{"id":5610,"date":"2025-05-08T19:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T19:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/05\/08\/early-sales-and-highlights-from-frieze-and-nada-new-york-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T19:29:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T19:29:18","slug":"early-sales-and-highlights-from-frieze-and-nada-new-york-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/05\/08\/early-sales-and-highlights-from-frieze-and-nada-new-york-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Sales and Highlights from Frieze and NADA New York 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jeff Koons\u2019s Hulk<\/em> sculptures dominated Gagosian\u2019s booth. \u00a9 Jeff Koons, Incredible Hulk \u2122, and \u00a9 Marvel. All rights reserved. Photo: Maris Hutchinson Courtesy Gagosian<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Frieze officially took flight yesterday (May 7) with its VIP preview, kicking off a jam-packed art week in New York, where no fewer than nine fairs are unfolding ahead of the marquee May evening auctions<\/a>. The fair opened just days after news broke of its acquisition by Endeavor\u2019s former CEO Ari Emanuel<\/a>, in a deal reportedly worth $200 million, and in the midst of turbulence stirred by an erratic 100-day-old presidency<\/a>, where trade wars and cultural grandstanding have become the new normal. Still, early sales suggest a market that\u2019s holding steady\u2014albeit one that\u2019s more cautious, more curated and leagues away from the sold-out-at-entry frenzy of years past. As the aisles rapidly filled in the fair\u2019s first hours, most works were still available, with dealers far more open to quiet negotiations, even for formerly too-hot-to-touch names. With Asian collectors largely absent and a notable number of Europeans skipping New York altogether, it was American buyers who showed up, browsed and\u2014crucially\u2014bought, perhaps sensing that now is the moment to make their move.<\/p>\n

\n<\/section>\n

Held once again at The Shed in the heart of Chelsea\u2019s gallery grid, Frieze New York has positioned itself more like a boutique fair than the sprawling showcases staged in its international iterations. This year\u2019s edition features sixty-five exhibitors from twenty-five countries, though several New York mainstays\u2014assumedly wary of economic crosswinds\u2014opted instead for Independent, TEFAF or bypassed the fairs entirely to focus on in-house programming. \u201cWe\u2019re just a few blocks from the fairs, and we decided to focus on our exhibitions; it\u2019s been working. People are stopping by on their way,\u201d Eric Gleason<\/a> of Kasmin told Observer. On preview day, the gallery opened a solo show of ethereal, mystical works by L.A.-based painter Theodora Allen<\/a>, and nearly half were already placed by that evening.<\/p>\n

The mega galleries that did show up largely opted for single-artist spotlights or tightly curated presentations. At Pace, Adam Pendleton<\/a> took center stage in a thoughtful pairing with works by Lynda Benglis<\/a>, highlighting parallels in their layered explorations of materiality and process. The strategy paid off: at the day\u2019s end, the gallery had sold multiple Benglis pieces in the $275,000-300,000 range, while six of Pendleton\u2019s paintings were placed within the first few hours, priced between $165,000 and $425,000. The presentation dovetailed with Pendleton\u2019s solo exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and followed the high-profile announcement that MoMA had acquired all thirty-five works from his 2021-2022 survey.<\/p>\n

\"Gallery\"Gallery
Pace at Frieze. Sebastiano Pellion di Persano<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile, Gagosian seemed intent on flexing its muscles this season, perhaps to reassure collectors of its continued dominance. Fresh off celebrating Larry\u2019s eightieth birthday, the gallery opened not one but two museum-grade shows: \u201cWillem de Kooning\u201d in Chelsea and the Paloma Picasso\u2013curated \u201cPicasso: T\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate<\/a>\u201d exhibition uptown\u2014while anchoring its Frieze booth with a bombastic display of Jeff Koons<\/a>\u2019s Hulk Elvis<\/i> sculptures. The three inflatable-looking polychrome steel sculptures, set against a fleshy immersive vinyl backdrop, brought full Koonsian crowd-catching Pop playfulness. That day, the gallery reported selling one piece for an undisclosed price\u2014though auction precedent suggests it landed most likely around $3 million, as a six-foot Hulk (Friends)<\/i> fetched $3.4 million at Phillips New York in 2019. \u201cThe fair is off to a great start, and the response to our booth has been phenomenal,\u201d senior director Millicent Wilner<\/a> told the press, noting strong interest in the remaining two sculptures. The presentation could signal a homecoming for Koons, who left both Gagosian and David Zwirner for Pace in 2021\u2014only to appear now back in Larry\u2019s court.<\/p>\n

