Armory Week is upon us, and this September, there's no shortage of art to see and events to attend. As such, we've put together our annual guide to the week's happenings, with industry insiders' recommendations on the exhibits, galleries and events not to miss. Bookmark this page to help you navigate the art all over NYC starting September 7th.
David Resnicow | President, Resnicow and Associates
The R+A team is looking forward to this year’s launch of PHOTOFAIRS New York, which is bringing a new dimension to the city’s arts landscape with its focus on artists at the intersection of photography, digital art, and new technologies. The fair is at the Javits Center right next to The Armory Show, so it’s easy to experience both fairs, one right after the other. It’s a great opportunity to see works by iconic photographers such as Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, and Larry Fink in dialogue with cutting-edge artists who are engaging with technology and mixed media, such as Delphine Diallo, Sarp Kerem Yavuz, and Caleb Kwarteng Prah. It’s exciting that photography and digital art are finally getting this dedicated platform together during such an important art week in New York.
© Caleb Kwarteng Prah, BOYS, 2023, courtesy of the artist and Nil Gallery
Jennifer Benz Joy | President & Managing Director, SUTTON
I am very much looking forward to the launch of Editions de Parfum Frédéric Malle’s newest fragrance Heaven Can Wait at The Armory Show. Visitors to the VIP Lounge will have the chance to sample the new scent by master perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena and experience a customized olfactory consultation to discover their signature Frédéric Malle scent. I absolutely love how each of the brand’s fragrances take you on a journey and Heaven Can Wait happens to be a modern version of a Parisian classic. With notes of clove, pimento, carrot seed and iris, this fragrance is a perfect complement to the fall season.
One gallery show I cannot wait to see is Awol Erizku’s debut solo exhibition, Delirium of Agony, at Sean Kelly Gallery, opening on Friday, September 8 from 6-8pm. The gallery has been a supporter of Awol’s work since he was in undergraduate at Cooper Union – before he broke the internet with the photo of a pregnant Beyoncé in 2017. With Delirium of Agony, Erizku examines the cultural iconography through the lens of contemporary hip-hop, street culture, art history, sports, and entertainment.
Awol Erizku photographed by Hedi Slimane, courtesy of Sean Kelly
At the same time, Aperture has just released Erizku’s first artist monograph, Mystic Parallax, and he is preparing for forthcoming solo exhibitions at The Momentary at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Savannah College of Art and Design.
It really is his time to shine!
Hannah Gottlieb-Graham | Founder & Director, ALMA Communications
I'm particularly looking forward to our client James Fuentes' presentation of Ed Baynard at Independent 20th Century... Ed was an American still-life painter whose bright but meditative, minimalist work depicted flattened scenes of plant life, vases and ceramics while echoing the precious quality of life during the AIDS crisis, an epidemic that ravaged his community and took his partner's life. The gallery now represents Ed Baynard's estate and this fair presentation will be a major moment.
On the exhibition side, I'm also looking forward to Hannah Traore Gallery's solo show with photographer Quil Lemons... And Nicola Vassell is showing a gorgeous new body of work by London-based painter George Rouy. Our newest client, Ford Foundation Gallery, is opening a group show exploring AI – an incredibly important and increasingly relevant topic today.
Pernille Kjeldsen | Founder, PK PR & Branding
Make sure to check out the LA and Palm Spring based Gallery, The Pit, who's showing new works from the two Californian-based artists; Ryan Schneider and Heather Day. The Pit always has great shows and works with incredible artists, many of who are self-taught or experimental with mediums and materials. Ryan Schneider's sculptures honor Mother Nature as well as tree spirit mythology. Their sharp forms make subtle nods to the gentle and primal elements of the natural world and reflect the ecosystem of Joshua Tree, where he lives and works.
Ryan Schneider
Sow & Tailor, one of my favorite LA galleries, is also represented at this year's Armory show with a solo booth by LA-based artist, Kayla Witt. Witt's paintings set the viewer on a journey to find meaning in life and achieve self-actualization in a barren landscape. She manages to transform the genre of still-life into one that is full of movement, theatrically, and narrative. Make sure to check it out.
Kayla Witt
Beside the fair is Greek artist Kostas Lambridis premiering his first solo exhibition on American soil at Carpenters Workshop Gallery. The exhibition, 'Reverse Fireworks in Slow Motion', is opening for the public on September 8th from 6-8pm. The new body of work delves into the essence of Earth's elements and explores a mono-material approach, focusing on metal, wood, mineral and plastic. Kostas is in my opinion one of the most exciting and fresh young artists coming out of Europe's functional art space in some time.
