Amid the slowdown in the art market, galleries at the Independent fair (until 11 May) are meeting collectors where they are in order to make the best sales, even if that means dropping prices or hustling before the preview day to be more competitive. This month the fair features 85 exhibitors—its most stands ever—26 of which mark an artist’s solo debut in New York, an introductory role the fair has become known for since it was founded in 2010.
“We are a New York fair. We believe wholeheartedly in the curatorial power, the market and the intellectual rigour of the city,” Elizabeth Dee, Independent co-founder and longtime New York art dealer, said the morning of the preview on Thursday (8 May). This year, registrations for the VIP preview were up 30% year-over-year, she says, adding she is proud of how engaged visitors have been. “People are looking. They’re here to look as much as to greet each other,” Dee says.
They were also at Independent to buy, even amid a market slowdown. Long Story Short from New York sold out its booth of works by Keita Morimoto, with prices ranging from $2,500 to $26,000. Ricco Maresca Gallery, also from New York, sold out its collection of vintage American board games to a single collector for a six-figure sum.
Several hours into the preview, the Los Angeles gallery Sea View had sold about 75% of the works on its stand, a solo presentation of New York artist Jane Corrigan. The paintings range in price from $16,000 for the larger work to $1,400 for smaller pieces.
The Berlin-based Galerie Judin sold four works by Kiriakos Tompolidis, for prices ranging from $6,500 to $20,000. The Chelsea-based gallery Ryan Lee also sold four pieces from its stand of work by Tim Braden, with prices ranging from $10,000 to $28,000. The Tribeca gallery Off Paradise sold four hammered lead sculptures by Mitchell Charbonneau for prices between $4,500 and $28,000 each, two ceramics by Sylvia Fragoso for $3,500 each and two sculptures by Maximilian Schubert for $10,000 each.
One of the most striking changes in this year’s offerings at Independent is the price bracket of the work on sale: there is a sharp uptick in work priced between $10,000 and $20,000, with around one-third of the art at the fair falling in that range, far more than in 2024. Prices were higher last year, when around 28% of Independent’s work was priced between $20,000 and $50,000. The week before the fair, Dee commented on this dynamic: “This opens up more opportunities for collectors to come into the market who are new or developing, so I like the democracy of that.”
She points out that an increase in the volume of sales, but at slightly lower price points, echoes the findings in the latest Art Market Report from Art Basel and UBS, which found global art sales fell by 12% in 2024 to an estimated $57.5bn. However, the report found transaction volume increased by 3% during the same period as more accessible segments of the market grew.
“Galleries have rightfully reassessed pricing,” Dee said the week before the fair. “I think it was needed, coming out of Covid[-19]. That was a soft landing, and they’ve continued to reconsolidate as [work in the range of] $10,000 to $20,000 sells the quickest.”
That is not to say the fair’s galleries were not moving pricier works. The Philadelphia-based Fleisher Ollman Gallery reported selling a work by the French painter Augustin Lesage priced between $100,000 and $150,000.
‘A reflection of where we feel the market is’
The New York-based dealer Charles Moffett sold out his stand at Independent last year, and in light of the current market made a conscious decision to work with an established artist he knew would do well with collectors—Julia Jo, a Brooklyn-based artist. By the afternoon of the preview on Thursday, nearly all the works on the stand had sold, with prices ranging from $10,000 to $45,000.
“It’s a reflection of where we feel the market is and where our buyers are most comfortable at the moment,” Moffett says. “Given the environment we’re in, it seems as though things are taking a little bit longer to get across the finish line, and we wanted a longer lead time to ensure success.” He adds: “I’ve stopped trying to predict or analyse the market we are in or where it’s going, because I think that unpredictable is very much the world that we’re living in, whether it’s politically or economically.”
This year’s Independent marks the New York dealer Hannah Traore’s first time showing at the fair. Her eponymous gallery has a solo stand of the New York-based artist Turiya Adkins, whose work deals with her African ancestry and Black folktales.
“I was really excited for more people to see Turiya’s work,” Traore says. “People are so excited about her we had a waiting list, so it didn’t feel like a risk.”
Within the first few hours of the fair, Traore sold five of Adkins’s works at the fair stand and one from the gallery’s inventory, each priced at between $4,500 and $8,000, Traore says.
“They’re more hesitant, they’re not as decisive,” she adds about collectors in the current climate. “There’s a lot of interest, whereas before they didn’t want it to go so they would buy it right away. But because the market is slower, they’re not as worried about that.”
