At Armory Show's exclusive event, a measured sense of hope permeates amidst modest sales transactions
The Armory Show, one of the world's premier art fairs, returned to the Javits Center in New York City this year with a renewed spirit. After a summer marred by gallery closures, lawsuits, and fair cancellations, the 2023 edition started with long queues, signalling a strong interest in the art market.
This year's fair features an overhauled floor plan, curated programming, and a structure emphasizing curated programming. Fifty-five new galleries are participating, making up about a quarter of the overall exhibitor list. Among them are notable names like Andrew Kreps and Esther Schipper, who returned to the fair after a "hiatus."
Many dealers at the fair reported a cautiously upbeat mood and a slower pace matched by serious interest. David Blum, a director at Peter Blum Gallery, stated that there is still a hunger in the market. This sentiment was echoed by Natalie Kates, cofounder of Kates-Ferri Projects, who noted a shift from last year's no-shows and expressed optimism about the potential for sales.
Peter Blum Gallery's presentation at the fair included a tranquil 1962 oil painting, October 2, by Alex Katz, priced at $1.2 million. Saatchi Yates, in its Armory Show debut, brought a solo presentation by Tesfaye Urgessa, who represented Ethiopia in the 2024 Venice Biennale. Prices for the large-scale paintings ranged from $135,000 to $200,000.
Devan Patel, cofounder of Patel Brown, brought a series of large-scale hand-printed linocuts on traditional Japanese Tosa Washi paper by Canadian Japanese artist Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka. The standout piece, Rumination, a 12-foot-long piece, was priced at $36,000 and had yet to sell, but six others sold, priced between $5,800 and $15,000.
Sean Kelly sold a Kehinde Wiley painting for $265,000, James Cohan sold a Kennedy Yanko sculpture for $150,000, and Tang Contemporary sold an Ai Weiwei "toilet paper" sculpture for $150,000 to $180,000. Massey Klein, a gallery from Chinatown, participated for the first time and sold the largest piece in its solo presentation by Kate McQuillen for more than $24,000 to a new collector.
Institutional figures such as Thelma Golden, the Studio Museum in Harlem director and chief curator, and Scott Rothkopf, the Whitney Museum director, were also in attendance. Victoria Miro, a London blue-chip gallery, dedicated most of its booth to diaristic en plein air portraits by Doron Langberg, with prices ranging between $22,000 and $35,000. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum have recently acquired pieces by Langberg.
Despite the challenges faced by the art market, The Armory Show's 2023 edition remained a significant event, with many works selling and a positive outlook for the future of the art market. The fair's second edition under director Kyla McMillan, who joined just two months before last year's edition, closed with a third of the booth having sold, leaving many eager to see what the next edition will bring.
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