Kostas Lambridis
Andy Cushman | Account Director, Visual Art, Blue Medium
We’re looking forward to the opening of two shows during Armory Week: Joe Fig: Contemplating Compositions at Cristin Tierney Gallery (September 8 - October 21), and Flloyd: Dicks and Divas at Howl! Happening (September 9 - October 22). The first is a continuation of Joe Fig’s 2020 exhibition Contemplation. The series, which began over a decade ago, present intimate scenes of art lovers examining work in exhibitions ranging from blockbuster museum shows to intimate gallery settings.
Joe Fig, Brice Marden: Study for the Muses (Eaglesmere Version)/Art Institute of Chicago, 2023. oil on linen mounted on MDF board. 17 x 22 inches (43.2 x 55.39 cm).
Dicks and Divas is the first ever solo exhibition of noted East Village performance artist and drag queen Floyd. The exhibition features six large-scale paintings alongside more than fifty smaller works, presenting divas ranging from the iconic to the cultish in Flloyd’s distinctly dramatic, graphic style. The paintings are paired with a trove of erotic polaroids all taken by Floyd, stashed behind a curtain in the Howl Happening alcove.
Post-Armory week, we are also looking forward to the opening of The House Edge at the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation’s 8th Floor gallery space, on view September 28, 2023 – January 13. The show is the product of their second annual open curatorial call, and the invited curator, Caitlin Chaisson, has assembled a very compelling exhibition of sixteen indigenous American contemporary artists presenting an urgent and fascinating examination of their relationship to casino gaming.
Sarah Brown McLeod | Founder, DEPARTMENT PR
Independent 20th Century returns for its second edition, September 7-10, 2023 in New York City and online. The invitation-only fair, founded by Elizabeth Dee, premiered in 2022 to champion artists and international avant-garde movements that took place between 1900 and 2000. The fair is located in the historical Battery Maritime Building, which was built in 1908. Independent 20th Century highlights internationally recognized artists, spotlights lesser-known narratives, and features a side of a canonical artist’s practice that even well-informed collectors and museums find worthy of further curatorial and market attention. This year, the fair features diverse presentations of approximately 50 artists that encompass American debuts, new aspects of well-known artists, women artists throughout the 20th century, Caribbean and South American voices, self-taught artists, Black art communities, international Pop, Italian avant-garde, and more. In addition, Independent will welcome the non-profit Hauser & Wirth Institute, a private foundation dedicated to increasing access to artists’ archives. For their Independent debut, Hauser & Wirth Institute will present selections from two artists’ archives it has recently supported: Zahoor ul Akhlaq (1941-1999) and Mary Dill Henry (1913-2009).
For Freedoms will present at PHOTOFAIRS New York from September 8 – 10, 2023 a selection of photographs by Da’Shaunae Marisa, Emanuel Hahn, McKayla Chandler, Eric Hart Jr., andMaya Mansour – a group of emerging artists in the inaugural class of For Freedoms Fellows, an initiative that provides funding and training from the For Freedoms national network of artists and arts professionals.
Blair Voltz Clarke | Owner, Voltz Clarke Gallery
The Armory Show is a Fall season staple and a wonderful reason to find yourself in NYC in early September! Highlights I’m eager to check out are as follows:
Sargent’s Daughters’ Flor Modernista: The solo booth will feature a series of one artist, Carlos Rosales-Silva and his embodiment of Latin American Modernism and Mexican midcentury design. His depiction of American Southwestern culture is sure to be a stand out!
Carlos Rosales-Silva, Peep Hole 3, 2023
Hannah Murray at Marinaro: Figurative painter, Hannah Murray, hails from London and has grown an enviable international presence. Her current body of work explores the strength yet discomfort that comes with female power. She models her figures from her real-life friends and captures viewers with textiles and prints. I cannot wait to uncover the many complex layers to these works and in person, Hannah Murray is just as powerful as her canvases.
Hannah Murray, Hearts of Gold, 2020
Jackson Fine Art will show Gail Albert Halaban’s series of city-scape photography at the off-site PhotoFair extension of the Armory Show. Often depicted from dusk through nightfall, her powerful photographs capture the pockets of light that reveal the intimacy of interior life. Halaban highlights simple moments in a unique way reminding us just how special they are. Voltz Clarke is fortunate to work with Halaban on her personal commission series and can say from years of watching her shoot, she’s leading this field hands down.
