THIS WEEK'S HOT TOPIC
Spring has sprung, but for the art world, there’s no time to stop and smell the flowers. Fresh from the Venice Biennale, much of the industry is now Big Apple-bound, alighting on New York for its annual spring art week, where a menagerie of fairs, exhibitions, sales, and other events as diverse as the city itself waits. New York never sleeps, and for the next five or so days, neither will you.
At the center of this circus is Frieze New York, which will launch its 14th edition at The Shed on Wednesday. It’s here, among the 60-some participating galleries, that you’ll find blue chips like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace Gallery, and David Zwirner. For a wider array of dealers and artistic voices, head to one of the many other concurrent fairs taking place across the city. These include, among others, Independent, a favorite among insiders and critics; NADA, the biggest of this year’s offerings with 120-some exhibitors; TEFAF, a tony, uptown affair with passed apps; and Future Fair, a relatively new event that espouses inclusivity.
New York’s most influential art venues often save their biggest and best shows for this stretch of the calendar when all eyes are on the city. Among the highlights on view this year are once-in-a-generation Duchamp and Raphael exhibitions at MoMA and the Met, respectively; a critically acclaimed Paul Klee retrospective at the Jewish Museum; and a museum-quality Gerhard Richter presentation at David Zwirner.
Then, of course, there are the marquee spring auctions, which kick off Thursday and run through the following week. Seven-, eight-, and even nine-figure works highlight these sales, but these offerings aren’t hidden only for those who have the wallets to bid. Selections from the sales are on view now, for everyone, for free, at Christie’s, Phillips, and Sotheby’s.
And these are just some of the hundreds of events set to take place across New York in the coming days. If there are any doubts that the city still holds the art-capital-of-the-world crown, New York art week shuts them down every year with a resounding fuhgeddaboudit.
3…THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT NEW YORK ART WEEK
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You can comfortably see multiple fairs in a single day. Frieze New York is far more compact than its London or Los Angeles counterparts, and especially manageable compared to sprawling fairs like Art Basel Miami Beach and the Armory Show. A full walk-through of Frieze at The Shed can easily leave enough time to visit TEFAF New York uptown or swing through NADA New York downtown. Because so many fairs open simultaneously, it’s smart to cover as much ground as possible during the first few days, then circle back to the booths and works that stayed with you. New York also makes it easy to organize your days by neighborhood: pair Independent with Lower East Side galleries, or combine TEFAF with an afternoon wandering the Upper East Side.
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Use the week to build relationships, not just see booths. If there’s a gallery or artist you’ve been following from afar, this is the ideal moment to introduce yourself. The packed social calendar—openings, dinners, parties—can be exciting, but quieter conversations often matter more. Sitting down for coffee with a dealer and talking seriously about their program will usually leave a stronger impression than a quick exchange at a crowded preview. The art world runs on relationships, and busy weeks like this create rare opportunities to strengthen them.
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If the fairs begin to feel overwhelming, go to a museum. After enough hours of booth-hopping, even the most enthusiastic collector can start to feel saturated. Luckily, New York’s museums tend to mount major exhibitions during the same week. The Whitney Biennial offers a slower, more reflective counterpoint to the transactional pace of the fairs, while shows like Greater New York at MoMA PS1 provide a broader look at emerging practices. Sometimes the best reset is stepping away from the market altogether and looking at art without thinking about price lists.
A NUMBER TO KNOW
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The proportion of galleries at this year’s Frieze New York with a physical location in the Empire City. Of the 68 exhibitors, 33 have at least one address in the five boroughs.
A 50-50 split is what many, if not most, international art fair organizers use as a guidepost when deciding how many galleries to accept from inside vs. outside the region where the event will actually take place. The goal is to ensure that each fair has both a distinctive, authentic cultural character and a robust array of global perspectives.
Still, even for fairs that award at least half their booths to home-city or home-region galleries, the overall scale of the event goes a long way toward determining how geographically diverse the offerings actually are. Frieze New York 2026, for instance, has almost 100 fewer exhibitors (68) than Frieze London had last October (around 160). So even if the two events invited the exact same proportion of local or regional galleries, Frieze London would have had around 50 more booths to distribute to dealers outside its borders than Frieze New York.
In the end, almost every fair organizer is doing some version of this geographical balancing act. It’s just a matter of how many galleries they have to hold in equilibrium.
—Tim Schneider / The Gray Market
ASK: ACCESS SOPHISTICATED KNOWLEDGE
Anonymous ASKed: What role do art advisors play, and how do you know whose interests they're actually serving?
Josh Baer for NoReserve: Speaking as an art advisor with over 30 years of experience, this question should always have the same easy answer. As a fiduciary, the advisor has the worst seat in the house. They must always do what's in the best interest of their client—ahead of themselves or whoever is on the other side of a deal. This demands transparency. Advisors usually do the paperwork in the name of the client (with some exceptions). It’s a big no-no when advisors sell a client work that either they own (without disclosure) or that another client owns (without disclosure). I’ve also seen advisors conceal or misreport their fees when paid by the other side. Prepare to be fired and/or sued if you are caught.
Always a good question to ask an advisor with multiple clients: "How do you decide which client to offer which work?"
Have your own question for the NoReserve team? Reply to this email or reach out to us on Instagram, @no.reserve. Readers whose submissions we choose get a special prize—six free months of our paid newsletter, The Baer Faxt.
2 MINUTES WITH…
One of the art world’s favorite things to do at fairs is complain about the flaws of fairs. The truth behind this irony is not lost on Elizabeth Dee, founder and Creative Director of Independent, who has long been among the leading voices in the industry pushing for change. With Independent and the many other fairs of New York art week upon us, we found ourselves thinking about this video interview from 2022, when Dee outlined her strategies for avoiding the many pitfalls that come with what she calls the “bureaucracy of trade show culture.”
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If you’ve been thinking about upgrading, today’s a perfect time to do so: Now through May 13, we’re offering 15% off a full-year subscription to The Baer Faxt. As a paid subscriber, you’ll receive copies of our recent series straight from La Biennale de Venezia, Baer Witness: Venice Dispatch, plus our upcoming artist-focused issue of This Month in the Market and daily auction reports during New York's marquee sales (May 14–20) with buyer and bidder data direct from the salesroom floor.
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