Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1506595
T he international art market, vis-à- vis the fairs, keeps to a strict calendar. Mega collectors flock to Miami in December (Art Basel Miami Beach); Dallas and Chicago in April (Dallas Art Fair, Expo Chicago); and Basel, Switzerland, in June (Art Basel). But autumn belongs to Manhattan: The Armory Show launches the fall art season every September. It's a tradition that began 29 years ago — a lifetime ago in contemporary art, and a decade before the first Art Basel Miami Beach was hatched — when a micro art fair was born that would go on to shape both the New York and U.S. collecting scene for a generation to come. Just four dealers participated that first year, setting up in rented rooms in the art-filled Gramercy Park Hotel. The fair soon expanded, with a move to the Upper East Side's historic 69th Regiment Armory, then to the West Side Piers and now its latest home, Javits Center. This year's Armory Show promises stimulating and robust programming, alongside its main attraction: a roster of more than 225 dealers encompassing galleries from 35 countries as well as America's finest. Ever one to probe the edges of the scene, where fresh curatorial vision happens, The Armory Show has expanded its embrace of emerging dealers (defined as less than 10 years as gallerists) to forge the Presents area of the fair. Beeline to L.A.- based Sow & Tailor's booth, which replicates a psychic reader's storefront, stocked with new paintings by Kayla Witt, canvases that meld a Pop kick with Surrealist attitude. Recommended in the Solo category is Bridget Mullen's deranged but captivating psychedelic figuration at Shulamit Nazarian (L.A.). Also in Solo, Lagos, Nigeria dealer kó presents multimedia talent Modupeola Fadugba's ongoing series, Dreams from the Deep End, exploring racial justice via the true narrative of an all-Black synchronized swimming team based in Harlem. Tapestries, beading, and weavings are highlighted from talents getting their day, including the iconic Joyce J. Scott (at Peter Blum Gallery) and Sheila Hicks (Galerie Frank Elbaz). Then there's the rediscovery of Latinx fiber artist/ feminist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, the subject of San Antonio-founded Ruiz- Healy Art's booth in Focus. Top of the Armory 2023: In the Platform section, immersive installations and site- specific works reign. Must-sees include works by bona fide art stars Yinka Let the Art Games Begin: By Catherine D. Anspon The Armory Show Unveils Yinka Shonibare's Refugee Astronaut IV, 2023, at James Cohan Gallery ASIAN ART MUSEUM, SAN FRANCISCO; PHOTO KEVIN CANDLAND Mary Ellen Carroll's Indestructible Language, 2021, at Galerie Hubert Winter Reynier Leyva Novo's Los Olores de la Guerra (The Scents of War), 2009, at Sicardi Ayers Bacino Jean Shin's Huddled Masses, 2020, at Praise Shadows Art Gallery STEPHEN WHITE DOUGIE LINDSAY