I recently had the chance to walk through New York’s Armory Show before the crowds arrived. I was curious to see what I might encounter and wondered if I would be inundated with figurative work or booths full of portraiture. Leaving the hotel on my way to the Jacob Javits Center, I hoped they would have good coffee inside and was eager to see how many Texas galleries I might find.
Inside the Armory Show
Thankfully they had good coffee, and although no Texas galleries were exhibiting this year, plenty of Texas artists were represented by galleries based elsewhere. Trenton Doyle Hancock had the most presence by far, with works in the James Cohan Gallery and Nazarian / Curcio’s booths.
Trenton Doyle Hancock, “Step and Screw Seven Foot Furry Face Off,” 2022, acrylic, fake fur collage on canvas, 84 x 84 inches, Nazarian / Curcio
Trenton Doyle Hancock, “It Takes Three or Four to Even the Score,” 2022, acrylic, graphite, ink, paper and canvas collage, plastic bottle caps on canvas, 60 x 48 inches, Nazarian / Curcio
Works by Trenton Doyle Hancock at Nazarian / Curcio
Trenton Doyle Hancock, “At Stake,” 2024, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 60 x 48 inches, James Cohan
The legendary John Biggers made an appearance at the Michael Rosenfeld Gallery’s booth.
John Biggers, “Preparing Fu-fu,” 1957. Photo: Joseph Cohen
As did the amazing Michael Ray Charles, with Templon.
Michael Ray Charles, “(Forever Free) Head 1,” 2005, acrylic latex and copper penny on canvas, 89 × 59 inches. Photo: Joseph Cohen
There was an endless stream of interesting work that drew me across the aisles for closer inspection. I have to admit after years of bad art fair experiences, I was just glad there were no glittery Marilyn Monroe paintings or Jackson Pollock reboots. Yet, much of what I saw was clean and relatively safe at this election-year iteration of the fair. All of the work on display was Instagram-ready.
Lubna Chowdhary, “Certain Times LXXIX,” 2024, ceramic, Ingleby
I was happy to finally see the paintings of Masami Teraoka in person. His work combines the flawless execution of an interesting technique (watercolor on raw canvas) with powerful content (an Edo-style take on the AIDS crisis and the influence of Western culture on Japan). Many of the pieces on display were ones I had known only from books.
Masami Teraoka, “AIDS Series/Mother and Child,” 1990, watercolor on unstretched canvas, 108 x 84 inches, Catharine Clark Gallery
Works by Masami Teraoka
After walking through the maze of booths and finding myself in the same place several times, I started to realize patterns were emerging in the art I was seeing. Or was I just in the same place again? When there weren’t figures present in the works, the empty spaces they might’ve occupied sufficed. There were plenty of pieces from the Jonas Woods school of hard-edge representation.
Margaux Williamson, “Tree of Heaven and Paper,” 2024, oil on canvas, 70 x 56 1/8 inches, Bradley Ertaskiran
Justin Lim, “Your true home is here and now,” 2020-2023, acrylic on canvas, 71 x 63 inches, Richard Koh Fine Art
Manuel Lopez, “Terreno con nopales,” 2024, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60 inches, Charlie James Gallery
Night Gallery’s booth was a gem and had some great works on display, including this large piece, made of durags, by Anthony Akinbola.
Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola, “Waves”, 2024, durags on aluminum and wood frame, 104 x 146 x 3 1/2 inches, Night Gallery
I encountered only one entry in the Mermaid / Cowboy genre.
Will Cotton, “The Siren’s Offer,” 2024, Templon
There was a beautiful miniature bronze of Shahzia Sikander’s sculpture Witness, here entitled NOW. Her animation, Reckoning, was also on display nearby. Versions of both of these are currently on view in Houston, despite the violent efforts to prevent them from being shown.
Shahzia Sikander, “NOW,” 2023, patinated bronze, Sean Kelly
The tiny sculpture jumped out at me amidst the larger works around it in the cavernous Jacob Javits Center. It is a slightly different design from its bigger twin (no dress adorned with texts) but it reminded me of the power art holds over its viewers. To those that were threatened by its presence in the public sphere, Sikander’s work contained the force of their convictions, of their interpretations of art and history, perhaps endowing it with far greater power than it would ever have attained on its own. At the Armory Show, it stands humbly amongst the spectacle, waiting for a collector.
