Timothy Hyunsoo Lee, *Into the minds of the invisible*, 2017.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
8 Young Artists Not to Miss at the Armory Show
The next generation of artists are making waves with thrilling new work
We know the Armory Show aisles can quickly turn from visual feast to overwhelming blur. With more than two hundred galleries and thousands of artists’ work on view, finding the hidden gems is no easy feat. Herein, we present a selection of young artists—many of whom will be new names to all but the most adventurous collectors—to keep an eye out for at the fair. Their work spans media, content, and scale, and much of it is affordable for even the budding collector.
Dittrich & Schlechtriem (Berlin) present French-Swiss artist Charriére’s iconic “Future Fossil Spaces,” an installation built from salt the artist brought back from a Bolivian salt field that will soon be destroyed in order to access lithium mines beneath the earth’s surface. The work was initially presented in the Arsenale at the 2017 Venice Biennial. Also on view is a 2016 large format black-and-white photograph from Charriére’s First Light series, which examines the long-term devastation of Bikini Atoll by American nuclear testing between 1946 and 1958.
Julian Charrière’s installation at the Venice Biennial. Photo: Jens Ziehe, Courtesy of the artist and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, Germany
Chetrit uses photographs taken by her and friends as teenagers in the ‘90s as the starting point for investigations into self-representation, authorship, and image-making. The New York–based artist’s unapologetic feminist approach has earned her comparisons to both Cindy Sherman and Francesca Woodman—and a worthy heir she is. On view in the Sies & Höke (Düsseldorf) booth are two inkjet photographs, one from her archive and one made in 2017.
Talia Chetrit, Self-portrait (all fours), 2017. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Sies + Höke Galerie
Dunley is among the group of São Paulo painters who became known as 2000e8, based on their shared commitment to the medium and investigations into its materiality, history, and continued relevance in the contemporary landscape. The Void, his spare, abstract work from 2017 is available at Galeria Nara Roesler (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and New York), which hosted the artist’s debut North American solo exhibition earlier this year.
Bruno Dunley, The Void, 2017. Photo: Everton Ballardin, Courtesy of the artist and Galeria Nara Roesler
Sabrina Amrani (Madrid) is dedicating their entire booth to works by Brooklyn-based Korean-American Hyunsoo Lee. Sculptures, light works, watercolors, and gold leaf/cutouts—which range in price from $3,000 to $16,000—offer an overview of the artist’s labor-intensive practice. Hyunsoo Lee’s material output is as varied as the ideas with which his practice engages—from anxiety to death and the cosmos.
Timothy Hyunsoo Lee, Murmuration II, 2017. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani Gallery
The Vancouver-born, Los Angeles–based painter has been cruising at top speed for the past few years, with her most recent solo exhibition at Downs and Ross (New York) receiving critical acclaim across the board. Often integrating mixed media materials into her large-scale acrylic-on-canvas paintings, Parsons pushes the formal aspects of her practice just enough to let the luxuriant palette and seemingly, but not simply, whimsical content hold center stage, while proving that she has true skin in the game. Her works range in price from $8,000–$16,000.
Sojourner Truth Parsons, Perfume on the Sun, 2017. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Downs & Ross
Among the rising stars of the South African art scene, Athi-Patra Ruga had a solo exhibition at Miami’s Bass Museum in 2016 and has participated in such events as the Venice Biennial and Performa. His practice is rooted in a mythical transformation of South African history into an alternate utopic vision and is largely influenced by his studies in fashion design. A selection of his tapestries are available at What if the World (Cape Town).
Ahi Patra Ruga, Ubuqaqawuli Buka Nongayindoda, 2017. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and WHATIFTHEWORLD
Working in ceramic, wood, and steel, Staros—who was born in Nashville and now lives in Los Angeles—updates classical Greco-Roman sculpture with a contemporary spin and precisely au courant humor. Among the selection of her works available at Shulamit Nazari (Los Angeles), some can be had for as little as $3,500. Her most complex and largest piece, bound by Fate’s fragile thread, in ceramic and steel, is on offer for $18,500.
Cammie Staros, bound by Fate’s fragile thread, 2018. Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Shulamit Nazarian
Viktor, who was born in London to Liberian parents, now splits her time between the English capital and New York. Her multimedia conceptual practice references ancient Egyptian and Dogon culture, as well as mathematics and contemporary socio-politics. Mariane Ibrahim (Seattle) is offering Constellation I, made with pure 24-karat gold, acrylic, and gouache. Viktor, whose work is already included in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, is included in this year’s Manifesta Biennial in Palermo and will have a solo exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art later this year.
Lina Iris Viktor, Constellation I, 2016 – 2017. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Cover: Timothy Hyunsoo Lee, *Into the minds of the invisible*, 2017.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani
