The Armory Show Celebrates 25th Anniversary in 2019

The Armory Show
Jan 17, 2019 11:19PM

The Upcoming Edition Features 194 Premier Galleries and Welcomes 59 New Exhibitors, Including Several Who Participated in the Fair's First Editions

Photography by BFA. Courtesy The Armory Show.

The Armory Show’s 2019 edition will present 194 galleries from 33 countries, bringing together an unparalleled presentation of international galleries in central Manhattan. Staged at Piers 90, 92 & 94, the upcoming fair will feature a diverse breadth of compelling artworks—from new discoveries to historical masterpieces. The Armory Show, supported by Lead Partner Athena Art Finance, will open to the public March 7–10, 2019 with the VIP Preview Day on Wednesday, March 6. Marking the fair’s 25th Anniversary and reflecting its heritage in New York, The Armory Show welcomes back several exhibitors who participated in its earliest editions at the Gramercy Park Hotel, including 303 Gallery (New York), Tanya Bonakdar Gallery (New York, Los Angeles), Galerie Krinzinger (Vienna), and Zeno X Gallery (Antwerp). Building on a strong contingent of international exhibitors, the 2019 edition will feature 59 new and first- time exhibitors hailing from five continents, including A Gentil Carioca (Rio de Janeiro), carlier | gebauer (Berlin), Selma Feriani Gallery (Sidi Bou Said), Stephen Friedman Gallery (London), Antoine Levi (Paris), David Nolan Gallery (New York), Öktem&Aykut (Istanbul), ShanghART Gallery, (Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore), Sorry We’re Closed (Brussels), and Tif Sigfrids (Athens, GA).

“We are thrilled to celebrate this milestone anniversary with so many exemplary galleries returning to the fair, and an exciting and diverse selection of first-time exhibitors that reflect our increasingly international reach,” says Nicole Berry, Executive Director. “The Armory Show’s origins at the Gramercy Park Hotel are a beloved and important part of New York City’s cultural heritage, and the fair has since become a nexus for the international art world. As we continue to evolve—engaging more deeply with curators, special artist projects, and thought-provoking programs—we strive to honor the fair’s legacy and look towards its future as New York’s preeminent art fair.”

Galleries, the core section of The Armory Show, features outstanding 20th- and 21st-century artworks in a range of media, presented by 109 leading international galleries. Notable solo- and dual-artist presentations will include:

  • The restaging of Robert Morris’s Finch College Project from 1969 at Castelli Gallery
  • Paintings from 1990–2018 by Claude Viallat at Ceysson & Bénétière
  • A historical presentation of Dorothea Tanning at Alison Jacques Gallery
  • In a new body of work, Victoria Civera exchanges canvas and wood for metal at Galería MPA
  • At David Nolan Gallery, a presentation of recent works by Jorinde Voigt give a unique pictorial form to an array of natural or psychological phenomena
  • At Praz-Delavallade, a pairing of Sam Durant and Jim Shaw, two artists who mine American culture to explore urgent social, political, and cultural issues
  • Selected works by Lynn Hershman spanning the pioneering artist’s oeuvre at ShanghART Gallery
  • peter campus at Cristin Tierney Gallery, coinciding with the artist’s retrospective at the Bronx Museum which will be concurrently on view
  • At Axel Vervoordt Gallery, a pairing of Otto Boll and Lucia Bru underlining their common attitude towards exploring the full potential of space

In addition to these solo- and dual-artist presentations, many exhibitors will devote their booths to presentations by leading contemporary women artists across several generations:

    • Alicja Kwade, Tatiana Trouvé, and Claudia Comte at KÖNIG GALERIE
    • At Carolina Nitsch, a focus on key female figures from the gallery’s roster, including Louise Bourgeois, Mary Heilman, Sarah Lucas, Ebony G. Patterson, Karin Sander, and Kaari Upson
    • A solo presentation of new paintings by Fiona Rae at Galerie Nathalie Obadia
    • A survey of significant works by Tracey Emin, Rachel Whiteread, and Kiki Smith at Galleria Lorcan O’Neill
    • At Ronchini Gallery, Rebecca Ward, Tameka Norris, and Samantha Bittman will explore weaving, stitching, and sewing, mediums traditionally associated with domesticity and craft
    • New etchings by Dana Schutz and Elizabeth Peyton, monotypes by Cecily Brown, and silkscreens by Nona Faustine at Two Palms

