Hotel rooms at The Loren Lady Bird Lake will become exhibit halls this weekend when Friends Fair returns, bringing art galleries from across the country into an unconventional setting.
“Friends Fair is going to be a really great entry point to people who are curious about contemporary art, but don’t know where to start or who to ask,” said Phillip Niemeyer, one of the organizers of the Friends Fair.
Niemeyer, a curator at Northern-Southern on East Fifth Street, said he believes artwork showcased at the fair will inevitably end up in museums.
“There’s going to be one artist in the show — I don’t know who it’s going to be — that, in 10 years, is going to have a museum show,” he said. “It’s that nascent energy. It’s exciting.”
The fair will occupy 19 rooms on the second floor of the hotel, with one room designated as a lounge. Each of the invited galleries will transform its assigned room.
“They all have their different characters and their different flavors,” Niemeyer said. “You get to sample all these different communities. You get to sample different curatorial approaches. You get to sample different ways of mediating or presenting the art. You just walk into every door, and every door is going to be like an art adventure. You don’t know what you’re going to get.”
Martha’s Gallery owner Meredith Williams, who is helping organize the art fair, said they invited galleries they love and trust to present their interpretation of Austin. In their inaugural year, the fair spanned two floors of the hotel so each gallery could have the same room layout. This year, organizers let the galleries choose from different layouts on the same floor.
“Last year, some people did installations in the bathroom,” she said. “They use the bathtub, they use the mirror. It’s really cool to see how creative people get.”
In addition to Martha’s and Northern-Southern, McLennon Pen Co. and Ivester Contemporary are organizing the art fair.
Employees from each of the Austin galleries began hosting small events in their homes, Niemeyer said. Kevin Ivester, owner of Ivester Contemporary and East Side Picture Framing, suggested the idea of an art fair in a hotel.
“That sounds insane, but to my happy surprise, everybody was into it,” Niemeyer said. “That was December of ’24, and six months later, we actually did it.”
Niemeyer and Williams said they hope Austinites will not only enjoy the artwork, but also take it home.
“The whole goal of a fair is to sell art,” Williams said. “I really hope people come who want to collect and buy a new piece.”
The Friends Fair is free to attend, but an RSVP is required. Open hours are Friday, noon to 7 p.m. and Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.
