Other cities have game, but springtime in the Big Apple brings a concentration of fairs, auctions and shows without parallel.
Sometimes it seems as though the collectors, dealers, curators and advisers who power the art world will fly anywhere on the map to see a show or buy an artwork. Even a deadly pandemic could only delay the proliferation of events of a truly global market.
In March, the art fair buffet included Frieze Los Angeles, Art Dubai and Art Basel Hong Kong, but there also were major auctions in London. This month, the opening of the legendary Venice Biennale was the noncommercial center of gravity, though buyers had opportunities at art fairs in Brussels, Chicago and Dallas.
But in May, that diffusion turns to concentration, and all eyes turn to New York for what may be the busiest single art month of the year anywhere, including hubs like Los Angeles and Miami.
“Our business is cyclical, and May is a peak,” said David Zwirner, one of the world’s most powerful dealers, who runs multiple spaces in New York and in other art capitals like Paris, London and Hong Kong.
“There’s a psychology that’s been grandfathered in for collectors,” Zwirner said. “This is the time they are forced into making decisions. A couple times a year, they are ready to step up. If I’m honest, I don’t have that in January.”
It all started with auctions.
Since the late 1970s, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, the two auction behemoths, have staged some of their most important Impressionist, modern and contemporary art sales in New York in May (November is the other prestige season).
