NEW YORK, NY.- Frieze New York closed its seventh edition on Sunday, May 6, bringing together 197 leading galleries from 30 countries and driving strong sales to leading institutions and collectors across a wide range of price points. The 2018 edition convened a record number of top-tier guests during the fair’s two Preview Days, including collectors, curators, museum groups, and art enthusiasts from around the world. Audiences responded enthusiastically to the quality and depth of the curated presentations, as well as the revealing juxtapositions of work by both newly discovered artists and the most influential figures of the 20th century. Presented May 3-6, 2018 at Randall’s Island Park, Frieze New York introduced new programs, a new themed section, leading curators, and a fresh layout in 2018, and continued the fair’s signature talks and education programs. Frieze New York is supported by global lead partner Deutsche Bank for the seventh consecutive year.
As a vital platform for galleries at all levels of the market – from the emerging to the internationally established – Frieze New York saw strong sales throughout the week. Galleries across the fair placed artworks with major private collections and international institutions. Select highlights include: Lehmann Maupin’s sale of several McArthur Binion works ranging from $50,000-175,000 to trustees of two leading U.S. museums, as well as collectors new to the gallery; Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac’s sale of two works by George Baselitz in a range of c. $599,000-838,000 each, a Robert Rauschenberg work for $725,000, a Tony Cragg sculpture for c. $210,000, and a metal and wood piece by Jack Pierson for $190,000; Royale Projects sold three Clinton Hill paintings at around $95,000 each to collectors from New York and California; David Kordansky sold out its booth of photography by Torbjørn Rødland in the range of $14,00028,000 each; Jack Shainman’s sales of recent work by Hank Willis Thomas, including a major sculpture, a retroflective, and one of Thomas’ iconic flags in the Live section, and works by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Becky Suss, Enrique Martinez Celaya and Geoffrey Chadsey; Gallery Hyundai’s sale of a pair piece by Seung-taek Lee for $100,000-200,000 and two works by Minjung Kim for $40,000-100,000. With sales made on every day of the fair, Pace Gallery sold 38 works by David Hockney ranging from $26,000-40,000 each. In Focus, Ghebaly sold out its booth of works by Farah Atassi for $24,000-35,000 each, and in the Frame section dedicated to emerging galleries: Galería PM8’s sold seven photographs by Algirdas Šeškus to a major New York City institution; and Cooper Cole, who also won The Frieze Frame Prize, reported a sold out booth of works by Tau Lewis, who, at 23 years old, was the youngest artist represented at this year’s fair.
For the second year, the Brooklyn Museum acquired a work of art for the museum’s permanent collection through The LIFEWTR Fund. LIFEWTR, a premium water brand committed to advancing and showcasing sources of creativity, contributed $100,000 to support the Brooklyn Museum’s acquisition purchased at Frieze New York. The Brooklyn Museum acquired the painting, Untitled by Ed Clark from Weiss Berlin Gallery, which presented a solo show of the artist’s paintings in the fair’s Spotlight section dedicated to 20th-century artistic pioneers.
This year marked the launch of Live, a platform for performances, installations and interactive projects throughout the fair curated by Adrienne Edwards (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; recently appointed Whitney Museum of American Art, New York). The program included Frieze New York’s first-ever long-term installation on Randall’s Island: Adam Pendleton’s monumental Black Dada Flag (Black Lives Matter) (2015-18) on view through November 1. Edwards additionally curated the Frieze Artist Award – an international open call for an emerging artist to realize a site-specific work – which launched at Frieze New York 2018, supported by the Luma Foundation. The fair also featured its first-ever themed section, curated by Matthew Higgs (White Columns, New York), paying homage to Hudson’s Feature Inc. gallery in New York, which supported the careers of many pioneering artists in the 1980s and ‘90s. Curators Andrew Bonacina (The Hepworth, Wakefield) and Ruba Katrib (MoMA PS1, New York) – handing over to Laura McLean-Ferris (Swiss Institute, New York) – advised on ambitious solo shows by 19 emerging galleries in Frame; and Toby Kamps (Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston) returned as curator of Spotlight, a section dedicated to 20th-century pioneers which expanded to 35 presentations this year. Tom Eccles and Amy Zion (both Bard College, New York) curated the Frieze Talks program, featuring major contemporary literary figures.
