I had a chance to drop by the Frieze New York 2014 fair on Thursday night.  Like last year, the fair selected a strong roster of galleries that brought fresh artists and high-quality works.  From my own personally biased view, here were some of my favorite “booths.”

Following last year’s “activated performance” of Tino Sehgal, Marian Goodman Gallery showed a poetic installation of Danh Vo’s gold-leafed cardboards—a beautiful mix of the mundane and the precious.

Gavin Brown’s Enterprise exhibited a work by Rirkrit Tiravanija, an 11-component work entitled untitled 2014 (freedom cannot be simulated).  Tiravanija has created delicate all-over work using white chalk over black oil on canvas, installed in such a claustrophobic way that it’s almost impossible to view the works.  Contrasting with Tiravanija’s work, Rob Pruitt’s glittery panda panels graced the outside walls of Gavin Brown’s booth.

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London’s Frith Street Gallery exhibited, among others, a quietly powerful painting by Calum Innes and a whimsical rorschach sculptural composition by Cornelia Parker of musical instruments crushed almost paper-thin.

greengrassi, also of London, won a special citation for its booth of modern Japanese art from masters that included Yamashita Kikuji, Nakamura Hiroshi, Katsuragawa Hiroshi and Tateishi Tiger.

Perhaps the two most memorable artists in the art fair, for me, was Rivane Neuenschwander’s Monstra Marina (Galeria Fortes Vilaca)—a piece that can be activated to create hydraulically pressed coins made of micronized salt.  The sculptural coin-like medallions hark on a history when salt was used as currency, and questions the perceived trust placed in the concept of currency.  I also learned about Dan Wolgers, a Swedish artist who makes quietly intimate assemblages.  Galleri Magnus Karlsson showed Wolgers' The Annunciation, The Conception and The Birth.

Thank you so much to Independent Collectors for their assistance with VIP pass procurement!
Frieze Art Fair is on through May 12, 2014.

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