Art dealers, blue chip collectors, artists, art press, art hangers-on and lots of people decked out in totally bizarre outfits have all descended on Manhattan for the annual extravaganza of art shopping known as Armory Week. There are more than a dozen fairs that run through the weekend — including Pulse, Scope and Volta — but the Mack Daddy of them all is the venerable Armory Show, a sprawling arrangement of 285 exhibitors spread out over two piers on the west side of Manhattan.
It’s positively mind-boggling — and a fine opportunity to see contemporary art from galleries from Tel Aviv to São Paulo. Here are three pieces not to miss at the Armory Show:
Shaun Gladwell at Anna Schwartz Gallery (Melbourne), Booth #1157
Shaun Gladwell at Anna Schwartz Gallery (Melbourne), Booth #1157
A stunning video piece titled “Apology to Roadkill” shows the artist decked out in black biker gear cradling the limp body of a dead kangaroo on the side of an Australian road. The scenery is bright and dusty, at odds with Gladwell’s dark, shining motorcycle gear (complete with full-face helmet), which gives him the appearance of a post-modern angel of death. It’s worth watching more than once.