We travel to the Javits Center to explore the 2024 Armory Show, accompanied by an art advisor and a GEMS gallery owner.
In the mid-afternoon of yesterday’s VIP preview at the Armory Show, art advisor and curator James Cardoso Shaeffer arrived ready to traverse the complex layout of the Javits Center. The brainchild behind GEMS, the unconventional gallery on the Lower East Side, Cardoso Shaeffer launched this experimental venue following his experiences at James Fuentes, Simon Lee, and Greene Naftali.
Cardoso Shaeffer, with a mustache and clad in thick-brimmed taupe Jacques Marie Mage glasses (a style upgrade he attributes to his wife Danielle Cardoso Shaeffer, a director at Gagosian), embraced me in greeting before we ventured through the fair’s passageways. He expressed eagerness to witness the fair’s transformation under its new director, Kyla McMillan. “She’s been with the finest galleries—Gavin Brown, Zwirner; she even ran her own,” he remarked. “She’s truly formidable. I believe she brings a fresh perspective that diverges from the norm, and I’m curious to see her impact.”
Our initial visit was to the Nara Roesler booth, a gallery with locations in Chelsea, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro. Cardoso Shaeffer was captivated by an abstract painting in black and red by Tomie Ohtake, evoking images of desert dunes with enticing shadows scattered across the painting’s open areas. Ohtake, who passed away at the age of 101, was a member of Brazil’s significant Japanese diaspora.
“Five years ago, we entered her market,” Cardoso Shaeffer remarked. “I’m lucky to have a Brazilian wife. Danielle introduced me to Ohtake’s work. It was precisely at this pivotal moment when the art world began to recognize overlooked female artists and artists of color. She was at the intersection of these movements. Moreover, she was an exceptional artist. It wasn’t until the past decade that her work gained attention north of the equator. Since then, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has acquired a piece, and a prominent museum in New York has also acquired one, though it’s not yet public.” Ohtake’s work has also been integral to his advisory role. “I placed several of her pieces with clients five years ago,” he added.
Installation view, The Armory Show 2024, Victoria Miro, Booth229, Javits Center, New York. All artworks © Isaac Julien. Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro.
Next, Cardoso Shaeffer proceeded to the adjacent Victoria Miro booth, which was dedicated to Isaac Julien’s video installation “Once Again… Statues Never Die.” This piece was also featured in this year’s Whitney Biennial. Within the booth, a secluded, mirrored room showcased black and white videos on two opposing screens. The installation delves into the relationship between Dr. Albert C. Barnes, an early American collector and exhibitor of African art and cultural artifacts, and Alain Locke, the esteemed philosopher and cultural critic, often referred to as the ‘Father of the Harlem Renaissance.’
Cardoso Shaeffer remarked, “This is the sole installation at the fair that truly resonates with meaning and quality. The work is stirring, and while it may not be the first exhibit I’m drawn to at the fair, the gallery certainly has a clientele for it, barring the absence of private institutions. It’s commendable to see an artist take such a bold step in a commercial environment. Moreover, the cost of setting up this installation was substantial, which makes it all the more impressive that it demonstrates art can be an expression of pure self-indulgence.”
As we made our way to the next exhibit, the buzz of activity in the center intensified. Cardoso Shaeffer was eager to introduce me to the gallerist at Galleria Massimo Minini. However, the gallerist was deeply engaged in a conversation with an art advisor and her clients, likely in the midst of a transaction, so we refrained from interrupting. “He’s conversing with financiers,” Cardoso Shaeffer murmured, before sharing his enthusiasm for an artist represented by the gallery. Although the artist’s work wasn’t displayed at the booth, it was part of the gallery’s collection. To show me, he brought up an image on his phone.
Carla Accardi, Giallo-Bianco (1966). Courtesy of Galleria Massimo Minini.
“Carla Accardi is another overlooked female artist,” Cardoso Shaeffer explained, and displayed an image of Giallo-Bianco (1966), which entails rows of undulating yellow lines zig-zagging across a canvas to form an almost psychedelic pattern. “She was making this near geometric style of abstract painting using new materials. Acrylic paint is relatively a brand new medium she was bringing to the forefront. This piece is made with varnish and Sicofoil, a new kind of packaging plastic at the time. Like, this a few years before Sol Lewitt was making these same pattern pieces. You know, you can’t really like dangle keys in front of somebody. No one really cared about her in America except for the nerds. Collectors that are coming to this gallery today are more likely to be into this these days. Good collectors are listening to the nerds.”
As we walked, a model in a hot pink pixie wig passed by with a neon sign strapped to her torso that we did not bother to read. I posed the big question: Is GEMS the format of the gallery of the future?
“I only wanted to have a physical space for a year,” he said. “Now I’m gonna start transitioning to doing exhibitions at collector’s homes. I have an exhibition with my friend Andrew J. Greene coming up, but then I’m also working on other shows that are happening. I have something down the pipeline with Mike Kelly.” The crux of Cardoso Shaeffer’s philosophy is bristling against and evolving beyond the traditional gallery system.
“People have this sublime fear,” Cardoso Shaeffer chuckled. “‘We need to sell this many artworks because we have this much overhead,’ and if we don’t make that overhead, then the gallery shuts down. We can no longer support artists, so artists can no longer do what they want to do. The only way they can ever get to do what they want to do is if they are represented by a major gallery and they have an institutional show, then they can do whatever the fuck they want.”
He remarked, “Consider the Christopher Wool exhibition this summer. It took place in a vacant office space within a skyscraper, and he organized it independently. That is the future.”
