25 works under $25,000 from Frieze New York

 The members of the APAA (Association of Professional Art Advisors) have chosen their favourite works priced under $25,000, from Frieze New York galleries in this year’s edition of Frieze Viewing Room.

APAA would like to thank: Lisa Austin, Chris Barton, Karen Boyer, Victoria Burns, Jeremy Johnston, Megan Fox Kelly, Heather Marx, Christine Minas, Kevin Moore, Irene Papenestor, Liz Parks, Teka Selman, Laura Solomon, Laura Smith Sweeney, Lara Wardle. 

Yuji Agematsu (Miguel Abreu Gallery)

Notebook 3, 2003

Ink on paper, 6 drawings

10.5 x 7.6 cm

Price $5,000

Agematsu’s ability to create beauty and art out of discarded trash found on his daily walks is nothing short of magical.  He manages to elevate the humblest materials making balanced compositions that are both playful and elegant. The zips transport you to a world of wonder that require close inspection and insist you take your time. These free-form notebook drawings are a “psychic map” of  his explorations collecting material throughout the city.

Davide Balliano (Cardi Gallery)

Untitled 0203, 2021

Plaster, gesso & varnish on Belgian linen 

121.9 x 101.6 cm (48 x 40 in)

Price: $18,000 

Davide Balliano's luscious paintings defy simple categorisation. Layers of plaster, gesso and varnish build up to create an illusion of three dimensions that suggest never ending space. There is something animated about his work — the repetitive loops and optical play of black and white are dizzying and make for truly happy yet sophisticated paintings.  

 Davide Balliano (Tina Kim Gallery)

UNTITLED_0174, 2020 

Plaster, gesso & varnish on Belgian linen 

60 x 60 inches (152.4 x 152.4 cm)

Price: $24,000 



In his use of a carefully constructed visual language of minimalist forms and repeating patterns, Davide Balliano’s paintings are at once both  visually dynamic and unexpectedly vulnerable.  What at first glance appears to be a restricted precise rendering of bold black and white forms, on closer look reveals subtle surfaces on which the artist scrapes back the apparent perfection.  The combination of gently worked surfaces and weighty visual forms suspends Balliano’s works between painting and sculpture.  

Dawoud Bey (Sean Kelly Gallery)

A Girl with School Medals, 1988 

Archival pigment print  

Image: 76.2 x 101.6 cm (30 x 40 inches) 

Price: $15,000 

Early in his career, Dawoud Bey’s beautifully toned black and white street portraits were an exercise in not only creating a compelling image, but also capturing the subject’s interior life through their gaze. This girl was proud of her school medals for dance and track, and she passed him on the block where he lived. Wanting to memorialize her, he directed her to look deeply into the lens, capturing her confidence and the viewer’s eye by the diagonal stance that also divides the fence from the wall in the background. 

Dike Blair (Karma)

Untitled, 2021 

Gouache and pencil on paper 

25.4 x 19.1 cm / 29.5 x 23.2 cm (framed) 

Price: under $25,000

 

Often working in oil or gouache, Dike Blair can masterfully conjure a rich mise-en-scene through a painted image of the most ordinary things - a stack of plastic ashtrays, half-empty coffee cups, cracks in a concrete pool, footsteps in snow. He is, however, perhaps best known for his depictions of cocktails, some fancily garnished and some definitively not. Based on his own photographs, Blair's paintings are attentively observed yet never sentimental. People are often asked who they'd include on their dream dinner party guest list but since discovering Blair's work, I'd give up all the seats at my table for a spot on a bar stool next to him.  

Jessica Eaton (Bradley Ertaskiran ) 

MF14V02, 2021 

Silver gelatin print, selenium toned 

152.5 x 122cm

Edition of 3, 2 AP 

Price: $15,000 + mounting and framing 

I am really looking forward to seeing the newer work from this Canadian conceptual photographer.  The earlier work, riffing off of Joseph Albers and Sol Lewitt, was rigorous, interesting and beautiful, which resulted in a strong collector and institutional following.   

