A Homegrown Contemporary Art Fair on Piers

Bigger and possibly better than the Biennial across town, the Armory Show is New York’s hometown contemporary art fair. That means, practically and symbolically, it is devoted to the pursuit of the new. The Armory offers a broad glimpse into the most salable work just whisked from artists’ studios, as opposed to the collection of dark scribbles, plywood sculptures, and graffitied rocks currently at the Whitney.The 154 international galleries fill two Hudson River piers – imagine the decks of two massive cruise ships stocked with neo-Neoexpressionist paintings, glossy photographs, color saturated videos, and fey drawings – and are expected to attract 40,000 visitors. The fair opens to the public tomorrow on Piers 90 and 92.The smell of fresh paint and Sculpee distinguishes the Armory Show from its main American competitor, Art Basel Miami Beach. “What sets the Armory apart is we only accept galleries that bring new art by living artists, primary market,” the fair’s director, Katelijne De Backer, said. “You’re not going to see Picasso, Matisse. I always say if you want to see what’s happening today, you really have to come to the Armory.” Some of the galleries with booths on the piers do engage in secondary-market reselling, but technically, they don’t do it at the fair.There are fewer galleries lining the piers than in the past two years, even as applications have increased, and Ms. De Backer expects equal or more sales. Last year, the fair cleared $45 million. In comparison, Frieze, London’s biggest fair, made around $57 million. (Art Basel Miami Beach does not release numbers.) Booths at the Armory Show cost the galleries between $6,000 and $46,000, depending on size.The cover artist for this year’s fair catalog is 78-year-old John Wesley, whose work seems to get more youthful with age, perhaps because so many young artists also paint with his flat, comic-book style and humor. Fourteen paintings on paper by Mr. Wesley, starting at $30,000 each, are at the Fredericks & Freiser booth. “There’s a strong market for Wesley, and there has been for a while,” the gallery’s co-owner, Andrew Freiser, said.But the fair is also an ideal place to introduce new artists. Mr. Freiser is bringing works by Justin Craun, whose paintings sell for around $4,000 and whose lurid colors and goofball wit look indebted to Mr. Wesley. “I brought Craun to the Armory last year, and when he popped up in three group shows, he had interest because of that,” Mr. Freiser said.New York gallerist Anton Kern, who is on the fair’s selection committee, is devoting his booth to American artists, in part, he said, “versus the globalization of the Whitney Biennial,” which includes a notable proportion of foreign artists this year. Irreverent drawings by Ellen Berkenblit, dating from 1991 to 2005, form a mini-retrospective and range from $1,500 to $3,000. Mr. Kern, in fact, has two artists in the Biennial – painter Mark Grotjahn and sculptor Matthew Monahan – but is only bringing a work by Mr. Monahan to the Armory Show.The overlapping timing of the Biennial and the Armory does cause a blip of interest in artists on view at the Whitney. “We certainly had people this week that had seen the Biennial and had either reiterated interest or said it for the first time,” Michael Jenkins of the New York gallery Sikkema Jenkins said about paintings by Mark Bradford. He is showing Mr. Bradford’s colorful amalgams of street detritus and paint at the Armory; big works, such as the two in the Biennial, go for $55,000. Mr. Jenkins is also bringing works by Vik Muniz, Amy Sillman, Kara Walker, and other gallery artists.“It brings in people who didn’t know the work,” a New York dealer, Nicole Klagsbrun, said. One of her artists, Adam McEwen, has his fake obituaries of famous people featured prominently throughout the Biennial. Ms. Klagsbrun is bringing paintings by Mr. McEwen, which range from $7,000 to $8,000, as well as photographs by Mika Rottenberg, Nancy Davenport, and Billy Sullivan. A new “potential future drawing” by Beth Campbell, a sort of psychogram, is priced at around $5,000.In 2004, Eve Sussman’s video “89 Seconds at Alcazar” made simultaneous debuts at the Biennial and at Roebling Hall’s booth at the Armory. A copy now sits in MoMA’s permanent collection. This year, Roebling Hall is selling stills from Ms. Sussman’s latest work for $10,000, as well as a life-size resin reinterpretation of the Madonna and Child by Kevin Francis Gray, for $35,000.The savviest collectors lined up for widely shown artists such as Messrs. Bradford and McEwen long before the Biennial itself, noting their recent gallery exhibitions as well as the initial announcement of Biennial artists, which coincided with Art Basel Miami Beach in early December.Miami poses a challenge to the Armory. It is bigger and flashier, and in four short years has loosened the Armory’s hold on the contemporary fair market in the United States. This year, some key galleries, Barbara Gladstone among them, did not return to the Armory.But dealers such as Mr. Freiser and Ms. Klagsbrun remain loyal to the Armory. “We do it every year, so I can’t imagine not. It would be hard to be in New York and miss it,” Mr. Freiser said.“Everyone has to find a niche, and for the Armory that is being more cutting-edge,” Mr. Kern said. “It’s not Basel or Miami – it should be young and fresh and quality, not just a bunch of things tacked to the wall.”The fair is also hosting even more events for VIP visitors, such as back-to-back breakfasts at the homes of such prominent collectors as Joel and Sherry Mallin and Susan and Michael Hort, as well as private tours of museums and Chelsea galleries.Armory Show viewing times March 10, 11 & 12 from noon to 8 p.m., and March 13 from noon to 5 p.m. at Piers 90 & 92 (Twelfth Avenue between 50th and 52nd Streets). Opening night preview party tonight at MoMA. For more information, visit www.thearmoryshow.com.

A Homegrown Contemporary Art Fair on Piers

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