Sam Gordon’s Top 10 Picks from Frieze Library
The co-founder of Gordon Robichaux Gallery chooses his favourite books in the library, from Nick Mauss’s essays to Jenni Crain on Kate Millet
The co-founder of Gordon Robichaux Gallery chooses his favourite books in the library, from Nick Mauss’s essays to Jenni Crain on Kate Millet
Frieze Library, Volume Seven is open at Frieze New York 2025 and on the Frieze Viewing Room. Conceived by New York gallery Gordon Robichaux and originating at Frieze New York 2019, the Frieze Library is both an archive of the fair and a snapshot of the art world at a particular given moment. It invites each exhibiting gallery to submit one art book to a display at Frieze New York. At the end of the fair, the books are gifted to the Thomas J. Watson Library, the main research library of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, forming part of its permanent collection.
Sam Gordon of Gordon Robichaux Gallery picks his top ten donations to this New York edition of the library:
Audrey Gair and Delali Ayiyor, She is this (King’s Leap Editions, 2022)
Submitted by King’s Leap, New York
This collaborative book by painter Audrey Gair and writer Delali Ayivor examines the encounter between viewer and artwork through a mix of essays and paintings. Developed from their long friendship, the project weaves reflections on postcoloniality, pandemic-induced disreality and late capitalism. Gair’s solo debut in Frieze Focus follows her eight-year collaboration with Alec Petty of King’s Leap – one of the most compelling young galleries downtown, alongside spaces like Theta, Francis Irv, Silke Linder and Margot Samel.
Nikita Kadan, Poetics of Witnessing. Poetics of Evidence (In Flanders Fields Museum/Galerie Transit, 2023)
Submitted by Voloshyn Gallery, Kyiv
Ukrainian artist Nikita Kadan’s ‘evidence sculptures’, made from rubble, feel distinctly of our time, and mark a stark response to the ongoing war(s). Published during his residency at the In Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium, this book also documents Kadan’s evolving dialogue with curator Hans Ulrich Obrist, including their 2023 conversation ahead of Art Basel Miami and his solo show at Voloshyn Gallery. Their exchange explores art as a witness to trauma, engaging themes such as the transformation of grief into action and the artist’s openness to the pain of the world.
Nick Mauss, Dispersed Events. Selected Writings (After 8 Books, 2024)
Submitted by 303 Gallery, New York
A wide-ranging collection of essays from artist and writer Nick Mauss, this instant classic spans fifteen years of looking at contemporary art through the lens of decorative arts, theatre, dance and film. With a foreword by Lynne Cooke and essays around figures such as the towering Lorraine O’Grady and the ever-expansive Susan Cianciolo, the book embraces fluid forms of criticism. Rejecting hierarchies and celebrating queered space, Mauss’s writing blurs the boundary between art history and lived experience. With additional support from Galerie Chantal Crousel and Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip Aarons.
Jennie C. Jones: A Free and Shifting Tonal Center (Radius Books, 2024). Grace Deveney, Evelyn C. Hankins and Jennie C. Jones
Submitted by Alexander Gray Associates, New York
Find Jennie C. Jones on the roof of The Met, then enjoy this first major monograph, a survey on her interdisciplinary practice linking sound and form, and features images from recent exhibitions, including of her 2022 show at the Guggenheim Museum. Through painting, sculpture and installation, Jones invites audiences to anticipate sound – even in silence – shifting how viewers perceive visual space. Rooted in modernism, minimalism and the Black avant-garde, Jones’s work reflects deep conceptual rigour and sensory awareness, illuminating overlooked cultural legacies and shaping how we engage with abstraction, space and sound.
Sherrie Levine: Hong Kong Dominoes (David Zwirner, 2021)
Submitted by David Zwirner, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Paris
Part of David Zwirner’s ‘Spotlight’ series, this book focuses on four key bodies of work by Sherrie Levine, whose seminal practice continually probes authorship, originality and appropriation. Featured works include Monochromes After Renoir Nudes (2016), based on averaged colour values from Renoir’s paintings, and Hong Kong Dominoes (2017), a minimalist yet playful interpretation of a real domino set. Bilingual English/Chinese editions and archival material make this a vital resource on Levine’s legacy.
