New York City Is Frieze-ing! What’s Happening at This Year’s Fair Inline
Photo: Courtesy of Gladstone Gallery1/6Solo booths are looking good
Bringing one artist’s work to a fair usually makes for a more compelling booth than a random assortment. Showings from David Kordansky and Pace Gallery are evidence enough, but Gladstone Gallery’s T. J. Wilcox takeover is the best example. In addition to a reworking of “In the Air,” Wilcox’s 2013 Whitney show, Gladstone is showing his specially commissioned video for the Metropolitan Opera’s The Tales of Hoffmann. A combination of stop-motion animation and more traditional cartoons—think an operatic version of Space Jam—it is a total delight.
Photo: Mark Guiducci2/6Ceramics are everywhere
Strolling around Frieze confirms what observant fairgoers have known for a while: Ceramics, the medium which artists themselves seem most likely to collect, is having a moment. Of all the ceramic works on Randall’s Island this year, the jaunty ones by Dan McCarthy at Anton Kern were my favorite.
Photo: Mark Guiducci3/6And then there are . . . solo booths of ceramics
Unwittingly combining those two trends is Milena Muzquiz, a member of the Mexican performance duo Los Super Elegantes whose ceramic vases comprise the whole booth of Guadalajara gallery Travesía Cuatro. Exuberant in both shape and color, Muzquiz’s sculptures are exhibited at the fair chock-full of extraordinary flowers, which happen to also be on sale. Muzquiz herself was on hand yesterday, as refreshing as any of the blooms she was selling.
Photo: Mark Guiducci4/6Interactive works abound
From painting a Jonathan Horowitz dot at Gavin Brown to wearing a complimentary Pia Camil–designed poncho to taking a break in one of **Korakrit Arunanondchai’**s paint-splattered denim-upholstered massage chairs, there is a lot to do at Frieze this year other than look.
Photo: Mark Guiducci5/6Venice arrives in New York City
The influence of the Arsenale is apparent at Frieze, where works by Philippe Perreno, Sarah Sze, Kara Walker, and Isaac Julien all echo Biennale curator **Okwui Enwezor’**s selections for “All the World’s Futures.” Call it a Venetian trickle-down.