The opening of the Frieze New York art fair this week brought six-figure sales and a bunch of celebrities. But whereas last year’s Frieze New York saw the sale of a $2.5 million Jack Whitten painting, no gallery reported any transaction quite so sizable this time around.
Once again, Hauser & Wirth and White Cube, two blue-chip operations with galleries across multiple operations, were among those who reported big sales. (Because sales of artworks at fairs are self-reported by galleries, they are difficult to independently verify.) Still, a range of mid-size operations spoke of moving works at lower price points.
The Seoul-based Kukje Gallery sold all of its paper collage works by Haegue Yang, with prices ranging from €27,000 to €42,000. Tif Sigfrids from Athens, Georgia, sold all of the paintings at its booth by artist Hasani Sahlehe. Each Sahlehe work sold for between $15,000 and $20,000; the Georgia Museum of Art acquired one of them. Stephen Friedman reported selling all of its wall-based sculptures by British artist Holly Hendry, selling for prices ranging from £6,500 to £15,000.
Against the backdrop of these purchases, celebrities from all sectors came to the fair. Musician David Byrne, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chelsea Clinton, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, and the singer Kesha visited Frieze New York on its preview day, according to a fair representative.
Collectors were also in attendance, among them Agnes Gund, Marieluise Hessel, Gael Neeson, Marty Eisenberg, Michael and Susan Hort, and Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip Aarons. And curators were, too: Studio Museum in Harlem director and chief curator Thelma Golden, High Line curator Cecilia Alemani, New Museum deputy director Isolde Brielmaier, Sharjah Art Foundation director Hoor Al Qasimi, and more were on hand.
Below, a look at five of the biggest sales reported by galleries showing at Frieze New York this week.
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Ed Clark at Hauser & Wirth
Image Credit: Photo Sarah Muehlbauer/©The Estate of Ed Clark/Courtesy the Estate and Hauser & Wirth Sold for: $850,000
This 2001 painting was the top seller reported by Hauser & Wirth during the fair’s preview day. The abstract work, nearly six feet in height, was also the most expensive one reported sold on the first day by a gallery showing at Frieze New York this year altogether.
Other notable sales at Hauser & Wirth on May 1 included Henry Taylor’s Portrait of Larry Dunn (2020) for $750,000, Glenn Ligon ‘s Stranger Study #43 (2023) for $700,000, a bench by Jenny Holzer titled Selection from Survival: People look like… for $400,000, Nicolas Party’s Triptych with Mountains (2023) for $350,000, and multiple editions of Charles Gaines’s Numbers and Trees: Charleston Series 2 (2024) for $210,000.
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Lynne Drexler at White Cube
Image Credit: Courtesy of White Cube Sold for: either $100,000 or $375,000
White Cube reported selling two paintings by American abstract artist Lynne Drexler for $100,000 and $375,000, according to a Frieze representative. (It wasn’t clear, based on Frieze’s sales email, which Drexler work sold for which amount. A White Cube spokesperson did not respond to an email seeking clarification.) Last November, the blue-chip gallery announced it was globally representing the late artist’s archive outside the United States, with shows to follow in London and Hong Kong. That representation deal marked the culmination of market movement surrounding the late artist, whose paintings began to far surpass their estimates at auction, selling for over $1 million.
During the first day of Frieze New York, White Cube also sold Ed Clark’s painting Yin and Yang for $800,000 and a new work by Tiona Nekkia McClodden “in the region of $100,000,” as well as works by artists including Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Tracey Emin, Theaster Gates, Antony Gormley, Jessica Rankin, and Ilana Savdie.
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Tony Cragg at Thaddaeus Ropac
Image Credit: © Tony Cragg / DACS,
London 2024. Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, London · Paris · Salzburg · Seoul
Sold for: €725,000 ($912,900)
Cragg’s 8-foot-tall steel sculpture Incident Solo was the top seller at Thaddaeus Ropac on the first day of Frieze New York this year. The gallerist said the opening day of the fair showed “the continued strength of the American market” through strong attendance, especially among American collectors. “We’re happy to have already sold to a number of new contacts who have engaged with the works of our artists on our stand,” Ropac said in a press statement.
Other top first-day sales at the gallery included Daniel Richter’s oil painting in den Kolonien (2024) for €420,000 and six works by Martha Jungwirth, which each sold between €60,000 and €350,000.
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Lee Bae at Perrotin
Image Credit: Courtesy of Perrotin Sold for: In the range of $75,000 to $230,000
With a Lee exhibition taking place in Venice in tandem with the Biennale, Perrotin reported selling out its solo presentation of paintings and sculptures by the South Korean artist. These transactions seem to suggest more market action surrounding Lee, whose work was also seen in a YouTube video about RM’s art collection in his home in 2022. RM is the 29-year-old leader of the Korean pop group BTS.
Perrotin also said it sold works by German painter Thilo Heinzmann, Italian artist Paola Pivi, and American sculptor Daniel Arsham in the range of $40,000 to $125,000 on Wednesday.
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Robert Mangold at Pace
Image Credit: ©Robert Mangold/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Sold for: $350,000 to $450,000
On the preview day of the fair, Pace Gallery reported placing multiple new paintings by Robert Mangold priced in the range of $350,000–$450,000 and nearly all of the presented sculptures by Arlene Shechet sold for $90,000–$120,000. The mega-gallery spotlighted Shechet’s work ahead of a show featuring new work set to open at the Storm King Art Center tomorrow.
