Walking around Frieze New York this year, you may notice that staff are not wearing their usual plain-black t-shirts, but rather ones with bright bands of colour—green, most notably. The shirts feature a re-imagining of the painting Trying Green (2024) by the Atlanta-based artist Hasani Sahlehe, whose work is on view at the Tif Sigfrids stand in the fair’s Focus section.
Hasani Sahlehe’s Trying Green (2024) has been acquired by the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, Georgia
Sahlehe’s abstract work appears on the shirts as part of a collaboration between Frieze and the Italian fashion house Stone Island, an official partner of the fair’s Focus section (reimbursing up to 30% of each participating emerging gallery’s stand fees). As part of a new initiative during this year’s Frieze New York, the fashion brand chose one work from a Focus stand on which to base the t-shirt design for Frieze staff. Also with help from Stone Island, Trying Green (the actual painting) has been acquired by the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, Georgia.
“Through our global partnership with Frieze Focus, our intention has been to expand the Stone Island community through a deeper engagement with contemporary art,” Robert Triefus, the chief executive of Stone Island, said in a statement. “We are truly excited by the relationships that we are now forging around the world with young galleries and their artists, like the Tif Sigfrids gallery and artist Hasani Sahlehe. We are delighted to support the Georgia Museum of Art in acquiring Hasani’s Trying Green, which has given such inspiration to our design team.”