The 10 Best Booths at The Armory Show 2022

The atmosphere felt undeniably chic and cool as the 2022 edition of The Armory Show opened its doors to VIPs on Thursday afternoon. Now in its second year at the Javits Center and in its September slot, the New York fair was blessed with excellent breezy weather and an increased audience due to the lifting of COVID-19 travel restrictions for international exhibitors and attendees.

The fair was also timed well to coincide with New York Fashion Week and the U.S. Open—concurrent events known to draw culturally minded out-of-towners into the city. There were celebrity sightings (like Jared Leto and Roxane Gay), record sales, and fashionable attendees—all of which contributed to the indisputable buzz that permeated in the air. The Armory Show executive director Nicole Berry put it well when she told Artsy towards the end of the day, “New York is back!”

The vibrant crowd and late summer placement of the fair reflects a growing desire from the art world to broaden its space to outsiders, while still retaining its curatorial rigor. The latter was seen in the show’s thoughtfully curated sections, including Solo, Focus, Presents, and Platform. Particularly notable is the work of curators Carla Acevedo-Yates, Mari Carmen Ramírez, and Tobias Ostrander, who organized the Focus and Platform booths to highlight works by Latinx artists and work about Latin America, presenting deeply engaging and eye-catching work, largely by emerging artists.

Several enthusiastic gallerists at the fair affirmed that both private collectors and institutions are buying art in full force. Catharine Clark, of the eponymous San Francisco–based gallery, noted that within the opening hours of the VIP preview, she placed the latest edition of Ana Teresa Fernández’s video Borrando la Frontera (Erasing the Border) (2022) and two related photographs with the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Delhi-based Nature Morte sold pieces by Sagarika Sundaram, Anoka Faruqee, and David Driscoll to both institutions and private collectors. That gallery’s director Aparajita Naturemorte said she was “really glad to be back in New York where it is buzzing again”—a sentiment shared by many of her peers.

Smaller galleries, too—like Nairobi-based Circle Art Gallery, which showed a two-person booth of artists Souad Abdelrassoul and Tahir Carl Karmali—were delighted to interact with the New York art world and audience. Featuring paintings by Abdelrassoul and meditative prints and textile work on migration by Karmali, Circle Art Gallery’s booth created a harmony between textiles and figurative painting—which was a larger trend seen across the fair. Strong support for textile-based work seen in many booths may be due to museum exhibitions in recent years that have course-corrected the art historical canon. Craft-based work at The Armory Show was not only selling, but selling well, accounting for some of the top sales of the day.

To help navigate the best that The Armory Show 2022 has to offer, we share here 10 booths that are not to be missed.

SMAC

Solo Section, Booth S2

With works by Wallen Mapondera

Wallen Mapondera’s solo booth with South African gallery SMAC features a new body of work produced specifically for the fair—which was met with early sales and strong interest from collectors. Feeling the strong enthusiasm for Mapondera’s work, who is also a featured artist at the Zimbabwean pavilion at the 59th edition of the Venice Biennale, the gallery’s managing director Jean Butler described this amount of success as “threatening.”

With a strong artistic eye and craftsmanship, Mapondera’s work repurposes everyday objects like paper cartons alongside organic materials like eggs. The artist comments on both the hyper-inflation of the global economy and poverty in Harare, Zimbabwe, where the artist lives and works. “This [work] is his history,” Butler told Artsy. “[Eggs and] seeds have to hatch and germinate. And some become bad seeds. And becoming a bad seed appears the only way to make it in countries where there is a lot of corruption and a lot of bribery and you can’t get access to items unless you [participate] in that corruption.”

If the goal in bringing Mapondera’s work out to Armory was to introduce his work to a broader audience, specifically U.S.-based collectors and curators, then SMAC achieved this early on. A highlight sale for the gallery was the silicone and egg carton sculpture Collar (2022), which sold to an established New York–based collector. Although Mapondera is still considered an emerging artist, Butler noted that the artist is very quickly solidifying his career, becoming an established name who will lead the next generation of installation and mixed-media artists.

Nara Roesler

Main Section, Booth 201

With works by Abraham Palatnik, André Griffo, Angelo Venosa, Artur Lescher, Bruno Dunley, Cristina Canale, Daniel Buren, Daniel Senise, Elian Almeida, Fabio Miguez, Heinz Mack, Isaac Julien, José Patrício, Jonathas De Andrade, Julio Le Parc, Lucia Koch, Manoela Medeiros, Marcelo Silveira, Marco A. Castillo, Maria Klabin, Raul Mourão, Rodolpho Parigi, Thiago Barbalho, Tomie Ohtake, and Vik Muniz

Nara Roesler’s impressively curated booth features a dynamic group of works by primarily Brazilian artists working across abstraction and figuration. Within the early hours of the fair, the gallery placed several mid- to large-scale works with private collectors based in Brazil, Mexico, and the U.S.

