For the second year running, EMERGE has gone to the annual Armory Show, billed as the "international fair of new art" on New York City's Pier 94. And for the second year in a row, the massive throngs kept us waiting for the final day of the fair.

After an absolutely mobbed weekend, The Armory Show was a far more subdued- though still humming- affair today with lots and lots of last-minute deals being made and works of art literally coming off the walls to be toted out by their new owners into the snowy afternoon. Much in the spirit of last night's international Oscar Awards, the Armory Show is about far more than New York's rich contributions to the burgeoning world of art. Featuring over 2000 artists represented by 149 exhibiting galleries from over 40 cities spanning the globe, the Armory Show is an absolutely overwhelming snapshot at the current scene, warts and all.

From huge-name establishment galleries like White Cube/Jay Joplin to the uber-cool LA/Berlin-based Peres Projects and relative unknowns including Cluj, Romania based Plan B, the Show runs the gamut from paintings to sculpture, installation, print, photography and the sheer volume of work alone is stunning. That a decent proportion of this work is absolutely superb makes the $20 ticket price something of an afterthought, even if you can't afford that Kehinde Wiley portrait you've been lusting after...

Something of a second fiddle to Art Basel Miami, the Armory Show has its fair share of serious work on display (and sale of course), racking up over $60 million in sales last year, and for those of us who can't necessarily swing a a bit of Murakami-inspired Otaku scuptures or a portrait of the new art world's icon Andy Warhol, there was a booth from CerealArt selling artist multiples from $35 (Allan McCollum) to $1200 (Kehinde Wiley- again) as well as totally amazing selection of art books for sale, ranging from small timers like photographer (and EMERGE favorite) Shut Up Truth by Michael Schmelling to big dogs like Ed Ruscha's whose iconic Then and Now was featured in a special unbound edition, packaged in a massive wooden box so large it was displayed on a table all its own.

With so much dazzling work around, it was a tad ironic to EMERGE that our favorite bit of work, a set of three massive geometric ink drawings from her 50/50 series by artworld sensation Tauba Auerbach were tucked on an exterior wall of Deitch Projects's booth at the extreme right end of the exhibition hall.

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