The sun was there for the professional day of the 26th edition of the Armory Show, which officially opens to the public Thursday, March 5, until Sunday, March 8. This year again, the 183 galleries are spread over two piers (Piers) on the Hudson: Pier 94, hosting the main galleries and Pier 90, where smaller exhibitors are relocated (and brought together in sections developed by exhibition curators ).
Pier 94 brings together 135 brands, the most important of the fair: Gagosian, 303, Kasmin, Richard Saltoun, or the French Nathalie Obadia and Templon. The Armory Show is renowned for its active trade, and this edition is no exception to the rule. If you kiss less - coronavirus requires, unlike in Europe, where the tensions due to health risks are palpable, here the crowd, dense, is relaxed. For the time being, people do not seem to be affected by the virus, but that can change from one day to the next, notes Bruno Delavallade, gallery director Praz-Delavallade.
For its part, the Templon Gallery is also showing a good start since it has sold a large painting by Omar Ba ($ 120,000 ) and a work by Iván Navarro ($ 110,000 ). Further on, the list of works from the Ron Mandos Gallery (Amsterdam) was dotted with red dots.
Among sales, two Esiri Erheriene-Essi paintings (around $ 20,000) and a Remy Jungerman wall sculpture ($ 18,000). The visitors are local, they do not need to travel to come, so we do not feel a drop in attendance even if the coronavirus is one of the main topics of conversation, said Nick Majoor-Arie, its director.
The galleries of Pier 90 are a little less favored since they are relocated from Pier 92, closed for security reasons, and that it is now necessary to leave to join it. To compensate for the section opened an hour earlier. There are a hundred galleries in the other Pier. Here the visitors come the first hour then after that it is great calm complaints a gallery owner. Other exhibitors have nevertheless pulled out of the game, like the Gallery Sorry We're Closed (Brussels), which sold all of Robert Nava's large canvases (between $ 27,000 and 38,000 ) before the opening.
Le journal des arts
