As you may have gathered, last week in New York was Armory week, though the city’s main local fair might have felt jostled for prominence among a host of others for which “satellite” feels inadequate as a description. Most notably, Independent and Spring Break completed a trilogy of very different environments and atmospheres—even if the motivations are at base the same. While engaging booth designs at The Armory Show were not mostly limited to the special projects or emerging sections (an improvement on last year), the tempo was nonetheless fairly slow and the crowds not too thick. Many visitors seemed very pleased with Spring Break, with its innumerable and highly varied curator-led installations inside the historic Post Office building on 8th Avenue. Despite having had only 2 days to set up in unprepared rooms, these were sustained and genuinely stimulating, and more memorable (not least for being less pristine) as an experience than the average art fair presentation. Meanwhile at Independent, the mood among colorful, quite decorative works was tranquil (if not a wee bit complacent), with tall, rather luxurious white walls dividing sun-drenched floors in the Spring Studios on Varick Street. Each to their own seemed an appropriate motto for the week of commercial shows.
At The Armory Show 2016
OMR at the Armory Show
Klaus von Nichssagend at The Armory Show
Tiwani Contemporary at The Armory Show
Hannah Hoffman at Independent
Office Baroque at Independent
Peres Projects at Independent
David Lewis at Independent
Cate Giordano’s “Heavy Food” curated by Catherine Mahoney at Spring Break
David B. Smith’s work curated by Jessica Hodin at Spring Break
Genevieve Gaignard presented by Shulamit Nazarian at Spring Break
Spring Break
