Armory Week 2021: New York City is bustling with art fairs this week, and The Armory Show 2021 is taking the lead in organizing a hybrid online and in-person fair at the Javits Center location. Additional satellite fairs, such as the Spring/Break Art Show in Midtown and the new Future Fair in Chelsea, give many art lovers a chance to see a range of emerging and established artists.
We recently visited these three fairs to reflect on their spectrum of curatorial vision and spotted six female-identifying artists that stood out from the crowd.
Overview:
1. Darby Milbrath’s Symbols and Figures Mingle with Mysticism
2. Tizta Berhanu Portrays Ebb and Flow of Complex Human Emotions
3. Rebecca Morgan Reclaims Female Subjectivity Through Pop-Cultural False Sense of Romance
4. Destiny Belgrave’s Works Unlock Memories Through Food-Related Rituals
5. Emilia Olsen: Observer of Grief, Sadness, and Memorable Moments
6. Nicole Basilone Zooms Into Landscapes of Old Master Painting and Removes Female Figures
About the fairs
1. Darby Milbrath’s Symbols and Figures Mingle with Mysticism
Booth P18, Projet Pangée
The Armory Show
Inspired by the Romanticism era of the 18th century, Darby Milbrath’s new body of work centers around emotion, mysticism, and the sublimity of nature. Contemplative figures are lost or hiding, either literally within a wild landscape that overpowers them or figuratively in a state of dreams.
2. Tizta Berhanu Portrays Ebb and Flow of Complex Human Emotions
Booth P32, Addis Fine Art
The Armory Show
Tizta Berhanu’s works of physical entanglement of bodies portray love, hate, sadness, and loneliness. With dreamlike transparent washes in primary colors, she invites the observer to share her captured moments of vulnerability and intimacy, striking a chord in our current socially distanced world.
3. Rebecca Morgan Reclaims Female Subjectivity Through Pop-Cultural False Sense of Romance
Asya Geisberg Gallery
The Future Fair
Rebecca Morgan’s archetypal maids, hillbillies, and dandies explore contemporary issues of women reclaiming their subjectivity. Morgan embraces the detailed naturalism of Dutch masters alongside a style of hideous caricature, evoking a romanticized, nostalgic America with modern clues.
4. Destiny Belgrave’s Works Unlock Memories Through Food-Related Rituals
The Proposition
The Future Fair
Destiny Belgrave’s work inspires viewers to reminisce on their memories connected to their favorite foods and family traditions. Belgrave, who grew up with Bajan and African American cultures, curates and renders her subjects primarily through concise papercuts to conjure specific nostalgic memories.
5. Emilia Olsen: Observer of Grief, Sadness, and Memorable Moments
Booth 1023, Blue
Spring/Break Art Fair
Emilia Olsen’s work focuses on intuition, centering around the body in nature, mental and physical blocks, skeletons dancing with death, and the existential. Through the pandemic, her subject matter has become more intimate and autobiographical.
6. Nicole Basilone Zooms Into Landscapes of Old Master Painting and Removes Female Figures
Booth 1125, Dogmatic Magic
Artists include Nicole Basilone, Daniel Morowitz, and Mark Zubrovich
Spring/Break Art Fair
Nicole Basilone’s work questions the male gaze by removing the female subjects in old master paintings. Reminiscent of Charles Burchfield, Basilone reclaims the landscapes in a liberating and musical form by zooming in on the landscape elements and inviting the viewer to see the works constructively.
About the Armory Week 2021 fairs:
The Armory Show at the Javits Center, located at 429 11th Avenue New York, NY 10001, presents the world’s leading international galleries, showcasing works from modern masters and cutting-edge contemporary artists.
Spring/Break Art Show, located at 625 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022, is an internationally recognized exhibition platform utilizing underused, atypical, and historic New York City exhibition spaces to activate the traditional landscape of the art market, typically but not exclusively during the Armory Show week. In exchange for a no-cost exhibition space, independent curators, both established and unknown, are charged with engaging these areas under a unifying theme.
Future Fair, taking up the ground floor of Chelsea’s Starrett-Lehigh Building, is located at 600 West 27th Street New York, NY 10001. The fair grew out of the desire to build a capsule-sized exhibition for galleries participating in the global art market. With a focus on transparency and equitability, the fair collaborates with and between the exhibitors to build a stronger community.
The Armory Show and Future Fair run through Sunday, September 12. The Spring/Break Art Fair closed Monday, September 13. Vaccinations or negative COVID-19 tests along with masks are required.