Frieze New York is the pick event of the year for all art market players. The fair resulted dynamic and proficuous.
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This beginning of May, New York City hosted the renomated Art Fair Frieze. This year, Frieze celebrated its 5th New York City edition that took place at The Shed. The fair hosted more than 25,000 visitors coming from 66 different countries. Christine Messineo, the fair’s director of Americas said the venue to be the right one for this fair in New York. The fair always hosts both blue cheap galleries and younger ones. The focus sector represents exhibitors who are new, working inside the sector since 12 years or less. Madragoa Gallery, based in Lisbon, is one of the newcomers of this year’s edition, who won the Focus Stand Prize for the presentation of the artist Sara Chang Yan.
The aim of the fair is to reunite together, in one singular space, the art players representing the art world all over the world with the realities based in New York. More than half of the present galleries represent the New York art scene. Some of the most important art galleries who will participate at the exhibition are: 303 Gallery, Miguel Abreu Gallery, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Canada, Chapter NY, James Cohan, Gagosian, Gladstone Gallery, Alexander Gray Associates, Hauser & Wirth, Casey Kaplan, Karma, Anton Kern, Andrew Kreps Gallery, Matthew Marks Gallery, Ortuzar Projects, Pace Gallery e David Zwirner. Other important names from the galleries from around the world are: Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, Xavier Hufkens, Gallery Hyundai, Kurimanzutto, Victoria Miro, Silverlens, Sprüth Magers e Stevenson. From Italy, Massimodecarlo e Giò Marconi.
The attendance of the fair was very busy, even though the period we are living in is not the best one. Artists and representatives from Museums and Institutions such as Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim and the Tate Modern were present. In terms of sales, the biggest ones reported have been Doris Salcedo’s Disremembered XIV, 2014, which has been sold for 1 million dollars at White Cube. One work from Ed Clark was sold at the Hauser and Wirth booth for 850,000 dollars. Thaddeus Ropac sold a stainless steel work by Tony Cragg for 776,000 dollars. The president of Hauser and Wirth gallery expressed his happiness. He stated that Frieze is a place that combines the individual and the collective with an enormous energy. Once again the fair confirms that New York is the center of the global art market, not only in terms of business, but in terms of community as well.
Most of the booths follow a minimalistic set up. Gagosian exhibited a number of very big works by Sterling Ruby, all priced at $550,000 and smaller colleges as well. Two of the big paintings were sold at the fair’s opening day the 1st of May. Some galleries decided to present two artists together. David Zwirner represents the work by Nate Lowman depicting mass produced objects and the one of Franz West. Pace decided to pair Robert Mangol, who is a contemporary minimalist with the sculptures from Arlene Shechet. During the first day of the fair all the works by Shechet were sold with a price ranging from $90,000 to $450,000.
The art market has been slow this last month, but at Frieze New York you can smell a dynamic and fast environment. Fairs have the ability to accomplish what galleries shows are not able to do. The audience is ready and willing to look at art and receive information and the collectors participate with the mindset of making choices. Thaddaeus Ropac gallery is the one with the most blue-chip art work. It represents Robert Rauschenberg’s works priced at 2m dollars and Martha Jungwirth and Alex Katz who have current and upcoming exhibitions in Venice during the Venice Biennale.
The art market is not a monolite and is constantly changing, giving no assurances. The primary market seems the most resilient one, as the prices remain accessible. The secondary market is the one more slow at the moment.