Ocula: See the Giant Works Coming to The Armory Show This Fall

Sam Gaskin, Ocula, July 26, 2021

The eight participating artists are Diana Al-Hadid, Benny Andrews, Julian Charrière, Tau Lewis, Grayson Perry, Michael Rakowitz, Cammie Staros, and Yinka Shonibare CBE.

The Armory Show has shared images of the large-scale works that will show in the New York fair's Platform section this year.

 

This year's theme is Can you hear the fault lines breathing? Curated by Claudia Schmuckli, Curator-in-Charge of Contemporary Art and Programming at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the section features works that aim to bridge societal, historical and geographical divisions.

 

'In a world in the grip of climate change and haunted by biological and social viruses that are decimating populations and dividing societies, this year's Platform seeks to capture the breadth of the fault lines that currently define our experience of existence,' Schmuckli said.

 

'I hope the works featured in Platform offer strategies of overcoming and healing that provoke dialogue about new models of care for the self, each other and the planet we call home,' she said.

 

The Armory Show will take place at its new home in the Javits Center, 15 blocks or so south of its former home on Piers 92 and 94, from 9 to 12 September.

 Cammie Staros, Come to Pass (detail), 2021, Ceramic, marble, and stainless steel, 135 x 18 x 15 inches

 Cammie Staros, Come to Pass (detail), 2021. Ceramic, marble, and stainless steel. 135 x 18 x 15 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Shulamit Nazarian.
 

Cammie Staros, Come to Pass

Fascinated by Greco-Roman art, Cammie Staros created this totemic sculpture by stacking hand-built vessels made with a combination of ancient techniques and modern industrial materials.

 

Julian Charrière, We Are All Astronauts, 2013. Installation view of Towards No Earthly Pole

Julian Charrière, We Are All Astronauts, 2013. Installation view of Towards No Earthly Pole, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland 2020. Copyright Julian Charriere, VG Bild-Kunst Bonn, Germany. Photo: Jens Ziehe. Courtesy Dittrich & Schechtrien, Berlin / Sean Kelly, New York.

 

Julian CharrièreWe Are All Astronauts

Inspired by the writing of Buckminster Fuller, Charrière's globes feature maps from 1890-2011 that have been sanded away.

 

Grayson Perry, Very Large Very Expensive Abstract Painting (2020). Tapestry. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro.

 

Grayson PerryVery Large Very Expensive Abstract Painting

Grayson Perry's vast tapestry was inspired by a trip across the United States on a custom-built motorbike. He spent time with different communities exploring the different political and cultural fault lines in American society.

 

Tau Lewis, Opus (The Ovule), (2020). Various recycled and hand-dyed fabrics, recycled leather, acrylic paint, recycled polyester batting, jute, metal frame, PVA glue, secret objects, safety pins, metal hooks, wire. Dimensions variable. 122 x 88 x 252 inches.

Tau Lewis, Opus (The Ovule), (2020). Various recycled and hand-dyed fabrics, recycled leather, acrylic paint, recycled polyester batting, jute, metal frame, PVA glue, secret objects, safety pins, metal hooks, wire. Dimensions variable. 122 x 88 x 252 inches. Courtesy the artist. Presented by Night Gallery, Los Angeles.

 

Tau LewisOpus (The Ovule)

Tau Lewis describes Opus (The Ovule) as 'the power source of consciousness' in a fictional realm defined by abundance, safety, and justice.

 

Yinka Shonibare, Material (SG) I, 2019.

Yinka Shonibare, Material (SG) I, 2019. Courtesy the artist and James Cohan Gallery, New York. Photo: Mariah Miranda.

 

Yinka ShonibareMaterial (SG) I

Material (SG) I (2019) is part of a series of wind sculptures that act as metaphors for migration.

 

Benny Andrews, Circle (Bicentennial Series) (1973). Oil on 12 linen canvases with painted fabric and mixed media collage. 120 x 288 inches. Copyright Benny Andrews Estate. Courtesy Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York.

 

Benny AndrewsCircle (Bicentennial Series)

Over seven metres wide, this sprawling painting confronting white myths about Black Americans was created in anticipation of the American Bicentennial in 1976.

 

Michael Rakowitz, installation view of The invisible enemy should not exist (Room F, section 1, panel 15, Northwest Palace of Nimrud) (2019). Middle Eastern food packaging and newspapers, glue, cardboard on wooden structures, museum label. Courtesy the artist and Jane Lombard Gallery. Photo: Arturo Sanchez.

 

Michael RakowitzThe invisible enemy should not exist (Room F, section 1, panel 15, Northwest Palace of Nimrud)

Michael Rakowitz recreates stone carved panels destroyed by ISIS or otherwise lost in these vibrant collages made using Middle Eastern food packaging.

 

Diana Al-Hadid's work, Self-referential (2021) will be presented by Galleri Brandstrup, Oslo. Images of the work were unavailable at time of publication.

 

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