Nearby, David Zwirner also took a focused approach, devoting the entire booth to a postmodern wink at early twentieth-century iconography through the lens of Pictures Generation<\/a> pioneer Sherrie Levine<\/a>. The presentation included the debut of her 2024 series After Piet Mondrian Inverted<\/i>, a characteristically sly reversal of modernist canon, with prices ranging from $150,000 to $200,000.<\/p>\n

Hauser & Wirth, never one to play it small, reported confident early sales\u2014including a $1.2 million monumental work by Rashid Johnson<\/a>, strategically placed at the booth\u2019s entrance as Johnson is currently the subject of a significant career survey at the Guggenheim, which opened just a few weeks ago. By afternoon, the gallery had reportedly placed more than twenty-five works, with prices ranging from $20,000 to $1.2 million. Additional sales included works by other artists with strong institutional momentum\u2014Jack Whitten, Amy Sherald, Lorna Simpson, Mary Heilmann, Roni Horn and Thomas J Price, among others. \u201cThe crowd and conversations today have been incredibly upbeat,\u201d Hauser & Wirth president Marc Payot<\/a> told the press. \u201cPerhaps most significantly, the energy this first day at the fair has been amazingly optimistic\u2014we\u2019re seeing an even more robust commitment now on the part of collectors, curators and institutions to the story of art in this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the more headline-grabbing day-one sales, White Cube placed a large, emotionally raw Tracey Emin<\/a> canvas for \u00a31.2 million and one of her bronzes for \u00a380,000. The gallery also moved a lyrical work by Etel Adnan<\/a> for $180,000 and two Antony Gormley<\/a> sculptures for \u00a3325,000 each. A Christine Ay Tjoe<\/a> painting was acquired by an institution for $280,000\u2014unsurprising given the artist\u2019s recent auction ascent\u2014while two vibrant works by Ilana Savdie<\/a>, priced in the $100,000 range, found buyers as well. The sales followed the artist\u2019s New York solo debut with the gallery, her first since joining the roster in 2022.<\/p>\n

Austrian dealer Thaddaeus Ropac was still holding firm on a monumental upside-down George Baselitz<\/a> canvas priced at \u20ac1 million by the end of preview day. But sales elsewhere were brisk: a \u20ac85,000 painting by Martha Jungwirth<\/a>, a $210,000 Joan Snyder<\/a>, two Megan Rooney<\/a> works at \u00a318,000 each and a $130,000 David Salle<\/a> acquired by a U.S. collector. Ropac also placed a more conceptually driven work by Liza Lou<\/a> for $225,000.<\/p>\n

Next door at Karma, the action was just as lively. The gallery placed a haunting Gertrude Abercrombie<\/a> painting for $350,000 and a $90,000 oil by Maja Ruznic<\/a>, fresh off her Whitney Biennial appearance. Other confirmed sales included a Richard Mayhew<\/a> for $350,000, a Manoucher Yektai<\/a> for $275,000, a Reggie Burrows Hodges<\/a> for $175,000, a sculpture by Alan Saret<\/a> for $150,000 and a punchy, Pop-catchy work by Calvin Marcus<\/a> for $135,000.<\/p>\n

Further down the aisle, Perrotin reported a complete sell-out of its new psychologically dense paintings by Claire Tabouret<\/a>, with prices ranging from $65,000 to $200,000. Nearby, Nara Roesler also moved multiple works, including a textile piece by Sheila Hicks<\/a> for $74,000, a work by Marcelo Silveira<\/a> for $65,000 and an oil painting by Tomie Ohtake<\/a> for $350,000\u2014riding the momentum of her sold-out booth at last year\u2019s Art Basel Paris.<\/p>\n