Sara Fitzmaurice | Founder & CEO, FITZ & CO
Armory Week is such a great time to discover new artists and galleries, both inside and outside of the fair. See what’s on my “can’t miss” radar below!
Starting September 8, Maison Palo will divide the Palo Gallery, one of our clients, into four distinct rooms that present modern and contemporary art, furniture, and design objects that correspond to the taste of a distinct collector archetype. Celebrated architect Annabelle Selldorf’s furniture line Vica and her furnishings will help transform each room. The foyer represents the Emerging Collector (featuring work by younger artists), the study will be the Encyclopedic Collector (a cabinet of curiosities), the living room is the Textile Collector (explanatory), and the dining room is the Thematic Collector (focusing here, on depictions of hands). Works by the gallery’s younger artists, including Lorenzo Amos, Kitty Rice, Keith Tolch and Rachel Wolf, will be on view alongside works by Georg Baselitz, Alexander Calder, Judy Chicago and Faith Ringgold, among others, and displayed in a domestic setting.
Black Swan
I’m a huge supporter of public art (so much so that I’m a board member of Public Art Fund!) so I am excited to see Public Art Fund unveil Fred Eversley’s new sculpture in the Doris C. Freedman Plaza at the entrance to Central Park at Fifth Avenue and 60th Street - one of the most visited spots in NYC. The work of art is a 12-foot magenta-tinted cast polyurethane work, titled Parabolic Light, and gives visitors a captivating experience of perceiving the surrounding environment, others, and themselves through the artist’s “lens”. This will be Eversley’s first public sculpture in New York and the first outdoor placement of his large-scale polyurethane resin works. It is not to be missed!
Rachel Cole | Founder, Rachel Cole Art Advisory
I’m excited to see Pilar Corrias’ booth which shows a new series by Gisela McDaniel, as I love how she turns painting into a poignant social practice, highlighting subjects' cultural roots and personal empowerment. Her latest pieces place subjects against the backdrop of Guam's sacred jungles, which is a sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of New York City. I'm particularly moved by the meaningful objects incorporated into the portraits and the use of indigenous oral traditions, as McDaniel involves her subjects in a process that reveals distinct wisdom and viewpoints, giving a voice to those often marginalized. Moreover, the blend of audio components with the paintings ensures that I'm hearing these narratives directly, making the experience all the more powerful and genuine.
I’m also excited to see Jessica Silverman’s booth at the Armory as it delves deeply into themes close to my heart: memory, nostalgia, and commemoration. The diverse artworks displayed in this group presentation resonate with me profoundly, from Judy Chicago's Flowering Glass - which is a contemporary take on her 1970s abstract pieces - to Julie Buffalohead's art - which presents a blend of Native American history with enchanting folklore. I can't help but be reminded of Botticelli's famed The Birth of Venus when I see Hayal Pozanti's Sudden Sea of Joy, hinting at an opulent sensory journey. Clare Rojas' blend of magic and realism in her paintings beckons me to contemplate the consciousness of wildlife and Rose B. Simpson's bronze sculpture with its portrayal of a mother-child embrace echoes timeless bonds and emotions. With the combined brilliance of 13 artists, I feel like I'm about to journey through a vivid mosaic of memories, both personal and collective, making it an enticing experience I wouldn’t want to miss.
Team A&O PR
Jane Lombard Gallery will present a solo booth with Allan Wexler for the 2023 edition of Independent 20th Century Art Fair. A trained architect, Wexler has been producing functional absurdities for over fifty years that bridge and interrogate distinctions between human activity and the built environment. Featuring diverse works spanning media from drawing to sculpture, the presentation will center on themes of connectivity, constructedness, and ritual. Coffee Seeks its Own Level, a participatory, performative work that epitomizes the main tenets of Wexler's practice, will be activated in Booth B8 on September 7th from 4-6 PM.
Allan Wexler, Coffee Seeks Its Own Level, 1990
Abigail Ogilvy Gallery will be presenting Luray, a solo booth by Boston-based artist Clint Baclawski, at SPRING/BREAK Art Show. Capturing the unique natural symmetry of the Luray Caverns in Virginia through continuous moving imagery, Baclawski uses light as a medium to create transformative environments that challenge the viewer's understanding of their surroundings. Luray continues the artist's interest in pushing the boundaries of traditional image-making, while exploring the complicated relationships between technology and nature – the virtual and the tangible – and offering a unique perspective on the beauty and complexity of the natural world.