Léo Chesnau (galerie frank elbaz)

Untitled, 2021 

Diptych, Toner ink on paper laminated on wood 

204 x 126 cm

Price: $9,500 

This painting is part of a series that Chesneau created in Photoshop, using the transparency of CMYK – cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black) - on the standard colors in the software to explore all possible color combinations.  Chesneau decided on a basic composition for the work, with incline stripes of orange, yellow, pink and blue, and vertical stripes of CMY.  The transparency created a moiré, which is usually considered an error but was intentional in this case. Chesneau is interested in the relationship between humans and machines, and he is inspired by these types of errors in the printing process. 

Tim Gardner (303 Gallery)

Untitled, 2020 

India ink and watercolor

26.7 x 35.9 cm

Price: $18,000 

There is something particularly powerful about an artist that doesn’t give a damn about trends in art-making but rather goes deep into the areas of interest and experience that are meaningful to them. For Tim Gardner who shows with 303 Gallery, this takes the form of the complete understanding of the medium of watercolor. His knowledge of watercolor is not only as a painter, but as a scientist, a craftsman and a poet. In this exquisite work on paper, Gardner demonstrates his uncanny virtuosity through the depiction of a lone anonymous surfer taking on a rolling Pacific wave. 

Jeffrey Gibson (Roberts Projects)

Chief, 2020

Cotton rag paper, found beaded appliqué (glass beads, polyester, thread), silicone, urethane, found paper, acrylic inks, acrylic glazes, acrylic paint  

28.6 x 40.6 cm unframed / 40 x 51.4 x 5.1 cm framed 

Price: $15,000 

Jeffrey Gibson’s multimedia practice brings together the artistic and craft traditions of his Cherokee and Choctaw heritage with the visual languages of contemporary popular and queer culture. We were attracted to the intimate scale and delicacy of the work above as it joins Gibson's interest in Indigenous traditions like beading to reframe, empower and celebrate Indigenous identity. 

Hwang Gyutae (Arario Gallery)

Blow Up America, 1965-1975 

Photograph, Black and White 

64.5 x 90 cm 

Ed. of 10 

Price: $5,000 

Hwang Gyutae was born in Choongnam, Yesan in 1938. This photograph by Gyutae is part of a series of images "Blow Up America" that charts the artist's relocation to the United States in the 1960s. We were drawn to this photograph for its strong modern composition centered around this solitary boy on a bike. Gyutae also captures the larger societal preoccupation with consumerism as defined by the boy's longing stare into the store and surrounding text "Big Savings". 

Trenton Doyle Hancock (James Cohan)

Exchanging Variables, 2021 

Suite of 4 aquatint prints 

Image size: 30.5 x 30.5 cm 

Paper size: 40.65 x 40.65 cm 

Edition of 30 plus 10 artist's proofs (#2/30) 

Printed by Flatbed Press, Austin, Texas 

Price: $5,500 

Hancock’s work is a whimsical and cartoony ride over rough terrain. Like Philip Guston and R. Crumb, he entices us with the promise of fun and then hits us with the sad reality of everyday treachery and evil. There aren’t many contemporary artists working with graphic novels, and I love that he has joined the ranks of critically important truth-tellers such as Art Spiegelman. At least Hancock’s heroes give us some hope.

Peter Hujar (Maureen Paley)

Gay Liberation Front Poster Image, 1970 

Pigmented ink print

Image: 47 cm x 30.5 cm   

Paper: 50.8 x 40.6 cm  

Edition of 10

Price: $17,500.00 (exc VAT)

Hujar is one of the great underrated photographers, a contemporary of better-known Mapplethorpe and arguably just better--more sensual, more playful. This image was staged (you can see the self-conscious mirth in the faces) and is a key historical document for the gay movements to follow, such as ACT UP, made at a time when the mood was more hopeful. It's a later edition but a nice large size. 

