Press Release

Frieze Art Fair 2010: High-quality gallery presentations attract strong sales

At the close of the eighth edition of Frieze Art Fair, sponsored by Deutsche Bank, several galleries reported their strongest sales since the fair’s inception in 2003.

Fair directors, Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover were delighted with reports of significant sales from both established galleries and from the newer galleries in the Frame section and beyond. 173 galleries exhibited over 1,000 artists at Frieze Art Fair 2010 – the largest in the fair’s history. 29 different countries were represented. Collectors from the traditional hotspots of Germany and the USA were joined by a strong showing of Asian, Latin-American, Middle-Eastern and Russian collectors.

Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover commented, ‘Overall, we feel the quality level was very high this year – with very elegant installations and presentations of
significant artworks. This translated into substantial sales, to both public and private collections, from Europe and the US but also, increasingly, from the rest of the world.
Frieze Art Fair is a truly global event.’

Over 60,000 visitors were welcomed to the fair during the five-day professional and public event.

Strong sales were reported at every level. London’s White Cube gallery sold Damien Hirst’s’ The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths, for £3.5m, Thaddaeus Ropac sold a Georg Baselitz painting for €630,000. David Zwirner gallery from New York sold Luc Tuymans’ 2006 painting Evidence for $850,000. Marina Abramovic and Anish Kapoor sold well on London’s Lisson Gallery with £800,000 for a black fibreglass Kapoor sculpture and £200,000 for an editioned hanging sculpture. Hauser & Wirth, who opened their new gallery space in London during the fair, had significant sales including a 2009 Paul McCarthy sculpture for £750,000 and a new work on paper by Ellen Gallagher for $300,000. Galerie Fortes Vilaca sold both editions of Sala de Lectura (Reading Room) by Los Carpinteros for $200,000 each. Greene Naftali sold Tony Conrad’s Yellow Movie 2/28/73 to a US museum for $150,000. Vitamin Creative Space sold their entire booth by Cao Fei to a European museum.

There were more solo presentations than ever before in the main section, from Marianne Boesky, Isabella Bortolozzi, BQ, Elizabeth Dee, Stephen Friedman, Casey Kaplan, David Kordansky, Long March Space, Eva Presenhuber, Vitamin Creative Space and Zero.

Frame, the section in the fair for galleries under six years old supported this year by Cos, reported important new contacts and good sales made. Curator advisers Cecilia
Alemani and Daniel Baumann said, ‘This second edition of Frame confirmed Frieze Art Fair’s commitment to showcasing artists’ work in depth. With its solo booths and
specific focus on both upcoming artists and seminal figures, Frame is a unique occasion to get to know new artists. This edition of Frame brought together some of the youngest artists in the fair, presented alongside key figures and overlooked talents.’

Gallery response
Casey Kaplan gallery commented: ‘We have sold everything. We’re very happy. We have had support from institutions, sold to museums, foundations, new collectors. It’s the first time Marlo Pascual’s work has been seen in the UK and we’re thrilled to have had this response. The experience has been overwhelmingly positive.’

Daniela Zarate from Mexican gallery kurimanzutto said ‘Frieze Art Fair worked very well for us, not only in terms of sales, but also presence in London. We have met
lots of European and International collectors – both new and already known to us. We’ve also seen many curators and institutions, and we were delighted to sell a work
(by Jimmie Durham) to Tate. It was perfect.’

Andrzej Przywara of Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw was similarly pleased: ‘The fair was really good – one of the best ever. We’re especially happy that we sold all
the works from our stand. I’m really proud that we sold the Paulina Olowska drawings to MoMA.’

Angela Choon of David Zwirner observed, ‘There has been a great energy here this year, we’ve had a lot of interest in photography and we’ve me a number of new
clients. Particularly popular artists have been Christopher Williams, Luc Tuymans and Francis Alÿs.’

New York gallerist Tanya Bonakdar said, ‘The fair was really great. I missed not being at the fair in 2009 and was very pleased to re-connect with the London community this year. I met collectors from all over Europe and an exceptional number of US museum curators too. Frieze is unique.’

Tim Marlow Director of Exhibitions at White Cube remarked: ‘Frieze week has been a great success and reinforces the fact that London is the most pivotal art city in Europe’

Daniel Balice of Balice Hertling observed, ‘this edition of the fair allowed us to meet very serious clients from new markets making us feel positive about the future.’

Nicholas Logsdail, director Lisson Gallery said, ‘As always, Frieze Art Fair was bright, sparky and innovative with an ever increasing body of collectors and visitors from the
four corners of the globe. Excellent business at both the fair and gallery.’

David Tung from Long March Space commented, ‘We’re very pleased with the way Frieze Art Fair has gone for us. It has been amazing to see so many Asian collectors
here.’

