Noah Horowitz, who has served as Executive Director of The Armory Show since 2011, has announced that he is accepting a position as Director Americas for Art Basel, placing him in charge of the Miami Beach edition of the fair.  “The Americas have been a leading center in the art world for many decades, and the region continues to show distinctive and ongoing growth in many different countries,” Horowitz says. “I look forward to working with collectors and arts institutions throughout the two continents – from Canada to South America, and across the entirety of the United States – in an effort to bring the fair in Miami Beach to ever-greater heights.” (more…)

The Independent Art Fair has announced its plans to move downtown, and will open the 2016 edition of the popular Armory Week art fair at Spring Studios in TriBeCa March 3rd.  “We’re excited about the Spring/Independent partnership, as it will allow us to take the fair to a new and exciting dimension by hosting it in an extraordinary environment that the art world has yet to experience,” says fair Co-Founder, Elizabeth Dee In our new home at Spring, Independent will be even more adventurous in support of galleries’ and artists’ projects with the flexibility the space allows.” (more…)

In the Courtyard of Messe Basel

As the opening previews draw to a close in Basel today, the 46th edition of Switzerland’s massive art fair and exhibition is well underway, capping two initial days of strong sales and attendance during the VIP Previews that have set a brisk tone for the week’s proceedings. (more…)

Josh Reames at Johannes Vogt, all photos via Art Observed

NADA New York returned to the edge of the Lower East Side, drawing a diverse, hip crowd to the Basketball City complex. Free in price, NADA once again brought high-quality exhibitors and young artists, combining art from regional and international galleries alongside NYC Downtown heavy hitters.  This year’s preview event was an engaging alternative to the bright lights and high prices of Frieze. Embodying the social, communal nature of the city’s young arts scene, NADA’s Preview day was filled with with conversation, friendly jokes and familial reunions.  Maintaining the lightness of art openings opposed to the serious air of sales oriented art fairs, the galleries, their friends and artists will spend this weekend sipping drinks out of plastic cups while a roster of interdisciplinary performances, conversations and events take place. (more…)

Galeria Franco Noero, via Art Observed

The doors are open on Frieze New York, marking the early days of the summer art season with a major art event up the East River on Randall’s Island.  Returning for its fourth year, the fair has come into its own as a dedicated staple in the New York Art Calendar, and its presentation this year seems to echo it, with a stripped back tent design that seemed to stretch out much longer than in previous years, but distilled the experience down to only three rows of booths, with the occasional inlet allowing for an enjoyable wander through the space.  The VIP opening launched Wednesday morning for a quiet preview where a number of major collectors and celebrities strolled the aisles, among them Neil Patrick Harris, Mike Meyers, Uma Thurman, Leonardo DiCaprio and Richard Gere and François Pinault. (more…)

Art Basel’s Popular large-scale installation section, Unlimited, has released a 74-artist roster for its upcoming edition next month in Switzerland, including work by Martin Creed, Olafur Eliasson, Jeppe Hein, Robert Irwin, and many more.   (more…)

Richard Tuttle, Aspect XII (2015), via Pace

As the New York art world returns home following the Biennale previews last week, the first days of the Frieze Art Fair are set to get underway.  Opening its doors to VIPs this Wednesday, May 13th, the fair brings a number of events, openings and exhibitions along with it, marking the last major fair week in the U.S. for several months, and penultimate major fair week internationally before the slow summer months. (more…)

The founders of Frieze, Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, are interviewed in the Wall Street Journal this week as they prepare to open this year’s edition in New York, reflecting on the early days of the fair, and how they first started their coverage of the art world in London during the 1990’s.  “You couldn’t get away from the feeling that something was happening in London, and though we really didn’t know anything about art or magazines, we just knew we had to respond to it,” Sharp says. (more…)

This year’s edition of Art Basel in Switzerland will feature a specially commissioned collaborative sculpture and performative work by Rirkrit Tiravanija, architects Nikolaus Hirsch and Michel Müller, and chef Antto Melasniemi, titled DO WE DREAM UNDER THE SAME SKY.   “Creating a place of hospitality, visitors can engage through the activities on offer, such as the drinking of herbal tea plucked fresh from the on-site garden, the preparation and eating of food,” the organization said in a statement. “The food will be rooted in Thai tradition and will be available with no fixed schedule, menu or price list: compensation is self-determined, by self-serving, serving others, donations or even participating in the cooking or washing up.” (more…)

NADA Miami Beach is moving locations this December, leaving its long-time home at the Deauville Beach Resort in North Miami Beach for The Fontainebleau Hotel further south.   Founder Heather Hubbs notes that the new location will see a fair of “the same exact size or a little smaller, but it won’t be bigger and we’re not looking to expand.” (more…)

Daniel Arsham at Galerie Perrotin, via Art Basel

Following a hectic weekend of events and openings, today caps the final day of Art Basel Hong Kong, bringing strong sales and attendance at the sixth edition of the massive Asian market event. (more…)

