The Armory Show 2015

The-Armory-Show-2015_Victoria-Miro
Victoria Miro (London) Booth at the Armory Show 2015, Pier 94 Contemporary. Photo: M-KOS

Under the grim wind and snow of a lingering winter, The Armory Show nevertheless started with great excitement and fanfare, warming up the west shore of Manhattan along the Hudson River, set again on Piers 92 & 94 for a 17th year in a row. Armory’s 2015 program ran from 5 to 8 March, hosting 143 contemporary and 56 modern art galleries, stationed within 28 countries. Totalling 199 booths altogether, the fair in fact accepted a smaller number of exhibitors in comparison with 2014, which comprised 205 art spaces. This year’s leaner edition offered a well balanced agglomeration of first timers and returning galleries – some back from last year, others reappearing after a hiatus of five years or more, such as Andrew Kreps Gallery (New York), Carl Freedman Gallery (London), Galerie Lelong (NY/Paris) and galerie kamel mennour (Paris). Now in his third-year tenure, executive director Noah Horowitz’s attempts to revamp the once struggling art fair seems to have paid off – recapturing the interests of many leading galleries.

El Anatsui at Jack Shainman Gallery (NY) Photo: M-KOS

Although sticking to conventional forms rather than videos, performances and the like, strong deliveries were noted from El Anatsui’s majestic wall pieces at Jack Shainman Gallery (NY); the large scale paintings of Georg Baselitz’s alongside Bjarne Melgaard’s sculptures and reliefs at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (Paris/Salzburg); Dan Graham’s mirror pavilion at Lisson Gallery (London/NY/Milan); the “Translated vase” ceramic series by Yeesookyung as well as embroidered canvases by Kyungah Ham at Kukje Gallery (Seoul)/Tina Kim Gallery (NY); Diana Al-Hadid’s Blind Spot (2014) at Marianne Boesky Gallery (NY); the playfully stuffed sofa of Aiko Hachisuka’s hosted at Eleven Rivington (NY); the luscious burgundy walls of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts (NY) showing Natural history cut-outs entitled “Frameworks of Absence” by Brandon Ballengée; Glenn Kaino’s arresting solo presentation at Honor Fraser (LA); the miniature appropriation series by Richard Pettibone at Galerie Mitterrand (Paris), and many more.

As with several galleries in the main section offering one-person displays, the fair’s Armory Presents division was devoted to individual and tandem presentations by galleries that were launched less that ten years ago. In it’s 2nd iteration, Armory Presents showcased 21 galleries from ten countries, with notable contributions by BolteLangs (Zürich) in collaboration with Soy Capitán (Berlin), introducing Henning Strassburger’s abstract paintings-installation; Peter Schuyff at Sorry We’re Closed (Berlin); Zipora Fried at On Stella Rays (NY); Berta Fischer’s organic forms with colourful Perspex at James Fuentes LLC (NY); and Franz Erhard Walther’s minimal fabric structure at KOW (Berlin).

Henning Strassburger at BolteLang (Zürich) in collaboration with Soy CapitÃ¡n (Berlin) [Armory Presents] Photo: M-KOS

Highlighting the artistic landscape of chosen geographic regions, Armory Focus for its 6th anniversary centered its attention on 15 galleries from Middle East, North African and Mediterranean regions (MENAM). London’s Whitechapel Art Gallery Curator Omar Kholeif coordinated the cluster of galleries in collaboration with cultural partner Edge of Arabia and education partner Art Jameel, to suggest ‘a new artistic cartography that links the art of Southern Europe to Western Asia and North Africa where they share history of migration and colonization as well as social and political reform’. Kholeif’s dynamic selection of modernist to contemporary artworks allowed an open dialogue across many generations and genders of artists, to explore and uncover ‘art’s ever evolving genealogy’. Accordingly, Agial Art (Beirut) presented Saloua Raouda Choucair, a key figure in the formation of Middle Eastern Modernism. Galerist (Istanbul) also presented Nil Yalter, a prominent feminist figure in France. Mona Hatoum’s Turbulance (Black) (2014) at Alexander and Bonin (NY) delightfully laid out on the floor hundreds of black glass marbles, arranged in concentric circles. Greek artist Panos Tsagaris’ June 30th 2011 (2014) covers the front pages of The New York Times with gold leaf, in response to recent stories of political unrest in his country. Galerie NON (Istanbul) exhibited a series of collaged texts, from Meriç Algün Ringborg’s, Disclaimers, to The Freedom of Speech Itself (2012) by Beirut-born / London-based Laurence Abu Hamdan, the commissioned artist for the 2015 Armory fair.

Ayman Yossri Daydban, Maharem III, 2015 at Athr Gallery (Jeddah) [Armory Focus: MENAM] Photo: M-KOS

For this commission, Hamdan created the installation A Convention of Tiny Movements (2015), composed of a whisper cube, five thousand potato chips, a tissue box, several plants and other everyday objects. Inspired by the technology dubbed “voice stress analysis”, Hamdan employed his silver-packaged potato chips – along with other mundane objects – as unorthodox surveillance devices to track down the audience’s sonic footprints, produced while opening the said bags and consuming its contents. Unusually situated on Pier 92 where most Modern works resided, this environment in fact best-suited Hamdan’s installation with more dramatic and somber lighting. The Edge of Arabia program also showcased American-Iranian artist Darvish Fakhr, scooting around the fair in traditional dress on his custom-made motorized Persian rug, as a self-stereotyped exotic effigy on his magic carpet.

Armory Modern presented two special projects that reflected the works within Armory Focus MENAM: selected works of Iranian modernist artist Parviz Tanavoli from NYU’s Art Collection, curated by Lynn Gumpert, in addition to Lebanese designer Carlo Massoud displaying limited edition objects in the Public Lounge. Elsewhere in Modern, Tokyo’s Whitestone Gallery amassed an impressive collection of Gutai artists, as well as mirror series of Michelangelo Pistoletto at Mazzoleni (Turin) and Repetto Gallery (London) figured among the popular entries.

Pier 92 Modern: Special Project by Carlo Massoud. Photo: M-KOS

Armory’s digital partner Artsy had its own booth entitled #ArtsyTakeover, situated next to the Pier 94 champagne bar. Here New York based Hank Willis Thomas was invited to create a unique text-based environment, activated by individual mobile devices. Thomas also designed limited-edition tote bags that printed “LIFE IMITATES ADS” on one side, then “ADS IMITATE ART” on the other. On the third day of the fair, Saturday experienced tightly-packed aisles on Pier 94 when members of the Artist For Justice NYC group staged a guerrilla ‘Die-In’ performance, protesting against Eric Garner’s death by repeatedly uttering “Can’t breathe”. Conveniently, another nearby work of Hank Willis Thomas addressing issues of advertising and race from Jack Shainman Gallery, easily convinced security personnel as well as onlookers that the die-in performance was accredited, and acknowledged by the art fair.

Closing on Sunday to warmer climates, perhaps the much-anticipated air of spring helped to boost sales in the last Armory hours. Indeed, the 2015 fair reported solid art purchases to foresee many returnees in the next year. Executive director Noah Horowitz measured the success of the fair precisely in this vast return of important galleries re-submissions, as he explained to the New York Observer: “The only basis for declaring a fair a success is the retention of fair exhibitors. We’re doing well if dealers want to come back.” We look forward to confirm his mission accomplishments in 2016 with yet more returns, while hoping for gentler weather.

The Armory Show 2015, fair view. Photo: M-KOS