Frieze appears to have found the sweet spot in terms of the optimal number of exhibitors it can accommodate at the Shed, the venue for its New York fair. For the third year in a row, more than 60 galleries—67 this year to be exact, one fewer than in 2024—will participate in Frieze New York (7-11 May).
As ever, the fair will feature stands from top global galleries including Gagosian, Goodman Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, Perrotin, Thaddaeus Ropac, White Cube and David Zwirner. Also included are many influential Manhattan galleries, such as 303 Gallery, Miguel Abreu, Canada, James Cohan, Casey Kaplan, Anton Kern, Tina Kim Gallery and Ortuzar.
Many of the exhibitors making their debuts at the fair will be in its Focus sector, devoted to solo presentations by young galleries with stand costs subsidised by the brand Stone Island. Seven of that sector’s 12 exhibitors are Frieze New York first-timers: the New York-based galleries King’s Leap and Management, London- and Biarritz-based Champ Lacombe, Seoul-based G Gallery, London-based Public Gallery, Miami and Kyiv-based Voloshyn Gallery, and Singapore-based Yeo Workshop.
“I'm particularly thrilled that this year's Focus section is able to support an increased international presence,” says Lumi Tan, the curator and writer overseeing the sector. “The ambitious presentations across the section demonstrate the imperative role of artists in complicating neatly packaged narratives around the individual and society, taking on subjects such as the effects of extractive commercial and military industries, the feminist repositioning of storytelling traditions and the new imaginaries that result from the translation of digital engagements into physical encounters.”
This will be the fair’s fifth edition to take place at the Shed and the first since Endeavor, the California-based entertainment conglomerate that owns Frieze, announced that it is looking to sell the fair and media brand last autumn. In 2023, Frieze bought the biggest New York City art fair, The Armory Show—which takes place in early September at the Javits Center—and Expo Chicago.
Frieze New York is one of the marquee events on the city’s jam-packed spring art-market calendar, coinciding with or immediately preceding other fairs—including Independent and the local editions of The European Fine Art Fair (Tefaf) and the New Art Dealers Alliance (Nada) fair—as well as the major auctions at Christie’s, Phillips and Sotheby’s.
News of this year’s Frieze New York exhibitors comes as the fair’s West Coast edition, Frieze Los Angeles, prepares to open to VIPs on Thursday (20 February). That fair arrives in the aftermath of deadly wildfires in Los Angeles, which prompted many questions about whether the city’s art week should proceed as planned. Ultimately, many members of the local art community expressed support for Frieze moving ahead with its fair, and only one satellite fair (the Spring Break Art Show) opted to cancel this year’s edition.