\"Overhead\"Overhead
Frieze New York 2025 opened at the Shed on May 7 in VIP preview. Casey Kelbaugh\/CKA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Korean dealer Tina Kim<\/a> reported strong first-day sales of works by artists with notable institutional traction, including a $150,000 piece by Filipino American artist Pacita Abad<\/a>, placed alongside a $200,000 work by Lee ShinJa<\/a>, a Ghada Amer<\/a> for $175,000, a sculpture by Suki Seokyeong Kang<\/a> for $80,000 and a new piece by Maia Ruth Lee<\/a> for $25,000. Not far away, her mother\u2019s gallery, Kukje, also saw a robust day, reportedly placing several works by Dansaekhwa master Park Seo-Bo<\/a> in the $250,000-300,000 range, following the artist\u2019s passing last year. Additional sales included works by Kyungah Ham<\/a> ($140,000-168,000), Kibong Rhee<\/a> ($80,000-96,000) and a Haegue Yang<\/a> priced between \u20ac35,000 and \u20ac42,000.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Goodman Gallery confirmed the placement of a major Carrie Mae Weems<\/a> work for $100,000\u2014already earmarked for a European institution\u2014along with a Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum<\/a> for $90,000 and a Ravelle Pillay<\/a> painting for \u00a335,000. Nearby, Brazilian powerhouse Fortes D\u2019Aloia & Gabriel capitalized on the momentum of Beatriz Milhazes<\/a>\u2019s current Guggenheim show, selling several of her works in the $45,000-60,000 range. The gallery also placed pieces by Wanda Pimentel<\/a> ($45,000-60,000), Tad\u00e1sk\u00eda<\/a> ($25,000-40,000) and Antonio Tarsis<\/a>, whose meticulously composed wood constructions sold for $40,000 to $55,000.<\/p>\n

The demand for more ambitious presentations<\/h3>\n

The appetite for museum-caliber work was evident at Frieze\u2019s preview. Mendes Wood DM placed the entirety of Kishio Suga<\/a>\u2019s Sliced Stones<\/i> installation\u2014eight sculptures priced between $200,000 and $300,000\u2014without much hesitation from buyers. James Cohan also reported strong institutional traction, selling several of Tuan Andrew Nguyen<\/a>\u2019s Calder-esque, organically suspended metal mobiles, priced from $85,000 to $185,000, to a European museum, an American institution and a private collector\u2014riding the momentum of the Vietnamese artist\u2019s breakout U.S. institutional debut at the New Museum in summer 2023. Meanwhile, New York dealer Casey Kaplan devoted the entire booth to Hannah Levy<\/a>\u2019s alluring, hybrid biomorphic sculptures, and collectors responded accordingly. Several works, priced between $45,000 and $80,000, were swiftly snapped up as Levy\u2019s profile continues to rise\u2014fueled in part by her showing in the 2022 Venice Biennale<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Two\"Two
Tuan Andrew Nguyen presented by James Cohan at Frieze. Casey Kelbaugh\/CKA<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even the more dynamic and occasionally experimental offerings in the Focus section inspired a strong response. Showing at Frieze for the first time, Parisian and research-centred gallery Sultana reported selling three works by Jean Claracq<\/a> in the $20,000-30,000 range and two humorously playful works by Turner Prize artist Jesse Darling<\/a> for \u20ac10,000 each. Nearby, Chapter NY captured collectors\u2019 attention, placing multiple works by Milano Chow<\/a>, priced between $16,000 and $20,000, and Mary Stephenson<\/a>, with prices ranging from \u00a34,500 to \u00a332,000.<\/p>\n

Among the most ambitious presentations in the Focus section was a multimedia installation by Yehwan Song<\/a>, exploring the discomfort and incommunicability of digital media and online spaces. Presented by Seoul-based G Gallery, the work was acquired by a private institution for $22,000. Leaning further into the multimedia and installation spectrum, London-based Public Gallery made its New York debut with an interactive, video game\u2013based installation by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley<\/a> that confronts Black trans experiences head-on. Blending reality, gaming, technology and speculative fiction, the artist builds choose-your-own-adventure narratives that compel users to face uncomfortable questions around transphobia and racism\u2014dismantling ethical complacency while centering responsibility, sincerity and care.<\/p>\n

\"Minimalist\"Minimalist
Luana Vitra presented by Mitre Galeria at Frieze. Courtesy of the gallery<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the same section, marking its New York debut, S\u00e3o Paulo\u2013based Mitre Gallery presented a solo booth of spiritual, totemic sculptures by Brazilian artist Luana Vitra<\/a>, who also just opened a solo show at SculptureCenter. Drawing on the history and cosmology of Minas Gerais\u2014the mineral-rich region where she was raised\u2014Vitra explores the metallurgical symbolism and transformative power of minerals to reveal the \u201cspirit in matter.\u201d Her sculptures function as vessels designed to receive, store and transmit energy\u2014works that blur the line between material object and metaphysical conduit. By the end of preview day, the gallery had placed four of Vitra\u2019s pieces, priced between $12,000 and $26,000.<\/p>\n