Deborah Kass (Kavi Gupta)

After Louise Nevelson, 2020 

Neon 

74.3 x 68.6 x 5.1 cm 

Price: $25,000



There are a relatively small number of artists whose work has broken through from the confines of the art world into a broader visibility—Kass’ OY/YO is one of those works. I love the simplicity of the message—two ethnic words that remind us that immigrants are an integral part of the greater culture. Kass always gets right to the heart of the matter, as she does with this piece, voicing her complaint about the dismal state of women in America, particularly women artists, with text work that slams you with a simple message—we are all culpable. She has been at it for decades and the work has never been more of its time than now.  

Susan Te Kahurangi King (Andrew Edlin Gallery)

Untitled, c.1975-59

Graphite, colored pencil and crayon on found paper 

12.25 x 11.75 inches 

Price: $14,000 

This intricate work is an invitation into the endlessly fascinating world created by Susan Te Kahurangi King. Delicate jewel-like colours and shaded graphite describe what, on first glance, looks like a topographical view of a coastline; on closer inspection, the image transforms into a sprawling mass of cartoon-like limbs surrounding a large, hairless head with sharpened teeth. Although relatively small-scale with a subdued palette, this drawing packs a powerful punch and appears imbued with a strong narrative, made all the more intriguing as it was created by an artist who stopped speaking at the age of four.  

Ragnar Kjartansson (Luhring Augustine) 

Fire 1, 2020 

Print on paper, woodcut 

Woodcut plate: 121 x 81 cm

Woodcut paper: 140 x 97 cm

Edition of 14 plus 3 artist’s proofs 

Price: $4,000 

These new woodcuts - published in tandem with Borch editions in Copenhagen - are some of the first prints Kjartansson has ever made.  They offer collectors an affordable opportunity to acquire substantial work by this internationally-renowned Icelandic artist. They tackle a subject - fire - which has long been an interest of the artist’s, and as a well-known symbol of both destruction and rebirth, seems timely. 

Doron Langberg (Victoria Miro) 

Irises, 2021 

Oil on linen 

61 x 45.7 cm

Price: $10,000 (exc. tax) 

Doron Langberg is an Israeli-born, Brooklyn-based painter, whose luscious portraits, intimate scenes with partners and in this case still life, address issues of gender and sexuality from a Queer perspective. This painting of irises stood out to us because it showcases Langberg's signature intense palette and sumptuous paint textures to create this everyday moment. 

Ledger Drawings attributed to Wanbli Hito (Roan Eagle, b.1863) (Donald Ellis Gallery)

Roan Eagle Ledger Book (pg.85) 

Lakota Northern Plains ca. 1880 

Watercolour, graphite and coloured pencil on lined paper 

7 1/4 × 12 1/8 in

Price: $18,000 

The subjects of these Lakota drawings on ledger and notebook paper are sharply focused, glyph-like expressions, zooming in with clarity on a single moment of action, and recording it for history. Nothing in these drawings is superfluous, and detail is awarded as an honor—often bestowed more upon horses, headdresses and regalia than the human form. Almost every ledger drawing was originally part of a book, each page a freeze-frame in a sequential narrative. The exploits of battle are their most frequent subject matter, moments of courage and consequence in war. The drawings are key documents of a struggle for national sovereignty in the midst of invasion, occupation and trauma. Complex and often mournful images, they are echoes of a powerful visual tradition as it steeled itself against ongoing struggle, violence and tragedy. 

Mark Lombardi Hans Kopp. (Pierogi)

Trans K-B and Shakarchi Trading AG of Zurich, c.1981-9c.1999 

Graphite on paper28 x 33 cm / 11 x 13 inches 

Price: $24,000 

Two small preparatory drawings give a sense of Mark Lombardi's thought process as he developed his larger compositions of curved lines and annotations, results of a deep research project onto the networks of power and influence. Lombardi mapped these relationships, carefully documenting and cataloging his references through a system of index cards that found their best representation in his drawings, which he referred to as ‘narrative structures.’ Descended from flowcharts and sociograms, Lombardi’s unique data visualizations are meant to be seen as drawings in the most traditional sense, each a visual experience and an extension of drawing’s art historical arc. They present his research without judgment or manifesting specific conclusions, indexing relationships between nodes as the focus of meaning; their swirling movements predicting future complexity with uncanny accuracy and mesmerizing grace. 

