30 Must-See Art Pieces at Frieze New York 2013

Galleries from all over the world have brought their best contemporary art to Randall's Island this year.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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The Frieze Art Fair has a reputation for keeping it of-the-moment and ambitious. Its New York arrival on Randall's Island this year has contemporary art by over 180 galleries spanning 6, very large sections total (read: bring comfortable shoes, drink copious amounts of champagne, go for at least 2 days if you can). Yesterday's opening revealed the promised selection of excellent food choices from Mission Chinese, Roberta's Pizza, Sant Ambroeus, Blue Bottle Coffee, Marlow & Sons, and more, making it a little easier to maintain endurance for the entire length of the fair.

In addition to the main tent, there's a fantastic outdoor Sculpture Park with works intermittently placed along the East River grass area, plus Frieze Sounds presented by BMW (featuring works by Charles Atlas and New HumansTrisha Baga, and Haroon Mirza).

Not only was the fair ambitious and daring in scale, the pieces were, too. Galleries didn't hesitate to bring their larger sculptures and installations, and there was even a performance at the Galerie Peter Kilchmann booth. Carlos Bunga's cardboard Construcción pictórica #11 sculpture towered over the booth barriers, Alexandre da Cunha's Mix (Americana) cement mixer looked capable of crushing fair-goers if it were to lose support, and a piece by Daniel Firman at Galerie Perrotin made visitors wonder whether they were passing a real, live woman turned in towards a wall. In short, there is something exciting around every corner, and the fair feels like a true indication of where contemporary art is in the present moment.

Buy tickets for Frieze NY here, and be sure to visit today through May 13, 2013 if you're in town. For those who want some guidance on what the fair has to offer, check out these 30 Must-See Art Pieces at Frieze New York, and if you want more, browse many of the works on Artsy's Frieze page.

Heap, Jenny Holzer

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Unknown, Karla Black

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Unknown, Daniel Firman

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Mix, Alexandre da Cunha

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Balloon Dog, Paul McCarthy

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Golden Lips, Marina Abramovic

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WWJD, Jack Early

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Sand Rollers, Ryan McGinley

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Universe No. 26, Zhan Wang

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I Will Never See You Again, Elmgreen and Dragset

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Untitled (Pizza), Tom Friedman

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Pillow Talk, Jonathan Horowitz

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Untitled, Berta Fischer

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Untitled, Charles LONG

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ART (white), Doug Aitken

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Folded Into One, Alexander Gutke

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Untitled, Daniel Arsham

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Untitled (You Look Good), Barbara Kruger

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Architecture of Tomorrow, Gardar Eide Eniarsson

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BLACK RAGS, Amanda Ross-Ho

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Wing, Lynda Benglis

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Construccion Pictorica, Carlos Bunga

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Nature, Insects, Bruno Jakob

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Nature, Insects, Humidity, Sweat, Tears, Dust, Smell, Fire, Earth. Captured Brainwaves, Thought, Light, Air, Pleasure, Pain, Fear, Music, Sound, Echoes, Memory, Talk, Love, Live, Death and the Unknown by Bruno Jakob, 2011-13 (invisible painting/installation/performance)

Gallery: Galerie Peter Kilchmann, A27

Flat Utopia, Haegue Yang

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Stuhle mit Raketen, Roman Signer

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Fotini, Saint Clair Cemin

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A Few Golden Moments, Tom Burr

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Untitled, Andreas Lolis

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Amgydalas, Martha Friedman

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Circle Dance, Tom Friedman

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