The Armory is a bastion of the New York art scene. It has the vibe of your favorite bar: a guaranteed good time surrounded by all the people you actually want to hang out with. Pageantry and air-kissing are left by the wayside so that real substance can prevail. You’re more likely to run into Chuck Close wheeling through the booths than the Eye photographer from Women’s Wear Daily.
For each of the last few years, I have selected a group of outstanding works with an aim to capture the zeitgeist of a fair so large and varied. This year, my selection reflects the hybridity of images and the artists who repurpose meaning and wield objects and ideas that push past their original confines. This is not a theme, but rather something that permeates much of culture today. The warp-speed art market accelerates ever faster in lockstep with a culture in which images are ever more transmutable. Here are the artists whose works are sure to draw attention this year, names wise collectors should not miss at the fair.