"Artists should never be at an art fair," Chuck Close told ARTINFO on the afternoon of the VIP preview for the 14th annual Armory Show. "It's like taking the cow on a guided tour of the slaughterhouse. You know this sort of thing goes on, but you don't want to see it." Yesterday, however, this particular slaughterhouse seemed to be one that many people — artists included — wanted to see. Terence Koh, Marilyn Minter, and Jayson Musson (better known as his alter ego Hennessy Youngman) were among those wandering the aisles, while collectors included Mera and Don Rubell, Anita Zabludowicz, and David Mugrabi. Museum directors were in full force too — Studio Museum director Thelma Golden was spotted deep in conversation with official Armory artist Theaster Gates, while Whitney director Adam Weinberg stepped in and out of booths well into the evening.
There was much chatter about the Armory's recent attempts to revive its image. Indeed, in an effort to stave off competition from new arrival Frieze in May (whose director, Amanda Sharp, was caught walking the aisles, but politely declined to discuss what she thought of the fair, noting that she'd only just arrived), the Armory attempted to undergo a full-fledged makeover. It decreased the number of exhibitors and entirely redesigned its longtime home at Piers 92 & 94. In addition to luring back galleries that had defected in previous years, like Greene Naftali and David Zwirner, the show managed to lure some old attendees as well. "It's the first Armory Show I've been to in five years," said Minter.
The changes made a positive impression on most fairgoers. "It's a bit easier to navigate," said Zabludowicz of the new design. "This year I'm actually hoping to see the whole thing. Last year I didn't finish." Whether the much-touted makeover translates into overwhelming sales remains to be seen, at least in the contemporary section, but it was clear that some substantial business was being done. Most galleries reported a sale or two by the end of preview day, the majority of which stayed squarely in the $25,000 to $80,000 range. Foot traffic was brisk right from the opening at noon.
New York's Leila Heller Gallery sold a mesmerizing video piece by Farideh Lashai, "Rabbit in Wonderland," which projected bunnies onto a painting of a woodland scene, for $80,000. Rhona Hoffman Gallery, of Chicago, sold a small latex painting of a brick wall by artist Robert Overby for $35,000 and a bright dot-filled wall piece made of hanging disks by Yasuhiro Ishimoto for $60,000.
Hyundai Gallery, from Seoul, brought works from classic Korean artists — Lee Ufan and Nam June Paik — and Ai Weiwei, as well as works by a set of cool new names. Among these was U-Ram Choe's mechanized bird-like statue which mesmerizingly flapped its metal wings — a hit as a photo op for fairgoers which was on offer for $45,000 — and Joonho Jeon's sly animation which depicted a note of the North Korean currency as the landscape on it caught fire. Jeon's video was sold in the first few yours for $35,000.
Some galleries had extreme success. Zwirner’s booth of silkscreen posters by German artist Michael Reidel sold out within the first 30 minutes for $50,000 a pop. Berlin gallery Spruth Magers also had a brisk day of business, selling a bright red wool Rosmarine Trockel wall piece for 175,000 euros and a Picasso-like, bright George Condo chalk and pen portrait for $120,000, both to American collectors. By late afternoon, the gallery had also sold a large 1978 Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Still, though it declined to say for exactly how much. ("A lot of money" was the only answer ARTINFO was able to get.)
"The idea was to recreate the domestic environment of an '80s collector," said Philomene Magers of the booth, which presented works from around that decade. The gallery had returned to the Armory after five years away, during which time it began participating in the Independent fair, a move that would have been unthinkable even five years ago, when there were far fewer high-end satellite fairs, not to mention a smaller percentage of total gallery business being conducted at these events. "The additional cost is limited to do two fairs at the same time, but the potential to gain is huge," said gallery director Andreas Gegner.
Sean Kelly Gallery also had one of the more successful booths at the fair, selling works by many, if not most, of the artists he presented there. A large painting by Kehinde Wiley, who currently has a solo exhibition at the Jewish Museum, depicting two men in jeans posing in front of the artist's trademark baroque background sold for $135,000, while a mesmerizing vitrine by Leandro Earlich that appeared to capture tiny clouds floating in a wooden cabinet sold for $65,000. Asked whether he thought the Armory was having a resurgence after a string of years struggling to attract top collectors, Kelly shook his head. "That's rubbish," he said. "Everyone is talking about Frieze coming in, but there is a lot of business being done here. If galleries don't want to come, we're happy to take their business. And we do."
A surprising number of galleries presented work that had been made specially for the fair. Los Angeles's Cherry and Martin sold four surreal videos by artist Brian Bress within the first few hours. The artist made them for specifically the Armory after his solo show at the gallery sold out, leaving his dealers with the happy conundrum of not having enough work to bring. (In one film, a figure wears a grotesque mask and builds totemic sculptures on a tabletop for 45 minutes; another features a rotating mushroom.) Mary Ryan gallery brought newly made neo-surrealist graphite works by Josh Dorman, several of which were sold early for $1,500. Another gallery, Loevenbruck from Paris, had artist Børre Sæthre create an installation that transformed the booth into a kind of desolate space-age video arcade. The artist, who the dealer described as "Norwegian Matthew Barney," constructed a suite of wood sculptures that resembled ghost-like 1980s arcade games without any buttons or screens. They are available as a set for $45,000.
One thing that the Armory Show certainly got right was the Nordic Focus section. While perhaps not the hub of the commercial action on the opening day — "a lot of interest" was the refrain repeated by several dealers, which generally means "no sales yet" — the area clearly had the best vibe. Down the center aisle were piles of posters and free multiples by various participating Nordic artists that guests could grab (many did), giving the space an undeniable social atmosphere, while interesting work like Leander Djonde's "Disappearance of a summit #2" at Oslo's Dortmund Bodega's — a shattered pickaxe, which had actually once been used to dig New York's subways, mounted on a board and standing as a symbol of antique labor in a post-industrial society — could be had for reasonable price (in this case, $5,600). The artists from the cold north of Europe managed to bring a little energy back to unseasonably warm New York.
— With reporting by Ben Davis