Benjamin Genocchio: On Bringing His Personal Touch To The Work He Does

Dr. Benjamin Genocchio has worn many hats in the art world - art critic, art historian, art editor and publisher, art fair director and art dealer. Benjamin Genocchio was the founder and the founding editor of Artnet news the groundbreaking art news website which is now the most popular art news site in the world with close to 2 million unique visitors a month. He built this from scratch. Then he took on the daunting job of reinventing the Armory Show, the oldest most prestigious art fair in New York. Not an easy job for anyone.

Benjamin Genocchio relished the challenge. He was exposed to the world of art at an early age in his native Australia (his parents were collectors), and soon realized that he was meant to be in this milieu and devoted his career to the art world after finishing a PHD in art history. Thanks to his short attention span and a low boredom threshold, he has said in several newspaper interviews, as a young adult he went on to become one of the most widely travelled and published art critics in the world, publishing close to 4,000 art reviews and which eventually took him to the New York Times, the hub of art criticism in the world hub of art-New York. Here he wrote more than 1000 art reviews over 8 years according to the search function on the New York Times website. His reviews have always been sharp and insightful if not always well received. Although he has never made his goal to appease everyone with his reviews he is a fan of art and tries to find the positive in work and artist. Often his audience has not agreed with him but his views have been respected nonetheless. Dr. Benjamin Genocchio is known to never mince his words. His outspoken attitude is applauded by his peers and it’s this same attitude that makes his audience have a deeper level of trust in him. They believe what he writes even if they don’t agree with what he says.

Dr. Benjamin Genocchio has also more recently played the part of a Fair Director at the Armory Show. The Armory Show is a true New York cultural institution and part of the fabric of the city’s cultural scene. It happens annually and welcomes about 65,000 visitors every year. Just as the art scene in New York has grown and changed over the years, The Armory Show has also grown and changed with it and Dr. Benjamin Genocchio did his best to make the fair relevant and enticing- not easy given the plethora of fairs in the world today. In today’s fast-paced and busy and even crowded annual art calendar it can be quite a challenge to make a mark and stand out from the other 300 or so art fairs that happen all around the world each year— that is one every few days. This particular fair happens in March, a very busy time of year for world fairs, but has the advantage of being right in the heart of Manhattan, New York, the richest and most active city in terms of art collecting in the world. More collectors live here than anywhere else.

Part of what Dr. Benjamin Genocchio did to help reshape the fair was to redesign the floor plan every year and search for ways to make the fair a more memorable and relevant experience for all kinds of people that attend the show. New exhibitor sections were introduced every year to keep the mix of art fresh. It is not easy to keep an art fair alive and exciting in the eyes of art dealers, artists, collectors, and the general public but the Armory Show has thrived and survived for 25 years and shows no signs of going away.