TOP PICKS @ARMORY SHOW
The Armory Show came to a close yesterday after several days worth of highly anticipated art related events in and around Manhattan.
As one of the city’s top art fairs, the Armory features presentations by 198 galleries based in 31 countries as well as special commissions and public programming aimed at inspiring and supporting the visual arts. The venue at Pier 92/94 over the 5 days it runs is a hive of activity and can be as overwhelming as it is incredibly visually stimulating. Here is our by no means expansive top selections of works that particularly stood out for us this year:
Peter Linde Busk - Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
In his exhibit And In That Place He Did Succumb To What Was Offered, two works from which are presented by the gallery at the fair, Linde Busk presents his nearly abstract figures in an exuberant variety of materials. Working through a mixture of collage, mosaic, and relief, the Copenhagen-born artist faces the themes of human identity and collapse, as he offers compositions that are chaotic and beautifully arresting at once.
Peter Linde Busk - White Heat, 2017, Various kinds of treated wood, cast plaster, fired and glazed ceramic, oxides, cement, wood stain, cardboard, paper, gesso, felt, hand-painted glass, natural stones, reconditioned copper etching plates, gold leaf, porcelain earth, shellac, ink, acrylics, linen, canvas, coloured pencils, crayons, on; 56,7 in x 44,8 in x 4,9 in. Image courtesy of Galleri Bo Bjerggaard.
Peter Linde Busk - Lost in La Mancha II, 2018, Various kinds of treated wood, natural stones, fires and glazed ceramics, hand-painted glass, cardboard, reconditioned copper etching plates, wood stain, acrylics, steel, ink, linen, shellack, porcelain earth, on board; 73,9 in x 58,3 in x 3,5 in. Image courtesy of Galleri Bo Bjerggaard.
Lina Iris Viktor - Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, Seattle
In Black Arc at the Armory show, the British Liberian artist Lina Iris Viktor explores black beauty in her exclusively black and gold colour palette. In her black canvases hand-gilded with 24 karat gold, Iris Viktor brings together the explorations of cosmology, religious symbology, and indigenous imagery, and positions black as the - beautiful and opulent - source of all forms of life.
Lina Iris Viktor - Materia Prima II, 2017-2018, Pure 24K gold, acrylic, poly resin, print on matte on canvas, 52×40 in, 132.1×101.6 cm (detail). Image courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim Gallery.
Lina Iris Viktor - Constellation VII, 2017-2018, Pure 24 Karat Gold, Acrylic, Resin on Cotton Rag Paper, 56 × 40 in, 142.2×101.6 cm. Image courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim Gallery.
Justin Mortimer - Parafin, London
In his new series Hoax, which shifts between photorealistic depiction and near-abstract formlessness, British painter Justin Mortimer reinterprets the genre of nature morte by depicting dead and dying flowers. Mortimer collapses abstraction and representation, questioning the relationship between beauty and horror, realism and subjectivity. The background of the paintings is produced by repeatedly building up layers of paint on the canvas and scraping them away; the works thus reflect a world in a state of disorder.
Justin Mortimer - Hoax 12, 2017, Oil and acrylic on panel 60×80 cm, 23 5/8×31 1/2 in. Image courtesy of Parafin.
Justin Mortimer - Widow, 2017, Oil and acrylic on canvas 122x152 cm, 48 1/8×59 7/8 in. Image courtesy of Parafin.
Toni R. Toivonen - Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki
The Helsinki-born artist Toni R. Toivonen works through the topics of destruction and decay, and finds beauty in the grotesque process of deterioration. The artist places an animal carcass on a sheet of brass, and as the animal decays and ceases to exist it leaves an imprint on the surface, producing an image that is undisturbed and visually arresting.
Toni R. Toivonen - Death of a Unicorn, 2018, Brass, original substances of a dead animal 200h x 300w cm, 78.74h x 118.11w in. Image courtesy of Galerie Forsblom, photo by Angel Gil.
Toni R. Toivonen - At the End of the Rainbow, 2018, Brass, original substances of a dead animal 200h x 300w cm, 78.74h x 118.11w in. Image courtesy of Galerie Forsblom, photo by Angel Gil.
Words by Polina Gordovich