Christine Hill at Ronald Feldman
Christine Hill at Ronald Feldman
Coming in the middle of economic recession, with a winter of slow sales in Chelsea, people wondered how the Armory Show 2009 might fare. Amidst these conversations about possible sales results, there was also speculation about how the situation might affect the overall look and feel of the fair, as galleries chose to design their booths in new and inventive ways. To some degree this was true. The fair is still an art fair. It is large, cluttered, and places many artists and artworks completely out of context. Many galleries stuck with the typical white booths, filled with a group “show,” “curated” purely on the basis that each of those artists shows with the gallery. But thankfully, a respectable number of galleries chose to represent themselves with a variety of more thoughtful approaches.
These approaches took a number of different directions. Some galleries chose to focus on a single-artist, so that their booths became small exhibitions rather than art stores. One of the stars of this approach was Ronald Feldman’s booth. Here, amidst an “apothecary,” artist Christine Hill gave out prescriptions for a small fee. On opening evening, the booth was filled with eager customers. At Paul Kasmin’s booth, Kenny Scharf’s work brightly beckoned to the milling crowds. Down at Los Angeles gallery, Honor Fraser, the booth showed the work of artist Alexandra Grant (along with the inclusion of one painting by another artist). Director Nicole Archibeque explained that one of the reasons they chose to focus their booth on Grant’s work was the fact that she is not yet represented in New York. Therefore, they could showcase an artist not seen in other booths.
Hopefully this concentration on artists, installation, and curating, will grow and flourish at future fairs.
Another tactic was the use of unique booth design to draw attention to a show. This agreeable trend led to colored or wall-papered walls, floors constructed of various materials, and the creation of unique architectural elements in the walls of the booths themselves. Some galleries chose to present genuinely curated exhibitions, such as the show Do they love their children too? at Milliken, a Stockholm gallery. And of course, there were many striking installations used by galleries for attention-getting purposes – obviously a common practice.
So, while it was still an art FAIR, there was evidence of a move towards the creation of impressive and innovative shows. Those galleries that put in this extra effort deserve any extra attention they may have received. And hopefully this concentration on artists, installation, and curating, will grow and flourish at future fairs.
Proprietor and artist Christine Hill at work in "The Volksboutique Armory Apothecary"
Proprietor and artist Christine Hill at work in “The Volksboutique Armory Apothecary”
