Frieze in New York
Frieze’s 12th New York fair and fourth outing at The Shed is also the first edition since the British company acquired the city’s largest art fair, The Armory Show, as well as Expo Chicago. Its fourth edition at The Shed is led by Frieze’s fair director of Americas, Christine Messineo, who said that the venue “continues to prove itself as the right home for Frieze New York.” This May Frieze welcomed 25,000 visitors from 66 countries during the fair.
Frieze New York doubles down on local galleries and artists for this year’s edition, as more than half of the fair’s 68 exhibitors have a space in NY. The fair also welcomed 135 local and international museums and institutions, with representatives from the likes of the Whitney, Tate Modern, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum among the notable attendees.
Much like its previous editions, this edition of Frieze combined established blue-chip dealers with younger galleries in its Focus sector, dedicated to exhibitors that have been in business for 12 years or less. The section contained several galleries making their Frieze New York debuts, including Lisbon gallery Madragoa, which was awarded the Focus Stand Prize for its solo presentation of Sara Chang Yan.
The abyss between the real world and the art world is perhaps wider than ever, and at Frieze New York, abstraction, neo-Pop and contemporary takes on Minimalism dominate the stands, being safer bets in turbulent times.
Leading the reported sales from the fair was Doris Salcedo’s Disremembered XIV (2014), which sold for $1 million at White Cube’s booth. Other notable transactions across the fair included an $850,000 Ed Clark painting at Hauser & Wirth and a €725,000 ($776,610) Tony Cragg stainless steel work at Thaddaeus Ropac.