Image:Richard Jackson Bad Dog
So, I take the rickety stairwell down to Pier 94 and first off I see the familiar sight of Hirst prints at Other Criteria, there was a rash of red dots on these and the gallery staff were beaming which is always a good sign. The skulls were of an edition of 15 and priced at $4,750.
At Jack Shainmen gallery there was a large scale Gordon Cheung piece priced at $46,000, which was actually good value for a work of that size.
Another success story was to be found at Hales Gallery, with Richard Galpin sold for $25,000 and Sebastiaan Bremer unique pieces all sold at $8,000.
The British galleries all seemed to be having an excellent fair, I was told by the chap at Alison Jacques that the booth had been re-hung for the third time with Ryan McGinley – Umbrella Falls (Edition 2/3 plus 2 AP) sold for $7,000 and a painting by Tomory Dodge sold for $45,000. At Herald Street, a shelf installation piece by Mathew Darbyshire found a buyer at £10,000. At Lisson Gallery, an Anish Kapoor disc piece had yet to find a home at the time of writing and was priced at £500,000. At Victoria Miro, they had Grayson Perry’s Walthamstow Tapestry (55” x 275”) on the outside of their booth. This amazing piece stole the show at Frieze last year and is in an edition of 12 and was priced at $100,000. I was told that the edition was pretty much sold out. Also on display was an impressive piece by Conrad Shawcross, priced at $75,000.
Over at White Cube, there was a terrible painting by Damien Hirst. I did not want to know the price of it or if it had been sold. They had a good quality Gilbert and George piece on offer for £120,000. I felt though that the gallery were not putting out there best on this occasion. No Emins, nor Chapmans for that matter.
Other big hitters were to be found at Hauser & Wirth, with a large Subodh Gupta painting priced at $350,000 and an amusing Richard Jackson sculpture called ‘Bad Dog’ (edition of 5) priced at $65,000.
Over at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, there was a fine Tony Cragg sculpture priced at $255,000. Dvir Gallery out of Tel Aviv had a pair of Jackie Kennedys by Douglas Gordon at $130,000 each.
David Zwirner had devoted his booth to the striking photography of Philip Lorca diCorcia, with headshot pieces (49” x 61” edition of 10 plus 2 APs) priced at $35,000 and the larger pole-dancing girls (69” x 49” edition of 8 plus 2 APs) priced at $45,000. For those on a more modest art budget, one could pick up a Polaroid piece for $4,000.
More affordable work could be found at Josh Lilley Gallery, with paintings by Nick Goss for £9,000 and Vicky Wright for the same price. Anthony Wilkinson had some charming pieces by Anna Parkina ranging from €3,000 to €4,500. I know, I also found the fact the work is priced in different currencies somewhat confusing, this fair is after all in the States and although it is international the prices should really all be in dollars.
Ancient and Modern had some really good watercolours by Paul Johnson priced at a very reasonable $3,000 and Museum 52 were having a good fair, with all three of their editions of Richard Brook pyramid installation sold at $15,000.
Overall the mood was upbeat and even buoyant, dealers were visibly relieved. There wasn’t the frenzy of buying that we have seen in the past, but the market has definitely recovered from the recession of last year.
Finally I made a visit to the Independent Fair, organised by Darren Flook of Hotel. This fair really captured the spirit of how a fair should be curated and seen. Galleries were invited to take part and were allocated space to match the artwork that they wanted to show.
There was no charge for admission and the atmosphere was cool and relaxed, with a table tennis being played and people lounging on beanbags. This was a very refreshing experience from the booth layout of normal fairs and the dealers I spoke enjoyed the openness and accessibility. I would like to give a special mention to Kate MacGarry a lovely galleriest and the Ben Rivers installation shed was particularly interesting. Andrew Kreps had a show stopping rotating mirror piece and there was a Delorean car installed by a gallery, although I’m not sure by whom. Maureen Paley was also to be found here, with some lovely small paintings by Maureen Gallace on show.
Anyway congratulations to Darren Flook and all those who participated in this unusual, yet welcome addition to the New York art fair circuit.
Alles klar, that is it more me. I will also be bringing you my reviews of the Chelsea galleries shows in my next article. Tschussy
Ahoy From Nudes, a Pirate and Scrooge McDuck:[New York Times]
On the Piers, Testing the Waters in a Down Art Market [New York Times]
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- Alison Jacques
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