The 22nd edition of The Armory Show delivered excellent sales and record visitor numbers, in addition to an outstanding critical response. As one of the leading art fairs in the United States and the cornerstone event in the citywide Armory Arts Week, this edition welcomed 205 contemporary and modern art galleries from 36 countries. The Armory Show continues to show its enviable position as the preeminent art fair for serious collectors from across the United States and the world, with galleries reporting sales on all five days, from modern to contemporary, in a range of prices from a few thousand dollars to a few million. Museum acquisitions were especially strong at this year’s fair.

The Armory Show 2016 welcomed patrons from over 160 museums world-wide, including the Broad Museum, Los Angeles; Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Serpentine Galleries, United Kingdom, and Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Galleries across Piers 92 & 94 reported museum acquisitions.

“It is a privilege to be leading this important New York art show at this time in its history,” comments Benjamin Genocchio, Executive Director, “so much has been done in the past few years to cement this fair’s place in the art market. I have exciting plans to develop the program, reflecting this fair’s ability to offer access to, and create connections within, the world’s largest and most important art market – the United States.”

This year’s Focus: African Perspectives – Spotlighting Artistic Practices of Global Contemporaries, received outstanding critical reception in major international news outlets such as the BBC, Bloomberg, Forbes, the Financial Times, and the New York Times. “Focus: African Perspectives has been a huge success for both the galleries and the artists,” commented Focus curators Julia Grosse and Yvette Mutumba. “The decision to concentrate on solo presentations made for a well-balanced, but still thrilling glimpse into the variety of contemporary art from African perspectives. Galleries made fantastic contacts and had great sales. The overall positive response has been overwhelming and we are thrilled to have partnered with The Armory Show.” 

Gallery Quotes:

James Barron (Kent) “I am always thrilled to exhibit at the Armory. This year I placed works by Sol Lewitt, Cy Twombly, and others in some of the most important collections in America. I was happy to have had visits by both trustees and curators from some of the most important museums in America.” – James Barron, Owner

Blain| Southern (London, Berlin) "We have to congratulate The Armory Show on a very successful preview. Benjamin and the team have clearly done a great job as there was a remarkable atmosphere and we sold well in just the first few hours. We met new clients and connected with existing contacts. Works sold included those by our new artists Chiharu Shiota and Bosco Sodi as well as our longstanding artists Jonas Burgert, Marius Bercea, Francesco Clemente and Abdoulaye Konaté." – Harry Blain, Director

Cherry & Martin (Los Angeles) "We’ve newly returned to The Armory Show and like last year, we have sold works by all five artists we presented and we sold works every day of the fair to both new and existing clients. The press coverage and uploads of our booth were great too. Institutional attention and acquisition interest was high." – Mary Leigh Cherry, Owner

DITTRICH & SCHLECHTRIEM (Berlin) “The gallery is pleased to report a sold out booth of works by Julian Charrière. We have had steady sales thorough-out the week, with strong sales opening night, and continued interest and follow through over the weekend. Works have been placed in major collections in New York City, Upstate New York, Belgium, and Berlin.”– Andre Schlechtriem, Director

Donald Ellis Gallery (New York) "The response has been overwhelming. We've seen the interest of domestic and international collectors spanning London, Paris, Italy and Miami. Our Plains Indian Ledger works will be profiled amongst the best drawings at Armory Modern by major print and digital publications including The New York Times, The Huffington Post and Artsy" – Rose Vickers, Director, Donald Ellis Gallery

Gallery Espace (New Delhi) "Gallery Espace was delighted to participate in The Armory Show for the third time. We dedicated our entire booth to the latest body of work by longtime gallery artist Zarina Hashmi and were thrilled with the overwhelming response to her pieces." – Renu Modi, Owner

Habana Gallery (Cuba) We are happy to report that our sales cover more than the 60% of works we brought to the fair. Works went to private collectors and the most of them new for us.” – Luis P. Miret Perez, Director

Lisson Gallery (London, New York) “We’re very pleased with how The Armory Show went this year, with strong sales across the board for all of our artists present at the fair. Our booth included some special works by John Akomfrah, Ryan Gander, and Ai Weiwei, who all have forthcoming exhibitions at our permanent New York gallery, which opens this spring. Every year The Armory Show allows us a special opportunity to cultivate new and existing relationships with American collectors, curators, and museum directors.” – Alex Logsdail, International Director at Lisson Gallery.

Galleria d'Arte Maggiore G.A.M (Bologna) "We are pleased to have sold a Robert Indiana painting from 2003, Where Oh Where Hides Peace, sold to a major West Coast museum. We also have sold works by Giorgio Morandi, Roberta Matta and Marc Chagall to American collectors in Miami and New York." – Alessia Calarota, Director

Gallery MOMO (Cape Town, Johannesburg) "Since the opening we have had a constant flow of people in the booth, From museums, curators, collectors, publishers, artists, we were able to make connections that will work with the gallery in the near future as well collaborating on projects in South Africa. The Armory was an overall success, across all levels, including connections and sales for the Gallery. One of the best things was the connections with museums and collectors directly involved on museum boards." – Janine Steyn, Director

Yancey Richardson Gallery (New York) “We had a terrific fair this year highlighted by tremendous interest in the work of Zanele Muholi with several editions sold out and much to follow up on. Also, we completed a number of sales of the largescale unique photograms of our young artist Bryan Graf and the Chiral Lines drawings by Rachel Perry.” – Yancy Richardson, Owner

Michael Rosenfeld (New York) “Michael Rosenfeld Gallery organized a booth devoted to the 20th and 21st century women artists. The exhibition was well received with sales of significant works to collector and museums including a major 1950s hanging sculpture by Ruth Asawa, a rare free standing canvas and metal sculpture from 1959 by Lee Bontecou, two Alma Thomas abstractions, glass and metal Claire Falkenstein sculptures, a Dorothy Dehner bronze, as well as a major 1955 geometric abstract painting by Charmion von Wiegand.” Michael Rosenfeld, Owner

Galerie Schultz (Berlin) “We very glad to be a part of the The Armory Show this year. Over the years a more developed concept of the fair and the higher quality of the show and those involved make for a great experience. We were able to deliver artworks by Georg Baselitz, Markus Lüpertz, Gerhard Richter and more to collections in Germany, Portugal and America.” Michael Schultz, Owner

Stevenson Gallery (Cape Town) “We sold out our Zaneli Muholi editions and all the paintings we brought by Zimbabwean artist Portia Zhavavahera. Overall a strong fair for us.” Joost Bosland, Director Allan Stone Projects (New York) Among the sold works were three pieces by Wayne Thiebaud from $25,000 to $500,000, demonstrating the strong appreciation for his hand color prints, two of which were in the $275,000 to $500,000 range.” Bo Joseph, Director

Upstream Gallery (Amsterdam) "New York and the Armory Show were extremely generous to us -- It was a really fabulous week. We sold out our booth on day one with sales averaging at $25,000 each." Martijn Dijkstr, Owner

The next edition of The Armory Show will take place March 1-5, 2017.