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The first edition of Frieze New York kicks off onn a rather cloudy day, with rain on and off. The influence of the English edition is evident it the location and the interior looks. The weather, rather wet and gray, makes it look a lot like London.

The specific location, not very easy to reach, is strongly affected by climate. If it had been a beautiful sunny day - or at least with few clouds – that would have definitely put a lot more positive energy into the event.
This gloomy weather and the hard to reach location and public transport is not exactly the most efficient; hence the very first feeling is a slight disappointment.

Fortunately, the audience inside is thick and the atmosphere is cozy. The first impression is that everything works as expected at Frieze and that the sales are going well, according to some gallery owners.

The structure, some 250,000m2 of immaculate white tent, snake-like, is maybe not the best in terms of ease of movement because it forces people to walk on a single two-way path, producing congestion among the public.

Surely this event is a breath of fresh air and brings much needed change to a rather static art scene as seen in recent exhibitions in New York. The distinctive and dynamic ‘English way’ is compelling and may well help renewing of the entire city system.

Some works were highly successful like a series of works by Jenny Holzer in Cheim & Read’s stand. At Rosen’s there is almost a solo exhibition of Elliott Hundley, while at Gagosian’s Rudolf Stingel steals the scene. Lara Favaretto, who has recently opened her first solo exhibition at PS1 MOMA with positive criticism on major local newspapers, exhibits her works at Franco Noero’s.

The projects sessions created especially for the fair are almost entirely located outdoors and not very enjoyable in cold weather (and unfortunately it seems that it won’t be sunny until Sunday). Luckily, there are some very exciting talks.

Worth noting that Pulse and Nada fairs are running in parallel to Frieze.