However, it must be said: the location, though a tinge picturesque and startlingly idyllic in our urban setting, is overwhelmingly impractical. To have to take a boat or an exceedingly expensive taxi ride to an art fair is laughable and ridiculous, and tends to render the whole affair more elitist than should be. And, honestly, it was evident in the crowd that managed to make it to the event…
All the usual suspects were there. Marian Goodman gave us a dramatic, one-person showing of Giuseppe Penone, for example, which was beautiful. And that was quite the theme this year: solo shows with works barely for sale. Larry Gagosian’s booth with fourteen works by Richard Prince all but one managing to sell during the preview - at $90,000 a pop. A startlingly sweet director informed me that she’d been a bit late to the fair’s first day (a ferry problem, I’m sure), and that they’d all gone before she’d even arrived. “I wish we had more,” she said. “We could have sold them all twice over.” (She also noted that many had been negotiated before the fair even opened.)
Acquavella had their Picassos - aptly placed given last Monday’s overwhelming records. And Hauser & Wirth’s booth featured works by their artists (really fantastic pieces by Louise Bourgeois, etc.) on walls decorated with carefully-placed stripes by Martin Creed. Lehmann Maupin had perhaps the most-tweeted work with an installation by Kader Attia, Halam Taawaf, 2008, consisting of 2,978 beer cans in a rhythmic construction that made everyone stop in their tracks and take a selfie.
Kader Attia, Halam Taawaf, 2008.
The organizers tell us that 40,000 people showed up, which is impressive given logistical constraints. I may have accidentally tripped over Tommy Hilfiger at Christie’s last week, but there was no shortage of tour groups and “normal” art aficionados at Frieze. So, as far as speculation and basic investment are concerned, things are ticking off quite nicely right now here in New York. Now we’ve just got to see what the summer will hold.
