fair with a commission debuting at Untitled Art, Houston 2026 or a satellite venue during the fair week. To support the prize, Untitled Art collaborated with Texas-based artist Vincent Valdez—one of the boldest voices in American art and the first artist to join the Houston Host Committee—who is donating proceeds from a limited-edition print, It Was A Very Good Year (1986), available through Gary Lichtenstein Editions.
The Casa Santa Ana Residency Prize offers an international artist the opportunity to live and work in Panama City from March 29 to May 10, 2026. In partnership with Casa Santa Ana, the award includes airfare, accommodations, a $5,000 materials budget, and a $1,200 stipend, encouraging cross-cultural exchange and community engagement in Latin America.
The PAC Art Residency Prize supports a Houston-based residency from August 15 to September 22, 2026. The award provides studio space, accommodations, round-trip travel, a $2,000 stipend, and a personalized career development program, all aimed at fostering international dialogue and professional growth.
The Hotel Lucine Artist Retreat Prize grants one artist a weeklong retreat in Galveston, Texas, from September 8 to 14, 2026, designed to foster creativity, reflection, and community engagement. The experience includes lodging, a $500 travel allowance, a $300 food and beverage credit, workspace access, and a community event in partnership with Untitled Art.
Fair Dates:
Friday, September 19 to Sunday, September 21, 2025
VIP and Press Preview Thursday, September 18, 2025
George R. Brown Convention Center, Hall A3, 1001 Avenida De Las Americas, Houston, TX