The selection of works in the booth actively interrogates the afterlife of slavery across the United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil. A standout painting by André Griffo, Farm management instructions 6 (2022), sold for $30,000. The work depicts an architectural interior where violence exists in the details; small figures and wall drawings dramatize the horrors of colonization. Another notable sale was Marco A. Castillo’s Wakamba 5 (2022), a cardboard piece that sold for $110,000. Another striking painting, Elian Almeida’s Elza Soares e Alaíde Costa (Vogue Brasil) (2022), which sold for $20,000, depicts Elza Soares (an underrecognized Black Brazilian singer) on the cover of Vogue Brasil. The artwork generated so much attention that a few months later, Almeidam would create a cover of Vogue Brasil—an instance of, as gallery director Alexandre Roesler reflected, how “art creates reality.”

Kristin Hjellegjerde

Main Section, Booth 354

With works by Sara Berman

By mid-day on Thursday, Kristin Hjellegjerde’s booth was in a celebratory mood, with the staff and artist toasting to the gallery’s success having sold 10 out of the 11 paintings in its solo booth dedicated to Sara Berman. A fashion designer–turned–performance artist and painter, Berman presented a dazzling array of muted pastel self-portraits, casting herself as a harlequin figure.

Berman’s and Hjellegjerde’s enthusiasm was palpable for many reasons, though they were particularly encouraged by collectors’ thirst for work by women artists. The paintings, priced from $30,000–$70,000 each, were created from a performance video the artist shot in collaboration with director Anthony Bryne, who is best known for his work on the television show Peaky Blinders (2013–22). The impressive, curtained video installation and large-scale harlequin paintings offer a compelling combination of figurative painting and performance art.

Kavi Gupta

Main Section, Booth 214

With works by James Little, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Mary Sibande, Devan Shimoyama, Suchitra Mattai, Beverly Fishman, Esmaa Mohamoud, Allana Clarke, Deborah Kass, Kour Pour, José Lerma, Jaime Muñoz, Alisa Sikelianos-Carter, Miya Ando, Su Su, Michi Meko, and Sherman Beck

Kavi Gupta continues to impress audiences, with this year’s dynamic group presentation that reflects not only the gallery’s incredibly diverse roster—both in terms of artists’ nationalities and use of materials—but also its ability to attract artists who generate hype. This was evident in the first five minutes of the show’s opening, when a James Little painting, Thespian Stories (2022), sold to a private collector. At the age of 70, Little is having a moment in the art world as a Black abstract painter who received renewed attention after his inclusion in the year’s Whitney Biennial.

Chanelle Lacy, director of artist relations and programming at Kavi Gupta, remarked on the vitality of the fair’s current edition. “Last year was still really guarded, everyone was a bit tense coming right out of the pandemic,” she said, while “this year the energy is renewed and exciting.” She noted that the collector interest has been a mixture of both institutional and private individuals, with collectors largely based in the U.S. and Japan.

By the end of the day, the gallery sold Devan Shimoyama’s Winning Love By Daylight (2022), Tomokazu Matsuyama’s Think So Shiver Trouble (2022), and Beverly Fishman’s Untitled (Pain, Pain, Anxiety, Pain, GERD) (2022), all priced from $80,000–$100,000.

David Zwirner

Main Section, Booth 100

With works by Chris Ofili and Huma Bhabha

With one of the bigger displays at the fair and one of the biggest sales of the day, David Zwirner delivered a standout two-person booth of works by Chris Ofili and Huma Bhabha. The latter artist’s sculpture I’m A Friend (2022) sold for $350,000 to a South Asian museum.

The booth sits firmly in the center of the fair, and with the featured artists’ innovative use of materials, installation, and figurative painting, the presentation attracted strong hype from emerging collectors and art advisors, who flooded the booth with conversation and selfies.

Zwirner also sold five new works on paper by Bhabha for $70,000 each. These works layered anthropomorphic faces onto a single figure, utilizing images of animals in place of the figure’s eyes. Ofili’s luxuriant narrative paintings are rendered in vibrant shades of gold, purple, and blue, offering a fresh retelling of the satyr. Though it’s often considered a minor Greek mythological character, through Ofili’s beautifully layered brushwork, this figure is humanized by becoming the protagonist.

The Hole

Main Section, Booth 235

With works by Jonathan Chapline, Caitlin Cherry, Adam Parker Smith, and Alex Gardner

The Hole is known for its vibrant, playful fair presentations, and this year’s booth at The Armory Show was no exception. One of a few sold-out booths by the conclusion of opening day, The Hole brought a masterfully curated booth of works by artists on the gallery’s roster, including Jonathan Chapline, Caitlin Cherry, Adam Parker Smith, and Alex Gardner. The booth heavily reflected contemporary trends in painting today, such as surrealistic aesthetics and pastel colors across both abstraction and figuration.