Institutional Attendance
Drawing significant institutional attendance, Frieze New York 2018 welcomed more than 200 groups from leadership and stakeholders at leading art museums and institutions from around the world. International museum directors and curators acquired works throughout the fair and lauded Frieze New York for convening an unparalleled collection of emerging and established galleries, and artists for a vibrant week of conversation and discovery.
Omar Kholeif, Manilow Senior Curator and Director of Global Initiatives at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, said “Frieze New York was fresher than it’s ever been. Having the chance to see so many new galleries participate and the diversity of works on display was truly a phenomenal experience. I was especially thrilled with the Spotlight section, having the chance to see masters of art re-contextualized in a global contemporary art fair. This was the best Frieze New York yet.”
Christopher Bedford, Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, commented: “From Spotlight to Frame and beyond, I was impressed to see the number of smaller galleries from across the globe bringing to the attention of the art world public artists from beyond the conventional scope of our experience. It is gratifying to see the fair actively participating in our collective efforts to develop a more global understanding of postwar art. I hope sincerely that this continues to be a characteristic of Frieze and indeed all art fairs.”
“It was wonderful to see a representation of galleries and artists beyond the big names we all know and love… Highlights for me included Ed Clark at Weiss Berlin, Maria Nepomuceno at A Gentil Carioca, and Emma Amos at Ryan Lee,” said PAMM Director Franklin Sirmans.
More than 200 patron groups and leadership from museums around the world visited Frieze New York, including: Maria Balshaw (Tate), Richard Armstrong (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum), Caroline Bourgeois (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessey Foundation), Glenn D. Lowry (MoMA), Michael Darling (Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago), Elena Filipovic (Kunsthalle Basel), and Diana Campbell Betancourt (Dhaka Art Summit); plus groups and leadership from the Andy Warhol Museum (The Warhol), USA, Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), USA, Contemporary Istanbul, Turkey, Centre Pompidou, France, Denver Art Museum (DAM), USA, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, USA, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), USA, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (ICA Boston), USA, Israel Museum, Israel, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), USA, Museo de Arte Latinamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Argentina, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France, Musée D’Orsay, France, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), Brazil, Museu de Arte Moderna de Sao Paulo (MAM), Brazil, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA Chicago), USA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA LA), USA, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA Boston), USA, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, USA, National Museu de Arte Moderna de Sao Paulo (MAM), Brazil, Museum of Denmark, Denmark, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA, Pinakothek der Moderne, Germany, Seattle Art Museum (SAM), USA, Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, USA, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), United Kingdom, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, USA, and Walker Art Center, USA, among many others.
Gallery Response
International collectors responded with great enthusiasm to the gallery presentations across Frieze New York, with galleries reporting significant sales throughout the fair at a wide range of price points:
Matthew Marks Gallery (New York and Los Angeles) Senior Director Jacqueline Tran added, “Frieze New York provides a terrific platform for the gallery with a strong range of programming that places artists and galleries from around the world in dialogue. This year’s fair felt especially energized and attracted a diverse group of collectors, who didn’t let record temperatures stop them from viewing and purchasing work. We were pleased to see so many U.S. collectors that we had not seen in some time. There was tremendous interest in the work of Rebecca Warren, Gary Hume, Ken Price, and Anne Truitt in particular, and we were able to place their works, amongst others, with distinguished collectors.”
Maureen Paley, Founder of Maureen Paley (London) said, “We have had a strong collector and curator response at Frieze New York with sustained sales and interest in the whole of the gallery program. A particular highlight was the portrait wall by Wolfgang Tillmans. There was also continued interest in Peter Hujar supported by his recent exhibition at the Morgan Library, along with appreciation for Gillian Wearing and Yale graduate newcomer Felipe Baeza who we have first introduced at the fair together with our more recognised artists to great effect. Frieze provides a unique setting in which all this is possible.”
