One could argue that New York’s Armory Show has spent much of the last decade trying to figure out exactly what kind of fair it wants to be. It has navigated a series of significant transformations over the years, moving from the charmingly gritty piers along the Hudson River to the sterile but safe confines of the Javits Center on Manhattan’s West Side while shifting its operational calendar. Then, in 2023, the enterprise was acquired by Frieze, which already operates one of New York’s other major fairs down the road at the Shed—widely regarded by many in the industry as one of the more challenging venues for an art fair anywhere in the globe. Following that acquisition, the fair changed directors, thoroughly overhauled its exhibitor list, and shifted its dates once again to later in September.
So perhaps the more useful question on a bustling Thursday morning, as the fair officially opened its 32nd edition, was a simple one: What and who, exactly, is the Armory Show for?
At 11 a.m., an hour after the doors officially swung open to the public, the answer was not immediately obvious to observers pacing the expansive aisles. The earlier opening time afforded the fair some welcome breathing room, though at moments perhaps a little too much space. Attendance could look lean, even anemic, depending entirely on which side of the massive convention hall’s floor a visitor happened to be standing on. The main convention hall is a notoriously tricky place to navigate: its two halves are effectively divided down the center by the VIP lounge, restaurant, and champagne bar. Consequently, one half of the floor can feel entirely deserted while, just a few hundred feet away, another section is thronging with eager collectors and art world professionals.
The partly empty aisles may have also been due in part to direct competition with Independent 20th Century, which was also opening on Thursday morning up on the Upper East Side at the historic Breuer building, now serving as the headquarters of Sotheby’s. Furthermore, more than one art dealer acknowledged being invited to participate in the Armory at the last minute, suggesting that Frieze organizers had encountered some hurdles filling the cavernous spaces of the Javits Center. Yet, dealer after dealer insisted that the slower, more deliberate pace suited them just fine.
New York dealer Jayne Drost Johnson of JDJ Gallery noted that the measured start is simply reflective of the new reality defining a slower art market. “We’ve all noticed that fairs have a different pace the last couple of years,” said Johnson. “It’s more consistent, not just all about one crazy morning, and this way you can have better conversations. Even at last year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, which was great for me, I was making as many sales the last day as the first. So a slow first morning is not a sign of how things are going to go.”
New York art adviser Augusto Arbizo, who works at Allan Schwartzman’s firm, echoed those sentiments entirely. “I actually found the new dates gave the Armory a much more relaxed energy,” he remarked. “There was a nice sense of anticipation when I walked in, but without that immediate feeling of being swept up in the frenzy that can sometimes accompany a fair opening.”
By 2 p.m., however, crowds were arriving at a steady clip, and the fair had fully assumed the familiar, high-energy hum of a proper opening day. Despite all of its recent operational changes, the Armory Show still performs one vital function remarkably well: it signals to New York that summer has officially ended, ushering in the bustling fall cultural calendar. That role was especially apparent this year. When the fair moved to the Javits Center in 2021, it was scheduled for the week immediately following Labor Day, placing it directly on top of the overwhelming crush of autumn gallery openings, exclusive dinners, and high-profile parties that mark the return of the season.
By shifting the dates this year to September 24 through 27, the Frieze brass also successfully carved out crucial breathing room from their concurrent fair in Seoul. The result, at least on opening day, felt considerably more civilized. Rather than piling yet another major, high-stress event onto an already claustrophobic September calendar, the fair genuinely felt like the beginning of something distinct. A glittering array of VIPs was spotted on the scene, including First Lady of New York Rama Duwaji, acclaimed actors Jodie Foster and Paul Rudd, and New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns. Top-tier collectors were also out in force, featuring figures such as Beth Rudin DeWoody, Estrellita Brodsky, Komal Shah, Lisa Goodman, Allison Berg, and Jill and Peter Kraus.