Marianne Boesky gallery was pleased with the results of the fair too. ‘We’ve sold very well, collectors have been coming right up until that last day. We’ve sold to people
we know but we always meet new people at Frieze. It’s the only fair at which we always present a solo stand, and we’ve had a great response to Donald Moffet’s work.’

Victoria Miro said, ‘It has been an excellent fair for us. There has been a serious collectorship in evidence some of whom have gone for classic works, such as those by
Yayoi Kusama. Frieze is always good for us but this year has been particularly so, with a broader range of collectors than ever before.’

Newcomers to the fair, Xavier Hufkens, said, ‘This is our first participation in Frieze and we’re really happy. We’ve met new collectors from all around the world.’

London gallery owner Carl Freedman also welcomed the influx of new collectors, ‘We’ve had a really great fair, it’s actually been our best ever. We have met new collectors from Turkey, Australia, Tehran and Dubai resulting in really strong sales.’

Alison Jacques commented, ‘This has been one of the very best Friezes we’ve experienced. We presented important historic pieces alongside new work by younger artists Significant sales were realised for all these and many more, with probable acquisitions to follow strong museum reserves. The calibre and range of collectors was very high, we made important new contacts – particularly in Latin America – while the British and European collecting base certainly proved reassuringly buoyant.’

Those exhibiting in Frame were similarly pleased. James Fuentes remarked: ‘This has been my first year exhibiting at Frame and it has gone phenomenally well; it almost couldn’t have been better. The winning attributes for me have been a particularly strong context within which to show my artist [Jessica Dickinson]’s work, a consistent
level of interest from collectors and a supremely professional level of hospitality and engagement from fair staff. This is so important for a first timer like me.’

David Hoyland of Seventeen observed: ‘We sold out. It was brilliant this year. We sold an entire edition of five video works. We met new people, there was tons of museum interest. Frame really works, showing concise, interesting presentations by artists. We’ve met collectors we know and new ones too, and sold to each. I was impressed with the way collectors have made the comfortable leap into buying video work. We’ve sold to English, Canadian, American and European collectors.’

Stand Prize
Sadie Coles won the Frieze Art Fair Stand Prize sponsored by Champagne Pommery. The jury comprising Beatrix Ruf, Stuart Comer and Jerry Saltz praised Sadie Coles’
‘long-term commitment to and understanding of the artists represented.’

Frieze Art Fair iPhone/iPad app
Many of the 60,000 visitors to Frieze Art Fair 2010 used the fair’s first iPhone/iPad app. Sponsored by the fair’s main sponsor Deutsche Bank, it continues to be useful as a
resource for researching artists and galleries and can be downloaded for free from Apple’s App Store.

Outset /Tate Fund
The Outset/Frieze Art Fair Fund to benefit the Tate Collection acquired the following works: Lorna Simpson, Five Day Forecast (1991) from Salon 94, New York; Jimmie Durham, Dans plusieurs de ces forêts et de ces bois, il n´y avait pas seulement des villages souterrains groupés autours du terrier du chef mais il y avait encore de
véritables hameaux de huttes basses cachés sous les arbres, et si nombreaux que parfois la forêt en était remplie. Souvent les fumées les trahissaient. Deux de… (1993) from kurimanzutto, Mexico City; Július Koller, Question Mark b. (Anti-Painting, Text-Painting) (1969), Universal Futurological Opening (1978), Conceptual (1972) from Galerie Martin Janda, Vienna. In total, 83 works by 54 significant international artists have been bought with the fund for the Tate collection since 2003.

Collector Response
Collectors from the US, Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East were in prominence at the fair. Juan and Pat Vergez said: ‘Over the years Frieze Art Fair has become unmissable on our agenda and we come from Buenos Aires. We always discover new artists, new galleries and the atmosphere is very exciting.’

Mima and Cesar Reyes added: ‘As first timers we were amazed! Never could we have imagined such energy. Frieze Projects were very interesting and we loved the
Fujiwara work. We bought works we wanted and also as reminders of a great week in London!’

Isabelle Lemaitre: ‘We lived in London for many years and we have been visitors since first edition. We love being here, we always find interesting works to acquire
and the cultural programme is really one of a kind.’

Mary Zlot remarked: ‘We had a terrific time! The galleries brought fresh, good quality material and we accomplished a lot. The events were interesting and well organized. London goes all out for this fair and it is very worthwhile.’

Visitors to the fair included Boris Johnson, Mayor of London – who launched the Green Guide to the Visual Arts at the fair – and Ed Vaizey, Minister for Communication, Culture and the Creative Industries, as well as: David Bailey; Daniel Birnbaum; Klaus Biesenbach; Maggie Cheung; Jarvis Cocker; Steve Cohen; Dimitri Daskalopoulos; Stefan Edlis; Michael Gambon; Massimiliano Gioni; Zaha Hadid; Susan and Michael Hort; Dakis Joannou; Aaron Johnson; Eugene Lebedev; Damian Lewis; David Linley; Margherita Missoni; Alfred Pacquement; Francois Pinault; Cesar & Mima Reyes; David Roberts; Don and Mera Rubell; Charles Saatchi; Simon Schama; Claudia Schiffer; Raf Simons; Nancy Spector; Neil Tennant; Walter Vanhaerents; Olga Viso; Dasha Zhukova.

