Frieze New York 2016: This Year, the Artists Are Making Mischief
A giant crying baby float. A futuristic car made for lovin’. A pickpocket who will stalk fairgoers. At New York’s premiere art fair this year, the artists are acting up.
A playground for the senses, the Frieze New York art fair returns to its serpentine tent on Randall’s Island (May 5 through May 8), offering not only eye-popping works from more than 200 galleries but also immersive chance encounters that cast the visitor in the role of unwitting participant. For this year’s Frieze Projects, curator Cecilia Alemani has invited six artists to interrupt the fair’s rhythms with experiences both droll and clandestine. Hidden amid the booths will be the provocateur Maurizio Cattelan’s tribute to the influential Daniel Newburg gallery, where Cattelan made his U.S. debut, in what turned out to be the New York gallery’s final show, in 1994. Elsewhere, the artist David Horvitz has arranged for a professional pickpocket to stealthily drop miniature sculptures into visitors’ bags (free art!) and Anthea Hamilton will reimagine the Italian architect Mario Bellini’s sexy, futuristic concept car, Kar-A-Sutra. Not all works are confined to the indoors: Up in the air, you’ll find Free Money, Alex Da Corte’s giant, inflatable crying baby. This replica of artist Philippe Parreno’s own replica of the parade float made for the 1992 Tim Burton film Batman Returns explores the notion that artifice is everywhere—what you see isn’t what you get. “It will be floating over Gotham City,” says Da Corte, whose first museum solo show, at Mass MoCA, runs through February 2017, “turning Frieze into a movie set and visitors into actors.”
Photos: Frieze New York 2016: This Year, the Artists Are Making Mischief
Heather Phillipson’s Sub-Fusc Love-Feast, 2012.
Courtesy of the artist and Ruth Clark.
Heather Phillipson’s Sub-Fusc Love-Feast, 2012. Courtesy of the artist and Ruth Clark.
Courtesy of the artist and Ruth Clark.
Heather Phillipson’s Sub-Fusc Love-Feast, 2012. Courtesy of the artist and Ruth Clark.
Courtesy of the artist and Ruth Clark.
Heather Phillipson’s Sub-Fusc Love-Feast, 2012. Courtesy of the artist and Ruth Clark.
Courtesy of the artist and Ruth Clark.
Alex Da Corte’s Die Hexe, 2015, at Luxembourg & Dayan.
John Bernardo/courtesy of the artist and Luxembourg & Dayan, New York
Installation view of Alex Da Corte, Die Hexe, 2015.
Photo by John Bernardo, Courtesy of Luxembourg & Dayan, New York.
Installation view, “David Horvitz: GNOMONS,” New Museum, 2014.
Courtesy of New Museum, New York. Photograph by Benoit Pailley.
Anthea Hamilton, Brick Suit, 2010, installation view, Anthea Hamilton: Lichen! Libido! Chastity!, SculptureCenter, 2015.
Courtesy the artist. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Installation view, Anthea Hamilton: Lichen! Libido! Chastity!, SculptureCenter, 2015.
Courtesy the artist. Photograph by Kyle Knodell.
Horses Don’t Lie, 2013. Courtesy of Fundação Bienal Mercosul Visual Art / NDP. Photo: Indicefoto.
Poema Volcanico, 2013.
Courtesy of FUNDACION BIENAL BIENAL DEL CUENCA/NDP. Photograph by PAUL NAVARRETE.
