The pop-up exhibition Duet makes its debut this week in Manhattan’s Monetary District with 11 galleries and a gaggle present (till 8 September). It occupies the third and fourth flooring of the WSA constructing—additionally host to the Collectible design honest—in addition to a dramatically lit staircase ensconced in purple velvet. As its identify suggests, Duet’s aim is to have galleries rethink artists’ works by means of distinctive pairings of their stands. It’s organised by the curators and childhood pals Zoe Lukov and Kyle DeWoody, the latter of whom is the daughter of the collector Beth Rudin DeWoody.
Duet’s exhibitors embody François Ghebaly, Tempo, Masa, Embajada, Dio Horia and James Fuentes. Every gallery occupies a glass-walled assembly room, nodding to the constructing’s company previous, and is exhibiting two artists with a thematic connection. Unfold among the many exhibitors, the group present presents works by artists together with Marina Abramović, Lynda Benglis, Maya Lin and Radcliffe Bailey alongside items by Karon Davis, Miles Greenberg, Carlos Motta, Sam Moyer, Brendan Fernandes and Naama Tsabar. Fernandes and Tsabar will carry out all through the weekend as a part of the present.
A sculpture by Karon Davis on view in Duet Photograph: Jenny Gorman, courtesy Duet
“We aren’t attempting to launch one other artwork honest,” Lukov tells The Artwork Newspaper. “These are gallery shows that reply to the concept of a duet.”
The gallerist Carlye Packer, for instance, is exhibiting a collection of lush summary work by Jools Rothblatt alongside a small Lee Lozano work that it has on mortgage. The 2 painters have equally dense compositions, however the pairing additionally winks at Rothblatt’s shocking resemblance to a younger Lozano. “I see Duet as an extremely liberating format, which invitations experimental shows, encounters and collaborations throughout distances,” Packer says. “It is usually an extremely inviting approach of shopping for, promoting and taking a look at artwork that’s severe with out rigidity.”
Duet’s energy lies in its pairing of experimental newcomers with established blue-chip artists. Tempo has paired work by the conceptual artist Nina Katchadourian with that of the multimedia artist Matthew Day Jackson. Their mutual curiosity within the butterfly impact hyperlinks two in any other case disparate practices. Tempo president Samanthe Rubell says that Duet’s “refreshing format and a compelling method to the house gives an awesome alternative to spotlight the idiosyncratic innovations of two of our artists by means of an sudden however superbly resonant pairing”.
Galerie Sardine—run by the art-world couple Valentina Akerman and Joe Bradley—places tactile clay sculptures by the French artist Jenna Kaës in dialog with equally gestural, semi-abstracted landscapes by the London-based painter Anthony Banks. This can be a New York debut for each artists.
Set up view of Duet 2025 Photograph: Jenny Gorman, courtesy Duet
In the meantime, Francois Ghebaly playfully juxtaposes the shared muscular pressure of Holly Lowen’s tennis work and Jeffrey Meris’s mixed-media syringe sculptures. And within the group present, Karon Davis’s life-size plaster ballerina figures are positioned adjoining to the painter Ouattara Watts’s hypnotic abstraction.
“There’s extra room for experimentation than individuals thought,” Lukov says.
As market instability retains many on their toes throughout Armory Week, distinctive ventures like Duet proceed to draw galleries and collectors alike. “The intersection of mental life and commerce is a fraught one,” Lukov says. “We’re all looking for our approach in it.”
Will Duet be again subsequent yr? “We are attempting to be nimble and aware of the instances,” Lukov says. “It might be a recurring idea, however we should see.”
Duet, till 8 September, Water Avenue Initiatives WSA, 161 Water Avenue, New York
