Robin Hauck, Founder and Editor of Misstropolis

What is your relationship to art?

I’m a writer and an advocate. I have an art journal based in Boston called Misstropolis and I write about art, civic life, and social justice. I mostly study and champion women artists of all mediums from visual to contemporary art. I love contemporary art because it’s in the conversation for life right now and so the artists bring their background and what matters to them to the current moment and then we bring what we bring to the art. Those conversations really help me to navigate the world and think about what’s important. 

You were telling me that your jeweled belt is by a female designer. Tell me more!

I’m wearing a Khaite dress that I got a Gypsy in Nantucket, which is a small boutique. My belt is Julie de Libran, which everybody should check out because she has a very small label based in Paris. She worked for big designer brands and now has gone off on her own with couture clothing and accessories. 

Your shoe and sock pairing is really good, too.

These are actually all one piece! They are a runway piece from Philip Lim from a couple years back, and they’ve got the sock on the toe. I’ve always loved them because of the little jewelry right there. We all need walking shoes for art fairs, right? You can’t wear your heels. They’re like an anti sneaker with a sneaker sole. 

How do you feel about The Armory Show so far? 

I’ve seen a lot of artists that we all know, but it’s not overly hit you over the head with the big names, which is nice. I’ve discovered a lot of good new artists. It feels very international. I’ve seen galleries from Morocco, Tehran, Ghana that I’ve never seen before. There’s also a big emphasis on materiality and process, like weaving and layering and braiding. That’s wonderful because I really advocate for female artists. There’s a lot of works that could be considered a painting, but they’re actually 3D. This 2D-3D tension is really interesting because everyone talks about whether painting is dead, and when you see paintings coming off the wall in a lot of different ways, it’s exciting.

The show is very interesting, but it’s also very apolitical. Oftentimes a fair can feel more political than it feels right now, and I find that to be extremely interesting given the political climate of the US right now. I haven’t seen any political work, which is pretty unusual. So what does that mean? Maybe people are fatigued and they just want to think about other things, but that also means galleries are being deliberately non-political.

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