Rachel Lehmann, partner at Lehmann Maupin (New York, Hong Kong, Seoul), commented, “Our thematic booth featuring the work of McArthur Binion, Shirazeh Houshiary, and Cecilia Vicuña—artists whose diverse practices explore language and communication—attracted so much positive attention! Sales were strong and we were pleased to place works with many museum trustees. I found the new layout an improvement and the quality of the fair overall to be elevated this year.”
Simon Cole, Director of Cooper Cole Gallery (Toronto) said, “We are so thrilled to have exhibited at Frieze New York for the first time. As the only Canadian gallery at the fair it is a huge honour to have been awarded the Frame Prize. It’s like coming in first place in the art olympics! We are really thrilled with the response to Tau Lewis’s sculptures. She has put a ton of hard work in to developing this body of work, so it has been amazing that the works have been so well received. We are really proud of Tau, and are happy to report that all her sculptures have found homes in some great private and institutional collections across the globe.”
Jack Shainman, Founder of Jack Shainman Gallery (New York) said “We are pleased to return and participate in this year’s edition of Frieze New York. The gallery saw strong sales across a number of gallery artists with significant support from our collector base. It is a joy to be a part of the enthusiastic community that comes out for Frieze, and we were pleased to show strong works by artists including El Anatsui, Nick Cave, Enrique Martinez Celaya, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Richard Mosse, and Becky Suss among others. We were also excited to have major work by Hank Willis Thomas featured on our booth and in the Live section of the fair curated by Adrienne Edwards.”
Ryan Lee Gallery Co-founder Jeffrey Lee said, “We are thrilled with the critical response from curators, collectors and artists as well as strong sales and great press that we have received for Emma Amos at Frieze. Amos has been making art in New York City since the 1960s and deserves every bit of this attention.”
Stand Prizes
Frieze New York 2018 included three awards recognizing exceptional presentations from galleries across the fair, including the Frieze Stand Prize, for the most exceptional presentation by a gallery taking part in any section of the fair; the Frieze Focus Prize, for galleries aged 12 years or younger; and the Frieze Frame Prize, for galleries ages eight years or younger, supported by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey.
Jhaveri Contemporary (Mumbai, Spotlight) was awarded the Frieze Stand Prize for their presentation on Mohan Samant. The jury commended the spirit of risk taking by the gallery in its decision to present a historically important Indian artist not previously seen by a mainstream audience. They observed the artist was pushing the boundaries of Indian modern and contemporary art and the gallery presentation enabled his work to be introduced to an American and global audience at Frieze New York.
Nuno Centeno (Porto, Focus) received the Focus Stand Prize, for their group presentation of works by Dan Rees, Adriano Amaral, Ana Cardoso, Adriano Costa and Gabriel Lima. The jury described the Nuno Centeno presentation as bold, showcasing the work of artists with an interesting dialogue. This was reflected in the poise and freshness of the stand.
This year’s judging panel of leading international curators and directors for the Frieze Stand Prize and Frieze Focus Prize included Christopher Bedford (Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director, The Baltimore Museum of Art), Omar Kholeif (Manilow Senior Curator and Director of Global Initiatives, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago) and Suzanne Cotter (Director, Mudam Luxembourg Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean).
Finally, Frieze awarded Cooper Cole (Toronto) the Frame Prize 2018 supported by Bulleit Frontier Whiskey. The prize acknowledged the gallery’s exceptional sculptural presentation by Tau Lewis in the Frame section, dedicated to ambitious solo shows by emerging galleries.
This year’s jury of emerging international art experts included Courtenay Finn (Curator, Aspen Art Museum), Elena Filipovic (Director and Curator, Kunsthalle Basel), and Jamillah James (Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles).
