On September 9, 2021, The Armory Show ~ New York’s Art Fair ~ returned with 212 exhibitors from 37 countries for its 27th edition. 157 of these galleries took part in the physical fair in The Armory Show’s permanent new home, the Javits Center. The Event will also include off-site outdoor art installation at Astor Place; Bella Abzug Park; Flatiron Plaza; and Pier 64 at Hudson River Park. If you missed the show, digital access to Armory Online will be available on Artsy through September 30th.
As a result of ongoing travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 55 of the fair’s international exhibitors will participate in The Armory Show’s new user-friendly digital platform, Armory Online ~ developed in partnership with Artlogic ~ and have deferred their in-person participation to the fair’s 2022 edition. Nearly half of the fair’s international galleries will present a physical booth in the 2021 edition and The Armory Show is providing support, where needed, to find staff in New York to act as proxy booth attendants.
“We are committed to holding the 2021 edition of The Armory Show safely and with the best possible conditions ~ for our gallerists, collectors, and the public. People are eager to get back to fairs and to New York City. This September will be the perfect time to visit as the city’s cultural life reawakens. While we are disappointed that continued restrictions have made it impossible for some of our international galleries to exhibit in-person this year, we are delighted to have their continued participation in our online platform, and we look forward to welcoming them back to The Armory Show in 2022. meanwhile, we are thrilled to welcome a fantastic selection of exhibitors from across the world and more than 7,500 confirmed VIPs to our new venue this fall.”…. Nicole Berry, Executive Director of The Armory Show.
In addition to The Armory Show’s new location and integrated floorpan, highlights of this year’s fair include a new section, Solo, which will feature single-artist booths as well as special curated presentations for the Focus section by Wassan Al-Khudhairi (Chief Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis) and the Platform section by Claudia Schmuckli (Curator-in-Charge of Contemporary Art and Programming, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco).
For 2021, The Pommery Prize, now in its third year, was awarded toJane Lombard Gallery for its presentation of The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, Room F, Section 1, Northwest Palace of Nimrud (2019) by Michael Rakowitz, in The Armory Show’s Platform section. SARADIPOUR Art (Tehran) presented artist Moslem Khezri and was named the winner of the Presents Booth Prize, supported by Yieldstreet x Athena Art Finance.
This year, The Armory Show will include Armory Off-Site, an expansion throughout the city with large-scale and interactive artworks in public areas.
The new outdoor public art program, Armory Off-Site will accompany the fair’s 2021 edition in September. With partnerships across New York City, Armory Off-Site presents large-scale and interactive artworks in key parks and public spaces. The program will launch in conjunction with the fair on September 9, with several projects on display until December 2021.
Armory Off-Site is a unique partnership between The Armory Show; several of the fair’s exhibiting galleries; and New York City organizations and districts, including the Department of Transportation, Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership, Hudson River Park Trust, the Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance, NYC Parks, and the Village Alliance. The program will expand The Armory Show’s reach beyond the Javits Center into public areas around the city, including Astor Place Plaza, Bella Abzug Park, Flatiron Plaza, and Pier 64 at Hudson River Park.
The program will feature four works by international contemporary artists, including ambitious projects created specifically for Armory Off-Site. Artists participating in the first edition of the program are the Guild of Adventure Painters, led by Johnny DeFeo and Aaron Zulpo from 1969 Gallery (New York), Katja Larsson from Aicon Contemporary (New York), Josh Callaghan from Night Gallery (Los Angeles), and David Cavaliero and Niyi Olagunju from TAFETA (London). These artists will explore themes ranging from Classical mythology to global commercial ecosystems to the built environment, inviting visitors to gather, reflect, and interact with their artworks.
Nicole Berry, Executive Director of The Armory Show, said: “Since its first edition in the Gramercy Park Hotel, the fair has been an important part of the fabric of New York’s cultural community and is deeply committed to supporting the city’s incredible museums, galleries, and artists, but also celebrating and giving back to the city. This year, we felt it was more important than ever to enhance New York City’s beautiful parks and outdoor spaces with engaging and interactive public art for all residents and visitors to experience, enjoy, and hopefully find inspiration. This exciting new program would not have been possible without our city and gallery partners, who have closely collaborated with the fair to create dynamic and unique experiences throughout our extraordinary city.”
