{"id":86920,"date":"2025-05-09T08:47:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T08:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/86920\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T08:47:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T08:47:20","slug":"frieze-new-york-is-back-to-its-old-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/86920\/","title":{"rendered":"Frieze New York Is Back to Its Old Ways"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOh, I looove her!\u201d I hear a woman in a striped suit gush <\/strong>about Belgian artist Ann Veronica Janssens, whose large glass piece \u201cPinky Sunset R\u201d (2021) is currently on view at Esther Schipper Gallery\u2019s booth at Frieze New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cUgh,\u201d she grunts with elation. \u201cThis!\u201d she points back at the piece as she walks past it, \u201cthis is the stuff!\u201d<\/p>\n

But the woman and her interlocutor zoom off, not stopping to get a better look at the $90,000 glass artwork, let alone purchase it.<\/p>\n

A moment later, two men in identical white dress shirts pause in front of the piece. \u201cSo lovely,\u201d one of them comments. \u201cI think this color is called \u2018sunset pink,’\u201d the other speculates. \u201cThat\u2019s true!\u201d the former confirms as he reads the wall label.<\/p>\n

They give the piece another quick glance and walk away without making any inquiries.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ann Veronica Janssens, \u201cPinky Sunset R\u201d (2021), dichroic laminated glass consisting of ribbed glass, float glass, and gelatin filter, 230 x 115 x 1,4 cm (90 1\/2 x 45 1\/4 x 1\/2 in), edition of 1 <\/p>\n

Leaning against a wall in the cold fluorescent light of The Shed in Manhattan\u2019s ultra-posh Hudson Yards, the ribbed glass artwork indeed <\/strong>shimmered with the pink, red, yellow, and orange hues of a pacifying sunset. It\u2019s got its own energy field, refracting light in unexpected ways by some mysterious natural algorithm that comes from melding and layering different types of glass. But core to its appeal at this commercial art extravaganza is its sheer harmlessness. The work is not charged with any political or social messages. It\u2019s not fighting for or against anyone. It\u2019s free of identity politics. It\u2019s as inoffensive as a summer breeze, and <\/strong>the best part: It is what you want it to be.<\/p>\n

Janssens\u2019s glass slab is a fitting metaphor for this year\u2019s Frieze New York, which was recently acquired by Hollywood billionaire Ari Emanuel<\/a>\u00a0as part of\u00a0a $200 million\u00a0deal. This year, the upscale trade fair is true to itself, finally abandoning the facade of being socially forward while selling art as a luxury item in the tens of millions. Ethnic cleansing, starvation of populations, disemboweled children, raging inflation, persecuted migrants, vilified press, and depleted reproductive and LGBTQ rights \u2014 you\u2019ll find no mention of that here. Goodbye, wokeness. So long, DEI.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"View of Frieze New York from The Shed\u2019s top-floor cafe <\/p>\n

I see the hazy reflection of two moving figures in Janssens\u2019s radiant glass. It\u2019s a young, trendy woman and her companion, both in jeans. \u201cMy mom would totally love this one,\u201d says the woman. She snaps a quick photo of the artwork, another of the label, and walks away. Like the others, she\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0buy it.<\/p>\n

Could this be anecdotal evidence of an art market in crisis? From experience, dealers will usually tell the press that sales are swell, no matter the real figures. But this year is different. Many remain tight-lipped when I ask them about the impact of President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs and other erratic economic policies on their businesses. Lower-ranking gallery attendants tell me they were directed not to speak to journalists, instead referring me to hired PR agents.<\/p>\n

\"\"The 2025 Frieze New York is as safe as a summer breeze. \"\"Goodbye, wokeness. So long, DEI.<\/p>\n

One Berlin gallerist, who preferred to remain anonymous, finally discloses: \u201cThere\u2019s been a bit of a slowdown, but we\u2019re still optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ned Wood, an art collector based in Upstate New York, responds with a rhetorical question while examining a sculpture: \u201cDoes art really follow the economy to the extent that people might buy less?\u201d He adds, \u201cI don\u2019t know anything about it. I buy what I like.\u201d He then confesses that he hasn\u2019t bought anything yet.<\/p>\n

A few steps later, I hear someone say, \u201cYou have to see the Jeff Koons!\u201d <\/p>\n

Just when you think Koons has hit rock bottom with his trashy, cash-grabbing pop art, he reminds you he can sink even lower. At Gagosian\u2019s booth, he installed three quasi-inflatable bronzes of The Incredible Hulk, a Marvel character, fused with a functioning organ and brass tubas. \u201cJeff invited musicians to play on the instruments this morning,\u201d an excited gallery attendant tells me. These hideous sculptures are part of Koons\u2019s Hulk Elvis\u00a0series, dating back to 2004. Though no person above the age of 10 should find any merit in them, \u201cHulk (Tubas)\u201d (2004\u201318) sold for $3 million.<\/p>\n

\"\"One of Jeff Koons\u2019s Hulk sculptures reportedly sold for $3 million. <\/p>\n

Just like the Hulk, the blue-chip art market inflates with anger and slams its fist on the floor if you keep pestering it with the nuisance of the outside world. The multimillion-dollar Koons sale is like a fuck-you message to the world: If we could come out of the 2008 financial meltdown relatively unscathed, then we can also handle a president\u2019s mercurial policies.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not superstars like Koons who have to worry about an impending recession. It\u2019s much smaller players like New York-based fiber artist Orly Cogan<\/a>, who says she feels \u201cless inspired to make art\u201d under today\u2019s political and economic conditions. There\u2019s plenty of fabric art at the fair this year, but Cogan is not among the exhibiting artists. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe economic crisis will mainly affect mid-size artists,\u201d art collector and producer Valentine Uhovski<\/a> tells me. \u201cBlue-chip collectors are going to focus on familiar, safe artists.\u201d His companion, fellow collector Olga Rei<\/a>, delivers a somber warning while basking in the glow of Janssens\u2019s glass piece: \u201cI think people are going to feel the economic crisis a lot more at the end of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what she thinks of the artwork, she replies in a downcast voice, \u201cIt\u2019s magical because it reflects your mood.\u201d <\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"The changing colors of Ann Veronica Janssens\u2019s \u201cPinky Sunset R\u201d (2021) \"\"Dealers and visitors at Frieze New York \"\"Is the art market in decline? Depends on who you ask.
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