From annual shows to highly-anticipated exhibitions, this year's Armory Week promises to be nothing short of beautiful -- and busy. With so much happening all over the city, we consulted our network of art industry insiders for their recommendations. Read up on what they're most looking forward to ahead of the openings.
Sara Fitzmaurice
Founder and President, FITZ & CO
March is always a perfect moment to emerge from the winter doldrums in New York and in a two-week period get a snapshot of what is happening in contemporary art. In March, spring art season kicks into high-gear—there are always new discoveries both at the Independent and the Armory Show, especially with the special sections. This year Jamillah James, the highly acclaimed curator at ICA LA, is curating the “Focus” section, which presents today’s most relevant and compelling artists in solo or dual installations. Night Gallery, from downtown Los Angeles, is a known incubator of major talent, and will present a solo installation by Cynthia Daignault (b. 1978). For the Armory Show, Daignault has created a series of portraits of prominent women from recent Western history—including Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Angela Davis, Christine Blasey Ford, and Aaliyah. The 18 portraits are presented in a grid, comprising one major work. Taken together, these women are united not by shared experiences or beliefs but by the complexity of their status: in extremely varied ways, all of these women represent power at the same time that they connote distinct experiences of violence to which they were publicly subjected. Look for Cynthia Daignault’s installation at Night Gallery at The Armory Show in the Focus section at Pier 90.
Cynthia Daignault, Night Gallery
Blair Clarke
Founder, Voltz Clarke Gallery
With all of the buzz of the fair, I like to map out which booths are a 'must see' for me. This year, I'm jetting to Paul Kasmin at booth 700 to revisit a classic landmark in Jane Freilicher's painting "Union Square at 4:00 PM." With all of the glitz and glamour of today, it's nice to be able to recall the past through art.
Jane Freilicher, Union Square at 4:00 PM, 1987, oil on linen, 40 x 36 inches, 101.6 x 91.4 cm. Courtesy of the Estate of Jane Freilicher
Rachel Cole
Rachel Cole Art Advisory & Collection Management
I am most excited to see new work by Los Angeles-based artist Amir H. Fallah, who will be showing with Denny Dimin Gallery based in Tribeca (Focus Section Booth F1). I love his use of vibrant colors in depicting these intimate and anonymous portraits with elements of still life and a heavy dose of mysticism. There’s so much to explore in his works -- they are so lively and happy, yet they also touch on intense subjects of immigration, race, history, relationships (with each other and to our possessions), and the idea of “home." Most of the works I’ve seen are paintings and stained glass pieces, which are absolutely stunning in person.
Amir H. Fallah
Ellie Hayworth
Founder, Hayworth
Though it is undeniable that Armory Week sparks many of the best and brightest to present their blockbuster talent during this jam-packed week of art and programming, savvy art-goers would be wise to keep their eyes peeled for undiscovered talent at some of New York's more experimental exhibition and project spaces. The artist-run gallery 81 Leonard Gallery will open a new exhibition that aptly heeds this call by presenting a solo exhibition of artist Méïr Srebriansky. I rather serendipitously discovered Srebriansky's work during a private tour of Jersey City's esteemed arts organization, Mana Contemporary. Aptly titled Age of Resin, the solo presentation will feature the artist's richly textured resin paintings that resemble a confectionary fantasy of form, color, and ambiguous subjectivity. A series of resin tulips will greet gallery goers in a cheeky nod to tulip mania of the Dutch Golden Age — a phenomena not altogether unlike the collecting frenzy incited by fair week.
Méïr Srebriansky, Watermelon, 2018. Resin, epoxy, acrylic and spray paint on wood. 48 x 72.5 inches. Photo: Emmanuel Werthenschlag.
Rebecca Riegelhaupt
Senior Public Relations Manager, Post-War & Contemporary Art, Americas, Christie's
Among all of the wonderful exhibitions and openings taking place over the course of Armory Week, Christie’s will be holding its Post-War to Present Auction on March 5th, with a preview exhibition leading up to the sale. One of my favorite paintings in the sale is Alma Thomas’s Flash of Spring, 1968 (estimate: $450,000-650,000). Alma Thomas spent much of her adult life as an elementary school art teacher, and only fully devoted her life to painting in 1960, when she was 69-years-old. Thomas was very much inspired by the natural world, and even as her work turned towards complete abstraction, she managed to capture the burgeoning energy of nature. Flash of Spring, 1968 is one of Thomas’s first fully abstracted canvases. With its exuberant colors and composition, Thomas manages to encapsulate the vibrancy and jot that comes with the beginning of Spring in this painting, a feeling we long for all winter long!
Flash of Spring,1968. Christie's Images Ltd. 2020
Ludovic Leroy & Mara McGinnis
Partners, Powell Mayas
Our pick this year is Vida Americana at the Whitney Museum. This exhibition gives you an in on the radical transformation that Mexican politics underwent at the end of its revolution. Another cool fun fact: The exhibition catalogue was designed by our friend Michelle Lee Nix and her colleagues at McCall Associates.
Vida Americana
Linda Mateljan
Creative Director, Ikon Arts Foundation
New year, a new decade! Art moves, challenges, and sparks creativity, and Armory Week always delivers. My must-sees this year include the 20th edition of SCOPE New York at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea. Always fresh and innovative, SCOPE's director Alexis Hubschman presents a collection of emerging contemporary art that is both controversial and visually exciting. Do not miss! Running concurrently are two fantastic photography shows. At Fotografiska New York, Julie Blackmon's exhibition 'Fever Dreams' captures an intriguing POV of contemporary 'Americana' from the photographer's hometown, and Neue Galerie is showing a retrospective of Austrian fashion photographer Madame D'ora (Dora Kallmus), known for eccentric and creative work.
Blackmon. Laying About. 2015