Beatriz Milhazes: Avenida Paulista, ed. Adriano Pedrosa, Amanda Carneiro and Ivo Mesquita (Museu de Arte de São Paulo/Instituto Itaú Cultural/Delmonico Books, 2021)
Submitted by Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, São Paulo, Lisbon, Rio De Janeiro
A richly illustrated monograph, Avenida Paulista features more than 170 works by Beatriz Milhazes created since 1989, when she developed her signature ‘monotransfer’ technique. Her vibrant compositions blend abstraction and figuration, drawing from modernism, baroque aesthetics, folk art, pop culture, fashion, architecture and nature. References include Hilma af Klint, Sonia Delaunay, Bridget Riley, Henri Matisse, Tarsila do Amaral and Piet Mondrian. The book affirms Milhazes’s position in both Brazilian and global contemporary art.
Thomas Schütte, ed. Paulina Pobocha (The Museum of Modern Art, 2024)
Submitted by Frith Street Gallery, London
The sleeper hit of the season, this definitive MoMA survey traces Thomas Schütte’s practice from the 1980s to today across over four hundred images. Spanning monumental sculptures, architectural models, watercolours and ceramics, the book features essays by artists Charles Ray and Marlene Dumas, and scholars Jennifer Allen and André Rottman. As Jason Farago of the New York Times notes, it’s ‘a very clever catalog … wise and heartfelt’. A must-read for understanding Schütte’s distinct vision and impact.
Leon Polk Smith: Endless Space (Richard Gray Gallery, 2020)
Submitted by Gray, Chicago, New York
This volume centres on Leon Polk Smith’s ‘Correspondence’ and ‘Constellation’ series, exploring how his Cherokee heritage and – at the time illegal – gay identity shaped a unique abstract language. Featuring 51 full-colour illustrations, the book reveals how Smith’s work evokes the vastness of Oklahoma’s landscapes and encodes the chaos of desire through colour fields of polyvalent space and geometric form. Jonathan David Katz’s essay positions Smith as a foundational figure in both queer modernism and abstract Indigenous painting.
The Making of Modern Korean Art: The Letters of Kim Tschang-Yeul, Kim Whanki, Lee Ufan, and Park Seo-Bo, 1961–1982, edited by Yeon Shim Chung and Doryun Chong (Gregory R. Miller & Co, 2025)
Submitted by Gregory R. Miller & Co. and Tina Kim Gallery, New York, Seoul
A landmark anthology of newly translated facsimile letters between four pioneering Korean artists – Kim Tschang-Yeul, Kim Whanki, Lee Ufan and Park Seo-Bo – this book documents the emergence of Korean modernism. Covering the postwar decades from art informel to dansaekhwa, the volume reveals the personal and philosophical stakes of building a distinct Korean abstraction. Every collector should be as dedicated a publisher as Gregory R. Miller & Co.
Kate Millett: Terminal Piece, edited by Jenni Crain (Hessel Museum of Art, CCS Bard, Bard College, 2021)
Submitted by Gordon Robichaux, New York
Gordon Robichaux, New York
Jenni Crain (1991–2021) was a New York-based artist, writer and curator. Her contribution to the Frieze Library is a booklet created for her Bard graduate thesis, accompanying her 2021 restaging of Terminal Piece (1972), one of the first feminist installations in New York. Originally shown at the Women’s Interart Center, Kate Millett’s work addressed gender, power and institutional neglect. The issues Millett confronted still resonate today. Thanks to Sophie Keir, the Kate Millett Estate, CCS Bard, Artists Space, and the Center for Human Rights and the Arts for their support.
Read more Curated Picks from Frieze New York 2025, including Ulla Johnson, Margot Norton, Paul Baker Prindle, Paris Starn and Sight Unseen.
About Frieze Viewing Room
Open to all from 30 April – 16 May 2025, Frieze Viewing Room is the online catalogue for Frieze New York, giving global audiences access to gallery presentations at the fair. Visitors can search artworks by artist, price, date and medium, save favourite artworks and presentations, chat with galleries and much more.
Further Information
Frieze New York, The Shed, 7 – 11 May, 2025. Tickets are on sale – don’t miss out, buy yours now. Alternatively, become a member to enjoy premier access, exclusive guided tours and more.
Frieze New York is supported by global lead partner Deutsche Bank, continuing its legacy of celebrating artistic excellence on an international scale.
Main image: Audrey Gair, Pile of Books 6, 2024. Shellac ink and gesso on canvas, 1.1 x 2.2 m. Courtesy: the artist and King's Leap
