Andrew Edlin Gallery has been operating since 2001 in New York City, with a particular specialty in self-taught makers. The gallery once represented the estate of the American outsider artist Henry Darger (1892-1973), who has works in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Given its location and reputation, then, why would the gallery need a booth at Frieze New York, too?
“There’s no getting around it,” Edlin said. “More people will see a work at a fair in three or four days than will come into your gallery in 10 years.”
Hence his participation in Frieze New York, running at the Shed from May 8 to 11 with 67 galleries, including first-time exhibitors King’s Leap of New York; Lodovico Corsini of Brussels; and Voloshyn Gallery of Miami and Kyiv, Ukraine.
“In so many ways, it’s a mandatory part of the art ecosystem,” said Edlin, who has an even deeper investment in fairs than other dealers, since he is also the owner of the Outsider Art Fair, which takes place in late winter in New York.
“I understand when people say they’re doing fewer fairs,” Edlin said, referring to a sentiment among some dealers. “It’s not always the most dignified way to present an exhibition, but kudos to them if they are able to pass on such an opportunity.”
As an example of the power of the Frieze platform, Edlin pointed to last year’s edition of the fair, when he showed a work by Beverly Buchanan (1940-2015), the pastel “Dataw Island, S.C.” (1993). Buchanan grew up in South Carolina and explored Southern traditions in her paintings and sculptures.
The noted collector Agnes Gund, a life trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, bought the work after seeing it at Frieze’s V.I.P. preview in 2024.
“She gave it to MoMA,” Edlin said of the work, which went on view in the fall and is still on the walls. “The most prominent place in the art world. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
This year, Edlin’s booth will have works by several artists including the self-taught painters Abraham Lincoln Walker (1921-1993) and Frank Walter (1926-2009), who were roughly contemporaries. The latter artist, who lived in Antigua, is represented by the undated oil “Untitled (Figure Clasping Bottle),” among other works.
Gund was not the only one buying last year; another collector was Kim Manocherian, who lives in Manhattan and has a large contemporary trove particularly stocked with work by women artists like the pastel specialist Paula Rego (1935-2022), who worked in London.
Manocherian said she purchased the Nate Lowman oil “Aira’s Ovenbird” (2024) from David Zwirner gallery at Frieze New York last year.
“I can’t help myself,” she said of the temptations of a fair in her own city; she said she has been to every edition of the fair. “It’s hard for me to look at art without buying it — I usually pray I don’t see something I like.”
Manocherian also patronizes other fairs including Frieze London; Art Basel’s editions in Miami Beach and Paris; and Zona Maco in Mexico City.
Though open to impulse, she is strategic, too. Manocherian corresponds with galleries before the event, since dealers will email top clients a sneak peek at their offerings, and the chance to put something on hold or buy it in advance.
“Most of the time I know what I’m buying before I get there,” she said.
That suits dealers just fine. “You have to presell as an insurance policy,” Edlin said. “It takes a lot of the risk out.”
- Ted Loos