Upon arriving at the Shed for Frieze New York’s 15th Edition, visitors step into a choreographic dance of riding up escalators, nodding politely, and trying to place themselves in the context of their peers. This turns attendance into a form of performance art itself. The fair, with participating galleries from 26 countries, is a core element of current art events in New York City, alongside the Whitney Biennial, and The European Fine Art Fair.
Wandering through the booths at Frieze, I considered the 1966 conversation, “What Is A Museum? A dialogue between Allan Kaprow and Robert Smithson.” Kaprow suggests that in public spaces where art is on view, life can only ever be presented as aestheticized and distilled. I believe this extends to art festival attendees, who have the opportunity to see and be seen at the more than 65 galleries.
This suggestion that the participation and performance of visitors is welcome and necessary in the ecosystem of the fair is validated by Jonathon González’s “Body Configurations,” 2023-2025, shown on the 6th level. The series of six C-prints positioned above metal plaques direct readers to move in accordance with or reaction to the images. One reads, “invert your sense of touch/ the image begins to touch you.” Another: “lower yourself to the/monument/ your scale reorganizes its/weight.” This piece is presented in conjunction with Mr. González’s durational performance, “magic hour–golden time,“ premiering at the Whitney Museum of American Art on May 15-17th.
Walking by The Modern Institute’s booth, I was mesmerized by an ashtray spinning above a stainless-steel stanchion. The tray held one partially burnt cigarette stained by pink lipstick, placed carefully as if someone would be coming back for it shortly. When I returned to the booth an hour later, the cigarette and ashtray were gone, replaced by a miniature representation of the Bull of Wall Street, another item from Andrew J. Greene’s “Timeless Symbols.” For the eye looking for bucolic respite, it seemed around every corner there was a lamb, horse, bull, or goat.
At Perrotin, I lingered in the green sanctuary of Emma Webster’s “The Last Unicorn.” In this oil on linen painting, a timid equine creature with skinny legs stands before all the semiotic signals of a forest. The figure’s shadow suggests that the creature is not in its natural habitat, but instead has been placed in front of a green backdrop.
Todd Gray’s “Euclidean Gris Gris (Scales of Injustice, No Respect),” from 2019, is a triptych of archival pigment prints placed in both found frames and frames made by the artist. In the main panel is a forest scene with an oval, highlighting a seated statue. This scene is overlaid and obscured with a circular image of a goat. Where Ms. Webster’s work suggests a sadness in the staging of a false freedom, Mr. Gray’s work allows the goat to rest triumphantly above the statue’s head, looking at viewers with a penetrating stare.
Next door at OMR, Tony Matelli showed three pieces entitled “Weed.” They are not simulacrums of weeds but real plants already starting to brown, plucked from the soil and placed on the concrete floor. Heels and dress shoes come close to crushing the plants, but the intentional slow movement of visitors preserve and protect the weeds.
On level 4, the Carlos/Ishikawa gallery and Chapter NY shared a booth., as well as strong cohesion between their respective work. Represented by Carlos/Ishikawa, Issy Wood in her typical fashion, transforms innocuous scenes into unnerving displays. In “Vanessa hates Easter 2” this work of oil on velvet is bisected into two images. The top is an eerie coagulation of three lambs that pose and prance like cherubs. Below the lambs are purple and white flowers, hanging in a blurry green scape. In Erin Jane Nelson’s three works “Apples,” “Winter Weed,” and “Ash,” rectangular glazed stoneware frame the pigment and silver gelatin prints of plant life. Both Ms. Wood’s paintings and Ms. Nelson’s prints act as portals to treasured sanctuaries.
Hayley Barker’s solo presentation at Night Gallery draws from the glowing hues of the pastoral without fully committing to Realism. In “Guapito,” a horse in the background looks at the viewer, warning of the storming grey clouds. The other horse remains unbothered, focusing on his meal of grass. This horse’s attitude seems representative of the most effective modes of curation and creation at the fair: maintaining focus on what is grounding, nourishing, and necessary.
Notable names attending Frieze at the Shed this week included Leonardo DiCaprio, Sharon Stone, and Michael Stipe. Yet in a space where so much work competed for attention, it’s the self-assured pieces that remained the strongest.
