The AIPAD Photography Show New York, presented by The Association of International Photography Art Dealers each spring—this year for the last time at the Park Avenue Armory—celebrates the medium’s irresistible alchemy, from its 19^th-century origins to its practice by artists around the globe today.

I go with a collector’s eye, and after viewing the offerings on Artsy, I head to the opening night preview with eight photos in mind. After the somewhat soft spring auction results at Sotheby’s, Christies, and Phillips, buyers presumably have some cash to spare, and the Drill Hall was packed with knowledgeable shoppers. 

Opposite the entry, the unique, large-scale cibachromes of Bay Area artist John Chiara together with new work by Allison Rossiter, at Yossi Milo, set the tone for the lively mix ahead. Around the corner at Stephen Bulger’s booth, a shaped diptych representing the turbulent atmosphere of deep space through images of the Milky Way and its hot O-Stars, captured by the Hubble telescope and reconfigured by Sanaz Mazinani, works its magic. 

Abstraction continues to intrigue, championed by galleries Von Lintel, Kicken, ClampArt, Grundemark Nilsson, and PGI Tokyo, to name a few. Von Lintel, who originally presented John Chiara in New York, later moving his gallery to Los Angeles, is back with works by German photographer Christiane Feser from her first solo show in the U.S., together with photograms by Floris Neusüss Nachtbild and Farrah Karapetian, and unique images by Marco Breuer. Huckleberry Fine Art has several of William Klein's Paris abstractions, from 1952; images from Ellen Carey's recent Dings & Shadows series are on view at M+B; and Yancey Richardson has the large-scale photograms of Bryan Graf.

At ClampArt, an imaginary landscape by James Welling based on an image by Francis Frith (Cheops’ Pyramid at Giza, 1858) goes on my list. Word was out that Charles Isaacs had three of the original prints from Frith’s Lower Egypt album, but they had sold in the first hours of the show and were nowhere to be seen. 

But there is always so much to see at AIPAD, in every possible permutation of the medium of photography, that there were many more surprises to come. On my way out I stopped at Foley Gallery for another look at Joseph Desler Costa’s Forty Five Forty Fives.

The Photography Show presented by AIPAD continues through Sunday at the Park Avenue Armory, Park Avenue at 67^th Street. Info Public programs run throughout the day on Saturday, with presentations on The Photobook Today; Artists Working Today; The Art of Photography on the Internet; and Collecting. Info Next year, AIPAD, The Photography Show will take place at Pier 94 from March 30 to April 2, 2017. Info