Kehinde Wiley, Bound (2015) at Sean Kelly.
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

VIP guests were released into the Armory Show’s arena today as the fair readies itself for tomorrow’s public premiere. Shortly after executive director (and former artnet News editor in chief) Benjamin Genocchio and his panel addressed the press, the doors swung open to reveal this year’s focus show “African Perspectives,” curated by Yvette Mutumba and Julia Grosse.

Among the 205 exhibitors represented throughout Piers 92 and 94, some works certainly commanded greater attention than others. Romina de Novellis’s The Cage, for instance, was a nude performance piece that sent spectators flocking for photographs. People were lining up to see Shih Chieh Huang’s Disphotic Zone, a cybernetic jellyfish occupying a room of its own, courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts gallery.

Amidst the throng, installation workers and art handlers could be seen making last-minute touches to booths. And, of course, the preview counted a number of celebrity collectors, including actors Neil Patrick Harris, Russell Tovey, and director John Waters.

Take a tour of the Armory Show’s 22nd edition, which runs from March 3-6, via the photos below.

Armory Show 2016.
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

John Waters (2016).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Kehinde Wiley, Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan (2015) at Roberts & Tilton .
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Kehinde Wiley, Jose Alberto de la Cruz Diaz and Luis Nunez (2016).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Neil Patrick Harris (2016).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Armory Show 2016.
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Robert Morris, Untitled (1987).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Vlassis Caniarsis, Observer (1980).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Romina de Novellis, The Cage (2016).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Yvette Mutumba and Julia Grosse with El Anatsui’s Blood of Sweat.
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Cécile Fakhoury Gallery (2016).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Shih Chieh Huang, Disphotic Zone (2016).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Anish Kapoor, Alice – Double Circle (2014).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Russell Tovey (2016).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Vibha Galhotra, Flow I (2015) at Jack Shainman Gallery.
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Armory Show 2016.
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Yves Scherer, Merman (2015).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Nina Chanel Abney (2016).
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.

Armory Show 2016.
Photo: Rain Embuscado for artnet News.


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