What Sold at Frieze New York 2023

After five days at The Shed, Frieze New York concluded on Sunday, capping off a packed fortnight of auctions, art fairs, and art world events across the city.

Hosting 68 exhibitors for its third edition in Hudson Yards (and 11th in New York), the fair is led by Frieze’s fair director of Americas Christine Messineo.

Frieze remains the marquee May event in the New York art world, combining global blue-chip heavyweights in the main exhibition area along with younger galleries in its Focus sector. This year’s edition featured new work from established and emerging artists across a number of standout solo booths. Capsule Shanghai was among them and won the Frieze Focus Stand Prize 2023 for its presentation of works by Chinese sculptor Liao Wen.

The mood at the fair was excitable and positive throughout. Several celebrities were spotted—including Chris Rock, Caroline Polachek, Michael Stipe, and Raf Simons—and dealers reported better-than-expected sales amid an uncertain economic picture and a congested art world calendar.

The venue remained busy over the course of its five-day run, with many exhibitors rotating their inventory throughout the fair. “There was high energy at the fair this year,” said Peggy Leboeuf, partner at Perrotin, which presented a solo corner of works by Japanese artist Izumi Kato, which sold out, as well as works by Paola Pivi and Charles Hascoët. “Each fair has its own atmosphere, and Frieze offers an opportunity to experiment with both established and newer artists on our roster.”

Here, we share a rundown of the top sales at Frieze New York 2023.

Top sales

• Mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth came to Frieze New York with a standout solo presentation of the late artist Jack Whitten. The works, most of which were being displayed in public for the first time, were met with high demand from collectors. Sales for works by the American artist started at $95,000 and went up to $2.5 million for Untitled, an acrylic on canvas from 1976. “It’s a poignant moment for us, and a true honor to place these exceptional works in some of the most prestigious museum and private collections in the United States,” said the gallery’s president Marc Payot.
• International blue-chip gallery Thaddaeus Ropac reported a number of strong sales including Study of Cotton Field (2022) by Robert Longo for $900,000, two paintings by Daniel Richter for €375,000 ($405,188) apiece, and two works by Martha Jungwirth for €280,000 ($302,540) and €425,000 ($459,213) respectively. “It’s been a strong fair for us and we’re very happy,” said Ropac. “A number of our sales were to collectors who are new to us and from Asia so that’s exciting for us at a fair. It’s really as we hoped the fair would go. People were moving fast to buy what they wanted. It’s what we experienced last year and it feels the same this year in this respect.”

• White Cube—which is set to open a New York space this fall—sold a diverse range of artworks, led by a wooden table by Doris Salcedo for $1.25 million. The gallery also sold a stainless steel sculpture by Antony Gormley for $450,000, a work by Julie Mehretu for $135,000, and a ceramic work by Park Seo-Bo for $160,000. “Collectors came ready to buy compelling, special, top-of-the-line pieces by leading artists, and that’s what they found,” said Courtney Willis Blair, a senior director at the gallery.

Sold-out booths

A number of exhibitors reported sellout booths at the fair, including:

• David Kordansky Gallery’s solo booth of Lauren Halsey’s new gypsum-based engravings and digital collages sold out. Several works were sold within the first hours of the fair. The engravings specifically relate to the artist’s architectural work currently on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Cantor Roof Garden. “These visual indices of Halsey’s neighborhood appear in the works on view at Frieze New York and across her entire oeuvre, becoming fantastic archives of funkadelic dreams and futures, but also concrete textures, materials, and iconographies of her community,” said Kurt Mueller, senior director at the gallery.
• Pace Gallery sold all the works from their solo booth of works by Robert Nava in the opening hours of the fair’s VIP preview day, with prices ranging from $30,000 to $80,000.

• James Cohan’s solo booth of paintings by Naudline Pierre sold out, with prices ranging from $45,000 to $130,000. One work was placed with an American institution.
• Casey Kaplan sold Matthew Ronay’s prominent sculpture, which was the sole highlight of their booth, for $300,000.
• Canada sold out of its presentation of sculptures by Sahar Khoury for prices between $6,000 and $12,000, and paintings by Elizabeth McIntosh for prices between $25,000 and $32,000.

New discoveries

Galleries large and small took the fair as an opportunity to present the works of artists who are new to their rosters or to the U.S. art world.

