Courtesy Greene Naftali

Greene Naftali sold Bjarne Melgaard's "Untitled" (2008) for $50,000.

Courtesy Arndt & Partner

Erik Bulatov’s "Le conte Allemand/Das deutsche Märchen" (German fairy tale) (1998/2001/2002) was on reserve for €120,000 at Arndt & Partner's booth.

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A SOFT LANDING AT FRIEZE?

Sales picked up as buyers relaxed.

Shirazeh Houshiary Anish Kapoor Mike Kelley Franz West Erik Bulatov Mark Grotjahn Richard Hamilton Rachel Harrison

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“The girls are pretty,” says Italian collector Johnny Pigozzi, buttonholed during today's late-morning VIP preview for clients of fair sponsor Deutsche Bank, “but my friends in the financial world aren’t buying.” After a series of opening events today, the fair opens to the public tomorrow and runs through Sunday, October 19.

“It’s not a gun-to-your-head art fair,” mused one New York art adviser, who appeared pleased with the calmer tenor. “Outside (the exhibition tent) it feels somber, but inside it feels good.”

This seemed to be the general sentiment at the fair. If before the fair people were fearing a near-apocalyptic situation for the market, inside, elite fairgoers seemed almost relieved that the jostling and commodity-pit atmosphere of previous Friezes had disappeared in a cloud of recessionary fears.

Make no mistake: Commerce is taking place here — the art market isn’t in cardiac arrest — but not many things are flying off the wall.

“I think it’s a good, compact fair,” said legendary collector and former television mogul Douglas Cramer, resting on a bench in the meeting point area near the heavy-hitting booths of Gagosian and Hauser & Wirth.

“I’ve put three or four things on hold, which last year you could do for an hour. This year you can wait until the (next) morning. There’s a lot more care and caution in the air, which is a good thing for the world and the art market. I’ll sleep on it before making any decisions.”

Not surprisingly, activity was apparent at Gagosian during the morning preview, which, in past editions, has resembled a caffeine-aided feeding frenzy.

“We’ve sold very well so far, surprisingly well,” said Gagosian director Victoria Gelfand, “for everything at the $500,000-and-under level.”

Another Gagosian staffer characterized the price points in the “250-to-800-ish” range and ticked off sales of freshly minted works by Franz West, Mike Kelley (Memory Wall), Mark Grotjahn, Richard Hamilton, and Anselm Reyle, adding, “Lots of things are on hold.”

“Everyone’s been worried, but it's business as usual,” said the staffer, who preferred to remain anonymous. “I don’t subscribe to this fatalist attitude, because if you panic, it becomes a reality.”

Still unsold by mid-afternoon, however, was higher-priced material such as Richard Prince's Heartbreak Nurse, priced in the $7 million range, and a new, large-scale word painting covered with miniaturized porn and girlie magazine covers, also by Prince, in the $2.5 million range.

At London-based Lisson Gallery, there was a big, early transaction, according to the gallery’s Karolin Kober, as Anish Kapoor’s wall-mounted, blurry apparition in stainless steel, Untitled from 2008, sold to an American client for £900,000 in the first two hours of the fair.

A London-based adviser, standing next to Yifat Gurion Ofer, an Israeli contemporary art curator visiting from Tel Aviv, put a hold on Iranian artist Shirazeh Houshiary’s abstract painting Vapor from 2008. The blue pencil on white aquacryl on canvas piece was priced in the £50,000 range. “You can actually buy during the first half day and not just the first five minutes,” said the adviser, who bought the painting later in the afternoon.

“Last year was a joke,” continued the adviser. “People were pushing you, and as soon as you saw something, it was sold. Now it’s a wonderful atmosphere to buy in.”

But not all dealers agreed, with some expressing a new sobriety. Although some would have us think otherwise, it's folly to suggest that there's no corollation between the financial markets and the art market.

“I would be lying if I said there was no crisis,” said Matthias Arndt of the Berlin- and Zurich-based Arndt & Partner. “But we’ve done some business, so it’s not a total paralysis. We’ve seen strong interest in Indian, Chinese, and Russian art, so perhaps there’s some change in demand and influence from that part of the world.”

Arndt had sold two paintings by the Mumbai-based sensation Jitish Kallat, Universal Recipient I and Universal Recipient 2, both from 2008, in the $100–200,000 range, and two 2008 multimedia works by Reena Saini Kallat (Jitish’s wife), both titled Synonym and priced in the $50,000 range.

The buyers were Swiss, British, and Asia-based, according to Arndt.

Another collector had a reserve on prominent Russian painter Erik Bulatov’s Le conte Allemand / Das deutsche Märchen (German fairy tale) from 1998/2001/2002, priced at €120,000.

All in all, dealers had noticeably lowered their expectations for this year's fair.

“For us, its been really successful,” says Chelsea dealer Carol Greene of Greene Naftali, “but I didn’t have high expectations.”

“There’s less activity and just not as many people,” noted Greene, who has participated in every Frieze fair since the 2003 debut. “There are fewer collectors here than normal, but the ones who are here seem to be buying.”

The dealer reported a number of early sales, including New York–based duo Guyton/Walker’s Coconut Chandelier from 2008, comprised of 46 polystyrene coconuts, light bulbs, and electrical wiring, for $24,000, and the wildly expressive and thickly impastoed canvas Untitled by the Norwegian painter Bjarne Melgaard, also from 2008, for $50,000.

“They call him the new Munch,” marveled Greene.

The dealer also sold Rachel Harrison’s totemic, mixed-media sculpture with microphone and stand, American Idol, for approximately $90,000.

“I think it’s a great fair,” gushed Robert Tuttle, the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, standing outside the Greene Naftali stand. “We come every year, and this is a great gallery. My daughter (Alex) is the director.”

Such optimistic statements aside, taking the early pulse at Frieze this year was a bit like reading tea leaves swirling around in a fog machine or betting on how many hundreds of points the Dow Jones would fall.

“My big client is back in New York, protecting his assets,” said New York–based private art adviser Heidi Lee. “Collectors are too busy to take the time off. Personally, I’m waiting for prices to go down, but they’re still holding tight.”

Lee sounded pleased by the warmer reception she had received from some dealers. “They’re a lot friendlier, running up to me to get my card.”

Judd Tully is Editor at Large of Art+Auction.