Rosy Keyser, Panoramic Delay, 2010: Dye, enamel, woodprint, spray paint on linen. Courtesy of the artist and Peter Blum Gallery, New York. On view during Texas Contemporary in Ballroom Marfa's booth.
The second art fair to hit the George R. Brown Convention Center in a month ended Sunday much as the first one did in September: with a flurry of last-day sales, upbeat assessments from participants and visitors, and a promise from organizers to return next year.

"We're happy; we're pleased; we're comfortable; we're tired," said Texas Gallery owner Fredericka Hunter in the waning moments of Texas Contemporary, which featured about 55 commercial galleries and several nonprofit exhibitors. The participants were vetted by Hunter, Inman Gallery owner Kerry Inman, and San Francisco gallerist Catharine Clark.

Hunter and other gallerists praised artMRKT Productions, the organizing firm led by Max Fishko and Jeffery Wainhause, for the fair's layout and treatment of exhibiting dealers and nonprofits. Fishko and Wainhouse, in turn, said Houston had proven itself an exemplary host for a contemporary fair.

"For local gallerists to actually go out of their way to make stuff happen for people that were coming from out of town and to encourage their own collectors to go and look at work from out of town dealers -- new work -- I've not see that before," Fishko said.

While Wainhause said artMRKT is booking the same dates for next year, he and Fishko said they were sympathetic to some gallerists' sentiment that future iterations of Texas Contemporary and the Houston Fine Art Fair, which made its inaugural run last month, should be held on the same weekend.

Houston went from never having hosted an art fair to hosting two in consecutive months after Fishko and Wainhause, who had worked for the organizer of the Houston Fine Art Fair, resigned to form their own firm in December, about a month after Fishko had helped pitch the first fair to Houston gallerists and collectors.

"I get where everyone's coming from, and ultimately I'm going to do whatever's best for the fair," Fishko said. "I want the dealers to be happy and successful and to make (the fair) as good as possible."

Moody Gallery owner Betty Moody, who exhibited with -- and enjoyed strong sales during -- both fairs, had kind words for both fairs but said she felt more comfortable with Texas Contemporary, citing its more spacious layout, the quality of participating galleries and the investment Fishko and Wainhouse made in the booths.

While charging the same rate for a comparable booth at the September fair, Texas Contemporary organizers made the walls 12 feet high -- two feet taller than at the first fair, Moody said.

"That costs (the organizers) more in terms of labor, installation, painting the walls -- the whole works -- especially at a big fair like this," Moody said. "But they put the money into it. Their profit margin is smaller than at the other fair, so that means something to me. That means that they want to make it look good. They want to go the extra mile just to make it work."

Moody said she was among those lobbying to hold both fairs at the same time. But Galveston Arts Center curator Clint Willour, who also praised both fairs but gave Texas Contemporary the edge on overall consistency of gallery quality, said having the two fairs a month apart didn't seem to have had the negative impact many had feared.

Because the fairs succeeded at creating distinctive identities for themselves, he said, visiting both did not feel redundant.

With about 25 more participants, the Houston Fine Art Fair was larger, brassier, more international and included more modernist work, with such highlights as a solo exhibition devoted to the work of painter Milton Avery.

Texas Contemporary distinguished itself as a more boutiquelike fair that placed more emphasis on cutting-edge contemporary work, often at lower price points to attract emerging collectors. It also gave nonprofits greater exposure, letting art spaces such as Ballroom Marfa and Houston's Rice University Art Gallery exhibit alongside the commercial galleries.

Best of all, the city's art scene proved it could accommodate both fairs, putting its best foot forward for out-of-towners and for locals who got reacquainted with galleries they hadn't visited in years, Willour said.

"I'm proud of Houston," he said.

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