Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1405910
FAIR REWARD THE ART SEASON LIFTS OFF: THE ARMORY SHOW UNVEILS THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 THROUGH 12, AT JAVITS CENTER, NYC. CATHERINE D. ANSPON PREVIEWS TOP ARTISTS, INTRIGUING BOOTHS, AND TEXAS PLAYERS AT "NEW YORK'S ART FAIR." T wenty-seven years ago — nearly a decade before Art Basel came to American shores — a micro art fair was born that would go on to shape both the New York and U.S. collecting scene for decades to come. It eclipsed the then-dominate Art Expo in Chicago and built a brand, with curatorial chops and a commitment to diversity and inclusion. Just four dealers participated that first year, setting up in rented rooms in the art-filled Gramercy Park Hotel. The fair expanded, with a move to the Upper East Side's historic 69th Street Regiment Armory, then to the West Side Piers, and now Javits Center. This year's Armory Show, September 9 though 12, offers exciting and robust programming, as well as the main attraction: a roster of more than 200 dealers, encompassing international galleries from 38 countries as well as America's finest, including nearly 60 from the heart of the U.S. art world, New York. Calendar these dates: VIP Preview Party, Thursday, September 9; public days Friday through Sunday, September 10 through 12. MUST-SEES AT THE ARMORY SHOW 2021 EMINENT EMIN T racey Emin is the ultimate representative of the bold and the brave — and the creator of such still- shocking works as the Tate-owned My Bed, 1998, a self-portrait of vulnerability utilizing the artist's actual unmade bed. Recently, the in-your- face bad girl of the YBA movement moved back home to blue-collar seaside town Margate, survived an aggressive form of cancer, FAUX FAUNA S culptor Tony Matelli looks to nature for inspiration. From his creepy, hyper-real Sleepwalker to his ongoing painted bronze trompe l'oeil Weed sculptures (collected by Amy Sedaris), the artist slyly subverts reality. Of his Weeds, Matelli tells PaperCity, "I wanted to locate an image of hope and possibility, persistence, and rebellion." At the Armory, Belgium- based Maruani Mercier features the sculptor's Arrangement (2016), a topsy-turvy lifelike bouquet of day lilies that are eternally rendered in bronze, albeit in an upside Alice in Wonderland way. rediscovered painting, and presented an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, where her new works dialogued with those of a painter of the past whom she admires greatly: Norwegian Expressionist Edvard Munch, creator of The Scream. See the fearless Emin's most recent work, including an emblematic canvas laced with text exhibited at the Royal Academy that emits a feminist battle cry, at the booth of the artist's Rome dealer, Galleria Lorcan O'Neill. ALL IMAGES COURTESY OF THE ARTISTS, THEIR GALLERIES, AND THE ARMORY SHOW. (Continued) 58