Armory Show 2025: Emerging Artists, Standout Booths, and Contemporary Art Trends
- Selfless Art Gallery
- Sep 9
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 10
This year, Selfless Art Gallery attended The Armory Show at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, one of the most influential international contemporary art fairs bringing together leading galleries, collectors, and artists from across the globe. The event reaffirmed why the New York art market remains a vital hub for creativity and cultural dialogue.
Congratulations are in order for the many booths and artists who successfully placed works with collectors throughout the fair. These sales served as a promising reminder that, even amid recent challenges and slowdowns in the global art market, there is continued demand and enthusiasm for innovative, thought-provoking art. The momentum of these acquisitions underscored the resilience of the art world and offered a positive signal of renewed confidence.
Amid these encouraging developments, The Armory Show 2025 emerged as a reassuring sign of energy and optimism. The fair demonstrated that emerging artists, modern art movements, and established galleries continue to push boundaries, foster community, and generate excitement among collectors and audiences alike.
Favorite Booths: Saatchi Yates, Southern Guild , and Nino Mier Gallery
Three booths stood out as the most compelling presentations this year, each exemplifying cohesion, innovation, and bold curatorial vision.
The Saatchi Yates booth showcased works by Tesfaye Urgessa, whose practice centers on “the hidden negotiations, the divisions, the unspoken tensions that shape so much of our lives.” His stylized and contorted figures, locked in gestures of conversation, negotiation, and confrontation, create a charged atmosphere where resolution is deliberately absent. Instead, Urgessa captures the drama of human tension in all its rawness. The booth’s strength lay not only in Urgessa’s individual works but also in the way they formed a cohesive narrative of human struggle and emotional conflict, while maintaining a spirit of innovation through form and composition.
Equally impressive was Southern Guild, a gallery rooted in collaboration and cross-disciplinary dialogue. In keeping with its founding spirit, the booth brought together works that provoke new ideas and challenge how we perceive what it means to be human. The presentation displayed remarkable curatorial cohesion, where each piece spoke to the others while still standing powerfully on its own. Southern Guild’s innovative approach to blending mediums and perspectives reaffirmed why it remains a leader in curating daring, thought-provoking exhibitions with global resonance.
Nino Mier Gallery also made a lasting impression with its apartment-style presentation, which felt more like stepping into a thoughtfully curated living space than a traditional gallery. The way the furniture, décor, and artworks interact created an intimate, immersive environment that encouraged viewers to experience the art in a personal and relatable way. This innovative approach to gallery presentation highlights Mier’s ability to make the art feel approachable while maintaining a sophisticated and cohesive visual narrative.
Strong International Presence: Cape Town Galleries
There was a noticeable presence from Cape Town-based galleries, signaling the city’s growing influence on the global stage.
RESERVOIR Projects, founded by Heinrich Groenewald and Shona van der Merwe, specializes in collaborative curation. Since opening their Bree Street space in 2023, they’ve been staging ambitious solo exhibitions that amplify independent artistic voices.
Mmangaliso Nzuza, Departure II, 2025, Oil on canvas - Courtesy Southern Guild Southern Guild, while also one of our favorite booths, further underscored Cape Town’s importance by embodying the principles of community and collaboration while fostering daring artistic expression.
Notable Trends and Themes
Several artistic currents emerged throughout the fair, reflecting evolving cultural conversations:
Exploration of LGBTQ+ Relationships: A spotlight was placed on works featuring intimate portrayals of men in relationships, some of which were sexually charged yet deeply tender. Among the most memorable were pieces by Brooklyn-based artist Logan T. Sibrel, whose realism captures both queer experience and everyday life with extraordinary sensitivity.
Celestial and Aetherial Aesthetics: Many works embraced a cosmic, angelic quality—ethereal pieces that seemed to touch on the spiritual and otherworldly.
Geometric and Cubist Influences: Artists like Mernet Larsen reinterpreted historical movements, from Russian Constructivism to Indian miniatures, as a way to comment on the anxieties of the present. Over four decades, Larsen has developed a meticulous visual language that collapses space and draws viewers into disorienting yet deeply human narratives.
Favorite Artists from the Fair
William Brickel: Known for embracing ambiguity, Brickel allows viewers to project their own identity and experiences into his work. His exploration of memory and nostalgia often distorts form, exaggerating features to emphasize the subjectivity of recollection. Compared to the “Intimists” Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard, Brickel’s works radiate intimacy and psychological depth.
Mmangaliso Nzuza: A Cape Town-based painter whose bold use of intentional color and vivid form serves as a means of self-navigation and exploration of identity.
Danielle Roberts: From Gabriola Island, British Columbia and now based in Brooklyn, Roberts crafts paintings infused with dark luminescence. Her works are intoxicating and moody, drawing the viewer into a world where light feels both mysterious and magnetic. Through her interplay of illumination and shadow, Roberts creates atmospheres that shimmer with a haunting glow—spaces that are simultaneously inviting and contemplative. This delicate balance produces a sense of depth and intrigue, a testament to her ability to translate emotion into visual form.
Closing Reflections
The Armory Show 2025 was more than just a showcase of art; it was a reflection of where the contemporary art market stands today. In the face of economic uncertainty and recent slowdowns, the fair’s strong attendance, ambitious presentations, and bold artistic statements signaled a renewed optimism for the art world.
For Selfless Art Gallery, the experience reaffirmed the importance of supporting both emerging artists and established voices. From the commanding booth of Saatchi Yates to the global influence of Cape Town’s galleries, and from themes of queer intimacy to celestial abstraction, The Armory Show highlighted the evolving directions of modern art, contemporary painting, and global creative trends.
As the art market continues to find its footing, fairs like The Armory Show demonstrate that the passion for art—and the desire to engage with it—remains as powerful as ever.
References
Courtesy of Saatchi Yates / Artsy ;Courtesy of Southern Guild ;Courtesy of Logan T. Sibrel ;Courtesy of Fredericks Freiser Gallery
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