Frieze Art Fair 2011: a great success for the galleries

Associated media

At the close of the ninth edition of Frieze Art Fair, sponsored by Deutsche Bank for the eighth-consecutive year, galleries reported strong sales and market confidence.

Fair directors, Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, were delighted with reports of significant sales both in the main section of the fair and in Frame. There were 173 galleries exhibiting over 1,000 artists at Frieze Art Fair 2011. Thirty-three countries were represented – making this year’s fair the most international selection of galleries to have shown in London. Over 40 museum groups, representing the world’s major institutions, visited Frieze Art Fair 2011. Collectors from Europe and the USA were joined by a strong showing of Asian, Latin-American, Middle-Eastern and Russian collectors.

Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover commented: ‘The quality of the galleries’ presentations – with elegant installations and significant works – translated into substantial sales, to both public and private collections, calming nerves that might have been felt before the fair’s opening. With collectors attending from Europe and the US but also, increasingly, from the rest of the world, it is thrilling to see how the ninth edition of Frieze Art Fair is a truly global event.’

Over 60,000 visitors were welcomed to the fair during the five-day professional and public event.

Strong sales were reported at every level. Significant sales included a new work by Gerhard Richter, Strip (CR921-1), for £1.5 million, at Marian Goodman; a Neo Rauch painting for $1.35 million at David Zwirner; and a Takahashi Murakami carbon-fibre sculpture for $900,000 at Emmanuel Perrotin. Hauser and Wirth sold all editions of their Thomas Houseago sculpture park inclusion, Hermaphrodite for $425,000 each, and Thomas Dane Gallery placed Glenn Ligon’s neon Warm Broad Glow (2011) with an overseas foundation for $200,000.

Read our review in October’s Cassone.