By noon on preview day at Frieze New York, the escalators inside the Shed had once again become one of the fair’s defining stages. Packed shoulder to shoulder with collectors, artists, editors, celebrities, and impeccably dressed fairgoers moving quickly between floors with iced coffees, oversize tote bags, and phones in hand, the towering escalators offered a sweeping view of the social choreography unfolding below. Long lines formed outside some of the fair’s busiest galleries as guests spent much of the afternoon weaving through crowds to move from booth to booth. After weeks of unusually cold spring weather in New York, the sun finally broke through by early afternoon as a line of black Escalades idled outside the Hudson Yards venue. Conversations about major acquisitions mixed with dinner plans, exhibition gossip, and after-party logistics while crowds spilled into the aisles.
“It was a packed first day, as ever, and this year the art gave people a reason to stop rather than just circulate,” says Rachael Lambert, an art dealer and director of Lion and Lamb Fine Art. “The performative machinery of the art world was on full display; opening day drew the largest crowd I’ve seen in years. The art, to its credit, offered something worth the theater. The conversation around materiality has genuinely shifted, with more diversity than ever before. The best work on the floor this year simply assumed its own authority. What emerged felt less like a trend and more like a field mid-evolution.”
Now in its 16th New York edition, Frieze remains one of the city’s most influential and highly attended art fairs, anchoring the frenzy of New York’s spring art season each May. The fair has evolved considerably since its early years on Randall’s Island, when visitors arrived by ferry and the journey itself became part of the mythology. Since relocating to the Shed following the COVID pandemic, Frieze has taken on a sleeker and more distinctly Manhattan energy, where fashion, art, and social spectacle increasingly blur together. This year, more than 65 galleries from across the globe filled the Shed, reflecting the increasingly international direction of contemporary art. A particularly strong presence of Latin American artists could be felt across the fair, shaped in part by the addition of gallery committee members Fátima González of Campeche and Omayra Alvarado of Instituto de Visión. Textile-based pieces, sculpture, and works on paper surfaced across many of the strongest booths, signaling a broader shift toward materiality, craft, and more tactile forms of presentation.
Upstairs, the Ruinart Art Lounge quickly became one of the fair’s busiest gathering points, with guests crowding the space between champagne pours and conversations drifting late into the afternoon. This year, preparatory studies by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata, tied to his forthcoming permanent installations at Ruinart’s historic home at 4 Rue des Crayères in Reims, added a sculptural and atmospheric dimension to the lounge. Set against the fair’s constant movement below, the works introduced a quieter, nature-driven sensibility into one of Frieze’s most socially charged spaces.
Notable sightings during the opening included Leonard DiCaprio and gallery owner Almine Rech, alongside celebrity art adviser and Sotheby’s senior vice president Ralph DeLuca, who moved briskly between booths throughout the afternoon preview.
Beyond the social frenzy, this year’s fair ultimately felt strongest at the booth level. Many exhibitors leaned into tighter and more focused presentations that balanced internationally established artists with younger voices and emerging talent. While several mega-galleries drew steady crowds throughout the day, some of the most compelling moments came from booths that rewarded slower looking rather than instant spectacle.
The Focus section—which highlights galleries that have been operating for 12 years or fewer through solo artist exhibitions—was especially strong this year and offered some of the fair’s sharpest presentations. From large-scale environments to quieter works that stopped viewers in their tracks, these were the booths that stood out most at Frieze New York 2026.
Tina Kim Gallery, Booth A9
Tina Kim Gallery presented one of the fair’s most elegant booths, bringing together more than 10 artists whose practices blurred the boundaries between sculpture, textile, painting, and installation.
Among the strongest works on view were pieces by South Korean artist Suki Seokyeong Kang, who tragically died of cancer last year at age 47. Kang built an interdisciplinary practice that moved fluidly across media, and the works featured at Frieze hovered somewhere between painting and sculpture, creating a palpable tension when encountered in person. Curved metal rods, suspended fabrics, and sculptural forms interacted across the booth, while subtle references to grids and Korean musical structures reflected the deeply research-driven nature of her work. Despite the formal rigor of the pieces, the installation retained a softness and emotional power that drew viewers in slowly.
Another standout came from pioneering fiber artist Lee ShinJa, whose work helped redefine textile art in postwar South Korea, pushing a medium often dismissed as craft into a more rigorous space of fine art. Her monumental tapestry “Image of Light” from 1986 brought many of those ideas together into a single work. Measuring nearly eight feet tall, the richly textured composition blended painterly gestures with variations of orange, butter yellow, burnt sienna, violet, and deep purple that moved across the surface in layered streaks and organic forms. At 96 years old, ShinJa’s work still feels remarkably contemporary, and the presentation at Frieze underscored the broader return to textile-based practices seen across many of the fair’s best booths this year.
—Anni Irish
