Six Must-See Works from The Armory Show
Since the launch of Artsy’s online preview of The Armory Show, I’ve found myself lost in the content and writing a long wish list of works I’d love to bring home—from Jon Rafman’s room full of waterlilies to Thomas Fougeirol’s ever-changing canvases.
Elizabeth Neel, Remote Control, 2010, Galleria Monica de Cardenas
Elizabeth Neel’s works-on-paper capture her precision with paint, and the gestural quality of her work at an intimate scale. I’m drawn to her mix of abstract washes of color and hints of floral detail which create this romantic piece. Neel received her MFA at Columbia University in 2007 and has since shown at Susanne Vielmetter Projects Los Angeles, Pilar Corrias Gallery in London, Sikkema Jenkins & Co. in New York, and the Sculpture Center in Long Island City.
Serge Alain Nitegeka, Exterior I: Studio Study II, 2013, Marianne Boesky Gallery
Marking the artist’s first exhibition in the U.S., Nitegeka’s solo booth with Marianne Boesky will feature flat abstractions that tackle the nature of cultural borders and the shifting state of personal and collective identity. The Burundi-born artist is best known for his large-scale installations, which have been exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and the Institut Français in Dakar, Senegal.
Thomas Fougeirol, Untitled, 2013, PRAZ-DELAVALLADE
Impressions of light and movement, like the effect of a camera shutter being left open, are captured on Thomas Fougeirol’s canvases. I love how at first glance this painting looks like the horizon line at sunrise, and at a second glance it’s sunlight reflecting off a placid lake. I suspect I’ll see new impressions with each viewing. His work is currently on view at The Centre Pompidou in Paris through March 31.
Claudia Wieser, Untitled, 2011, Sies + Höke
Claudia Wieser is inspired by Modernists like Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee, but she also cites architecture, film, theater, and conceptual art as equally influential on her practice. When I first saw Wieser’s gold leaf drawings, simplistic and precise, I thought of math class meets Barnum & Bailey. This playful sculpture, on view at Sies + Höke’s booth, brings her drawings right off the page to create a totem for playfulness and form.
Jon Rafman, Monet Master Bedroom, 2013, Zach Feuer
Who wouldn’t want to sleep in a room of water lilies and the swaying river reeds of Giverny? Enough said.
Eddie Martinez, Happy Painting, 2014, Kohn Gallery
Eddie Martinez’s paintings have been shown around the world and are owned by such institutions as the Dakis Joannou Collection and the MACRO FUTURE Museum of Contemporary Art in Rome. I’ve loved Eddie Martinez’s work since seeing Fruit Punched at Deitch Projects in 2007. Over the years his style has evolved to feature more loose, free-flowing forms, but has retained its effervescent and happy-go-lucky quality.
