{"id":233338,"date":"2026-05-16T00:11:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T00:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/233338\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T00:11:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T00:11:40","slug":"people-watching-at-frieze-new-york-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/233338\/","title":{"rendered":"People-Watching at Frieze New York 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sensory overload was the informal theme of Frieze New York 2026<\/a>, which was already bustling by the time it opened on Wednesday. The global arts fair is in its 15th year and more lively than ever: 68 galleries from 26 countries have set up shop across multiple floors of the Shed. For the art-world elite \u2014 museum curators<\/a>, gallery<\/a> owners, appraisers \u2014 the four-day event is only one stop on a global art sprint that encompasses the Whitney and Venice Biennials, the overlapping European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF<\/a>) at Park Avenue Armory, and the Independent Art Fair at Pier 36. Frieze is their opportunity to network, catch up with old friends, and perhaps peacock a little: Almost all of the attendees I saw were exceptionally well dressed, either in structured neutrals or billowy colors, looking like artwork themselves.<\/p>\n

On the Shed\u2019s second floor, I caught art advisers Paulina Kolczynska and Jim Kelly \u2014 the former a Polish woman in New York, the latter American and based in L.A. and Dallas. \u201cWe\u2019ve known each other for 30 years,\u201d Kelly told me. \u201cActually, 31,\u201d Kolczynska interjected. She remembered their first meeting: July 1995 at Site Santa Fe, a New Mexico\u2013based arts nonprofit that launched what may be the first contemporary biennial in the United States. (Kelly, one of the founding members, claims credit for the idea.) Around the corner, Rita de Alencar Pinto of the nail-art exhibition studio Vanity Projects and Maile Gamez of the Miami Beach EDITION Hotel were at Rio de Janeiro\u2019s A Gentil Carioca booth attempting to flag their friend Marcio Botner down for a photo. Sly and charismatic, the gallery owner kept disappearing to chat with visitors eager for his attention.<\/p>\n

Latin American galleries have an especially strong showing at this year\u2019s Frieze: At Mitre, another Brazilian exhibitor, I found Larry Ossei-Mensah, who proved to be the most popular person of the day. The founder of the BIPOC arts-advocacy collective Artnoir, he gently inquired about my experience at the fair \u2014 whether I felt comfortable as a first-timer and free to ask questions. This year, Frieze felt more open and diverse, with more representation from the Global South, he said. Shortly after, Ronald Sosinski and Ellen Marie Donahue, luminaries of the downtown contemporary art scene, chimed in and said, \u201cWe live one block from Larry.\u201d A magazine freelancer tapped me: \u201cLarry is a very important person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chatting it up on the fourth floor of the Shed was Ludlow Bailey of Contemporary African Diasporic Art (CADA) and Ernestine White-Mifetu, African art curator at the Brooklyn Art Museum. They had met minutes prior, though they appeared to be lifelong friends. \u201cI\u2019ve been networking all day,\u201d Bailey said, flashing a gap-toothed grin. He was clearly elated about it. They were eager to see work from Stevenson and Southern Guild: \u201cIt is exciting to see creativity from the African continent equally on the global plane with talent from the rest of the world,\u201d White-Mifetu said. They discussed several recent shows, including Julie Mehretu at New York\u2019s Marian Goodman Gallery, Wifredo Lam at MoMA, and the \u201cNigerian Modernism\u201d exhibit at the Tate Modern in London: \u201cThat is really changing the narrative about Africa. It\u2019s often said that Picasso, for example, was very influenced by African sculpture,\u201d Bailey told me.<\/p>\n

Maya Lin, the legendary American architect best known for designing the Vietnam Veterans memorial, had been at Frieze, but I missed her; I also spotted who I thought might be the actress Gina Gershon, though I couldn\u2019t tell. That was fine; I\u2019d already had my fair share of memorable encounters. The best advice came from Keely Orgeman, the modern and contemporary art curator at the Yale University Art Gallery. I\u2019d seen her earlier in the day, after she\u2019d spent time admiring Sarah Sze\u2019s trippy mixed-media painting Badlands at the Gagosian booth: \u201cThere are so many works like this that are so intricately constructed \u2014 that\u2019s what I love about being here, just looking closely.\u201d She advised newcomers like me to take breaks: \u201cGet a little water, sit down on a bench, collect yourself, and then come back in so that you\u2019re refreshed to look at art.\u201d<\/p>\n

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