Armory Show – Piers 92 & 94- March 8-11, 2018, New York
Ciao Manhattan!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year (for contemporary and modern art junkies)! As winter storm Quinn hammers the Northeast with heavy snow, Manhattan looks like a Victorian snow globe version of a miniature Gotham City. It almost feels like Christmas, but we are in early March and it’s the VIP preview Day for the Armory Show, New York’s premier international art fair, which will be showcasing outstanding 20th and 21st century artworks by both established and emerging artists. Although tackling the prima donna of U.S. art fairs might seem like a Sisyphean task, I am personally very excited (giddy, complete with the silly smile planted on my face) to attend this binge worthy selection of “the very best” that international Contemporary and Modern art galleries have to offer.
The fair’s 24th edition opens this week with a new Director (none other than Expo Chicago’s former Deputy Director Nicole Berry), a refreshed roster of exhibitors and, most importantly, a mandate to stay relevant
This year’s hot-button themes:
The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation
Technology and The Body
Migration
#MeToo movement
Quiet Lunch’s own Eva Zanardi went scouring the art fair only for the very best, this is what she found:
2018: PIER 92 HIGHLIGHTS – THE ARMORY SHOW

Mary Sibande, “Cry Havoc”, 2014, presented by Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg & Cape Town

Yayoi Kusama, Collages 1980-81 at Omer Tiroche Gallery

Gerhard Richter, “Grun-Blau-Rot 789-76”, 1993, 11 3/4/ X 15 3/4 in. at Lurdoff Gallery

Shin Gallery, installation view, J.PARK, “Embodiment”, 2018

Andy Warhol, “Details of Renaissance Paintings (Paolo Uccello, St. George the Dragon)”, 1984, Paint and ink on canvas, 48 x 72 in. at Wetterling Gallery

Ross Bleckner,”Untitled”, Oil on Linen, 72 X 72 in. at Crane Kalman Gallery
2018: PIER 94 HIGHLIGHTS – THE ARMORY SHOW

Tony Oursler, “Title tbc”, 2018, Aluminum, acrylic paint, resin, video monitor, digital player, 48 X 58 in. at Lisson Gallery

Seydou Keïta, “Untitled”, 1954-1960, posthumous gelatin black and white silver print, 25 3/4 X 21 3/4 X 1 3/8 in. at Galerie Nathalie Obadia

Tara Donovan, “Untitled”, 2018, a site specific installation presented by Pace Gallery, New York

Dorothea Tanning, “Early Politics”, 1988, oil on canvas, 63 3/4 X 51 1/8 in. at Alison Jacques Gallery

Yinka Shonibare, MBE, “Material I”, 2017, hand painted bronze, 27 1/2 X 39 X 29 7/8 in. at James Cohan gallery

JR, “Migrants, after an immigrant family views of the Statue of Liberty from Ellis Island immigration Station dock, courtesy of national Park Service, Statue of Liberty National Monument”, glass panel, 2018 , 3 separate panels, 35.4 X 100 in, 35.4 X 86.6 in. 35.4 X 94.9 in. at Jeffrey Deitch, New York

Darina Karpov, “Luxe et Volupté”, 2015. acrylic on canvas, 72 X 60 in. at Pierogi gallery

James Rosenquist, “Voyager-Speed of Light”, 2001, oil on canvas, 90 x 144, 02 in. at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac

Alexandre Farto aka Vhils, “Highlight #12”, 2018, styrofoam cut with hot-wire, assembled and glued by hand, 190 X 142 X 28 cm at Galeria Vera Cortês

Athi-Patra Ruga, “Lizalis Indinga Lakho/Autistik Imperium (Manifest Destiny/Autistic Empire), DETAIL, 2017, wool and thread on canvas, 16′ 4 3/4“ x 13′ 1 1/2” at Whatiftheworld Gallery

Eva Zanardi is a curator, art advisor and art writer specializing in Kinetic Art, Op Art and Minimalism. She curates a contemporary art blog, “The Responsive I“.