The Salon Art + Design Returns to Park Avenue Armory

In less than a week, Salon Art + Design will open those formidable Gothic Revival doors of the Seventh Regiment Army, also known as the Park Avenue Armory, for, appropriately, its seventh edition. Inside, visitors will find fifty-seven exhibitors showcasing some of the best and most coveted works of modern and contemporary art and design from around the globe, including, for the first time, South Africa. The fair is a premier venue for collectors, and offers an impressive array of design that include everything from antiquities and mid-century wares to new works by up-and-coming twenty-first century designers.

“Contemporary artists and collectors are becoming more interested in creating environments, rather than collecting objects,” says Yolande Batteau, the creative director of the New York-based atelier Callidus Guild, known for its custom wall coverings. For Salon, she'll create an applied-art installation in the historic Armory’s Stanford White-designed Library. Juxtaposed with the wooden vitrines and Louis C. Tiffany-designed stained-glass windows are the atelier's five fifteen-foot-tall stelae sculptures made from draped, marble-dusted plaster, Roman cement, gesso-impregnated netting and canvas, and gilding that “point up the theme of materiality and tactility,” she says. “The maker-designer community is increasingly referencing the fine arts rather than the decorative arts.” Completing the stunning tableau is the visionary Glass chair by Shiro Kuramata (1976) and ethereal glass and crystal side tables made by master glassblower John Pomp—all curated by gallery partner Jeff Lincoln Art + Design.

Glass Chair by Shiro Kuramata, 1976. Courtesy Jeff Lincoln Art+Design.

Southern Guild, a collective which represents the best contemporary South African design, will make its first appearance at Salon, along with numerous other exhibitors, including the contemporary design gallery the Future Perfect and Dansk Møbelkunst, which specializes in rare works of Danish furniture created from 1920 to 1970. In all, there are twelve new additions to this year’s show.

“Color is one of this show’s themes,” says Executive Director Jill Bokor. The Paris-based Galerie kreo’s Sarfatti chandelier consists of discs in primary colors. Heller Gallery, known for curating glass-based sculpture, has fanciful vessels made by Sabroso & Siegel and, at Friedman Benda, the British artist Jonathan Trayte’s colorful industrial-style works are on view.

The London-based Charles Burnand Gallery and Design Studio, founded by creative director Simon Stewart, is sponsoring the Collector’s Lounge, unveiling ICONS—signed, one-of-a-kind pieces by artisans and artists who are reinterpreting mid-century modern designs for the twenty-first century. These limited-edition works include an urchin-themed chandelier, a “Perla” wall sconce made of cast bronze, and an art deco-inspired console and mirror made of polished nickel and gypsum designed by Drake Anderson. ICONS is collaborating with artists and artisans who use centuries-old materials such as hand-blown Italian glass, French straw marquetry, and gypsum.