10 Emerging Artists to Watch at The Armory Show

Over 200 galleries from 36 countries having flocked to New York this week for the 22nd edition of The Armory Show. And between Armory Presents, the fair’s section devoted to galleries less than 10 years old, and Armory Focus, this year presenting contemporary art from Africa and the African Diaspora, the fair presents a key opportunity to discover some of the most exciting emerging artists from across the globe. To help you navigate the aisles, we boiled it down to 10 newcomers gaining traction at The Armory Show this year, who are ripe for picking.

Namsa Leuba

B. 1982 IN SAINT-AUBIN, SWITZERLAND. LIVES AND WORKS IN LAUSANNE. 

AVAILABLE AT: ECHO ART

Installation view of works by Namsa Leuba at Echo Art’s booth at The Armory Show, 2016. Photo by Adam Reich for Artsy.

“All of my work is talking about African identity through Western eyes,” says up-and-coming photographer Leuba, born to a Guinean mother and a Swiss father, while manning her solo booth during The Armory Show’s VIP preview. In addition to highlights from past series, Leuba debuts her most recent series, “NGL” (read: “Next Generation Lagos”) created during a 2015 residency with Art Twenty One in Lagos, Nigeria. As Echo Art’s Caline Chagoury explains, “She worked with local Nigerian fashion designers—found people on the street—and created this world that’s a complete translation of what Lagos is like. She nailed the city. She has this western eye on African culture and identities.” In addition to vibrant wall-covering installations—Kingdom of Mountains, priced at $16,000, and NGL, priced at $22,000—the gallery also offers editions of portraits in the range of $2,500–$7,000.
—Molly Gottschalk