In 2014 art critic Christian Viveros-Fauné and his Artnet News colleague Blake Gopnik made a five-minute, tongue-in-cheek video in which they pretend to be billionaire collectors on the prowl at the New York edition of the Frieze art fair.
The fair drew 38,000 people in 2016, Karman says; this edition has 135 galleries from 25 countries. That’s down ten from last year, but Karman explains that the number is also strategic, and the important thing is quality. “We still had a long waiting list, and we’re limited by size anyway,” he points out. “It’s only 170,000 square feet. There could be 80 galleries or there could be 160, but this is probably the sweet spot.”
I asked him that last week. “Buyers aren’t going to galleries the way they used to,” he says, “they’re going to the fairs instead.” That’s unfortunate, he adds, “but the art fairs provide some really important glue and, more significantly, the grease that gets the wheel moving.” Or, you know, the sausage made.
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