What to See at the 2023 Edition of The Armory Show

After the end-of-summer lull, the fall season in New York City kicks off this week with the 2023 edition of The Armory Show. Returning to the Javits Center from September 8—10, with a VIP preview on September 7, fairgoers will find a vast selection of artwork by over 800 artists, on view with nearly 230 art spaces from 35 different countries. A range of emerging and established contemporary artists as well as those from the past will be featured, seen across sectors including Galleries, Solo, Focus, Presents, Platform, Armory Spotlight, and Not-for-Profit.

At the center of the fair, the Galleries sector encompasses group, duo, and solo presentations of contemporary artists, including shows from leading international art spaces. That includes galleries like New York-based 303 Gallery, Peter Blum Gallery, Yancey Richardson Gallery, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, James Cohan, Derek Eller Gallery, Carolina Nitsch, Garth Greenan Gallery, and Two Palms; London presenters Ben Hunger, Bernard Jacobson Gallery, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Archeus / Post-Modern, Jack Bell Gallery, Hales, Paragon, and Vigo; Vielmetter, Moskowitz Bayse, Michael Kohn Gallery, and Anat Ebgi from Los Angeles; and establishments like Wentrup from Berlin, Templon with locations in Paris, New York, and Brussels, the Bologna-based P420, Galerie Ron Mandos of Amsterdam, Tokyo’s Maki Gallery and Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Kavi Gupta from Chicago, and Galerie Cécile Fakhoury, which is based in Abidjan, Dakar, and Paris.

Within the Solo platform, exhibiting galleries highlight single artists, with the option to present those working in the 20th or 21st centuries—including SMAC Gallery presenting bronze and resin figures by Mary Sibande, first-time presenter Semiose bringing work by Xie Lei, and new paintings by Bridget Mullen with Shulamit Nazarian. Focus, curated by Candice Hopkins, looks to single- and dual-artist presentations focused on unique creative choices and cultural connections, this year featuring names like Matthew Kirk presented by Halsey McKay Gallery, Milford Graves and Nate Lewis with Fridman Gallery, and Hilary Balu Kuyangiko on view with Stems Gallery.

Meanwhile, Presents offers opportunities from emerging galleries less than ten years old, Platform (curated by Eva Respini) centers large-scale and site-specific installations surrounding the theme “Rewriting Histories,”—including work by Hank Willis Thomas with Ben Brown Fine Arts, Devan Shimoyama presented by De Buck Gallery, and the work of Woody De Othello and Pae White on view with Jessica Silverman—and Not-for-Profit elevates art spaces working to serve their communities.

The 2023 edition of The Armory Show elevates the work of LGBTQ+, African-, Asian-, and Latinx-diasporic creatives. Among these, presentations to look out for include work by the Oaxacan artist Narsiso Martinez with Charlie James Gallery, Nara Roesler’s multigenerational group presentation of Brazilian artists like Tomie Ohtake, Amelia Toledo, and Lucia Koch, names like Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Firelei Báez, Yinka Shonibare, and Elias Sime in a show by James Cohan, Ran Zhang’s Armory Show debut with the Berlin-based Galerie Plan B, and Ayanna Dozier’s exploration of sex workers, erased histories, and medical injustices, on view with Microscope.