Posthumous Revivals and Emerging Artists Top Sales at Frieze New York’s 2023 Edition

May 18, 2023

The 11th edition of Frieze New York returned to the Shed in Hudson Yards this week, opening on Wednesday for VIP fairgoers and running until Sunday. Hosting 68 galleries this year, the fair’s opening hours were buzzing, likely a showing of strength for New York’s art market over that of London and Hong Kong.

On the opening day, sales were brisk, with mega-dealers disclosing seven-figure deals and smaller gallery’s seeing investments in newer names. Among the fair’s top sales, which are all self-reported, came from Pace, which sold out its solo booth of works by Brooklyn-based painter Robert Nava (for prices between $30,000 and 80,000) and David Zwirner, who sold multipled works by Suzan Frecon ($50,000–$500,000).

Meanwhile, smaller players also fared well. Los Angeles’s Château Shatto completely sold out their presentation of paintings by Julia Yerger ranging from $10,000 to $12,000, and New York’s 303 Gallery selling pieces by Doug Aitken, Cassi Namoda, Tanya Merril, Sam Falls, Alicia Kwade, Jeppe Heine, Rob Pruitt, and Sue Williams.

Below, a look at some of the fair’s standout sales.

Jack Whitten at Hauser & Wirth

Image Credit: Sarah Muehlbauer.

A group of works by Jack Whitten was the spotlight of Hauser & Wirth’s booth. The dealer has been active in increasing the exposure and prices for art by Whitten, who died in 2018 at the age of 78. By the end of the fair’s opening VIP preview day on Wednesday, five of Whitten’s works, including paintings and one sculpture, sold. The top sale was for a 1976 untitled abstract acrylic on canvas, featuring a grey geometric form on a beige background, which sold for $2.5 million. It was one of the few seven-figure prices confirmed in the fair’s opening hours. Four additional works, produced between 1991 and 2015, sold at prices between $160,000 to $950,000.

“Five years after his death, Jack’s work continues revealing new and incredible powers,” Hauser & Wirth president Marc Payot said in a statement following the fair’s first day. “If only Jack could be here to witness the ways his art has captivated new generations of curators, collectors, scholars and the public. It’s a poignant moment for us, and a true honor to place these exceptional works in some of the most prestigious museum and private collections in the United States.”
Pamela Rosenkranz at Sprüth Magers and Karma International

Image Credit: Courtesy Frieze.

In a joint presentation, Sprüth Magers and Karma International placed multiple works from their solo presentation of Swiss multimedia artist Pamela Rosenkranz. Rosenkranz uses light as a main element of her practice, which spans performance, sculpture, painting, and installations. New works made for the fair draw further on the artist’s use of mirrors, extending the themes she explored in her 2021 exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bregenz in Vienna. From the presentation at Frieze, the European dealers sold Anamazon (Wish Things) and Anamazon (Amasses), both made in 2023, for a price of $75,000 each to European collections. Other works spanning painting, sculpture, and works on paper were acquired by private collectors based in Asia, Europe, and the US, a representative for the galleries confirmed. (The sale prices of those works were not disclosed.)
Sam Lipp at Derosia

Image Credit: Courtesy Frieze

In the Focus section of the fair, which is dedicated to galleries in business for 12 years or fewer, New York gallery Derosia (formerly Bodega) sold a group of paintings by 34-year-old painter Sam Lipp, at prices ranging between $8,000 to $20,0000. A highlight came in the form of Joe (Flesh), from 2023, which features a recurring subject in Lipp’s paintings: men whose cropped bodies and facial expressions are often ambiguously rendered, on metal surfaces.
Naudline Pierre at James Cohan

For it return to Frieze New York this year, Tribeca gallery James Cohan brought a solo presentation by Naudline Pierre. The Brooklyn-based artist has recently become the subject of heightening attention following a show at the Dallas Museum of Art last year. In a statement, the gallery described her sculptures as “distinctly narrative” in their futuristic architectural elements that shows Pierre’s focus on “world-building” that continues into her paintings. Cohan’s presentation of Pierre’s work also comes ahead of Pierre’s first solo museum exhibition in New York, at the the Drawing Center. The dealer reported that by the end of the fair’s first day it sold out the entire booth, at prices ranging from $45,000 to $130,000. It placed one work, the title of which was not disclosed, to an unnamed US institution.
Matthew Ronay at Casey Kaplan

New York’s Casey Kaplan sold a major sculptural installation that was the sole focus of its booth by the Kentucky-born, New York–based artist Matthew Ronay. Going for $300,000, Ronay’s monumental The Crack, The Swell, an Ode (2022) was among the largest works installed at the fair. Spanning 24 feet, the multi-part sculpture features Ronay’s signature style, using basswood, epoxy, and steel to create surrealist-inflected organic forms. This presentation comes on the heels of a solo exhibition for the artist at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas that closed in January.