The Art Market is Chilly, but the Work is Heating Up at Frieze London, Masters

LONDON — Frieze London and Frieze Masters, the twin fine art fairs that take place in Regent’s Park, are defying slowing demand in the art market, notching millions in sales in the first few days of the event, which runs until Sunday.

The fairs have so far attracted guests and collectors including Andreas Kronthaler, Raf Simons, Tom Ford, Dries Van Noten and Bill Murray.

“In recent years, I’ve been coming to Frieze London and Frieze Masters more often,” said Kronthaler, adding that the art often triggers ideas for upcoming projects or collections.

Guests were soaking up the atmosphere, and paying millions for the works on display.

At Frieze Masters, where the focus is on historic rather than contemporary art, Hauser & Wirth sold an Édouard Manet painting for 4.5 million euros; a Francis Picabia work for $4 million, and an Arshile Gorky oil painting called “The Opaque” for $8.5 million

“Our theme is quality, and the pieces we have are part of art history, as well as the history of our culture. We’ve observed that there’s a growing interest in quality,” said Carlo Knöll, senior director at the Swiss gallery, which counts Princess Eugenie as a director.

Gallerists said the fair is able to attract a diverse international crowd.

“There were far more people in town from abroad than [anticipated]. It’s nice to see that London is still very much on the map,” said Alison Jacques, whose eponymous gallery had booths at Frieze London and Frieze Masters.

Jacques said a group of works from young artist Sophie Birber was sold, with prices rang from 9,000 pounds to 10,000 pounds. The gallery also sold a painting from Nicola L. for $125,000 and a piece from Ana Mendieta sold for $75,000.

Lisa De Simone, a representative from Elliott Fine Art, said “the beauty of London is that it’s a true melting pot. We’ve talked to people from so many different regions such as Europe, North and South America and Asia.”

The gallery put a focus on female artists who have been previously neglected in history, but who are now being rediscovered, and celebrated. The works of Françoise Gilot, Giovanna Garzoni and Suzanne Fabry were on display, with the latter’s “Triple self portrait” selling for 50,000 pounds.

The D’Lan Contemporary gallery sold six paintings by Paddy Bedford, a contemporary Indigenous Australian painter and printmaker, for an undisclosed amount. The buyers were American and Australian.

The New York-based contemporary art gallery James Cohan showcased the work of Jesse Mockrin and Kennedy Yanko. Mockrin’s Biblical-like paintings, which range in price from $90,000 to $550,000, were sold out by Thursday afternoon, the second day of the fair.

Yanko only had a few pieces left, ranging in price from $65,000 to $200,000.

Gallerist Maureen Paley, a grand dame in the art world, was also in high spirits – partly about London’s energy and the great artists she was representing in her booth.

Her gallery sold multiple works from Kaye Donachie, Chioma Ebinama, Alejandro García Contreras and Gillian Wearing, who since the pandemic has transitioned to making paintings and watercolors.

Paley, dressed in her signature all-black uniform and dark sunglasses, had one of the most visited pieces in her booth, an unframed print from 1998 by Wolfgang Tillmans titled, “Michael & Stefan,” showing two men in an intimate moment, that also sold on Thursday afternoon.

Even though the fairs were a success for many galleries, Jacques said that the market remains chilly. She said galleries have responded by cutting out the hyped pieces, and shifting the focus back to “great and important works.”

At the same time, Eva Langret, the artistic director of Frieze London since 2019, has been on a mission to diversify the art fair.

“The fair is very much about opening ourselves up to new geographies of art and including those who have not been part of the discourse yet. London is a place where everyone from all over the world, including myself, come to study art, become curators, experiment and find their way into the art world — it’s really important that the fair reflects this,” she said.

Among the 160 galleries taking part in Frieze London, there were 80M2 Livia Benavides from Lima, Peru, which specializes in Latin American conceptual art; Greek gallery The Breeder, based in Athens; Egypt’s Gypsum gallery from Cairo, which counts the politically provocative Basim Magdy as one of its artists, and the Indian gallery Experimenter.

The gallery, which has locations in Kolkata and Mumbai, acknowledged the war in the Middle East, which began a year ago with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It presented the work of Bani Abidi, who made drawings of famous figures speaking out about the conflict.

One of the pieces was titled “Trembling hands of Jonathan Glazer.” It was inspired by the British director reading out his acceptance speech for the film “Zone of Interest.” Glazer, who won best director at the 2024 Oscars, controversially used the moment to condemn Israel for its actions in Palestine, saying it turned “so many innocent people” into victims.

Yuli Karatsiki, manager at the Athens-based Kalfayan, said the gallery’s aim is to “act as a bridge between East and West.” It showcased and sold works from 10 artists including Farida El Gazzar, a Greek-Egyptian, and Edouard Sacaillan, a Greek-Armenian artist based in Paris whose work is currently on show at the Tate Modern.

Dunhill, a longterm partner of Frieze Masters, also tapped into the diversity of the art world, holding a series of talks during the five-day event. On opening day, speakers included the American artist Glenn Ligon and the Iraqi painter and sculptor Dia Al-Azzawi.

Ligon’s latest exhibition, “All Over The Place,” opened last month at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, and features works inspired by the writing of James Baldwin.

In addition to attracting more participants and voices from around the world, Frieze is looking to cultivate the newer galleries.

At Frieze London, there is a section called Focus, which showcases galleries that were founded 12 years ago or less. Stone Island supported the section by offering a bursary to 34 emerging gallerists.

Many of the galleries said that being part of Focus has given them a boost in business.

“Frieze London literally changed the trajectory of the gallery. We have a really strong contingent of British collectors, but some of our previous collectors are from Italy and the U.S.,” said Freddie Powell, founder of Ginny on Frederick.

The gallery’s booth had a solo presentation of Charlotte Edey’s work, where eight out of the 10 pieces were already sold by Thursday afternoon.

Brunette Coleman, which made its debut at Frieze Focus, sold all of its pieces from Nat Faulkner’s solo presentation right after the fair began.

The artist’s work “Artificial Sun II” was acquired by the Photography Centre at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The same work was also used on the Frieze staff T-shirt in collaboration with Stone Island.

Faulkner’s artwork ranges in price from 1,500 pounds to 6,000 pounds, a more accessible price point when compared with some of the other booths.

“Nat is a young artist who we’re trying to build and it’s best to keep his prices at a reasonable point – then at some point, we will raise them. We’re working within our means and at the same speed as before,” said Ted Targett, a director at Brunette Coleman.