THE ARMORY SHOW 2025

Anchoring the booth is one of Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola’s new signature durag-based works, which speak to histories of assimilation, transformation, and Black cultural identity while simultaneously reinventing the language of modernist painting. His solo exhibition Camouflage will open on Friday, September 5, at Sean Kelly, New York, just two blocks from the fair.

Hugo McCloud’snew floral still lifes, made with oil paint and single-use plastic, explore fragility and endurance through ephemeral images of flowers that fade and transform over time. Finely detailed, intimately scaled portraits of women by Kehinde Wiley, continue to reframe the conventions of portraiture by inserting contemporary Black figures into the lineage of Western painting.

In a magenta split painting by Callum Innes washes of color dissolve and reform in quiet gestures of erasure and renewal. Janaina Tschäpe’s new large work on paper expands on her investigations into nature, the subconscious, and fluid abstraction, translating movement into dreamlike compositions. A new abstract painting by Lindsay Adams furthers her interest in material process and layered surfaces, evoking both the painterly gesture and corporeal forms; while a rare abstract canvas by Ilse D’Hollander, whose delicate brushwork and subtle palettes convey introspection and emotional resonance.

Sadie Barnette’slarge text-based wall sculpture fuses the words “winner” and “loser” into a single contranym. This bold text piece embraces duality and contradiction, emphasizing the layered meanings in language and the arbitrary binaries that shape our lives. In his sculpture, José Dávilacontinues his investigation into balance, gravity, and equilibrium. By juxtaposing industrial materials with refined geometry, Dávila stages precarious interactions that appear at once fragile and enduring. Demonstrating his mastery of glaze and texture, Brian Rochefort’s sculpture suggests volcanic surfaces and geological phenomena rendered in skillfully controlled forms.

A luminous photograph from Awol Erizku’s Transfixion series features recurring imagery from his practice projected onto delicate blooms such as orchids and Asiatic lilies. Candida Höfer’smonumental photograph of the ornate ceiling of the Opera in Dresden exemplifies her decades-long investigation into public interiors, where the absence of human figures invites contemplation of history, culture, and collective memory. Ana González’s textile work from her acclaimed Devastations series unravels images of the rainforest, offering a metaphor for environmental resilience.

Together, the presentation highlights the gallery’s commitment to artists who expand the boundaries of form and meaning, weaving personal, cultural, and historical narratives into works of exceptional power and beauty.