VIP PREVIEW
Thursday, September 7
PUBLIC DATES
Friday, September 8 | 11 AM–7 PM
Saturday, September 9 | 11 AM–7 PM
Sunday, September 10 | 11 AM–6 PM
Booth 217 | Javits Center | 429 11th Ave, New York, NY
For the 2023 Armory Fair in New York, Kavi Gupta presents a selection of new and historically important works by some of the most influential artists working today, including internationally acclaimed, Pittsburgh-based painter Devan Shimoyama; interdisciplinary Seneca artist Marie Watt; Abstract painter and critically beloved stand out of the 2022 Whitney Biennial, James Little; Japanese-American painter and sculptor Tomokazu Matsuyama; AFRICOBRA founder Gerald Williams; and renowned conceptual artist and “perceptual engineer” Willie Cole; along with new works by many of the vanguard, emerging artists in our program, including Miya Ando; Alfred Conteh; Michi Meko; Nikko Washington; and Armani Howard.
Booth Spotlight:
Devan Shimoyama: The Barbershop Project
Celebrating four years since its inception in Washington, DC, Devan Shimoyama’s Barbershop Project returns as part of Kavi Gupta’s 2023 Armory presentation. In its original manifestation, Shimoyama created a fully-functioning barbershop inside a blue shipping container. The space was filled with custom furniture adorned with an assortment of flowers and rhinestones, and featured paintings by Shimoyama on the walls. The paintings showed an array of people getting haircuts, suggesting a welcoming environment where all people could feel at ease and express themselves honestly.
The project is intended as a reflection upon notions of masculinity and femininity, spotlighting cultural traditions and expectations within Black barber shops that cause non-binary, LGBTQ+ and/or gender non-conforming individuals not to feel safe or welcomed. Shimoyama’s Barbershop is a space inclusive of everybody.
Shimoyama’s new barbershop paintings reflect the changes he witnessed recently when revisiting the barbershop he used to go to when he started the series.
“They’ve done a whole renovation, and there are women working there. It feels like a more inclusive environment,” he said. “It’s been nice to see how things have grown and expanded.”
Offsite Artist Spotlight:
Installation view, Flower Atlas, Miya Ando, 2023. Brookfield Place, New York. Images by Fadi Kheir
Miya Ando: Flower Atlas
Complementing her indigo paintings in the Kavi Gupta booth at the Armory Show, Miya Ando’s monumental public installation Flower Atlas will continue to be on view in the Winter Garden of Brookfield Place throughout Armory week, until September 14, 2023. Consisting of 72 cloth banners suspended in the building’s glass atrium, Flower Atlas tracks flowers in bloom around the world, as described by the 72 seasons in the Japanese Kō calendar.