Despite the at-times deliberate pace of foot traffic, numerous galleries had already secured sales through emailed previews sent to loyal clients ahead of Thursday, while others quickly closed deals during the opening hours. First-time exhibitor Kamel Mennour, operating spaces in both Paris and New York, had successfully sold seven out of nine paintings by artist Dhewadi Hadjab by 1 p.m.—with the remaining two placed on reserve—at a price of $110,000 each. The striking paintings, which depict a dancer moving through various stages of challenging choreography, bear a clear conceptual resemblance to Eadweard Muybridge’s pioneering motion studies, the dealer pointed out to interested buyers.
Meanwhile, New York gallery Norr Cohan participated in its first Armory Show since longtime partner David Norr transitioned to become the sole owner. By the end of the opening day, the gallery had tallied an impressive roster of sales. These included a large multimedia piece by Yinka Shonibare sold to a private collector for a price in the range of $180,000 to $220,000; two large-scale mosaics by Eamon Ore-Giron fetching between $80,000 and $120,000; and a suite of 25 delicate watercolors by Spencer Finch priced in the range of $50,000 to $75,000.
New York’s Shrine gallery reported placing roughly 10 paintings by Canadian-born artist Michelle Paterok—whom gallery partner Marge Rendell originally discovered scrolling through Instagram—at prices ranging from $5,500 to $11,000 by midafternoon.
Perrotin, which maintains 12 exhibition spaces worldwide, had sold six paintings by Haitian-born artist Kathia St. Hilaire by 4 p.m., with prices spanning from $5,000 to $45,000. St. Hilaire’s captivating works touch upon complex elements of Haitian history, specifically focusing on the brutal reign of dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalier and the 1960s literary movement Spiralism that emerged during his tenure. While the pieces visually resemble woven tapestries, they are meticulously constructed paintings created through the application of dozens of distinct layers.
Southern Guild, the Cape Town-based gallery that recently established a new outpost in Tribeca, also logged numerous sales by the early afternoon. Transactions included Zanele Muholi wallpaper works printed on aluminum for $52,000 each, and evocative paintings executed on black velvet by Roméo Mivekannin for $56,000 each. Additionally, the gallery secured two formal reserves on large-scale sculptures by Muholi, each priced at $250,000.
The fair’s curated sectors drew significant attention for their distinct focus on the Caribbean Sea and its surrounding regions. The Platform section, overseen by Jovanna Venegas, a curator at New York’s SculptureCenter, showcased ambitious large-scale installations. Meanwhile, the Focus section, organized by María Elena Ortiz, a curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, was dedicated entirely to solo- and dual-artist presentations. Tern Gallery, traveling from Nassau in the Bahamas, successfully sold three paintings by Kachelle Knowles for $5,000 each and two works by Gio Swaby for $18,000 apiece before the day concluded.
Brazilian gallery Nara Roesler, which also operates a permanent space in Chelsea, closed out the day with notable sales including an Abraham Palatnik painting for $60,000 and a Marco A. Castillo relief sculpture fashioned from museum board for $50,000.
Armory director Kyla McMillan believes the later calendar placement has proved beneficial on the business side of operations as well. With collectors fully returned from their summer holidays, conversations initiated with galleries ahead of the fair felt notably more intentional this year, she observed. Even so, McMillan continues to view the Armory as a vital seasonal catalyst.
Yet, a more compelling discussion persists regarding where the Armory fits within the increasingly crowded hierarchy of international art fairs. This year’s edition brings together approximately 230 galleries, maintaining roughly the same total footprint as the previous year. However, a substantial portion of the fair’s floor plan is dedicated to younger, emerging dealers and focused solo presentations: the Presents section has expanded to encompass 55 galleries, while the Solo numbers count stands at 25.
For Lara Björk, a veteran New York art adviser, that deliberate evolution may very well be the entire point. The Armory, she noted, has spent the past six to eight years trying to regain its footing and cement its rightful place within the New York fair and art market ecosystem, cycling through various locations, dates, and exhibitor rosters along the way. Björk admitted that Frieze’s corporate acquisition initially caught her by surprise, noting that while some might argue it is no longer strictly "New York’s fair" in spirit, the corporate backing might ultimately provide what the local fair landscape fundamentally requires. “They’re capitalizing on the lower-priced, more ‘red-chip’-leaning artists and galleries,” she explained. “Perhaps that’s just what the art market needs right now.”