Vanderlei Lopes (Galeria Marilia Razuk)

Enxurrada, 2014 

Polished bronze 

31 x 78 x 139 cm 

Price: under $25,000 



Vanderlei Lopes, like Midas, the mythical Greek character who transformed everything he touched into gold, turns an everyday disaster like a water leak into a surreal object of beauty. The liquification of the bronzing process is also self-referential to the making of the object, and the activation of floor and corner as a place to display a precious work of art literally highlights an oft-ignored part of a room. 

Veronika Pausova (Bradley Ertaskiran)

Untitled (Pastoral Lock), 2021 

Oil on canvas

190.5 x 165 cm

Price: $15,500 

I have been following the work of Veronika Pausova for several years now, having first seen it at Simone Subal in NYC. This Czech-born, Canada-based artist makes dreamy paintings of hyper-realist objects - fingers, noses, worms, flies, oranges and (here) locks set against flat or indeterminate backgrounds, the contrast of which bends the paintings into the surreal. 

Park Seo-Bo (Tina Kim Gallery)

Ecriture 40-81,  1981 / 2020 

Silk-screen print  

65 x 91 cm  

Edition 15/50, 5 APs

Price: $7,000 

An affordable recent print by the Korean minimalist (Dansaekhwa) in his classic style.  The print has both movement and texture within a monochrome and natural palette.   A really sophisticated and attractive piece. 

Wolfgang Tillmans (Maureen Paley)

In the morning, 2015 

Ink jet print in artist’s frame 

44 x 34 cm. 

edition of 10 + 1 AP 

Price: $10,000 (exc VAT)



Tillmans is a great photographer but it's hard to find good, isolated images because his works are often complex, multi-image installations. Paley has small "singles" regularly which succinctly and satisfyingly capture Tillmans' main sentiment: moments of ephemeral beauty. 

Johannes VanDerBeek (Marinaro)

Dark Spotted Wings, 2019 

Steel, plaster gauze, and flashe paint 

38 x 24 x 18 inches 

Price: $9,000 



I’ve been an admirer of Johannes VanDerBeek’s graceful steel and plaster gauze sculptures for some time. Here VanDerBeek has created a complex sculptural form that shows no discernible end or beginning. VanDerBeek achieves what few artists manage to do—to create a visual language in a unique combination of materials that opens a world of endless possibilities both to him and to viewers. An artist to watch! 

Esther Pearl Watson (Vielmetter Los Angeles)

November 22, Finally Able to Have a Family Picnic, 2020 

Acrylic on panel 

20.32 x 25.4 x 2.21 cm

Price: $5,500 

Esther Pearl Watson's paintings beautifully celebrate a spirit of hope, family and community. Her signature folkloric style captures simple, sincere moments yet evoke deep messages of recovery and optimism in what has been a difficult time during the pandemic. The artist is not afraid to get personal.

 Rachel Eulena Williams (Canada)

Textile Plate #5, 2021 

Silkscreen on card, dye and acrylic paint on panel, canvas, cotton rope and hammock 

127 x 162.56 cm

Price: $12,000 

Rachel Eulena Williams’s energetic assemblages move playfully between painting and sculpture, employing a range of materials that that shift into a new focus when combined in her work.  Her use of color is refreshing, calling to mind a rhythmic sensibility that feels uplifting; her compositions practically dance across the wall.  Yet for all of its seeming optimism, her work feels rooted in an understanding of what has come before, consciously pushing the boundaries of visual language in an exciting direction. Textile Plate #5 (2021) might be a portal to another world or a compass for this one, an intriguing prospect in either case. 

Find out more about the APAA here