The New York edition of Frieze is only in its fourth year, and it has already become a major event on the spring arts calendar, encompassing satellite fairs and related events, further packing a week already busy with contemporary art auctions (see Spotlight on Frieze New York).
This year, a total of 198 galleries will exhibit at the white bespoke tent on Randall’s Island in upper Manhattan’s East River, with the fair running from May 14–17 (previews begin May 13). The exhibitor total is up slightly from last year’s 192, and includes galleries in the special sections. In “Focus,” galleries will bring curated and solo stands made specifically for the fair and the galleries in this section were founded in or after 2003. Galleries participating in the “Frame” section are under eight years old and will display a solo presentation. (See Roberta’s, Milk Bar, and Frankies Spuntino Headline Frieze New York Food Vendors.)
New to the line-up this year is “Spotlight,” a sister program of sorts to London’s “Frieze Masters.” This section will showcase historical work in solo presentations and is advised by curator Adriano Pedrosa. The focus is on the 20th century, including an emphasis on the work of women artists working outside Europe and the US during the 1960s and ’70s (see Frieze Founders Hand Over Reins to New Director).
The fair will again host Frieze Talks, a daily program of lectures and panel discussions. This year’s programs will include a talk-show type panel hosted by comedian Casey Jane Ellison featuring writer Karley Sciortino and artist Leilah Weinraub; a discussion between Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum in Harlem and departing Brooklyn Museum director Arnold Lehman (see Duke Riley, Olek, and FAILE Dream Up Glitter Explosions and Yarn Bombs at the Brooklyn Artists Ball); and one we’re particularly looking forward to called “‘Ask Jerry’ With Jerry Saltz,” which will feature the art critic in conversation with no one but the audience. Frieze Talks is being organized by Tom Eccles, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College.
The Frieze Education program will give high school students and children from underserved communities from the five boroughs access to arts programs, with a mix of workshops and tours for school groups. Always a highlight of the fair, Frieze Projects presents site-specific work outside the tent around Randall’s Island. Curated again by Cecilia Alemani, this year’s lineup includes Korakrit Arunanondchai, who had a well-received show at Los Angeles’ The Mistake Room this past summer (see Inside the Mistake Room, Los Angeles’ Newest Space and Driving the Los Angeles Gallery Scene).
As dealers geared up for the big event in the Frieze tent, we surveyed them to find out what they’re bringing to this year’s edition.
“We will be bringing three paper constructions by South African artist Kay Hassan,” gallery owner Jack Shainman told artnet News. By re-purposing discarded billboard posters, Hassan’s colorful works take the form of large-scale portraits. “We decided to have a strong showing of Kay’s work because he will be included in Okwui Enwezor’s curated exhibition, All the World’s Futures in Venice, which opens the week prior.”
New York dealer Sean Kelly said his gallery will present a tightly curated group of works with a focus on abstraction by the following gallery artists: Los Carpinteros, José Dávila, Iran do Espírito Santo, Antony Gormley (see Simon de Pury Spends Night Inside Antony Gormley Sculpture), Candida Höfer, Callum Innes, Idris Khan, Hugo McCloud, Mariko Mori, and Frank Thiel. During the fair, a show of Höfer’s work will also be on view at the gallery in New York’s Hudson Yards.
Pace Gallery, a first-time exhibitor at Frieze New York, is planning a solo presentation of new drawings by Richard Tuttle. The new series of works, titled “Aspects,” was completed in Maine this past summer. The drawings “evince Tuttle’s interest in formal properties of line and scale.”
“Frieze began as an art fair showcasing the works of young, emerging artists, and Richard Tuttle is one of the most significant influences on young artists today,” said Pace president Susan Dunne.
Return exhibitor Lehmann Maupin will be showing the work of several artists exhibiting at one of the gallery’s numerous branches this year, including Tony Oursler, whose fifth solo show with the gallery opens on April 29, and Robin Rhode, who will present a suite of new works at the gallery this summer.
Gallery directors typically view Frieze as a unique opportunity to introduce the gallery’s newest artists to a broader audience. Among artists they will show for the first time at this year’s edition of Frieze are South African artist Nicholas Hlobo, who joined the gallery in March, as well as Patrick Van Caeckenbergh and Roberto Cuoghi, both who joined the gallery in the fall of 2014 and will have their debut solo exhibitions with the gallery this year.
“Our aim is to always show very strong works of our artists and we try to make a balance between new works which were just finished in the studio and key works of major periods of those artists,”Paris and Salzburg dealer Thaddaeus Ropac told artnet News.
Highlights include a 1980 Blackboard by Joseph Beuys from 1980, “a key work in the artist’s oeuvre,” says Ropac. From Elaine Sturtevant—whose important retrospective recently went to the Museum of Modern Art New York and which is now shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles—we are showing one of her appropriations of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn.”
Among the gallery’s roster of younger artists, Ropac is showing a figurative painting by Jules de Balincourt that the artist finished at the end of last year.
Robbie Fitzpatrick, co-director of LA’s Freedman Fitzpatrick, told artnet News: “We’ll be showing Mathis Altmann in the Frame section,” noting that the artist is making brand new works for the presentation. “He had a solo show at the gallery this time last year, which garnered a lot of attention,” said Fitzpatrick.
New York’s James Fuentes will be exhibiting in the “Focus” section of the fair, and is planning a solo presentation of work by Alabama artist and sculptor Lonnie Holley, according to gallery director Erin Carroll.
At Andrea Rosen Gallery’s booth, gallery artist Michael St. John is curating a show titled “My Way,” inspired by the Sid Vicious version of the famous song, as opposed to Frank Sinatra’s. St. John is focusing on the idea of reclaiming authorship by showing he he feels are choosing their own paths and making a statement about the world in a personal way. All of the works on view will be figurative. Among the artists he is including are: Will Boone; Katherine Bradford; Dennis Dawson; William Eggleston; Leo Gabin (a collective of 3 artists); Marc Hundley; Harmony Korine; Beverly McIver; Alex McQuilkin; Joe Ovelman; William Pope.L; Borna Sammak; Josh Smith; Dash Snow; Henry Taylor; and Ryan Trecartin.