Armory 2009: Foreign Selects
With shipping and construction costs adding up more than they used to, for the first time in years, Armory, New York’s foremost but sometimes underwhelming art fair, makes a lot sense. This year fair co-founder Matthew Marks, but smaller galleries like Milliken from Stockholm are introducing innovative programming by having artists co-curate their booth.
And even in a digital age, there are artists who just don’t cross over to a New York audience—lookking back, this is why the expensive rigmarole of biennials and fairs started. We’ve selected five galleries bringing un-American art to our shores.
Left: Cary Kwok, Hollywood – Miss Piggy (1970s), 2008
HERALD STREET GALLERY
2 Herald Street, London
Gallerists: Nicky Verber & Ash L’ange
Opened: 2005
Artists they’re bringing: Josh Brand, Pablo Bronstein, Matthew Darbyshire, Thomas Houseago, Cary Kwok, Djordje Ozbolt, Donald Urquhart
Theme for the booth: Keeping it very simple this year: A Matthew Darybshire carpet based on the logo for real estate agency Barnard Marcus logo adds humor to the booth.
Left: Olav Westphalen, Peace, 2009.
MILLIKEN GALLERY
Luntmakargatan 78, Stockholm
Gallerist: Aldy Milliken
Opened: 2003
Artists they’re bringing: Fia Backström, Monica Bonvicini, KP Bremer, Felix Gmelin, Marc Handelman, Lisi Raskin, Peter Rostovsky, Tris Vonna-Michell, Olav Westphalen
Theme: Do they love their children too?
a thematic group show jointly curated by the participating artists.
The wrap: a hip Scandinavian gallery (look out also for Standard from Oslo) that’s bringing two big young European artists without New York representation—Tris Vonna-Mitchell and Fia Backström.
Left: John M Armleder, Pantelleria, 2008
MEHDI CHOUAKRI
Invalidenstraße 117, Berlin
Gallerist: Medhi Chouakri
Opened: 1996
Artists they’re bringing: John Armleder, Mathieu Mercier, Charlotte Posnenske, Andrea Bowers, Saadane Afif, Sylvie Fleury, Gerold Miller, Gerwald Rockenschaub, Gitte Schäfer, Vincent Szarek
Theme: John Armleder shows his abstract Pour Paintings, Martheiu Mercier shows window sculptures made of perspex; Andrea Bowers appropriates press photos in an action responding to the current economic crisis. So maybe no theme.
Seher Shah, Geometric Landscapes and the Spectacle of Force, 2009
BOSE PACIA/NATURE MORTE
A-1 Neeti Bagh, New Delhi / 508 W 26th St , 11C, New York
Bose Pacia Gallery Directors: Megha Ralapati & Rebecca Davis
Nature Morte: Peter Nagy
Opened: Nature Morte founded in 1982 in New York’s East Village; it closed, and was revived in 1997.
Artists They’re Bringing: Michael Buhler Rose, Sheba Chhachhi, Anita Dube, Raqs Media Collective, Seher Shah & Bharat Sikka.
The Wrap: A big fish in a small (but growing, and growing) Indian pond, Nature Morte is the partner with Bose Pacia and focuses the New York gallery’s stable for a sub-continental audience.
Left:Douglas Kolk, im cute, 2008/2009.
ARNDT & PARTNER
Zimmerstrasse 90-91, Berlin/ Lessingstrasse 5, Zurich
Gallerist: Matthias Arndt
Founded: 1994
Artists they’re bringing: Douglas Kolk, Jon Kessler
The Wrap: One of the biggest successes of the Berlin art boom, with locations in Checkpoint Charlie and Hamburger Banhof. A stepping stone to museum exhibition.
