The Armory Show opened its 32nd edition on Thursday morning at the Javits Center under new leadership, new dates — September 24–27 — and a mandate from its owner, Frieze, which acquired the fair in 2023. By 1 p.m., first-time exhibitor Kamel Mennour, of Paris and New York, had sold seven of nine paintings by Dhewadi Hadjab at $110,000 each, with two on reserve.

The fair has spent much of the last decade searching for an identity. It moved from the Hudson River piers to the Javits Center in 2021, changed directors, overhauled its exhibitor list, and shifted its dates to later in September, away from the crush of fall gallery openings and from Frieze's Seoul fair, which ran concurrently.

At 11 a.m., an hour after doors opened, attendance looked lean — even anemic on one side of the hall. The main convention hall splits around the VIP lounge, restaurant and champagne bar, so one half can feel deserted while another throngs. Independent 20th Century opened the same morning at the Breuer building, now Sotheby's headquarters, on the Upper East Side, splitting the crowd. More than one dealer was invited to participate at the last minute, suggesting Frieze had some trouble filling the cavernous venue.

Dealers embraced the slower pace. "We've all noticed that fairs have a different pace the last couple of years," said New York dealer Jayne Drost Johnson of JDJ Gallery. "It's more consistent, not just all about one crazy morning, and this way you can have better conversations. Even at [last year's] Art Basel Miami Beach, which was great for me, I was making as many sales the last day as the first. So a slow first morning is not a sign of how things are going to go."

Art adviser Augusto Arbizo, of Allan Schwartzman's firm, agreed. "I actually found the new dates gave the Armory a much more relaxed energy," he said. "There was a nice sense of anticipation when I walked in, but without that immediate feeling of being swept up in the frenzy that can sometimes accompany a fair opening."

By 2 p.m., the aisles had filled. VIPs included First Lady of New York Rama Duwaji, actors Jodie Foster and Paul Rudd, and New York Knickerbocker Karl-Anthony Towns. Collectors Beth Rudin DeWoody, Estrellita Brodsky, Komal Shah, Lisa Goodman, Allison Berg, and Jill and Peter Kraus were on hand.

The sales followed. Norr Cohan, at its first Armory since longtime partner David Norr became a co-owner with James and Jane Cohan, sold a large multimedia Yinka Shonibare piece to a private collector ($180,000–$220,000), two large mosaics by Eamon Ore-Giron ($80,000–$120,000), and a suite of 25 watercolors by Spencer Finch ($50,000–$75,000).

Shrine placed about 10 paintings by Canadian-born artist Michelle Paterok — whom gallery partner Marge Rendell found on Instagram — at $5,500 to $11,000. Perrotin sold six paintings by Haitian-born artist Kathia St. Hilaire, works addressing the reign of dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and the 1960s Spiralism movement, priced between $5,000 and $45,000.

Southern Guild, the Cape Town gallery recently opened in Tribeca, sold Zanele Muholi wallpaper works printed on aluminum at $52,000 each and Roméo Mivekannin paintings on black velvet at $56,000 each, with two reserves on large Muholi sculptures at $250,000 apiece.

The curated sections looked to the Caribbean: Platform, overseen by SculptureCenter curator Jovanna Venegas, features large-scale installations, while Focus, organized by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth's María Elena Ortiz, gathers solo- and dual-artist presentations. Tern Gallery of Nassau sold three Kachelle Knowles paintings at $5,000 each and two Gio Swaby paintings at $18,000 apiece. Nara Roesler sold an Abraham Palatnik painting for $60,000 and a Marco A. Castillo relief sculpture for $50,000.

Armory director Kyla McMillan said the later date has helped on the business side: collectors are back from summer holidays, and conversations with galleries felt "a bit more intentional this year." She still considers the fair "a kickoff for the season."

This year's edition gathers roughly 230 galleries, about the same as last year, with the young-dealer Presents section expanded to 55 galleries and Solo at 25. Adviser Lara Björk said the fair has spent the past six to eight years "trying to regain its footing and place in the New York fair and art market." Frieze's acquisition initially surprised her, but she sees an opening: "They're capitalizing on the lower priced, more 'red-chip' leaning artists and galleries. Perhaps that's just what the art market needs."

McMillan frames the strategy as differentiation. "This fair has always been one about discovery," she said, pointing to the expanded young-gallery sections. Even established dealers, she said, can use Armory to introduce an artist to New York or mount a presentation that "might not be the priority at another fair." Björk put it plainly: "In a market that has many markets and layers there is in fact room for everyone."

Sean Kelly, whose gallery sold six works by early afternoon, offered a simpler verdict. "It's the beginning of our season," Kelly said. "Everybody wants to get back at it. And this is them getting back at it. People are spending money; they're in here doing it. For me, that's what the fair is for."

His booth backed the claim: Janaina Tschäpe's large oil painting Picking Flowers Quietly sold for $170,000, Sam Moyer's marble and plaster Magic Number for $125,000, with further sales of works by Laurent Grasso (€60,000), Jose Dávila ($65,000), and Magdiel García Almanza and Lindsay Adams ($28,000 each).

Gazelli Art House, which just expanded to New York with a 10,000-square-foot Chelsea space in Marlborough's former location, offered Alice Baber paintings starting at $200,000 and Grace Hartigan canvases from $130,000 — her 1945 Frustration bears the fake signature "Jachens," which the artist adopted to pass her works off as by a man. By 3:30 p.m. the gallery had sold a large historic Lilly Fenichel to a major European private museum for about $200,000.

A Hug From the Art World sold out its booth of Camille Fishel paintings, priced $18,000 to $24,000, before noon. Two nights earlier, the gallery hosted a Zero Bond preview attended by Towns, George Condo, Rashid Johnson, Keegan-Michael Key, Gayle King, and Fishel's partner, collector and Fanatics founder Michael Rubin.

Gavlak reported six sales totaling $150,000 to $200,000, led by Lita Albuquerque's mixed-media Coronation at $85,000–$120,000. At Dimin, the market's breadth showed itself: four Kelli Vance paintings at $14,000–$20,000, a Taj Poscé work at $3,500, and Michelle Im's ceramic The Auctioneer — an effigy of Sotheby's auctioneer Phylis Kao — at $4,800. Kao may not be auctioning much of what is currently on view at the Javits Center, but the Armory Show seems to be betting that one day she will.