Frieze New York 2023 opening day: what went down
As Frieze New York 2023 kicks off at The Shed (until 21 May), Jessica Klingelfuss reports on an electrifying opening day and highlights the unmissable offerings at this year’s fair and beyond
The well-heeled fairgoers at Frieze New York 2023 (17 – 21 May) were immediately blown away – literally – as they arrived at a blustery Hudson Yards for the fair’s VIP preview, upended coiffures discreetly restored as they filed into The Shed. Over 60 galleries from 27 countries – featuring a strong contingent hailing from New York, among them Karma, Matthew Marks Gallery and 303 Gallery – are presenting a market-fresh buffet of contemporary art at the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed building over the next few days. There’s a healthy dose of new faces too: galleries participating in Frieze New York (now in its 11th year, with the wider Frieze platform itself marking 20 years in 2023) for the first time include Arcadia Missa, Neue Alte Brücke, Silverlens, Emalin, Whistle, Mitre Galeria and Derosia.
Artists have seemingly rebounded from the dark toil of the past few years, echoed by the sense of optimism in an array of dazzling and kaleidoscopic works on display, from Robb Pruit’s meditative ombré canvases and Sanford Biggers’ chromatic cubes at Massimo de Carlo to a brilliant new mixed-media painting at Victoria Miro and chromatic works at Esther Schipper by Ann Veronica Janssens, Angela Bulloch, Matti Braun and Jac Leirner. Studious presentations, such as the abstract paintings of the late Jack Whitten at Hauser & Wirth and Suzan Frecon at David Zwirner countered these.
New York artists, too, are having a star turn at this year’s fair. Pace Gallery, which ambitiously opened six solo exhibitions in the city last week by Matthew Day Jackson, Nigel Cooke, Maysha Mohamedi, Trevor Paglen, and Grada Kilomba, gave over its Frieze booth to Yale-educated, Brooklyn-based artist Robert Nava, spotlighting fantastical new and recent works on paper ahead of his first museum survey in Europe next month. Also based in Brooklyn and the recipient of the inaugural Frieze Artadia Prize, Jessica Vaughn debuted a major site-specific commission examining ‘how American life is pictured, felt and structured’ – the culmination of a three-year-long exploration of the United States Postal Service.
With photography often an endangered species at major art fairs, Gagosian’s decision to present a solo booth of eight grid works by Nan Goldin (the artist recently signed with the gallery) was a bold and welcome one. Still, we devoured the few and far between photo-media works, including Luke Fowler’s prints at The Modern Institute and a Roe Ethridge still life at Andrew Kreps Gallery. In the Focus section dedicated to younger galleries, Jagdeep Raina’s embroideries at Toronto-based Cooper Cole were admired as were Emma Prempeh’s intimate paintings at first-time Frieze New York exhibitor Tiwani Contemporary.
The Artist Plate Project, meanwhile, launched its newest series of limited-edition dinner plates (in a tempting tote bag-friendly size, we noted) designed by artists such as Virgil Abloh, Marilyn Minter, Ed Ruscha and Mickalene Thomas. Funds raised will directly benefit the Coalition for the Homeless, providing food, crisis services, housing and other critical aid.
Frieze New York 2023: beyond the booths
As ever, the city’s illustrious institutions are complementing the main fair with an electrifying programme of exhibitions and events during Frieze Week. So to Queens, where 2023 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize winner Eriko Inazaki is showcased alongside the award’s finalists in the first public exhibition to be staged in Isamu Noguchi’s former studio (directly across from the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City). The first US museum survey of Josh Kline, meanwhile, spans over a decade of the American artist’s work, including new installations and moving image works that address the escalating climate crisis and the hotter, more dangerous future looming.
Swiss conceptual artist Pamela Rosenkranz has branched out on the High Line with a 25ft neon pink tree, its limbs and roots mirroring blood vessels. Crowds have been flocking to the Met to immerse themselves in the creative mind of designer (and one-time Wallpaper* guest editor) Karl Lagerfeld (‘Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty’ runs until 16 July) but also not to be missed at the museum is the focused survey of New York-based painter Cecily Brown. The exhibition brings together some 50 paintings, drawings, sketchbooks and monotypes – many recently completed – delving deep into the artist’s preoccupations with themes of vanitas, still lifes and memento mori. Meanwhile, ancient Egyptian symbolism, 1960s utopian architecture and graffiti tagging collide in Lauren Halsey’s roof garden commission for the Met: an inviting full-scale structure that pays homage to the community spirit of her native Los Angeles.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Frieze New York 2023 runs until 21 May at The Shed, New York. frieze.com
-
Discothèque perfumes evoke the scent of Tokyo in the year 2000
As Discothèque gets ready to launch its first perfume collection, Mary Cleary catches up with the brand’s founders
By Mary Cleary Published
-
This unassuming London house is a radical rethinking of the suburban home
Station Lodge by architect Andrei Saltykov in South West London offers a radical subversion to regional residential architecture
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Explore 100 years of Svenskt Tenn and the interiors Estrid Ericson has crafted
‘A Philosophy of Home’ explores 100 years of Svenskt Tenn and the daring vision for interiors its founder Estrid Ericson developed
By Diana Budds Published
-
Frieze Sculpture takes over Regent’s Park
Twenty-two international artists turn the English gardens into a dream-like landscape and remind us of our inextricable connection to the natural world
By Smilian Cibic Published
-
Frieze London 2024: everything to see and do
London Frieze Week runs until 13 October 2024; here are the must-sees inside and outside the fair
By Amah-Rose Abrams Last updated
-
Frieze New York 2024: what to see in and around the city
Frieze New York 2024 (until Sunday 5 May) sees the city’s ample spring season programming celebrated at The Shed
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Frieze LA 2024 guide: the art, gossip and buzz
Our Frieze LA 2024 guide includes everything you need to know and see in and around the fair
By Renée Reizman Published
-
Andrea Bowers’ sculptural chandelier for Ruinart reflects a shared commitment to environmental conservation
Andrea Bowers has partnered with Ruinart to create a work to be unveiled at Frieze LA, before it finds a permanent home at Maison Ruinart’s HQ in Reims
By Hannah Silver Published
-
MJ Harper’s performance piece at London’s Koko will close Frieze Week in style
Artist MJ Harper will premiere ‘Arias for a New World’ at Koko in London this Sunday, 15 October 2023
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
The Modern Institute explores otherworldly narratives at Frieze London 2023
The Modern Institute is showcasing the work of artists Rachel Eulena Williams, Jim Lambie and Andrew Sim and more
By Anne Soward Published
-
Quayola x LG OLED bring digital Impressionism to Frieze London
Quayola x LG OLED present Jardins d’Été, an immersive work that mixes Old Masters’ florals with super vivid 4K technology
By Simon Mills Published