Reflections on Frieze

If reports from galleries at Frieze are to be believed, the horsemen of the art market apocalypse have been kept at bay. A staffer at Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers said that while a lot of people were fearing a drop, they didn't feel that. Galleries I spoke with either said that sales had been strong or the same as last year — which is to assume good, as they were back again. A staffer at David Zwirner said that the gallery even sold work it didn't take with it to the fair — a good barometer of sales performance — by showing transparencies of pieces to collectors.

A number of galleries reported that many or most of the works they brought went on the first day of the fair, as is the wont at these art market events. David Zwirner did a lot of business in the first two hours, selling Michael Riedel's Saab within five minutes of opening. All of the major pieces that Lisson Gallery brought were gone after 60 minutes. And Gagosian Gallery said it sold most of its booth on day one, but that that could be because they brought younger artists to Frieze this year that went faster (presumably because they're not as pricey). One of Casey Kaplan's employees said it seemed like no one was at the fair for business on Saturday, but Manuela Mozo at Metro Pictures reported steady sales, as of Saturday. According to one gallery staffer at the fair, there were a lot of museums passing through on Saturday — they seem to have a budget again, he said.

While some claimed to have had more European than American buyers, others didn't. "To be honest, somebody said there were less Americans, but we didn't notice that," said a woman at The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd. And one person suggested that any abundance of Europeans over Americans was just a question of the fair's location. Although most of Gisela Capitain's buyers were European (as of Saturday), an important Martin Kippenberger piece at the center of her booth went to an American.

The art market, then, appears to be home free until November.