BY LUCY REES
As the languid pace of summer comes to an end, New York City undergoes a major transformation as fall art week kicks into gear. The buzzy week is anchored by The Armory Show, the historic New York art fair founded in 1994, which returns to the Javits Center from September 5 through September 7. (There is also a VIP Day on September 4.) Under the new leadership of Kyla McMillan, who was named director in July 2024, the fair offers moments of reunion for the art world as well as exciting opportunities for new discoveries.
This year’s edition features over 230 international galleries from more than 30 countries, with dynamic presentations taking place throughout the main Galleries section. The special curated sections are always a highlight. The Solo section, a perennial favorite, is dedicated to intimate presentations of work by a single, visionary artist. Presents spotlights galleries founded in the last ten years, offering a crucial platform for emerging voices and providing collectors with a look at what’s new and next. Platform, meanwhile, showcases large-scale sculptures, installations, and site-specific works at the center of the fair. This year’s section is titled My Art Is the Evidence of My Freedom and is curated by Raina Lampkins-Fielder, Chief Curator of Souls Grown Deep Foundation, which is dedicated to promoting the work of Black artists.
Function, a new section this year, explores the intersection of art and design in a special presentation curated by Ebony L. Haynes, senior director at David Zwirner and 52 Walker, examining how artists engage with design principles and practices.
“This year’s edition of The Armory Show will be an energetic kickoff to the art world season,” says McMillan. “Led by a resurgence of New York-based exhibitors, the fair is further solidifying its vitality in the global art market. The Armory Show is a fair for discovery, and we take pride in our accessibility. The 2025 iteration offers our audiences the opportunity to explore a breadth of high-quality presentations by a broad scope of exhibitors from the U.S. and across the globe.”
Below, we highlight 9 presentations that are not to be missed.
Jammie Holmes presented by Marianne Boesky
At the Focus section of the fair, which is curated by Jessica Bell Brown this year, and highlights artists and galleries from the American South, Marianne Boesky is presenting a monumental, 13-foot painting, A Few Great Men (2024), by Jammie Holmes, an L.A. based rising-star painter who portrays poignant scenes of Black families, communities, and traditions in the American South. Here, Holmes incorporates a series of symbols and motifs that appear throughout his practice.