• Stephen Friedman Gallery sold five paintings by Pam Glick for $55,000 apiece. The rest of the works from its solo booth were on reserve by the end of the fair’s VIP day. One work was sold to a corporate collection. The booth, curated by White Columns’s Matthew Higgs, complemented the gallery’s presentation at Independent the week prior. Both shed light on the underrecognized Glick, a friend and studio mate of Jean-Michel Basquiat who is known for an energetic mark-making that recalls the form and movement of water.
• In the Focus section of the fair, first-time exhibitor Mitre Galeria from Brazil sold out their presentation of works by Marcos Siqueira. A favorite among many fairgoers, Siqueira’s charming, small-scale paintings are made from natural pigments that the environmentally conscious artist gathers from Minas Gerais, Brazil.

• Ortuzar Projects’s solo presentation of Los Angeles–based Japanese artist Takako Yamaguchi drew strong interest. All of the works were either sold to private collectors or are in the process of being acquired by museums. The artist’s striking works—which draw on the traditions of Japanese decorative arts, Mexican muralism, Photorealism, and Art Nouveau—are also on view in a current solo show at the Tribeca gallery.
• Château Shatto sold all works in its presentation of paintings by Julia Yerger, with prices ranging from $10,000 to $12,000.
• New York–based Company Gallery’s solo booth of works by American artist Tosh Basco sold out. These abstract paintings are the result of improvisational performances in which the artist—who is known by her performance name boychild—presses her body, covered in paint and makeup, onto the canvas.

Other notable sales

Further sales at Frieze New York 2023 included:

• David Zwirner sold several recent oil paintings and works on paper by Suzan Frecon, whose work was the subject of a solo booth. The prices ranged from $50,000 to $500,000.
• Sprüth Magers and Karma International jointly showcased multiple works by Pamela Rosenkranz, whose sculpture Old Tree can be found around the corner from The Shed on the High Line Plinth. Works sold included Anamazon (Wish Things) and Anamazon (Amasses) (both 2023), each priced at $75,000. These works, along with additional paintings, sculptural editions, and works on paper, were acquired by collections in Europe, Asia, and the U.S.
• Goodman Gallery sold various artworks by William Kentridge, including a bronze sculpture valued at $500,000, which was acquired by a private collection in New York. They also sold a distinctive series of works on paper within the same price range to a European family foundation. Additionally, a collection of Sue Williamson embroideries was sold to a European private collection, with each embroidery priced at $55,000.

• In addition to the aforementioned seven-figure sale, Hauser & Wirth’s other notable sales of Jack Whitten’s works included: an acrylic board, The Mingo Altarpiece: For George Mingo 14 September 1950 – 6 December 1996 (1996), for $950,000; a sumi ink on canvas, Black Hands (2015), for $800,000; and an acrylic on canvas, Physis II (Dedicated to the Memory of David Budd) (1991), for $160,000.
• White Cube’s sales also included works by Minoru Nomata for $85,000; an Ilana Savdie work for $45,000; two pieces by Jessica Rankin for $48,000 and $60,000 respectively; a sculpture by Danh Vo for $45,000; and paintings by Léon Wuidar for $7,200.

• Xavier Hufkens sold Milton Avery’s painting Autumn Trees and Goat for $600,000. They also sold artworks by Tracey Emin, with prices ranging from £45,000 ($56,000) to £70,000 ($87,000); Thomas Houseago’s sculpture Mountain I (Somatic) for $175,000; as well as a Paul McCarthy work on paper for $200,000.
• Tina Kim Gallery sold artworks by Pacita Abad, Ghada Amer, Tania Pérez Córdova, Maia Ruth Lee, and Davide Balliano, with prices ranging from $15,000 to over $300,000.
• Gagosian sold a “significant amount” of grids and individual photographs by Nan Goldin to private collectors and museums. The prices for these artworks ranged between $64,000 and $90,000.

• Gallery Hyundai sold the majority of its works by Yoo Geun-Taek, with price points ranging from $50,000 to $90,000.
• Seoul-based Whistle showcased works by Min ha Park in the Focus section for its debut at the fair, and sold a majority of works to New York–based collectors.
• Perrotin reported sales of works by Jean-Marie Appriou, Mathilde Denize, Nick Doyle, Oli Epp, Vivian Greven, Zach Harris, Charles Hascoët, Leslie Hewitt, Kara Joslyn, JR, Nikki Maloof, Gabriel de la Mora, MSCHF, Danielle Orchard, Zéh Palito, and Wang Xiyao.
• In the Focus section of the fair, Derosia achieved substantial sales of Sam Lipp’s paintings, with prices ranging from $8,000 to $20,000.