The Frieze Fair Just Happened, Marking NYC's Reawakening

May 2021 saw the return of the iconic Frieze Fair in New York, at last reawakening the city from its cultural slumber. This year, the five-day fair morphed into a hybrid event, offering virtual viewing rooms with over 160 galleries worldwide and a physical fair taking place over three floors at the Shed in Manhattan—with over 60 galleries in attendance.

But What Is Frieze?

Frieze— founded in 1991 by Amanda Sharp, Matthew Slotover and Tom Gidley—originally began as a contemporary art and culture magazine. As the appetite for the arts grew, the first Frieze art fair launched in London in 2003. The fair then expanded to the States, with Frieze New York launching in 2012 and Frieze LA in 2019.

The now annual fair is a melting pot of artistic talent and exhibitors, both local and global. Not only is the fair about the exhibiting and purchasing of artworks, but it offers an engaging programme of discussions, screenings, and events both on and offline. Frieze displays works from major international galleries but also includes a ‘Frame’ section dedicated to “ galleries that have been active for ten years or less” and solo artist presentations.

This year’s theme was aptly centred around social justice, with many of the participating galleries paying tribute to the Vision & Justice Project—established by Harvard professor Sarah E. Lewis. The thought-provoking initiative examines “art’s central role in understanding the relationship between race and citizenship in the United States.”

Ahead of the fair, galleries and artists were posed with the question: ‘How are the arts responsible for disrupting, complicating, or shifting narratives of visual representation in the public realm?’

The Art

Two standout commissions relating to the theme were created by Hank Willis Thomas and Carrie Mae Weems. Thomas, a co-founder of the artist-activist platform, For Freedoms, chose to recreate his iconic billboard ‘Who Taught You To Love?’ (2020) whilst Weems presented “monumental images of unique book covers for the artists who were originally a part of the Vision & Justice Project.”

As part of the tribute to the Vision & Justice Project, Professor Sarah E. Lewis also presented an online discussion on Black cultural leadership featuring a panel of artists, filmmakers, musicians, and professors.

Another key highlight from this year’s Frieze was the commissioned work of New York-based artist Precious Okoyomon, the winner of the 2021 Frieze Artist Award.

Okoyomon presented a performance-activated installation that focussed on the failures of communication and saw the convening of “poetry, sensory elements, sculpture, light, and sound”.

2020 Frieze New York was cancelled due to the pandemic, so the return of the fair came as a welcome relief to the city’s culture lovers. The sold-out event also saw some of New York’s most stylish step out, bringing with them their own artistic flair.