McMillan describes the underlying strategy somewhat differently, though she arrives at a remarkably similar conclusion: the Armory’s enduring value may lie less in competing head-on with the market’s massive flagship fairs and more in offering something distinct that they fail to provide. “This fair has always been one about discovery,” she said, highlighting the newly expanded young-gallery section alongside the curated Focus and Platform sectors. Even well-established dealers, she noted, can effectively utilize the Armory to introduce an exciting new artist to the New York scene or mount a presentation that might not otherwise be prioritized at another fair.
Björk summarized the dynamic more plainly: “In a market that has many markets and layers, there is in fact room for everyone.”
Sean Kelly, whose gallery successfully parted ways with six works by the early afternoon, offered a straightforward explanation for the fair’s enduring purpose in New York. “It’s the beginning of our season,” Kelly stated. “Everybody wants to get back at it. And this is them getting back at it.” What truly mattered, he added, was tangible market activity: “People are spending money; they’re in here doing it. For me, that’s what the fair is for.”
Clients were certainly spending at Kelly’s booth. The gallery parted with Janaina Tschäpe’s large-scale oil painting Picking Flowers Quietly for $170,000 and Sam Moyer’s striking marble and plaster sculpture Magic Number for $125,000. Additional sales featured works by Laurent Grasso for €60,000, Jose Dávila for $65,000, and pieces by both Magdiel García Almanza and Lindsay Adams fetching $28,000 each.
Gazelli Art House, an Azerbaijan-founded gallery that just this week expanded its physical footprint in New York with a massive 10,000-square-foot space in the Chelsea location formerly occupied by Marlborough, is participating in the Armory Show for only the second time. Among its most ambitious offerings were paintings by Abstract Expressionist and Color Field painter Alice Baber, with prices starting at $200,000, alongside canvases by fellow Ab-Ex pioneer Grace Hartigan starting at $130,000. Notably, Hartigan’s 1945 painting Frustration features a fake signature, “Jachens,” which the artist originally adopted during her career to pass her works off as those of a male contemporary. By 3:30 p.m., the gallery had successfully sold a large historical piece by Lilly Fenichel—whose estate the gallery recently began representing—to a major European private museum for approximately $200,000.
Elsewhere on the floor, the price points were smaller, but the sales pace proved considerably faster. A Hug From the Art World completely sold out its entire booth of paintings by Camille Fishel before noon, with individual works commanding prices between $18,000 and $24,000. The colorful, highly graphic canvases—populated by elongated female figures bending and twisting against saturated backgrounds—stem from Fishel’s brand-new “Bending Over Backwards” series.
Fishel had already enjoyed an unusually glamorous warm-up event leading into the fair. Just two nights prior, the gallery hosted an exclusive preview at Zero Bond that drew an elite crowd featuring Karl-Anthony Towns, George Condo, Rashid Johnson, Keegan-Michael Key, Gayle King, and her partner, Michael Rubin, the founder of Fanatics and a prominent art collector.
Meanwhile, Gavlak reported six solid sales totaling between $150,000 and $200,000 collectively. Their transactions included Lita Albuquerque’s mixed-media work Coronation for between $85,000 and $120,000; Marilyn Minter’s arresting photograph Dazed for between $30,000 and $50,000; and T.J. Wilcox’s Taglioni’s Nocturnal Dance for between $30,000 and $35,000. Two separate paintings by Jessica Cannon sold for a combined total of $40,000 to $60,000, while a painting by Alexis Teplin traded for between $18,000 and $20,000.
At Dimin, the transaction figures were smaller still, serving as an illustration of the expansive market breadth that Armory director McMillan frequently emphasizes. The gallery sold four paintings by Kelli Vance for prices ranging between $14,000 and $20,000, alongside a work by Taj Poscé for $3,500 and Michelle Im’s ceramic sculpture The Auctioneer—an intricate effigy depicting Sotheby’s enigmatic auctioneer Phylis Kao—for $4,800. While Kao might not currently be stepping up to auction off the physical artworks on view inside the Javits Center halls, the Armory Show appears to be wagering that perhaps one day she will.
