Armory Show Opens 13th Edition as Centerpiece to the Biggest Week of Art in New York

NEW YORK, NY.- The Armory Show opened its thirteenth edition of the fair. The Armory Show 2011 features 274 blue-chip contemporary and modern art galleries from 31 countries. Keeping the focus ever on the artist, The Armory Show’s 2011 commissioned artist is Gabriel Kuri. Kuri’s work complements the special section Armory Focus: Latin America. As always, a robust calendar of VIP events, the Open Forum series of panels and roundtables featuring some of today’s greatest art minds, and collaborations with New York’s finest cultural institutions will keep art collectors and enthusiasts involved.

Armory Arts Week continues to underscore the city’s unparalleled artistic communities. “With a stellar list of international galleries participating in this year’s Armory Show, and all the other events and fairs happening in the city, Armory Arts Weeks, once again, makes New York City shine as the true center of the art world,” notes De Backer.

The second edition of Armory Focus turns its attention to Latin America. This invitation-only component of The Armory Show, Armory Focus: Latin America features the pick of galleries from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.

Armory Focus premiered in 2010 with Armory Focus Berlin where an expertly selected group of the city’s best established and emerging galleries was presented with great success, garnering extensive media coverage and achieving strong sales.

Gabriel Kuri: The Armory Show’s 2011 Commissioned Artist
The Armory Show has commissioned Mexican-born, Belgium-based artist Gabriel Kuri to create the visual identity for the 2011 fair. Kuri’s artwork, which often combines everyday detritus and commonplace materials in unexpectedly poetic juxtapositions, set the aesthetic for the fair’s look, is featured in all its advertising and marketing materials and is showcased in the catalogue. This is the tenth year The Armory Show has commissioned an artist to define the image of the fair.

Gabriel Kuri is renowned for sculptures and collages made from the remains of everyday purchases and found objects. Kuri reconfigures meaning from tickets and receipts, retail supplies and slabs of marble, stones and other incongruous materials.

“We are very happy to have Gabriel Kuri contribute his unique sensibility to The Armory Show’s image,” said Executive Director Katelijne De Backer. “We look forward to sharing his gift for allusion and his lyrical combinations with the thousands of collectors, curators and art enthusiasts that visit our fair.”

Gabriel Kuri has exhibited widely throughout the world. He is represented by Sadie Coles HQ in London, Galería Kurimanzutto in Mexico City, Franco Noero in Turin and Esther Schipper in Berlin. His work has been seen in numerous international group shows, including the 5th Berlin Biennal (2008); Brave New Worlds at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2007) and at Colección Jumex, Ecatepec, Mexico (2008); and Unmonumental at New Museum, New York (2007). Recent and upcoming shows include Gabriel Kuri-Soft Information in Your Hard Facts at Museion, Bolzano; Join the Dots and Make a Point at Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg, traveling to Bielefelder Kunstverein, Bielefeld; and Gabriel Kuri: Nobody needs to know the price of your Saab at The Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston, traveling to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. Kuri lives and works in Mexico City and Brussels.

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