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Sunday, March 16th, 2014
Armory Show NYC 2014
Shards Of The Armory Art Fair
March 16, 2014 New York City
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Gallery: Baró Galeria at The Armory Show, 2014
by correspondents Jessica Higgins & Suzy Sureck
The Hudson River, having recently shed its icy scales, sparkles in the early March light. Its swells and tides surround massive structures and lengthy lines that jut out past the outer rim of the West Side Highway. Works from 29 countries represented by 203 galleries, supported by 2 piers hover over the tidal estuary of the Hudson River. It is the Armory Show 2014 – an annual celebration and logistical quagmire.
As Jessica Higgins and I enter Pier 94, Sunday afternoon, we are overwhelmed by the scale and abundance of creative expression. Video, works on paper, mixed media of all kinds, suspended sculptures, digital projections, paintings…Unable to take in the vastness, my myopia kicks in – a physical condition of the eyes, and my defense against overwhelm. I lose sight of the overall and take pleasure instead in connecting with just a few details.
To follow is a short picture essay of shards of the Armory Art Fair 2014:
Elena del Rivero, The Armory Show 2014, Photo: Suzy Sureck
On Saturday the 8th I had the pleasure of going to the Armory show with Suzy Sureck, a long time friend and fellow artist. As an artist covering an event for Artist Organized Art I felt my POV was more reflective than based on the business side of an art fair. Though I went in inspired to see a collective of artists sharing their work, I quickly found my eyes lifted to the ceiling, the metal bars and utilitarian functionality of what lay above the cubicles of art.
Infrastructure, The Armory Show, 2014, Photo: Jessica Higgins
Once we were thrilled to get our press passes we continued to make our way through the crowds, we both found ourselves trying to start somewhere. We were moved by threaded papers collaged with ink letters, by Elena del Rivero ‘Letters for the Bride.’ Her mesmerizing typography mixed with patterns.
Nick Cave, Soundsuit, Jack Shainman Gallery, The Armory Show 2014
Nick Cave’s, ‘Soundsuit’ had me curious about how so many of us were being inundated by information in the 21st century, we both peered inside at the textural hair like orifice and the reflective buttons.
Tomás Saraceno, NGC 5457, Andersen’s Contemporary, The Armory Show 2014
Many artists, when going to the Armory Show, experience a sense of overwhelm, because of the amount of art show at once in the context of some kind of fair. The sense of subtlety and individuality that is often associated with art gets plowed over. You can’t help, but smell the money associated with the art market and wonder how it effects artists. It does seem that the big expensive pieces draw the curiosity of many of the viewers. I just think big and small are beautiful.
Andrew Ohanesian, Dollar Bill Acceptor (2014), Gallery: Pierogi, The Armory Show, 2014
We slid by Shahzia Sikander’s drawings and made our way to Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle’s reflective sculpture. We were moved by the ball and string piece toward the end by Fernanda Gomes which seemed so simple and refreshing and the humorous piece by Andrew Ohanesian ‘dollar bill acceptance’ seemed to resonate with the art market behind the fair, it was literally an automatic teller machine bill plaque out of plastic.
Leandro Erlich, The Cloud – Rabbit (2013), Gallery: Sean Kelly, The Armory Show 2014
We ended the show finding ourselves at a small sculpture of clouds, in which two artist faces reflected. We thoughtfully walked onward and decided in the end that subtle details coming back to us in light could be a point of view for the everyday pieces within the whole chaotic pile.
Jessica Higgins, (more articles) American artist, lives and works in New York and Massachusetts. Formative dance studies at Juilliard and Joffrey. Daughter of Fluxus Founders Dick Higgins and Alison Knowles. She has direct experiential knowledge of Fluxus, having early formation in that culture by way of the original members and by participation in historic Fluxus events. She is a regular correspondent for Artist Organized Art and was the Creative Director of ‘Switch’ a local access television series of performance and intermedia out of Western Massachusetts. Her works and performances have exhibited in numerous countries.
Suzy Sureck, (www.suzysureck.com) Exhibits in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Korea, Australia and India. Recent works include installations in the Nature Art Biennale in South Korea; Poznan Biennale, and fringe events at the Venice Biennale 2009. Public works include QuamaneQ for the Neuberger Museum Biennial, Fault Lines for the Darmstadt Forest in Germany, Alice and the Looking Glass for the Evergreen House in Baltimore, Taking in the Rain for the Snug Harbor Cultural Center, The Bubble Field for the Kingston Biennial, Aqua Lumina spanning 200 feet over the East River in Socrates Park, NY and Double Crossings suspended 1500 feet above the Ramon Crater in the Negev desert in Israel. She completed 2 underwater installations Many Moons for Bass in Omi, NY and Polka Dot Pond at the University of Maine in Augusta, and looks forward to creating more large-scale drawings in and around landscapes. Her works have been highlighted in The New York Times, World Art. Sculpture Magazine, NY Arts and Flash Art, and can be found in both public and private collections including The Museum of Installation in London, The Artists Museum in Poland and the Dr. Fischer Arts for Peace Collection in Tel Aviv. Suzy received a Masters Degree in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy in Michigan and a BFA from the Cooper Union, as well as studying at The Slade School of Art in London, and recently took up bee keeping. Suzy Sureck has presented lectures on her work at several universities in the Northeast and teaches at Queens College. She lives and works in New York City and Gardiner, NY..