Let them eat bad art
Janna Slack
From its humble beginnings as the Gramercy Art Fair, showing works in hotel rooms, the renamed Armory Show has grown considerably and is now one of New York’s most important art events, as well as an important example of the growing and controversial trend in collecting and showing art–the existence of the art fair. Do art fairs make the world of collecting more democratic? Are they viable launching pads for artists who might regularly have gone unnoticed? Do they provide otherwise unheard-of gallery access to the hoi polloi? Do they give artists more independence from the gallery system? Or, do they degrade the quality of work, as artists are pressured to create increasing numbers of pieces for the ever-increasing numbers of art fairs? Whatever the criticisms of art fairs, participating in them is recognized by both dealers and artists as a fundamental component of establishing a presence on the contemporary art scene, which, as Simon Watson observed, "has become very event-driven."
Last year, the Armory Show attracted 162 galleries from 39 cities on four continents who, in turn, attracted 40,000 visitors–up from 22,000 two years before. Though the fair did set new attendance records, it also set sales records last year with $45 million and several galleries selling out of their wares in the first day. And, contrary to the original Gramercy version of the fair, which rarely exhibited the work of young artists, the current incarnations of the fair lean heavily towards the younger generation, including current art-school students. Some might say that this is a symptom of the inclusive nature of art fairs–one of the things these events were conceived to do. However, there are others who find the inclusion of so many youngsters waters down the quality of work on display–that there is, perhaps, a reason that these kids weren’t exhibited before mammoth events like the Armory Show had miles of aisles needing to be filled.
The Show did manage to mix in a few elements of maturity, as well as installation pieces such as Julian Opie’s cars and Ivan Witenstein’s 11 foot-high sculpture of three storybook figures as the painter Ida Applebroog lent the wisdom of her 70-odd years in the form of pictures of doll-like figures wearing combat boots.
Heedless of the controversy surrounding art fairs as the newest art-world institution, the Armory Show is poised to build on last year’s success in order to expand the roster of galleries, artists, and high-profile guests taking part, while keeping the tighter, more exclusive international focus of the past few years. Over 500 galleries applied for 153 spots, making the process extremely difficult for the Selection Committee–comprised of Massimo De Carlo, Anton Kern, Emmanuel Perrotin, Eva Presenhuber, Stuart Shave and Lisa Spellman. Indeed, the Show’s director, Katlijne De Backer noted that the committee "spent more time on the process this year than ever before"–and hopefully for good reason. And, naysayers aside, the Show does succeed in gathering the latest and most current art on the scene, for better or for worse, and that is what the collectors in attendance are obviously looking for, as evidenced by last year’s record sales.
Fifteen galleries are set to make their debut at the Show this year, including Transmission Gallery from Glasgow, Guild & Greyshkul from New York, Herald Street from London, and Galerie Frank Elbaz from Paris. However, with the selection process getting so selective, it is hard to imagine that art fairs in general and the Armory Show in particular are able to still offer budding artists and deserving underdogs their chance to show in front of a larger audience. Where there used to be familial enclaves, filled with people who knew each other and were bound by a common goal of appreciating oft-unseen works and artists, the atmosphere is now almost that of a social event, complete with the glitterati in attendance. Perhaps this is a fate of any event–no matter how originally pious–that takes place annually in New York City. And perhaps one should not hold a decade-old event to the spirit of its first installation. The old adage that "Bigger does not mean better" might apply here, true–but nor does bigger always mean worse.
