THE GROOVE - The Good, Bad and Ugly of Art Fairs

THE GROOVE

Welcome to the 201st issue of The Groove.

I am Maria Brito, an art advisor, curator, and author based in New York City.

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Another intense week of art fairs and dozens of art openings and events in New York came and went - not without raising questions about the future of The Armory Show, which just turned 30 years old and was acquired by Frieze last year. In all honesty, now that Frieze has taken over, the configuration of the fair feels expansive, and the curation of galleries is much better too.

I visited and highlighted my faves from three different fairs: Spring Break, Armory and Independent 20th Century. I also checked out several galleries in the very little time I had between going back to school with my kids, dinners, and taking care of my clients and their acquisitions.

Also last week, The Wall Street Journal published an article correctly stating that while art fairs continue to be places for discovery of new artists and galleries near and far, there are way too many of them and they are a very expensive undertaking for the participant galleries. (More on that soon.)

The article, however, incorrectly points out that for “entry-level collectors, acquiring something is out of reach.” It doesn’t mention Spring Break Art Show, which I have been attending for at least 10 years and where you can buy a small sculpture for as little as $100 or an insanely good, large work on paper for $5,000.

In fact, while not every artist at Spring Break becomes a sensation, the fair is known for filtering applications and choosing very strong, relatively unknown artists that have something to say along with the technical skills to back it up. For example, in the 2017 edition, which was in an office building in Times Square, there was a “booth” (more like a cubicle) of small paintings and gouaches by Julie Curtiss, an artist I love and respect. Back then, her paintings were a couple thousand bucks, and today, very similar ones sell for six figures at White Cube and at auction. And while I could highlight many other artists and mention similar fairs, as someone whose livelihood and expertise relies in buying and selling art and discovering new talents, I beg to disagree with The Journal that entry-level collectors have no options. That’s simply not true.

On the other hand, it's undeniable that art fairs have become prohibitively expensive for galleries. At The Armory Show, for example, a basic, empty booth can start at $25,000 for a small stand aimed at emerging galleries, and can exceed $100,000 for larger, more prominent spaces. And that’s just the beginning; these costs don't even account for additional expenses like travel, insurance, or the build-out required to divide the space with drywall to display more works.

But galleries keep doing more and more art fairs for many reasons: one is simply FOMO, another is the expectation that they will meet new collectors, and the last one is greed. If the galleries are doing well, another fair is an additional opportunity to get more inventory, email more PDFs and keep selling more to the people they already know. As simple as that.

But the bigger question to ask is if owning an art fair is good business. The answer almost across the board is a resounding “no”.

Let's rewind for a moment: In 2016, Frieze was acquired by the global entertainment and events company Endeavor, which paid $89.3 million for a 70% stake in the art fair, media, and events company. This deal also included the marketing firm Fusion. Fast forward to 2023, and Endeavor exercised its option to purchase the remaining 30% for $16.5 million. This figure was calculated based on Frieze's 2022 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), multiplied by 7.5, as outlined in the 2016 acquisition agreement and SEC filings.

To put it simply, Frieze, which operates four major fairs in New York, London, Seoul, and Los Angeles - and enjoys significant brand prestige - only made $2.2 million in 2022 before taxes and other expenses. Frankly, that seems like a dismally low number for any business of that caliber.

Last year, Endeavor (through Frieze) made headlines by purchasing The Armory Show from Vornado Realty Trust for $24.4 million; a sum that pales in comparison to Endeavor’s $9.3 billion acquisition of WWE in 2023.

Given the modest profits these art fairs generate, it’s hard to believe that these large conglomerates have a solid strategy for making them truly profitable. It almost feels like they’re more interested in the bragging rights of ownership than in maximizing the financial returns.

Now Endeavor owns two very different art fairs in New York, one with glam brand equity (Frieze) and another one that has a long and important foothold in the ecosystem of the city and which holds the keys to the Javits Center’s September contract (Armory). Does it make sense for Endeavor to get rid of The Armory Fair, erase the whole Frieze thing in May at The Shed, keep the Javits contract and make Frieze New York and Frieze Seoul happen in September at the same time? You be the judge.

It has been reported that billionaire entrepreneur and art collector Elaine Wynn (who co-founded The Mirage, The Bellagio and The Wynn Hotel with her ex-husband, Steve) is the engine behind the Las Vegas Museum of Art, a project where the city of Las Vegas has just agreed to give 1.5 acres of land in the city’s downtown cultural district to the museum for $1. The building will be a 90,000-square-foot structure expected to cost $150 million and is set to open in 2028. But here’s the other side of the equation: all the shows and everything that will be hanging on the walls will be loans from LACMA’s collection, the beloved and embattled LA museum whose board of trustees is also co-chaired by Elaine.

The LA press came out with knives last year when they learned of the proposal, arguing that a museum needs to assemble its own collection. (Which is false, we have the New Museum in New York that doesn’t collect anything but puts together fabulous shows and it’s no less respected or less of a museum because of that.) A museum's worth isn’t solely defined by ownership of art, but by the quality of the experiences it offers.

Critics were also up in arms over the idea that these “precious” objects would cross the California border to be viewed in another state. (So what? It’s a four-and-a-half-hour drive from LA to Vegas.) They threw out a litany of absurd arguments, from the supposedly low fees Las Vegas will pay LACMA for the loans (which are just enough to cover costs) to concerns that if LACMA sends good artworks to Vegas, Angelenos will be deprived of seeing them. Seriously? LACMA owns over 142,000 objects, everything from paintings and sculptures to textiles and, yes, fragile photographs and works on paper. Obviously, those more delicate pieces wouldn’t be shipped off to Las Vegas, so the outrage seems misplaced.

Let’s be honest: museums often have more items in storage than they can ever display at once. Putting them to use for the enjoyment and enrichment of other communities should be seen as a win for everyone involved. That said, I’m not convinced that visitors to Las Vegas will choose to admire Diego Rivera’s Día de Flores over rolling dice at the casino. But that’s a discussion for another time.

Teresa Baker is a Native American, Los Angeles-based artist and her first solo show in New York, “Mapping The Territory,” opened last week at Broadway Gallery.

Staying true to her heritage, Baker creates wall works that resemble shaped tapestries, though they are not. She uses astroturf as a base, adding materials like yarn and acrylic paint in vivid, intense colors.

The shapes are asymmetric, echoing the styles of great geometric abstract artists such as Sol LeWitt, Frank Stella, and Ellsworth Kelly, but Teresa adds her own crafty twist. While I can easily picture these works in a New Mexico home, they will look equally striking in a New York apartment.

The brain becomes more active after a surprise because emotions are involved. This is why creativity and astonishment become so effective when mixed together. It’s a phenomenon worth exploring, in the same way Frida Kahlo did in her paintings. 

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