Aaron Curry, Vertical Wood Sculpture (2013), via Almine Rech

Just one week after The Armory Show closed its doors in New York, the sixth edition of Art Basel Hong Kong is preparing to open halfway around the world, with many familiar names vying to court collectors from Asia, Oceania and abroad.  The fair, which shuffled its calendar this year in response to the Venice Biennale opening in early May, is presenting something of a scaled-back experience this year, running just three days from Sunday to Tuesday, but should nevertheless prove successful as one of Asia’s largest art fairs. (more…)

Adam Parker Smith at SPRING/BREAK, via Art Observed

Heavy snow beat down the doors at SPRING/BREAK art show during Armory Week, now in its fourth iteration and housed in the wood-paneled third and fourth office floors of Skylight at Moynihan Station, a unique space that makes for a fitting continuation of the fair’s imaginative, distinct style.  The curator-driven show has more more than doubled in size since last year’s public/private-themed exhibition at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral School in Nolita, SPRING/BREAK’s home for the past several years. The number of participating curators also rose from 39 to 97, bringing an increased number of artists as well, from 100 to over 300 people for 2015.

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Constantin Brancusi, via Art Observed

Set up across town, fittingly enough, in the Park Avenue Armory, the ADAA Art Show offers a yearly counterpoint to the bright lights and dizzying stream of booths that occasionally plagues its cross-town sister on Piers and 94, incorporating a more carefully curated emphasis into the art fair booth format, and encouraging a certain degree of adventurousness among the attendant galleries. (more…)

Mark Flood at Peres Projects,  via Art Observed

Taking up the full 4 floors of Center 548 in Chelsea, the Independent NY fair returns for another year of its annual exhibition offering a slightly smaller, more cohesive take on the fair experience. (more…)

The Armory Show 2015, via Sophie Kitching for Art Observed

The doors are open and the 2015 edition of The Armory Show in New York is underway, kicking off the first major fair week in NY this spring.  Collectors and artists wound throughout the booths, perusing the works on sale and chatting with dealers.  Director George Lucas could be seen examining several works, as was Maurizio Cattelan, both of whom seem to be enjoying their respective retirements. (more…)

The Armory Show has announced the artists for its Special Projects section at the 2015 edition of the New York Fair, which opens in two weeks.  Projects include a limited edition series of potato chip packets by commissioned artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan, unobtrusive fencing installations by Abbas Akhavan, and more.   (more…)

The 2015 Edition of Frieze New York will include a “Projects” section with works by Korakrit Arunanondchai, Pia Camil, Samara Golden, Aki Sasamoto and Allyson Vieira, the fair has announced.  The section is curated by Cecelia Alemani, and will include a series of massage chairs by Arunanondchai, and an intricate underground installation by Golden. (more…)

Paramount Ranch 2, via Art Observed

Tucked away in the mountain ranges outside of Santa Monica, the Paramount Ranch is a relic of the Golden Age of the Hollywood studio system, a massive film set and town used to shoot Westerns.  It’s just this history that makes the landscape a fittingly Californian location to stage an art fair.  Now in its sophomore year, Paramount Ranch offers a unique take on the fair experience: galleries and artists are invited to participate, steering away from any formal application process, and the selection of works often leans towards the more imaginative and immediate.

Haciencda at Paramount Ranch 2, via Art Observed (more…)

Frieze Art Fair has announced that Abby Bangser will take the newly formed Artistic Director position for the Americas and Asia, working to support the organization’s director, Victoria Siddall.  “Abby brings fantastic gallery, institutional and collector relationships to this new role,” Siddall said in a statement, “and I am thrilled she is joining our team. She has shown her passion for and commitment to Frieze and her insight as an American will be invaluable to us, ensuring that the fairs continue to deliver at the highest levels.” (more…)

With two art fairs this January, Los Angeles is making a play as one a global city for fine art, preparing to open Art LA in two weeks, and Art Los Angeles Contemporary  later this month.  “In the short span of six years, Art Los Angeles Contemporary has managed to turn an otherwise anti-art-fair town into a place where both emerging and established galleries from around the world can connect with an important West Coast audience,” says art attorney Joshua Roth. (more…)

Malaysian curator and art adviser Adeline Ooi has been named Art Basel’s new Director for Asia, the New York Times reports, replacing former Director Magnus Renfrew.  ‘‘We wanted someone who we thought could catalyze the growth of the art market across Asia,’’ says Marc Spiegler, the director of Art Basel. (more…)

Frieze New York has announced the details for the 2015 edition of the fair, with over 190 galleries from around the world set to return to Randall’s Island from from May 14 to 17, 2015.   (more…)

NADA at the Deauville, all photos by Art Observed

Again located up Collins Ave at the Deauville Beach Resort in North Beach, the New Art Dealers Alliance fair seems perfectly content to let the buyers come to them.  Boasting a tightly curated but welcoming atmosphere for younger artists and smaller galleries, the fair has remained a yearly mainstay in the proceedings of Miami Art Week. (more…)