Looking for Fresh Talent? Here Are 7 Rising Star Artists to Seek Out at Armory Week 2020 in New York
The art world is preparing to descend on Manhattan this week for
the 2020 edition of the Armory Show. What historically took place
in individual rooms at the Gramercy Park Hotel now resides across
two vast piers stretching out into the Hudson River. But of course,
the Armory isn’t the only show in town this week—no fewer than eight
satellite fairs are taking place, too, offering something for
every collector’s taste and budget.
To help you navigate the influx of art, we’ve highlighted a
group of up-and-coming talents to look out for—each with
eye-catching work, critical and curatorial buzz, and a prominent
presence at one of the week’s fairs. Happy looking.
Robert
Nava
Robert Nava, Untitled (2020).
Courtesy of the artist and Sorry We’re Closed.
Who: The 35-year-old
Midwestern native has been making waves with his stripped-down, raw
portrayals of fantastical characters that blur the line between
reality and fiction.
Based in: Brooklyn, New York
Where to See It: Sorry
We’re Closed will mount a solo booth of the artist’s work at the
Armory Show—his first major presentation in New York.
What to
Know: In 2019, Nava—who
earned his MFA from Yale in 2011—was the subject of back-to-back
sold-out solo shows at Night Gallery in Los Angeles and V1 Gallery
in Denmark. Nava’s seemingly carefree marks feel
particularly fresh in the current painting landscape, which seems
to favor more finely rendered, surreal tableaux. He is best known
for drawings and paintings of imaginary monsters and ghosts, which
resonate at a time when some of our collective nightmares feel as
if they are coming true.
Prices: Drawings start
at $2,000; paintings at $25,000
Fun Fact: Nava shares
his studio space with his black cat, Jumanji.
Up Next: Nava will be
the subject of a solo presentation from Night Gallery at the Dallas
Art Fair in March. He has a solo exhibition at Sorry We’re Closed
in September.
Devin B.
Johnson
Devin B. Johnson, Monique Lisa
(2020). Courtesy of the artist and Nicodim Gallery.
Who: Johnson, who turns
28 this week and recently graduated from Pratt’s MFA program, bases
his paintings on freestyle digital collages he builds from a mix of
found material and personal images.
Based in: Los Angeles
Where to See
It: Nicodim Gallery will present Johnson’s
work in a group presentation at the Armory Show.
What to Know: Johnson’s
work at the fair is a continuation of the series he began with
“Melody of a Memory,” his first exhibition with Nicodim, on view in
Los Angeles through March 21. His works are made from a pulsing mix
of spray paint, acrylic, and oil sticks.
Prices: $10,000 to
$40,000
Fun
Fact: Johnson first started
painting as a child watching and following along with Bob
Ross.
Up Next: The
artist will be leaving for Kehinde Wiley’s prestigious
Black Rock fellowship the week of the Armory Show. He beat out
hundreds of applicants for the opportunity to complete a two-month
residency at the Senegal art center.
Nevine Mahmoud
Nevine Mahmoud, Perfect Orifice
(2020). Courtesy the artist and Soft Opening, London. Photo: Paul
Salveson.
Who: London-born, Los
Angeles-based Mahmoud is a 31-year-old sculptor who
manipulates materials traditionally associated with the
masculine, such as marble and alabaster, into delicate carvings
evoking the female form.
Based in: Los Angeles
Where to See It: Soft
Opening’s presentation at the Independent fair. Her New York debut
will feature four new freestanding stone works as well as two
wall-based glass forms that represent a new direction for the
artist.
What to Know: Mahmoud, who
received her MFA from the University of Southern California after
attending Goldsmiths, was handpicked by Maurizio Cattelan for
inclusion in the buzzy exhibition “The Artist is Present” at the Yuz Museum in
2018. Her most recent solo show at Miami’s Nina Johnson Gallery
late last year featured a 300-pound outdoor sculpture of a cherry
with a 10-foot-tall stem.
Fun Fact: Mahmoud
spends weekends in the desert with her 1988 Honda 250.
Up Next: She has
her first institutional solo show at the Barnsdall Art Park
Foundation at Hollyhock House in Los Angeles this summer.
Aaron
Gilbert
Aaron Gilbert, Summons (2020).
Courtesy of the artist and PPOW.
Who: The 40-year-old
Cuba native paints intimate scenes inspired by his experience of
fatherhood. His works—eerie depictions of domestic life—look like
what might happen if Fra Angelico had a lovechild with Frida
Kahlo.