Another standout in the section was the U.S. debut of Indonesian artist Citra Sasmita<\/a>, presented by Singapore-based Yeo Workshop. Ancestral symbologies unfold in mystical, charged images that explore a visceral and spiritual interconnection between the female body and nature\u2014rendered here in a textile-based installation that seems to transcend the fair\u2019s commercial setting and drift into otherworldly terrain. Titled Vortex in the Land of Liberation<\/i>, the installation centers on a vertically suspended, embroidered cowhide that uses the traditional Kamasan painting technique and invokes folkloric spirits to evoke feminine power, fertility and the primordial. Drawing from ancient Balinese literature, mythology and iconography, Sasmita creates a personal cosmology that asserts a form of female agency and spirituality in harmony with the cosmos. With prices ranging from $20,000 to $38,000, the presentation aligns with a major Barbican commission in London and the artist\u2019s participation in both the Hawai\u2018i Triennial ALOHA N\u014c and the 16th Sharjah Biennial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Textile-based\"Textile-based
Citra Sasmita\u2019s Vortex in the Land of Liberation<\/em> presented by Yeo Workshop at Frieze. Courtesy of the artist<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nearby, Bogot\u00e1- and Paris-based gallery mor charpentier reported a sold-out solo presentation of Malo Chapuy<\/a>, whose haunting, jewel-toned paintings draw heavily from Gothic and pre-Renaissance religious art, echoed in the gold leaf backgrounds that transport the subjects to otherworldly levels while channeling a spiritual austerity in new sacred forms refracted through a distinctly contemporary lens. Prices ranged from \u20ac12,000 to \u20ac22,000, and the swift sales spoke to collectors\u2019 appetite for works that bridge historical gravitas and emerging talent. Further signaling buyer confidence across price points, young L.A. gallerist Matthew Brown also racked up a strong first day of sales, including a mesmerizing Blair Whiteford<\/a> painting for $45,000, a new work by Kenturah Davis<\/a> for $40,000 and a TARWUK<\/a> sculpture for $40,000, along with additional acquisitions such as Vincent Valdez<\/a> at $45,000, Michelle Uckotter<\/a> at $25,000 and pieces by rising voices like Olivia van Kuiken<\/a> ($18,000) and Jack O\u2019Brien ($12,000).<\/p>\n

Emerging artists and first-time exhibitors find footing at NADA<\/h3>\n

Opening in sync with Frieze this year, NADA dealers reported a brisk and in many cases gratifying first day. Now housed in the Starrett-Lehigh Building on Twenty-Sixth Street\u2014a convenient five-minute stroll from Frieze\u2014the fair\u2019s eleventh New York edition brought together one hundred eleven exhibitors, including fifty-four first-timers.<\/p>\n

\"A\"A
A scene from NADA New York\u2019s VIP Preview. Kevin Czopek\/BFA.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the newcomers, London-based gallery Alice Amati sold out its solo presentation of enigmatic, hyperrealist paintings by Danielle Fretwell<\/a>, priced between $5,000 and $17,000. Fellow Londoner Chilli Projects also had a standout debut, placing every work in its booth by day\u2019s end. The poetic, fragmented meditations on identity and displacement by New Haven\u2013based artist Christopher Paul Jordan<\/a>, priced between $4,000 and $20,000, found eager buyers. Jordan is currently in residence at Titus Kaphar\u2019s NXTHVN and will show next with James Cohan.<\/p>\n

From the West Coast, Los Angeles\u2013based de Boer placed several of Noelia Towers<\/a>\u2019s unsettling, cinematic figurative works ($10,000-40,000), alongside pieces by Kat Lowish<\/a> ($6,000) and a large-scale canvas by Rachel Sharpe<\/a> ($14,000). Minneapolis- and now New York\u2013based HAIR + NAILS also moved early, placing three dreamlike paintings by Julia Garc\u00eda. Meanwhile, Rachel Liu Gallery (formerly Rachel Uffner, now in partnership with Lucy Liu) sold two works by Sheree Hovsepian<\/a> priced at $28,000 and $24,000, tied to the artist\u2019s solo show that opened just ahead of the fair.<\/p>\n