Museum Groups visited from Galleria d’Arte Moderne e Contemporanea, Bergamo; Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin; the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; MCA, Chicago; Mamco, Geneva; S.M.A.K., Ghent; Sprengelmuseum, Hannover; Mali, Lima; Patrons of The Outset /Frieze Art Fair Fund to benefit the Tate Collection, London; Tate
American Acquisitions Committee, Tate International Council, Tate Latin American Acquisitions Committee, Tate Major Supporters, Serpentine Council, London;
LACMA, Los Angeles; MOCA, Los Angeles; MuAC, Mexico City; MOCA, Miami; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; DIA, New York; Guggenheim Museum,
New York; MOMA, New York; Whitney, New York; La Maison Rouge, Paris; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Maxxi, Rome; The Power Plant, Toronto; Gesellschaft der Freunde der bildenden Künste, Vienna;Hirshhorn, Washington DC.

Frieze Projects
This year Frieze Projects were curated by Sarah McCrory and presented in association with Cartier. The projects were received positively by international critics and the public alike. Artists commissioned for the 2010 fair were Ei Arakawa and Karl Holmqvist, Spartacus Chetwynd, Matthew Darbyshire, Shannon Ebner and Dexter Sinister, Gabriel Kuri, Shahryar Nashat, Nick Relph, Annika Strom and Jeffrey Vallance. The two partner organisations were Signal (Sweden) and Vector, (Romania). The Cartier Award 2010 winner Simon Fujiwara presented his commission Frozen, which was met with significant critical acclaim for its audience engagement.

Frieze Talks
Programmed by frieze magazine editors Jennifer Higgie, Jorg Heiser and Dan Fox, Frieze Talks presented an international line-up of artists, philosophers, writers and
cultural commentators including Ramin Bahrani, Thomas Demand, Jeremy Deller and Bridget Riley. Frieze Talks are now available to download from friezefoundation.org

The Sculpture Park
This year the Sculpture Park showed work by Hans-Peter Feldman, Ceal Floyer, Wolfgang Ganter and Kaj Aune, Sanchayan Ghosh, Jeppe Hein, Marie Lund, John
Russell, Slavs and Tatars, Daniel Silver, Tomas Saraceno, Gavin Turk and Franz West.

Frieze Film
Audiences topped 2000 for the bespoke cinema hosting Frieze Film in 2010. The artists commissioned to make new work for Frieze Film were: Jess Flood-Paddock, Linder,
Elizabeth Price and Stephen Sutcliffe. The four commissioned works were screened within an expanded programme, consisting of two specially curated segments, one by
Indian curator Shanay Jhaveri and one by LUX, a UK agency focusing on artists working in moving image. A number of film and video works by Frieze Projects artists
provided further context to their practices and the new works they were commissioned to make in and around this year’s Frieze Art Fair. The four film commissions are now
available to download from friezefoundation.org

Frieze Music
A capacity audience enjoyed a night of disco with Hercules and Love Affair, Telepathe, Hype Williams and FACT djs. The second Frieze Music night James Blackshaw, Baby Dee + The Elysian Quartet performed instrumental classical minimalism and exquisite song in a candlelit church in East London to a rapt audience. Frieze Music 2010 was curated by Sarah McCrory and Sam Thorne (of frieze magazine.)

Frieze Education
This year saw over 300 children taking part in the artist-led programme of workshops and discussions organised with ReachOutRCA (The Royal College of Art’s Educational Outreach Team) and held in the Deutsche Bank Education Space. Pierre de Weck, a member of the Deutsche Bank AG’s Group Executive Committee and Chairman of the Deutsche Bank Global Art Advisory Council commented: ‘We would like to congratulate the organisers of Frieze on another successful fair. We are delighted to be able to support an event that is so closely aligned with the bank’s goals of supporting new and up-and-coming artists.’

Arnaud Bamberger, Cartier UK Executive Chairman commented, ‘Cartier is delighted to yet again be the associate sponsor of Frieze Art Fair, undoubtedly one of the most important contemporary art fairs in the world and a testament to the sheer dynamism and talent of Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp. Going through the ever-changing entrance hall on the first day is always a thrill, as is experiencing the Frieze Projects commissions assembled by the eminent Sarah McCrory. I’m incredibly proud of the maturing Cartier Award, and this year Simon Fujiwara is a deserved winner.’

— End.

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