Above and below, artist Josh Callaghan, Social Blocks (2021) will be located at Flatiron Plaza at 22nd Street from September 9 to November 1, 2021.
Social Block (2021), an installation by Los Angeles-based artist Josh Callaghan will be presented on the Flatiron South Public Plaza by Night Gallery (Los Angeles). Cast concrete cinder blocks, one of the most ubiquitous yet largely overlooked elements of the modern human-built environment, will be presented at approximately 2.3 times normal scale. Social Block forms a new relationship to the human body at the intersection of sculpture, furniture, and architecture. Drawing from research on the interactions of crowds within public spaces, the installation is intended to provoke both social and tactile engagements with the work. The artwork will provide a site for gathering, reflection and play, creating an alternative architecture that elevates a banal industrial subject into a humanistic setting for a city to return to one another’s company. Presented in partnership with the Department of Transportation and the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership
Below, artists David Cavaliero and Niyi Olagunju, Untitled (AFH Installation) (2019) located at Bella Abzug Park from September 9 to December 3.
Untitled (AFH Installation) (2019) will be presented by TAFETA Gallery (London) in Bella Abzug Park on Block 2. A collaborative project between New York-based artist David Cavaliero and Houston-based artist Niyi Olagunj, this interactive installation will invite the public to self-identify and then question their place in the global commercial ecosystem.
The public is invited to come out and engage with this piece of artwork that will be on view from September 6th until early December. For more information on the piece click here. Presented in partnership with NYC Parks & Hudson Yards Hell’s Kitchen Alliance.
Below, artist Katja Larsson, Empire and Materially Superior (Both 2021) Hudson River Park, Pier 64 at 24th Street from September 9 to December 3, 2021.
Aicon Contemporary (New York) will present new works by Katja Larsson titled Empire and Materially Superior (both 2021). Employing figures from Classical antiquity and mythology, the sculptures imbue everyday objects with a sense of the heroic or epic. Contemporary apparel such as baseball caps are reinterpreted as antique artifacts, their symbols and text examined through a lens of classical history. The sculptures draw our attention to the echoes of classical icons across history, as well as timeless archetypes such as ruler and subject. Reminiscent of the ancient Egyptian fragmented statues in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the works are cast using a chemical enlargement process to create an uncanny, heightened experience of the everyday. Presented in partnership with Hudson River Park Trust
Below, Adventure Painting: NYC (2021) at Astor Place Plaza, South Plaza from September 9-12 from 10am to 6pm daily by The Guild of Adventure Painters, led by Johnny DeFeo and Aaron Zulpo.
Adventures in Painting at Astor Place (Above) 1969 Gallery (New York) will present Adventure Painting: NYC (2021), a new interactive work by the Guild of Adventure Painters, led by artists Johnny DeFeo and Aaron Zulpo. A 31-foot Airstream RV, open on one side to reveal an exhibition of paintings by Guild Artists, will be installed at Astor Place from September 9-12, 2021. Each day, between 10am-6pm, the Guild will host painting sessions with guest artists outside the RV. Visitors will be invited to engage with the artists and watch them paint, as well as to view exhibition works and new paintings made on-site in the tradition of observational outdoor painting. Presented in partnership with the Village Alliance
The 2021 Armory Show will be held at Javits Center, 429 11th Avenue, NYC. VIP Preview to be held on Thursday, September 9; Public Days will be held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 10, 11, 12.
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Did you know that the Javits Center has the largest green roof in New York City?
You are right across the street from a path that will take you to The Shed, The Vessel, The Edge, along The High Line. On your way home? Take the beautiful #7 subway station, with artwork by Xenobia Bailey.
On view during Armory Art Week, Spring/Break NYC and Art on Paper