The third annual Dallas Art Fair was held April 8-10 at the Fashion Industry Gallery (f.i.g.), in downtown Dallas.

Over 70 galleries were showcased from around the United States featuring impactful contemporary artists.

Pieces from paper, printmaking, photography, sculpture, video and installation covered every space of the 70,000 square feet that the f.i.g. occupies at the corner of Ross Avenue and St. Paul Street.

Upon entering, waves of cool, fresh contemporary art splash the face and mind. Eager for more, two levels of the f.i.g. were filled with prominent galleries featuring contemporary artists, such as Lillian Garcia-Roig. Roig’s sloshes of abstract genius bled layer-by-layer from the canvas.

Another artist, Peter Zimmerman, was displayed and the impressions of each work proved to be captivating. Like psychedelic jelly, blobs of glassy color moved together to create a flow of beautiful unanimous hues in the center.

The Weinstein Gallery from Minneapolis featured photographs Robert Polidori’s haunting Versailles series and Annie Leibovitz.

The wave of Willie Nelson’s long, silver hair set off the deep wrinkles in his face. Wrinkles that could tell a story fold by fold were only made more romantic by the black-and-white toning, defining a musician whose heart could have been spilled out of the photograph.

1960s chihuly glass by Toni Zuccheri seemed as if it was not just glass, but a ribbon-like creature from the sea, with free movement, only to be sitting so still in time.

Marko Velk and Mark Licari were featured with the Cueto Project out of New York. Cueto showed pieces from Velk and Licari that weren’t just contemporary, but what 2011’s contemporary would be.

These pieces foretell the future of contemporary urban art that is surfacing in cities from New York all the way to Israel.

The Dallas Art Fair seemed like a breath of fresh air, compared to the classic “contemporary” art seen in Dadaism and other style movements of the 20th century.

These artists show that contemporary art is shifting once more, emphasizing the simplicity of each gesture.

While contemporary art turns the corner of 2011, a new ideal is being cultivated as simple emotional pieces overrule all.