Following the theme of “Reclining Nude,” gallery director Raymond Bulman told Artsy that the selected artists delivered the best of their work for the booth. “We’re seeing strong interest from New York collectors for this booth, with some interest from Latin American collectors,” he said. By mid-day, the gallery was fielding multiple institutional queries for its Gardner work.

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles

Main Section, Booth 423

With works by June Edmonds, Evita Tezeno, Vian Sora, Laura Krifka, and Nicolas Grenier

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles began The Armory Show with a bang. With a compelling booth of newly created paintings by artists June Edmonds, Evita Tezeno, Vian Sora, Laura Krifka, and Nicolas Grenier, the gallery appeared to have one of the most visited booths at the fair. Within minutes of the opening, the gallery had sold work by Sora, Edmonds, and Tezeno. A gallery representative noted that sales were going strong by mid-day Thursday, with multiple pieces going to prominent collections in Malaysia, Texas, and Pittsburgh, plus institutional queries lined up for that evening.

The booth’s standouts are Tezeno’s figurative paintings of mid-20th-century Black Americans. Evoking the style of Faith Ringgold’s narrative quilts, these large-scale paintings are sure to continue to generate buzz and interest at The Armory Show and beyond.

Carbon 12

Presents Section, Booth P14

With works by Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola

The day after opening a stellar solo exhibition at Sean Kelly Gallery, Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola unveiled a solo booth with Dubai-based gallery Carbon 12—one of the most talked-about booths by day’s end. The presentation features several of Akinbola’s signature “CAMOUFLAGE” paintings, single and multi-panel works that use du-rags as their primary material. Akinbola’s intervention on the meaning of the du-rag elevates its status from mere everyday low-cost material to a ready-made object that reflects the communities and cultures in which its presence is intimately recognized and used.

By the conclusion of the first day, Carbon 12 sold CAMOUGFLAGE Study (Blue) (2022) for $20,000–$25,000. Other works on view were selling within the same price range. Gallery owner Nadine Knotzer told Artsy that she was ecstatic by the international interest in Akinbola’s work, with collectors from Turkey and Mexico showing strong enthusiasm for the textile paintings.

Templon

Main Section, Booth 307

With works by Omar Ba, Abdelkader Benchamma, Norbert Bisky, Michael Ray Charles, Gregory Crewdson, Will Cotton, Jim Dine, Jitish Kallat, ROBIN KID a.k.a THE KID, Ed & Nancy Kienholz, Iván Navarro, Prune Nourry, Chiharu Shiota, Kehinde Wiley, and Billie Zangewa

Templon’s presence at The Armory Show was deeply appreciated by collectors, advisors, and curators alike. The booth featured a dynamic array of artists from various disciplines, including Omar Ba, Iván Navarro, Chiharu Shiota, Billie Zangewa, Kehinde Wiley, and Will Cotton, among others. A painting by Omar Ba—who is also currently the focus of the inaugural exhibition at the French gallery’s new space in New York—was one of the top sales of the day, selling for $200,000. In addition, the gallery sold an edition of Navarro’s Polka (2022), a neon installation, for roughly $110,000.

Polka was particularly compelling for fairgoers who were drawn in to snap a selfie through the mirrored neon piece, this writer included. Another of the booth’s not-to-be-missed artists is Wiley, who is showing both a sculpture, Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos (2022), and a large-scale painting, Reclining Nude (Babacar Mané) (2022). Both pieces reflect the artist’s major exhibition “An Archaeology of Silence” that mesmerized audiences in Venice earlier this year.

Foot traffic remained consistent at Templon’s booth throughout the day, which was reflected in the gallery’s strong sales, including multiple works by Shiota in the range of $90,000–$110,000 and a piece by Billie Zangewa for $70,000.

Night Gallery

Main Section and Platform, Booth 314

With works by Sarah Awad, Sarah Miska, Clare Woods, Tomashi Jackson, Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack, Carla Edwards, and Sean Townley.

Lastly, Los Angeles–based Night Gallery delivered an impressive group show and was elated to be met with a bigger and more diverse art audience at the fair. Around mid-day, the gallery was fielding interest from both institutions and private collectors, only to sell out its booth by the evening. Some notable sales include: Tomashi Jackson’s Among Cousins II (Children of the Niamuck Land Trust) (2022) for $85,000, which sold to a museum board member; multiple pieces by Clare Woods priced from $25,000–$80,000; and a number of paintings by Sarah Awad that sold in the range of $15,000–$25,000.