Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Credit Frieze

October 17, 2008 by Marion Maneker

Charlotte Appleyard writes (do we detect a whiff of pleasure?) in the Huffington Post about the mood at Frieze.

One London based gallerist anxiously told me “things are fine” before flipping out over the fact that her biggest clients had not received the VIP early entry passes. A consultant who works with the larger corporate sponsors sounded concerned. She’s seen a big fall off in clients and the cancellation of several projects; [ . . . ]

With every city starting its own biennale or fair the feeling is that new work has become a bespoke offering – tailored for the next spectacle. It’s the result of the complacency born of the fat years when artists came to believe the market was bigger than the imagination. In London galleries became the new Starbucks, a new branch opening every five minutes. Works by young artists flew off walls for huge sums of money. Customers were not just buying art, they were buying onto the scene.

By 4pm the Frieze fair was starting to feel busy, gallerinas (the terrifyingly beautiful girls that sit at the front desks) stalked the aisles in varying degrees of Prada as the press poured in. Vast crates of champagne are wheeled through the fair — each gallery booth presented with a shiny silver bucket and their own bottle. The corks popped. In celebration? Or did the London artocracy just need a stiff drink to steel themselves for the climb down the cliff face called Depression?

Frieze Art Fair: The Agony and the Ecstasy (The Huffington Post)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Emerging Dealers See Swift Sales at an Online-Only Edition of Hauser & Wirth’s June Art FairEmerging Dealers See Swift Sales at an Online-Only Edition of Hauser & Wirth’s June Art Fair
  • Swiss Satellite ActionSwiss Satellite Action
  • Scenes from the Jo'burg Art FairScenes from the Jo'burg Art Fair
  • The Banksy BacklashThe Banksy Backlash
  • Jo'burg Art Fair in One StopJo'burg Art Fair in One Stop
  • Vernissage TV Interviews Heide HatryVernissage TV Interviews Heide Hatry

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Art Fairs

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Restituted Van Gogh Portrait from London Collection to Sell at Christie’s
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • Christie’s to Sell Its First Fully Digital Work of Art in Test of Emerging Market
  • Basquiat's Last Girlfriend
  • Podcast
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor