Frieze New York has drifted to a close. “Not too exciting,” remarked one New York gallerist, and indeed, the atmosphere was not frenzied. Though a complete consensus is near impossible to reach for these events (and notwithstanding proclamations of success by the usual suspects), the impression this week was of a slow fair, with fewer sales than last year and not as many collectors seeking out works, even on opening day.
It would seem that the numbers of European collectors and institutions were significantly down. And no wonder—Art Brussels, Berlin Gallery Weekend and the Venice Biennale happened in quick succession this year, and Venice was only last week; many likely opted to save themselves for Liste and Basel rather than make the trip stateside. Frieze has clearly suffered this time round apparently from this gridlock of art events. This is an issue which can only continue as international organizations jostle for the attention of a rarefied crowd, each wanting to tempt the same prime group (at least in Europe and America). Perhaps the art circuit will soon be forced to embrace colder weather in winter as the spring calendar becomes more and more congested.
The other side of this coin is that Frieze New York this year inadvertently became a very local fair, with New York galleries fairly content (if not actually overwhelmed), and because had the luck to avoid air travel and shipping. Their collectors made some purchases both in and through the booths as a point of contact. Relative to other fairs in the city, Frieze certainly overpowered the Armory early on, and it was clear that energy continues to flow in its direction in New York. NADA, the Art Dealers Association fair downtown which in the lead-up to the week was the most talked-about fair aside from Frieze, garnered attention but didn’t necessarily justify expectations. This year, NADA had a less edgy display in general than previous editions and a lot of quite agreeable painting.
Visually, Frieze was spacious despite a slightly higher number of galleries than last year. Both good and bad use was made of available space. A couple of booths were so large and open that they seemed more like the lobby of a building than a booth. Standard gallery from Oslo, however, made a virtue of the open-sided format by boldly installing single giant screen on which an animation work by Ian Cheng was played. Among the most striking booths were Esther Schipper, Bureau, gb Agency, James Fuentes, Instituto de Vision, A Gentil Carioca, Antenna Space, Bortolami and Derek Eller. Four Chinese galleries were present. From Shanghai, Leo Xu Projects had a subtle installation of new work by media artist Aaajiao (Xu Wenkai), with cables running across the booth and monitors on the walls. Not far away, the focal point of a compact booth by Antenna Space was the juxtaposition of a bust and a large painting of coal by Liu Ding. Boers-Li gallery included in their display miniature paintings by Kang Wanhua. Long March Space’s booth featured works now familiar to its art fair displays: a painting from the Under Heaven series by Xu Zhen produced by MadeIn Company, small wall-mounted sculptural pieces by Wang Jianwei and a Zhan Wang installation.
Noticeably repeated around the fair were big heads by Tony Oursler and untitled chairs with fur coats draped over them by Nicole Werners. Apart from sound art projects directly commissioned by the fair, sound-based or kinetic works were absent, and there was very little photography on show. Painting, installation and sculpture predominated.
The biggest hit of the projects was definitely the “wearable paintings” by Pia Camil—broadly striped ponchos made from stiff canvas material for which a long line formed every morning. p. A couple of people were seen proudly walking through the fair in them—finally, an alternative to the ubiquitous freebie art-bag. Those for whom it was all too much lounged in the paint-splattered massage chairs by Korakrit Arunanondchai, wittingly or unwittingly producing their own performance as others queued for $8 coffee.
