The 2016 version of the Frieze Art Fair presented from May 5-8 in New York in its fifth edition 202 galleries from 31 countries with a focus on solo shows, commissions and installations.   Compared to 2015 with more than 40.000 attendees, this year drew over 43.00 domestic and international visitors and was not overwhelmed by the flood of other New York arts fairs held during the same time. The fair certainly qualifies as an upscale must attend social and sales event given its reputation and the goal of selling through its participating galleries as much blue chip art as possible. Visitors at the preview gathering included the top political, art, and media elite of the New York and the States ranging from former mayor Bloomberg, the chair of the Museum of Modern Art, billionaire investors, art buyers, and philanthropist, the film star Leonardo DiCaprio, to the executives of the most established art galleries.

As in past years Frieze New York had as a main sponsor Deutsche Bank.  The BMW Group continues to support the Frieze Sounds project since 2012 and showcased its new 740 model BMW with a design that could qualify as a work of art; as did a BMW from its famed  Art Car series  where well known artist use the skin of the  car as a canvas.  As a media partner the Financial Times published a special supplement on the fair and provided on line coverage.  Long established galleries dominated the largest section of the fair. In the curated Spotlight, Focus, and Frame sections the fair concentrated on solo artists’ work created after 1960, presentations by young galleries made specifically for the fair and not shown at earlier fairs and solo artists from new galleries established less than eight years ago. Art works in these sections struck me as most innovative. They were complemented by the intriguing Frieze Projects, an annual program of site specific creative art works.

Surprisingly the fair incorporated relatively few multimedia pieces and art works with moving images. It has further expanded into representational, semi representational and semi-abstract art in all configurations and materials, in short reflective rather than reflexive art. Figurative large and small sculptures, paintings and drawings, three dimensional art, fringe art, photographic images on virtual all subjects seem to prevail. As in last year’s fair, there seemed to be fewer works with abstract contents, an impression shared by several booth managers and gallery owners I interviewed. Apart from numerous works in the Projects, Focus, Frame, and Spotlight sections much of the art presented was easily accessible and understood, thus following the younger upscale market which at least in part has an appetite for easy and even decorative art works. One could speculate that instant rapid communication among the younger buyers and their rapidly moving image driven lifestyle impacts their perception, reduces contemplative time, and shapes the acquisition or consumption of art. Correspondingly there were only a few booths with art which raised social or political questions, addressed the issues contemporary society is facing or possibly offended the viewing audience.

Nevertheless the Frieze Fair remains an outstanding show place for contemporary art and offers a most  enjoyable experience meriting more that the ‘Circus’ label attached to it by the New York Times. It draws important well established galleries like Hauser and Wirth, Gagosian, and David Swirner, but also presents each year new US and international galleries who can afford the fair’s expenses. Given the marriage between wealth and art only a few non-profit art galleries were present. The fair attracts each year more galleries and a growing audience which is not deterred by the daily ticket charge reaching $45.  Most gallery operators I spoke to reported good sales starting from the preview day. They had been at Frieze before and planned to return next year. The same was stated by the representatives of established galleries which frequently were international. Marc Payot, Vice President of Hauser and Wirth observed that “...the caliber and internationalism of the visitors… places the fair among the best in the world. In terms of sales, Hauser and Wirth had a robust week.” Similar comments were made by representatives of other galleries, to wit higher sales, a larger number of buyers, and more international visitors.

There was some startling work such as the installation by the Brazilian Fortes Vilancas Gallery featuring large rusty bent nails by the Cuban artists Los Carpinteros, sculptures which would fit perfectly on the lawns of an upscale estate. The presentation of Damien Hirsts work in the Gagosian large dominating booth featured well known works like small sharks in formaldehyde, his well-known medical steel cabinets and a black ram with golden horns standing in blue formaldehyde. A multimedia set up by the Andrea Rosen Gallery was one of the rare installations incorporating video images created by Ryan Trecartin and Mika Rottenberg. Focusing on the goal to radically change our perception of contemporary art one Frieze project by Maurizio Cattela  WARNING! ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. DO NOT TOUCH, DO NOT FEED, NO SMOKING, NO DOGS, THANK YOU, a tribute to the Daniel Newburg Gallery consisted of a bare room inhabited by a live donkey illuminated by a baroque chandelier. The project replicates an aborted donkey project the artist tried to set up with the gallery in1994.

Yet the most impressive multi-media project encountered at the fair was created by Heather Phillipson.  Dispersed in several sections throughout the fair tent, this startling and evocative multi media piece certainly drew attention.   For her the structure of the tent served like a spinal cord. In Phillipson’s words  “ [A] chopped-up human spinal cord [is] besieged  by mutated dogs and screens, describing the intersected  bodies as a clash of nervous systems, dismembered, dissected and flung down on Randall’s  Island”.  Equally demanding and questioning the notion of art, at least as traditionally present was in the fair’s focus section a booth set up by Berlin’s Societe Gallery. The booth consisted of large commercial refrigerators on three sides filled with bottles of a soya drinks Soylent named after the 1973 film Soylent Green, a center table and sales assistants clad in microfiber garments. Produced by a Los Angeles company one glass of the Soylent drink contains all necessary daily minerals, proteins and vitamins and is commercially available for $8. The booth was designed by the artist Sean Raspet who also created a prototype for an algae based drink for which samples were given out. The booth served as an art installation, sales and promotional space and drink area   which was rather popular among the visitors who loved their free drinks.  This marriage between art and sales promotion of a commercial product is a new phenomenon not seen before at any art show, possibly pin pointing a new trend. The giant floating inflated figure of a baby at the entrance of the fair greeting the visitors may be an indication.  From the perspective of a New York Times observer of the fair “the world’s quotient of junk art and the prices paid for it geared to an audience that wants to see what it already knows” is raised

Frieze teamed up earlier this year with the huge entertainment company WME-IMG. It is the first outside investor in Frieze which was founded in 1991 and runs several large art fairs as well as publishing magazines.  Whether or not this new partnership brings Frieze further into entertainment as an upscale marketing tool remains to be seen.  But the application of art in various forms as an entertainment and marketing tool for commercial products is not a novelty and boundaries between different modes of expressions are breaking down.

I would certainly recommend to visit the Frieze Art Fair of 2017

Claus Mueller,      filmexchange@gmai.com