Each year in New York, the Armory Show represents a return to the art fair calendar after the industry takes its standard summer break in August. VIPs are descending on the Javits Center, which is due West of Hudson Yards and overlooking the Hudson River 

There, over 235 exhibitors will converge tomorrow for the VIP preview to show crowds their wares, and hopefully impress them and lock in some sales. Summer vacations were lightly rattled by news about a market slowdown both in and outside the art world, which will surely be talking points going into the fair.

But that is not the only reason that the 2024 edition has industry insiders watching closely. It is the first iteration of the fair that will be managed completely under the ownership of art fair conglomerate Frieze, which bought up the fair along with EXPO Chicago last summer. There’s also a new leader at the helm. After an eight-year run, veteran director Nicole Berry stepped aside this March, and this summer it was announced that Kyla McMillan, a former David Zwirner staffer, would be taking her place.

A slew of preview emails have circulated well before the fair is even finished setting up, as standard practice dictates. Many of the galleries showing work are angling for a younger collecting crowd, one that is more interested in emerging artwork at affordable artworks. “The Armory draws individuals who are beginning to learn about the art market or making their first purchase,” Christine Messineo, the director of Frieze New York explained earlier this year. “Alongside insiders and professionals attending to learn from the curated sections.” 

A painting from the booth of Paige K. B. titled “Very Beautiful Images With Quite A Bit Of Concerning Text Laid Over The Artwork” presented by Blade Study. Photo: Eric Helga.

Given the current jitters in the art market, a sense of escapism or abstraction of current reality makes some sense. Across the floor of Javits Center, many galleries are bringing artwork that alter our current idea of reality, or aim to take our minds elsewhere.

Among the most exciting booths on display will be the annual Gramercy International Prize winner Blade Study, a small gallery that opened on Pine Street in New York in 2022 that has been closely watched for their daring programming. The gallery will be presenting a solo booth with artist Paige K.B. According to the parlance of the gallery’s texts, the artworks are composed of “an experiential encounter with an origami crane, the ‘jester’s privilege’ meme, excerpts from T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, and the Pantone color of the year: Peach Fuzz.” K.B.’s suite of canvases appear as frenetic collages that puzzle together compounded elements of internet culture from the user interface of a working artist. Viewed all together, the works tell a meta-story of what it means to be an artist in the contemporary landscape.

“K. B. compares the experience of walking through an art fair with the feed model in social media applications like Instagram or its predecessor, Tumblr,” Blade Study’s founder Brooke Nicholas said in an interview with The Armory Show. “It also considers the role of art fairs and how they generate and distribute their own unique forms of imagery and meaning.”

Theodora Allen, Origin Story, (2023). Courtesy of Kasmin/Martin Elder.

Elsewhere, many gallerists are bringing paintings that sing a song of fantasy and imagination. Kasmin will show a group presentation featuring a cosmic painting by Theodora Allen titled Origin Story. Allen’s canvases whoosh mythic symbology with granular, muted blue paint to evoke a meditative, spiritual feeling for their viewers. Similar to K.B., Allen pulls inspiration from literature of another time, citing poet William Blake as a muse for her ghostly, rhythmic artwork.

At New York-based Fredericks & Freiser’s booth, London-born Maria Calandra aims to challenge and distort what viewers expect out of traditional landscape painting. On view is her work June’s Rose Bush (McGolrick Park, Brooklyn, New York), which takes a floral painting and effectively puts it in a blender. Her practice is dedicated to reconnecting viewers with nature, and questioning why society has become more detached from its sublime power. Calandra paints from the classically pastoral views from the South of France, the Grand Canyon, or the Pacific Ocean, and then turns these popular destinations on their heads. 

Colin Brant, Disney Tokyo, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and Europa.

More celestial artwork is on view at Europa’s booth, where one of five paintings of the trademark castle at Disney theme parks from around the world are on view by artist Colin Brant. This particular painting depicts the iconic building in Tokyo, cast from his romantic perspective in dripping, phosphorescent oil paintings. The artist, said of his work, “In the process of making the Disney castle paintings I came to understand more about the fantasy aspect of the fairy tale and its potential for dreaming and imagination.”

The Armory Show opens to the public September 6–8