Sight Unseen’s Top Picks from Frieze New York
The NYC design gurus choose works by Ha Chong-Hyun, Hannah Levy and Kishio Suga, among others, from Frieze Viewing Room
The NYC design gurus choose works by Ha Chong-Hyun, Hannah Levy and Kishio Suga, among others, from Frieze Viewing Room
Hannah Levy, Untitled, 2025
Stainless steel, glass, 113 × 101.6 × 91.4 cm. Presented by Casey Kaplan. $65k
Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer This was our first introduction to the work of Hannah Levy, and we’re a little obsessed. Her work sits at the centre of a venn diagram that includes Louise Bourgeois, Eileen Gray, Tim Burton and Roald Dahl. Doesn’t this look like a contraption from which Miss Trunchbull might slingshot a child? Either that, or like a menstrual cup that’s been strung up to dry. The form is beautiful but oddly menacing; the fact that the gallery text likens it to a bassinet makes the whole thing even more unsettling. We read that Levy thought about studying industrial design before pivoting to art, which makes sense in terms of the materiality here but also explains why – as design editors – we might be so attracted to it.
Ha Chong-Hyun, Conjunction 24-45, 2024
Oil on hemp cloth, 117 × 91 cm. Presented by Kukje Gallery. $230k
Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer We actually had a few selections in our initial favourites list that would fall under this genre of colourful, minimal abstraction, and it was hard to narrow down to one because, as design journalists, we love super-functional furniture whose formal language is expressed through small experiments with materials, or moments where materials really get to shine. These types of paintings embody that idea, in art form. It’s so simple that you’re left focusing on the intensity of the colour, the properties of the paint, and the precision of the brushstrokes, and the end result is something that’s pleasing to look at. We don’t know much about this artist but we’d both live with this.
Kishio Suga, Enclosed Intervals, 1990
Wood, galvanized iron plate, 70.8 × 55.7 × 4 cm. Presented by Tomio Koyama Gallery. $50k – $100k
Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer As a corollary to the answer above, we’d love a piece by a pioneer of the Mono-ha movement. Kishio Suga made this piece later, in 1990, but it still uses materials (in this case galvanized iron) in a really intentional way, and we like how it starts, at the edges, to mimic a painting, but then drops into this void in the center, so it’s like a painting/sculpture hybrid. Galvanized metal is also interesting because it’s highly industrial, and references trash cans above all else, but then presented this way you can really see the beauty in its texture.
Francisco Brennand, A Mulher do faraó, 1998
Vitrified ceramics, 94 × 45.5 × 14.25 cm. Presented by Andrew Edlin Gallery. $60k
Jill Singer Is this piece supposed to be funny? I hope so because it made me laugh out loud. I love lumpy ceramics with faces, as well as sculptures of body parts, and with this one you get two faces and some butts thrown in for good measure. There’s some sort of liquid dripping from the top, which makes the frowny face look like he stabbed the other guy and is standing victorious on his head, though that facial expression is anything but triumphant. Adding to the bizarreness of it all is that the piece’s name, translated from Portuguese, is ‘the pharaoh’s wife’. I really have no idea what’s going on here and I need to know more!
Wanda Pimentel, Untitled, from ‘The Path to the Superhuman Tie’ series, 1967
China ink on paper, 60 × 47.5 cm. Presented by Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel. Price on application
Monica Khemsurov I had never heard of Wanda Pimintel before exploring the Frieze Viewing Room — what I love about Frieze! — but I’m honestly surprised it’s the only pick I had from the 1950s/’60s because that tends to be the era I gravitate towards, especially when it comes to abstract painting. With this one I found the stripes and the feet really striking at first, but the description is why I included it here: Pimintel’s paintings ‘depict domestic life in urban Brazli from a female point of view’, and they often include furniture, objects or, as in this case, architectural details. Design mixed with feminist commentary: doesn’t get better than that!
About Sight Unseen
Founded in 2009, Sight Unseen is an online magazine for design and the visual arts, with a focus on independent makers working outside traditional disciplinary boundaries. Sight Unseen co-founders Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer are contemporary design experts, freelance writers, curators and consultants. Khemsurov is a contributing editor for T: The New York Times Style Magazine as well as the founder of the artistic hardware showroom Petra, while Singer’s writing has appeared in PIN-UP, New York, T Magazine, W, and more. Both live and work in New York City.
Read more: Paris Starn’s picks from Frieze New York
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: Ha Chong-Hyun, Conjunction 24-45 (detail), 2024. Oil on hemp cloth, 117 × 91 cm. Courtesy: Kukje Gallery