Based in: Brooklyn, New York
Where to See It:
P.P.O.W.’s presentation at the Independent fair
What to Know:
(Yet another) graduate of Yale’s MFA program, Gilbert is represented
in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum and the Studio Museum in
Harlem. He was also the subject of buzzy exhibitions with Nicodim
Gallery and Lyles & King last year.
Prices: $10,000 to
$20,000
Fun Fact: The
artist has a degree in engineering.
Up Next: This
fall, Gilbert’s work will be included in a cross-generational
exhibition at P.P.O.W. alongside of art of Martin Wong. The show
will be one of the inaugural presentations at the gallery’s new
Tribeca location.
Hilary Pecis
Hilary Pecis, Morning (2019).
Courtesy the artist and Rachel Uffner Gallery.
Who: The
California-born and bred Pecis has been earning widespread acclaim
for her layered paintings of interior spaces that play with
perspective as well as with the history of painting itself.
Based in: Los Angeles
Where to See It: Rachel
Uffner’s presentation at the Independent fair
What to
Know: Pecis’s skillful use of saturated
colors, layered elements, and clever references will be on display
in a new body of work that takes inspiration from Southern
California light. She’s accrued a strong lineup of recent shows at
such taste-making venues as Halsey McKay Gallery, Rachel Uffner
Gallery, Guerrero Gallery, and The Pit LA. She also recently had
her first solo show at an institution: the Crisp-Ellert Museum in
Florida.
Prices: $7,500 to $30,000
Fun Fact: The artist
took a year off from school to try to learn how to tattoo, but
ultimately concluded it wasn’t for her.
Up Next: Concurrent
with Independent, Rachel Uffner Gallery will stage Pecis’s second
solo show with the gallery. Pecis will also be included in
“FEEDBACK,” an exhibition curated by Helen Molesworth at Jack Shainman
Gallery’s outpost at The School in Kinderhook, New York, this
spring.
Tunji
Adeniyi-Jones
Installation view of Tunji
Adeniyi-Jones, “Patterns and Rituals,” at Nicelle Beachene
Gallery.
Who: With a few years
to go before turning 30, Adeniyi-Jones has been forging a name for
himself with his fiercely bold figurative paintings that explore
West African history and mythology.
Based in: New York, New York
Where to See It:
Nicelle Beauchene’s presentation at Independent
What to Look Out
for: For Independent, Adeniyi-Jones will debut
large paintings and works on paper that he developed as one of 16
inaugural fellows at Kehinde Wiley’s Black Rock residency in Dakar.
A 2017 graduate of Yale’s MFA program, the artist has also
exhibited at Eric Firestone Gallery and Johannes Vogt Gallery,
among others.
Prices: $20,000 to
$25,000 for large-scale paintings; $2,000 for works on paper
Fun Fact: He
made the 2020 edition
of Forbes‘s 30 under 30 list (for which Kehinde
Wiley, not coincidentally, served as a judge).
Up Next:
Adeniyi-Jones’s work is currently on view in the traveling
exhibition “Young, Gifted, and Black: the
Lumpkin-Bocuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art,” organized by Antwaun Sargent, as well as in the
group show “All of Them Witches” at
Deitch Projects in Los Angeles. He has a busy rest of the year as
well: the artist will premiere new work at Morán Morán in Los
Angeles in May, will be included in the Dakar Biennial this summer,
and is slated to show in Ugo Rondinone’s 39 Great Jones Street
window series this fall.
Kate Klingbeil
Kate Klingbeil, Leaf Season
(2020). Courtesy the artist and Field Projects.
Who: The young artist
is like a feminist Hieronymus Bosch, transforming the landscape and
the female form alike into a complex fantasia that makes what is
usually invisible, visible. By delving beneath the surface of both
the body and the Earth, she calls to attention how these intricate
networks impact one another.
Based in: Brooklyn, New York
Where to See It: In a
presentation curated by Jacob Rhodes, Rachel Frank, and Kristen
Racaniello at SPRING/BREAK.
What to Know: Trained as
a printmaker, Klingbeil has developed an expansive
practice that encompasses printmaking, ceramics, sculpture,
installation, and painting—sometimes in a single piece.
Prices: $2,000 to
$12,000
Fun
Fact: Entrepreneurial from the start, as a
child Kate would charge the neighborhood kids a quarter to see her
pet collection (which comprised 30+ small animals) in her family’s
garage in Michigan.
Up Next: Kate will be a
resident artist at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center later this
year in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where she will be making a series of
bronze sculptures in the Kohler factory.
The post Looking for Fresh Talent? Here Are 7 Rising Star
Artists to Seek Out at Armory Week 2020 in New York appeared
first on artnet News.
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