The Best Deals at the Armory Show

From a free balloon to a giant bronze apple.

Claude Lalanne, Pomme d'Hiver (2008).
Photo: courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery.
Ed Young, Your Mom Balloons (2016).Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Ed Young, Your Mom Balloons (2016).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

What can you get for your money at the Armory Show? It depends on what you’re looking to spend, but it turns out there’s something for someone on every budget, even if you’re only walking away from the fair with a glass of the bubbly. (For the record, your best bet might just the $4 Balthazar croissant at Breads Bakery cafe—visiting the fair is the art equivalent of a marathon, and you may as well carbo-load!)

1. A Your Mom Balloon, free, SMAC Gallery, South Africa
Ed Young‘s black balloons, which he was handing out to visitors at SMAC Gallery’s booth in the Focus Africa section, were everywhere during the VIP opening, and were perhaps the only true freebie on offer.

Pommery Champagne. <br>Photo: courtesy Pommery.

Pommery Champagne.
Photo: courtesy Pommery.

2. Pommery Champagne, $20, Pommery Champagne Bar
Sticker-shock is a common art fair phenomenon, so be prepared to part with a Jackson if you want to roam the fair with a sparkling flute of champagne—and don’t be too jealous if you see Armory staff handing out free single serve bottles to the hard working exhibitors.

Anthea Hamilton, <em>Rice Cake</em> (2015).<br>Photo: Rozalia Jovanovic.

Anthea Hamilton, Rice Cake (2015).
Photo: Rozalia Jovanovic.

3. Rice Cake, $800, SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York
This Anthea Hamilton work, which comes in an edition of 25, made of crushed glass particles, doesn’t push the envelope the way her giant butt did at her recent SculptureCenter show. But it’s a great way to have your empty calories without having to eat them.

Amalia Ulman, Excellences & Perfections (Instagram Update 18th June 2014) Screenshot (2016).Image: Rozalia Jovanovic for artnet News

Amalia Ulman, Excellences & Perfections (Instagram Update 18th June 2014) Screenshot (2016).
Image: Rozalia Jovanovic for artnet News

4. Excellences and Perfections (Instagram Update 18th June 2014), $1,450, Whitechapel Gallery Limited Editions, London
Amalia Ulman’s 2014 Instagram series, in which she posed for numerous selfies as a person attempting to become LA’s next ‘It Girl,’ garnered much attention in the art world as one of the most original works to be created in the digital era. You can own a C-type print of one of her posts, which comes in an edition of 20.

Julian Charrière, from the "Metamorphism" series.<br>Photo: courtesy Dittrich Schlechtriem.

Julian Charrière, from the “Metamorphism” series.
Photo: courtesy Dittrich Schlechtriem.

5. Man-made Lava Rocks, from €8,500 (about $9,300), Dittrich Schlechtriem, Berlin
Julian Charrière‘s latest work at the booth of Berlin gallery Dittrich Schlechtriem melts down technological gadgets, fusing iPhones and computer parts into what looks like molten lava, the type of geological remains that might be found on earth in the distant future.

Patrick Jacobs, Untitled (Pink Forest).Photo: courtesy Pierogi.

Patrick Jacobs, Untitled (Pink Forest).
Photo: courtesy Pierogi.

6. A Miniature Forest, from $16,500, Pierogi, Brooklyn
Tiny, handcrafted wonderlands by Patrick Jacobs are created in astonishing detail and surprising depth at Pierogi gallery.

Marc Bijl, <em>A Touch of (Working) Class</em> (2016).<br>Photo: courtesy the Breeder, Athens.

Marc Bijl, A Touch of (Working) Class (2016).
Photo: courtesy the Breeder, Athens.

7. An array of rainbow colored trash bags, $20,000, the Breeder, Athens
This installation of an array of rainbow-colored trash bags by Marc Bijl, with its “Political,” “Family Man,” and “Anarchist” canvases hung above, was described by director George Vamvakidis of Athens‘s the Breeder as “a humorous approach to labels… and how people are using those words to trash each other.”

Romina de Novellis, <em>The Cage</em>.<br>Photo: courtesy the Armory Show.

Romina de Novellis, The Cage.
Photo: courtesy the Armory Show.

8. A naked women in a flowery cage, $30,000–40,000, Galerie Alberta Pane, Paris
No, you can’t buy Romina de Novellis, who performed in a cage in the nude during the fair’s opening in partnership with New York’s arty dessert organization KreĂ«mart, but Galerie Alberta Pane does sell the cage itself, fully stuffed with silken flower petals, as well as photographic prints from the artist’s performances.

Claude Lalanne, Pomme d'Hiver (2008).Photo: courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery.

Claude Lalanne,
Pomme d’Hiver
(2008).
Photo: courtesy Paul Kasmin Gallery.

9. Pomme d’hiver, €950,000 (about $1 million), Ben Brown Fine Arts, London
Snap up Claude Lalanne‘s giant bronze big apple, Pomme d’hiver, a fitting piece for the New York fair, at Ben Brown Fine Arts.

Robert Rauschenberg,<em> Nagshead Summer Glut Sketch</em> (1987).<br>Photo: courtesy Galerie Thaddeus Ropac

Robert Rauschenberg, Nagshead Summer Glut Sketch (1987).
Photo: courtesy Galerie Thaddeus Ropac.

10. An airplane bicycle hybrid, $1 million–1.5 million, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris and Salzburg
It won’t get you where you need to go, but Robert Rauschenberg’s 1987 Nagshead Summer Glut Sketch, from Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, is a mash-up of a bicycle frame and airplane parts.


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