Clint Baclawski, Luray, 2023
Jane Lombard Gallery will present a solo exhibition by gallery artist Michael Rakowitz. Continuing his exploration of monuments, the artist will mount a new installation of his ongoing series The Monument, The Monster and The Maquette for the first time in New York. Rakowitz’s research-based studio practice is evidenced throughout this body of work, itself titled after a line of etymological inquiry. Scrawled across a mantelpiece at the base of the hybrid sculpture American Golem, the artist notes that “‘Monument’ is derived from the latin verb monere, meaning to remind, advise, warn. Also derived from monere: demonstrate, remonstrate, monster.” Rakowitz turns to the monument as a way to offer a renewed, transparent conceptual framework within which the dynamics underlying conventional history can be exposed as matters of power and rhetoric rather than of mindless observance. The exhibition will feature two striking, large-scale sculptures, American Golem and Behemoth, and a series of layered drawings on architectural vellum.
Michael Rakowitz, American Golem, 2022
Team BerlinRosen
For The Armory Show, Anat Ebgi will present a solo installation of new paintings by Los Angeles artist Alec Egan. Egan's thick impastoed paintings are strikingly banal interiors, seascapes, and mountainscapes. His vivid color and lush wallpapers of peculiar buds, blooming bouquets, or fruit-patterned fabrics intricately come together as mediations on the domestic, natural beauty, and fragility of life. Rich with art-historical references ranging from Van Gogh to Hokusai, Egan's sentimental and dreamy compositions are simultaneously faithful and inventive engagements with painterly traditions.
Alec Egan, Open Book on Window Sill, 2023
Anat Ebgi will also have a group show at the fair, marking their third year in the Galleries sector, and the works selected for the booth include a cross-section of the gallery's program; it is intergenerational, international, and marries conceptual practices with meticulous workmanship. Across their respective mediums, each artist takes ownership of their craft as a starting point and coalesce around a refreshing engagement with 20th century art history include expressionism, conceptual art, surrealism, readymades, mannerism, and craft practices. Themes of performativity, humor, transformation, and our relationship to nature are explored through imagery of apocalyptic landscapes, portraiture, and still life. From oil on canvas to video collage, ceramic sculpture, charcoal drawing, and embroidery; the array of mediums contribute to the larger conversation about self-identity and the commodification of cultural production.
Charlotte Edey, Tongue Tied, 2022 courtesy the artist and Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles
Danielle Bias | Chief Communications Officer, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Armory Show is back, and it's painting the town—well, the Javits Center—in every shade of art and commerce from September 8-10. While the Armory Show is known for showcasing blue-chip galleries and high-profile artists, this year, I am most looking forward to the Focus 2023 series and the Armory Off-Site programs, darlings. At these slightly the under-the-radar sanctuaries you'll find the most vital voices in contemporary art today.
First, let's talk Focus 2023, aptly titled "Inheritances: material and otherwise," and curated by the ever-discerning Candice Hopkins. It's a sensorial feast that transcends mere viewing. Think oversized soft sculptures of Navajo jewelry that sing to you, or percussive sculptures that make you question the boundaries between art and science. My top picks? A.K. Burns & Nicole Cherubini at SEPTEMBER gallery are redefining queer world-building with reflective frameworks. Meanwhile, Fridman Gallery is serving us an immersive installation featuring Remy Jungerman and the late Milford Graves.
Times Square Arts
Now, let's dish on the Armory Off-Site programs, where art escapes the confines of gallery walls to dance in the streets. The third edition of the fair’s outdoor art program brings large-scale artworks to New York City’s parks and public spaces As part of this program, critically-acclaimed artist Shahzia Sikander’s video work Reckoning (2020) will be on view each night in September across the 90-plus electronic billboards of Times Square, as part of Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment program.
The Armory Show is not just an event; it's a cultural moment that goes far beyond the wall of the Javits Center. So there you have it, from the sensory delights of Focus 2023 to the public spectacle of Armory Off-Site, this year's Armory Show is a curated journey through the avant-garde and the accessible. Don't just mark your calendars; prepare your senses for an art experience that's as expansive as it is intimate.