\"Minimalist\"Minimalist
Danielle Fretwell presented by Alice Amati at NADA. Photo Gabriele Abbruzzese<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The newly launched Chozick Family Art Gallery\u2014helmed by former Uffner sales director Rebekah Chozick<\/a>\u2014had a promising start, selling several works on day one by Sof\u00eda Del Mar Collins, Raphael Griswold<\/a> and Andrea McGinty<\/a>, as well as completing a late-evening sale of a work by Sara Gimenez<\/a>. Another newcomer, MAMA Projects, placed six intimately scaled paintings by Chinese artist Zhi Ding<\/a>, whose work interrogates the globalization of the American Dream. In NADA\u2019s sculpture section, the gallery also showed Body in trouble<\/i> (2025), a haunting creature by Nicky Cherry<\/a> that exists in a liminal space between embodiment and disembodiment, prodding at the fragility of identity as a fixed concept.<\/p>\n

Buenos Aires gallery CONSTITUCI\u00d3N brought a quietly stunning solo presentation of Carlos Cima<\/a>\u2019s moody, intimate domestic scenes, selling out all nine works by day\u2019s end. Another standout came from EMBAJADA, with a booth devoted entirely to Puerto Rican world-builder Joshua Nazario<\/a>. With his distinctly DIY-meets-Pop aesthetic, Nazario reworks concrete, wood and other industrial materials into sculptures and flat works that slyly dissect status-signaling and emulative behaviors in Puerto Rican life.<\/p>\n

Havana-based El Apartamento offered a deeply material meditation on memory and history through Eloy Arribas<\/a>\u2019s solo booth. His works\u2014priced between $3,200 and $5,800\u2014were generated using the strappo technique, where wax molds capture, layer and distort painted marks over time. Each drawing is tied to a visual genealogy, bearing faint echoes of its predecessors, as figuration gradually dissolves into obfuscation, emergence and erasure. A couple of works had sold by midday.<\/p>\n

Longtime NADA exhibitor Kates-Ferri Project (New York) found success with a tight dialogue on geometric abstraction and analog aesthetics, presenting paintings by Uruguayan conceptual artist Guillermo Garcia Cruz and sculptures by Mart\u00edn Touzon. Two of Garcia Cruz\u2019s paintings sold during the preview, with strong interest in Touzon\u2019s work reported.<\/p>\n

\"Colorful\"Colorful
Joshua Nazario presented by EMBAJADA at NADA. Photo Luis Corzo | Courtesy the artist and EMBAJADA San Juan<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The new tariff threat<\/a> didn\u2019t discourage South Korean and Japanese galleries, which also showed up in force to the fair this year. A-Lounge Contemporary presented recent Columbia MFA grads Youngmin Park<\/a> and Ian Ha<\/a>, placing two of Ha\u2019s works by the evening. Kyoto-based COHJU made its NADA debut with three rising Japanese artists\u2014Takuya Otsuki<\/a>, Anna Yamanishi<\/a> and Shu Okamoto<\/a>\u2014all engaging with the interplay between traditional forms and contemporary expression.<\/p>\n

Mexico City\u2013based galleries also had strong momentum at NADA. Third Born, a recently opened gallery, placed several small, poetic canvases by Korean artist Jungwon Ja Hur<\/a>, whose quiet, existential tone was complemented by ceramics and delicate fabric works inspired by bujagi tradition\u2014all priced under $5,000. Nearby, JO-HS placed four dreamlike paintings by Melissa Rios<\/a>, whose layered reflections on human connection struck a chord. Naranjo 141, another young Mexico City gallery, made its New York debut in the TD Bank Curated Spotlight with new textile works by New York\u2013based Pauline Shaw<\/a>. Her intricate tapestries\u2014priced at $11,500 and $8,750\u2014use the metaphor of woven fiber to probe belief systems, emotion and the murky enigma of the natural world. Both works sold on opening day to new clients.<\/p>\n

While several collectors admitted to Observer they were waiting to see what Independent had to offer before locking in additional buys, NADA\u2019s preview day signaled an encouraging dynamism. We may no longer be seeing the sold-out stampede of years past, but the fair continues to demonstrate the market\u2019s appetite for emerging voices\u2014and its ability to adapt with resilience to what feel like continuous market shifts.<\/p>\n

Frieze New York<\/a> and NADA New York<\/a> run through Sunday, May 11, 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Frieze<\/p><\/div>\n