Amid concerns that global economic turmoil would dampen enthusiasm for buying cutting-edge contemporary art even among the elite collectors drawn each year to the prestigious showcase, Frieze Art Fair organisers confirmed that 2008 sales exceeded expectations; while several dealers and collectors characterised this year’s Frieze as the best edition so far.
Frieze Art Fair co-directors Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover reported in a press statement: “With the financial markets in turmoil we were aware there was concern about sales. We are pleased, therefore, that the sales the galleries have been reporting have exceeded expectations. We have been heartened by the extent of the positive reports from the US, European, Latin American as well as UK galleries. Important collectors from across the globe continued to travel to the fair.”
Indeed, many participants found it to the fair’s distinct advantage that the near-hysteria level of previous years has abated. Tom Heman of Metro Pictures, the New York gallery representing iconic photographer Cindy Sherman, said: “We’ve done better than we expected. There has been a great atmosphere and we’ve been busy all week. It’s like art fairs used to be – we’re able to have much more of a dialogue about the work.”
Turner nominees and “Damien Hirst of India”
While early media reports suggested the global financial crisis was reflected in a slow start to the fair, dealers found sustained business across the four-day event. A representative of German gallery Sies & Hoeke said: "Everything has been really good. Although the preview started slowly for us that is not necessarily bad, interest and sales have been spread throughout the fair. We've done really well... All the collectors have come."
Two versions of the 2008 sculpture Mind Shut Down by Subodh Gupta, dubbed the Damien Hirst of India, sold for 1 million euros each. Iwan Wirth, whose Hauser & Wirth gallery handles Gupta, enthused, “A brilliant fair! Our best Frieze ever, with sales right into the weekend.”
Others whose works attracted particular attention from collectors included Turner Prize nominee Cathy Wilkes; Scottish artist Jim Lambie, all of whose works across different galleries were sold out; German painter/sculptor Uwe Henneken; and Anish Kapoor, whose wall-mounted 2008 Untitled sold for nearly £1 million within the opening hours of the fair.
Said Lissom Gallery owner Nicholas Logsdail, who represents Kapoor, as well as Julian Opie and Shirazeh Houshiary: "Interest and buying has remained strong. We have made good sales of major works running into the millions."
Frieze Projects
Beyond the commercial buzz of the dealer booths, the greatest excitement at Frieze 2008 was generated by Frieze Projects, the fair’s curatorial programme. Artist Norma Jeane commanded perhaps the most media attention with her spectator participation piece, The Straight Story. The site-specific installation comprised a series of isolation booths in which passersby were invited to smoke – a commentary on the shifting social role of smoking, as well as matters of privacy within public spaces.
Another Frieze Projects-commissioned artist, Brooklyn-based Cory Arcangel, devised an intervention in the fair’s gallery selection by hiding a golden ticket inside one of hundreds of chocolate bars which were sent to all the galleries whose applications to this year's fair were declined. The recipient of the golden ticket was Studio di Giovanna Simonetta, whose consequent participation in the fair essentially forms Arcangel’s contribution.
Cartier Award 2008
Cuban-born conceptual artist Wilfredo Prieto was the winner of the 2008 Cartier Award, which allots an emerging young artist from outside the UK with a commission at the Frieze, as well as underwriting a three-month residency at London’s Gasworks studio complex.
Prieto’s proposal for this year’s Cartier was chosen from over 400 applicants. His installation, Ascended Line, played on the privileged and celebrity nature of the Frieze Art Fair, extending a red carpet from the entrance, through the tent, and out the back to ascend a flagpole.
Frieze Projects curator and Cartier Award panel member Neville Wakefield told Artinfo’s Robert Ayers in his 15 October 2008 article “Neville Wakefield on Frieze Projects”: “[Prieto is] interested in the poetics of the piece rather than any direct political readings, but obviously it speaks to the nation of the rich who tend to gather here. There are a number of ways to interpret the piece: the red carpet is a sort of stairway to heaven, but red is also a color of warning. The piece engages with the cult of celebrity and extreme economic difference.”
Ascended Line, with its dual signifiers of aspiration and peril, may serve as the most fitting symbol of Frieze 2008, a festival of cultural - and commercial - riches against a backdrop of extreme uncertainty.
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