Insights, comprising 32 established galleries, emphasizes solo-, dual-artist, and thematic presentations of artworks made before the year 2000. Highlights will include canonical figures in modern and post-war art, in addition to overlooked discoveries from the 20th century:

    • Works from 1984-2000 by Huang Rui, a prominent member of the Stars Group at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery
    • At ADN Galería, a presentation of works by Margaret Harrison, a pioneering artist of the 1970s and cofounder of the London Women’s Liberation Art Group
    • At Aicon Gallery, an oeuvre-spanning presentation of works by Rasheed Araeen, from the artist’s earliest and most iconic sculptures of the 1960s, through his pioneering kinetic, interactive, and performance-based works
    • A unique juxtaposition of British painter Howard Hodgkin and American painter and sculptor Manuel Neri at Hackett Mill
    • Works from1950–1956, from the seminal “spaziototale” series, by Mario Nigro at Aarte Invernizzi
    • A comprehensive survey of works by Gary Brotmeyer at Laurence Miller Gallery, marking Brotmeyer's first solo-show since 2002
    • At Erik Thomsen, a presentation of avant-garde Japanese calligraphy by Yūichi Inoue and Shiryū Morita, two leading artists associated with the Bokujinkai Group
    • Works on paper from 1980–1982 by Jean-Michel Basquiat at Omer Tiroche Gallery

Presents is a platform for galleries no more than ten years old to showcase emerging talents through solo- and dual-artist presentations. Featuring 26 galleries, Presents offers an exciting array of artworks by some of today’s most promising emerging artists. Highlights will include:

  • At El Apartamento, recent works by Eduardo Ponjuán, an essential figure of contemporary Cuban art
  • At Maria Bernheim, Zurich-based Mitchell Anderson’s first solo presentation in New York with multi-media works that explore the lingering history of the found object and image
    • Los Angeles-based Jay Stuckey’s first solo-presentation in New York at Anat Ebgi
    • At Selma Feriani Gallery, recent drawings by Nidhal Chamekh and Massinissa Selmanirecent explore collective memory and the shaping of narratives
    • Fusing the political and personal, at Charlie James Gallery a series of collage works by Sadie Barnette that incorporate the FBI files of her father, Rodney Barnette, founder of the Compton, CA, chapter of the Black Panther Party
    • A pairing of recent paintings by Louis Fratino with an installation by Zoe Williams, which will explore the two artists’ sensual and bodily aesthetic at Antoine Levi
    • Recent paintings by Louise Bonnet at NINO MIER GALLERY

This year’s Focus is organized by Lauren Haynes, Curator of Contemporary Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. Featuring 29 galleries, the presentations in this year’s Focus explore identity through figuration of both real and imagined forms. Highlights will include:

  • At A Gentil Carioca, new paintings by Arjan Martins, winner of the PIPA 2018 Prize
    • At The Hole, new acrylic paintings by Alex Gardner, and the artist’s first sculpture installation
    • New paintings by Peter Williams at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles
    • New cast aluminum works and drawings by Katy Cowan at Philip Martin Gallery
    • At Officine dell'Immagine, a presentation of the Franco-Moroccan artist MounirFatmi, curated by Silvia Cirelli
    • At Parisian Laundry, recent paintings by Joseph Tisiga challenge homogenous perceptions of identity, history, and materiality
    • A new sculptural installation by Kapwani Kiwanga at Galerie Jérôme Poggi
    • Recent paintings by Becky Kolsrud at Tif Sigfrids
    • Galerie Bene Taschen will pair Joseph Rodriguez and Jamel Shabazz, two photographers concerned with capturing humanistic portraits of urban and domestic landscapes of New York

Platform stages large-scale artworks, installations, and commissions across Piers 92 & 94, and will be curated by Sally Tallant, the recently appointed Executive Director of the Queens Museum, and formerly Director of Liverpool Biennial. For its third edition, this year’s Platform section will take the 1939 New York World’s Fair as a point of departure. In 1939, on the brink of World War II, the New York World’s Fair looked to a hopeful future in the face of rising geopolitical uncertainty. Today, environmental, socioeconomic, and political challenges continue to dominate the geopolitical climate, which is defined by an ever-increasing polarization between political parties and classes. The international artists in this year’s Platform section will offer hope, respite, and resilience to articulate alternative narratives and new possible worlds. Participating exhibitors and artists will be announced in the coming months.

A full exhibitors list is available at The Armory Show's website.


The Armory Show