In more than a quarter of a century of existence, the Armory Show has rarely known a milder time: no blizzard or snowflake has this year swept the two old quays for ocean liners occupied by the fair along the Hudson River , in Manhattan. Spring, the sun was all the more appreciated by the visitors that these two parts are separated from each other since Pier 92 had to be abandoned in disaster in 2019, a week before the opening, because of its obsolescence.
There were other concerns this year when the historic New York Fair opened (Thursday March 5 to Sunday March 8): the first day, reserved for VIPs, was going to clear up a number of questions. The most obvious: would there be a “coronavirus effect” in a country where the pandemic has already killed eleven people? Even as contemporary art fairs are canceled or postponed around the world, the Armory has seen only two galleries (from Shanghai and Hong Kong) giving up on 183 exhibitors from 32 countries. The Italian galleries responded, despite the flights suspended by several airlines between the United States and Italy.
Fewer European collectors made the trip, but the local audience, American and Canadian, fully compensated
In the aisles, where the crowd crowded all day, there were few protective masks. The handshakes, on the other hand, have been replaced by long distance greetings or elbow to elbow tapes. Attendance, judged "Normal", responded to another anxiety of the galleries: the collectors were they coming? There was general agreement that fewer European collectors made the trip, but the local audience, American and Canadian, fully compensated.
"There are very few French collectors, whereas the Armory is usually full of them", noted theart advisor Valérie Cueto. "Fortunately it is a very American fair, otherwise we would have been very bad", confided Bruno Delavallade, from the Parisian gallery Praz Delavallade, at the end of the day. "The state of mind of the Americans, and in particular of the New Yorkers, is: let us not be put down, let us ward off fate by supporting what we like! ", analyzes the French gallery owner, based in New York, Josée Bienvenu, too "Reassured".
Plenty of offers
Another delicate point this year, the dates of Tefaf Maastricht, prestigious art and antiques fair, which increasingly attracts very contemporary galleries, coincide with those of the fair. Beyond this unprecedented superposition, the competition of fairs is felt for the first time in an acute way for the Armory, with the disaffection of the majority of very large galleries: no Hauser & Wirth, Zwirner, Perrotin, Marian Goodman, Pace, Continua, Ropac or Kamel Mennour this year. Among the great New Yorkers, only Gagosian, Jeffrey Deitch, Kasmin and Sean Kelly responded.
