Armory-palooza: Photos from the main event.
Free Twinkies at Pace Wildenstein. No Little Debbies in sight. (Photos by C-M, unless otherwise stated.)
That giant art supermarket on the piers, known as the Armory Show, is open for business! And no matter how snobbarrific this event can be, it also, at times, takes on the lowbrow sheen of a tattoo convention. Take, for example, the cereal portrait of Barack Obama at Philadelphia’s Cerealart. Or the free Twinkies (above) being dispensed by the über-galleristas at Pace Wildenstein. Or the Kenny Scharf golf cart driven by a guy in a space suit that dispenses free donuts. (I gnoshed on a French cruller.) It’s as if everyone was catering to the little stoner that lives inside each and every one of us.
There was incredible stuff, too: The Michael Vazquez canvases at Fred Snitzer, the Don Bachardy drawings at Cheim & Reid. And, of course, those seriously gnarly bottle-cap sculptures by El Anatsui. Sublime!
If you haven’t had quite enough Armory, here’s me blabbing about it on WNYC.
The show runs through 7 p.m. on Sunday.
Click on images to supersize. More after the jump.
Desert Prada by Burk Uzzle, a photograph of an Elmgreen Dragset sculpture at Laurence Miller Gallery, in the fair’s new modern section at Pier 94. (Image courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery.)
This just about says it all: A 1965 print of Dorothea Lang’s famous 1936 shot, Migrant Mother, at Alan Appel Gallery, of Chicago.
I think it’s for you. In the Victoria Miro Gallery booth, which was very nicely composed. Christian Holstad sculpture in the foreground, Elmgreen Dragset porno curtain in the back.
On the main floor at Pier 92: These stopped me in my tracks. Don Bachardy’s death bed portraits of Christoher Isherwood, displayed at Cheim & Reid. Do not miss.
Black Zag K, by Louise Nevelson at Leonard Hutton Galleries, at Pier 94.
Martin Ramirez, at Ricco/Maresca, at Pier 94. If you’re into Ramirez, definitely check out this booth — which is entirely devoted to the artist.
What we’re all feeling: Vulnerable by Doug Aitken, at 303 Gallery.
Hide Out, 2009 by Hernan Bas, at Fred Snitzer Gallery.
Henry Moore behind Barbed Wire, by Sven t’Joll at Stella Lohaus Gallery. I don’t know why, but I find this hilarious.
Because the world needs more meat-heads. Tony Matelli’s Double Meat-Head at Leo Keonig.
Flamboyance ain’t dead yet. An LED-filled installation by T.V. Santhosh at the Arario Gallery booth.
Pablo’s Damon Auf Harz IV by Kati Heck. I hate it when the Nair does that to my legs, too.
Michael Vasquez at Fred Snitzer.
Sniper tower by Olav Westphalen at Milliken Gallery. (Great views up there!!)
At Sean Kelly Gallery, a great metaphor for the housing market: this carousel by Leandro Erlich.
A couple take in drawings by Hitler that have been vandalized by Jake and Dinos Chapman at White Cube. (See a close-up of one of these.) I have to say, that for something intended to be so sensational, these are a total snore.
Soundsuits, by Nick Cave, at Jack Shainman Gallery.
Gorgeous: A sculpture by El Anatsui outside the VIP lounge, courtesy of Shainman.
Feeling a little Burning Man over at Pier 94. Amatesaru by Doug and Mike Starn, courtesy of the Wetterling Gallery.
Time to get back to work: Detail of a photograph by Guy Tillim, at Michael Stevenson Gallery, of Cape Town.
Read more on the fair at:
- Art Fag City. More here and here. Plus, her guide to all the fairs here.
- Anaba. More here and here.
- Art Observed. With a lengthy photo essay here.
- New York Times.
- The Art Newspaper on the fair’s new modern section. Plus a report on sales.
- Artinfo.
- DLK Collection writes about photography at the Armory in 1 and 2 parts.
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