The booths at Frieze New York at the Shed in Hudson Yards. Photo by Casey Kelbaugh. Courtesy of Casey Kelbaugh/Frieze.
The booths at Frieze New York at the Shed in Hudson Yards. Photo by Casey Kelbaugh. Courtesy of Casey Kelbaugh/Frieze.

By all accounts—and by that we mean dealers‘ accounts—Frieze New York 2021 was a rousing success.

Moving to the Shed in Hudson Yards from Randall’s Island, where the fair used to take place (and it was a schlep!) was definitely a good move, and the Manhattan zip code seems to have worked in the event’s favor.

Mega-gallery David Zwirner reported selling out its booth on opening day, finding buyers for all of Dana Schutz’s new paintings and sculptures. And even smaller outfits like Gordon Robichaux sold or had on reserve many of its works, this time by Otis Houston, Jr. Meanwhile, works by Kenyan artist Zeinab Saleh sold for between $10,500 and $12,000 at Chateau Shatto’s booth.

It’s hard to tell how many of the reported sales were signed and sealed before the fair even opened to VIPs, as presales are de rigueur for big-ticket items these days. Still, some dealers enthusiastically insisted that face-to-face commerce was indeed happening.

But—as always—keep in mind that some dealers occasionally (and maybe even not so occasionally!) report inflated sales prices because it looks good for business, while other prefer to report price ranges on artworks, or even just asking prices. We did not list sales unaccompanied by figures in our list, so the galleries that tend to disclose figures are disproportionately represented here.

 

PAINTINGS

Frieze New York opened on Wednesday, May 5, 2021 at the Shed in Hudson Yards. Photograph by Casey Kelbaugh.

$800,000: George Condo, The Drifter (2021) at Hauser & Wirth

$750,000: Rashid Johnson, Bruise Painting “Blue Bird” (2021) at Hauser & Wirth

$650,000: Ed Clark, Untitled (1954) at Hauser & Wirth

$560,000: Günther Förg, Untitled (2007) at Hauser & Wirth

$500,000–1 million each: Five paintings by Dana Schutz at David Zwirner

$450,000: A.R. Penck, Standart (1967) at Michael Werner

$200,000–300,000 each: Two paintings by Ha Chong-Hyun at Tina Kim Gallery

$160,000–200,000: McArthur Binion, Modern: Ancient: Brown (2020) at Lehmann Maupin

$90,000: A painting by Jonathan Horowitz at Xavier Hufkens

$65,000: A painting by Katherine Bernhardt at Canada Gallery

$60,000: A painting by Ludovic Nkoth at François Ghebaly

$60,000: Trenton Doyle Hancock, Step and Screw: West End Scrap (Four Foot Furry Face Off) (2021) at James Cohan Gallery

$52,000: A painting by Sayre Gomez at François Ghebaly

$48,000: Cynthia Daignault, 26 Seconds (2021) at Kasmin

$40,000: Dominic Chambers, Remembrance Veil (2021) at Lehmann Maupin

$38,000: Dominic Chambers, Gabriel’s Resting Place (2021) at Lehmann Maupin

$35,000: Dominic Chambers, After Albers (Africanus) (2021) at Lehmann Maupin

$35,000: Misheck Masamvu, Warmth on Empty Bodies (2019) at Goodman Gallery

$25,000: Cassi Namoda, A Spiritual Declaration, Under the Weight of It All (2021) at Goodman Gallery

$21,000–50,000 each: Paintings by Sarah Ball at Stephen Friedman Gallery

$17,000–53,000 each: Five paintings by Cristina Canale, including mulher pássaro (2020), at Nara Roesler

 

 SCULPTURES & INSTALLATIONS

Hernan Bas, The Suspect (2021) at the Lehmann Maupin booth. Photo by Nate Freeman.

$1 million: Louise Bourgeois, Blind Man’s Bluff (1984) at Hauser & Wirth

$375,000: A sculpture by Thomas Houseago at Xavier Hufkens

$350,000–400,000: Hernan Bas, The Suspect (2021) at Lehmann Maupin

$300,000: Simone Leigh, Titi (Cobalt) (2021) at Hauser & Wirth

$200,000: Gary Simmons, Pressure Drop (2021) at Hauser & Wirth

$120,000: Hank Willis Thomas, The only thing that one can do after having seen a canvas like ours is total revolution (2019) at Goodman Gallery

$105,000: A neon work by Tracey Emin at Xavier Hufkens

$90,000: A sculpture by Isa Genzken at Xavier Hufkens

$84,000: Hank Willis Thomas, Hemp Leaves (2020) at Goodman Gallery

$45,000: A sculpture by David Altmejd at Xavier Hufkens

$35,000: A sculpture by Meriem Bennani at François Ghebaly 

 

PRINTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND WORKS ON PAPER

William Kentridge, Drawing from Waiting for the Sibyl (Comrade Tree, I report to you) (2020) at Goodman Gallery.

$700,000: William Kentridge, Drawing from Waiting for the Sibyl (Comrade Tree, I report to you) (2020) at Goodman Gallery

$125,000: Shahzia Sikander, Mirrored (2019) at Sean Kelly Gallery

$106,000: Idris Khan, Each Second and Second (2020) at Sean Kelly Gallery

$32,000: A work on paper by Tracey Emin at Xavier Hufkens

$15,000: Dawoud Bey, A Girl with School Medals (1988) at Sean Kelly Gallery

$5,500 each: Two editions of Trenton Doyle Hancock’s Exchanging Variables (2021), a suite of four aquatint prints