Plants
There’s not a dealer at The Armory Show who will tell you this year’s fair is any less than amazing. They’ll do so, though, in front of a golden art shoe that’s grown a penis. Not a great sign for the fair.
And indeed, it’s terrible. Not since The Armory Show launched what we dubbed the “Zoo Fair” back in 2010 have we seen this much awful work. Yellow dominates. Dicks have taken over. A plant trend emerges. None of this is inherently bad, but when paired with a lack of thoughtfulness that would astonish even the most calloused art-fair visitor, the results are nothing short of disastrous. This year, these misses were enough to warrant their own post. Fair highlights shortly.
THE WORST OF THE ARMORY
Wiebke Siem, “Junior,” 2006. At Johnen Galerie, Berlin.
The Armory VIP Lounge, walled off by trees.
Luxury bales. Socratis Socratous’s installation, “Incarnation.” In the Focus: MENAM (Middle East North African and the Mediterranean) Lounge, part of The Breeder, Athens.
Gilles Barbier’s “A Very Old Thing” at Vallois. And by the Thing, we mean Ben Grimm.
Ryan Gander at Johnen Galerie
Yellow photo op
K-Hole at the New Museum (yellow). Not bad, just yellow.
Yayoi Kusama polka-dot dogs at Victoria Miro (yellow)
Camille Henrot’s “Unfriendly With a Friend” at Metro Pictures. To be fair, Henrot’s a great artist. This piece, though, does not benefit from the larger context of the fair.
Yayoi Kusama, “Golden Shoe,” 1959-1966. At Carolina Nitsch.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, “A convention of a tiny movements.” Some explanation required: scientists have discovered that it’s possible to recreate sound by tracking the vibrations of materials it collides with. Foil wrap and plants are best. So Hamdan is handing out chips in bags with his press release printed on the back to explain this concept to people.
Mickalene Thomas, “Untitled,” bronze and wood. At Kavi Gupta.
Richard Jackson’s “Art Fair Party” at Vallois
Robert Overby’s “Summer Fram” at Andrew Kreps. (Not visible in this reproduction is the image of a woman’s face in ecstasy, seen just above the G-string. Gotta see it in person to truly appreciate this painting.)
The stairs of death were out of service—again.
{ 1 comment }
Wow the caption on that Overby confused me but I googled it and, yeah,
yeah,
I don’t even know.
Also I’m guessing his output was very diverse because (I’m pretty certain) I’ve seen some of his work and it looked nothing at all like that.
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