The spotlight at Frieze New York is usually on the paintings, sculptures and other artworks displayed around the city. Artists, the gallery owners who represent them and the glittery parties related to the fair also get their share of attention.
But Frieze wouldn’t happen without the contingent of people who work in the background to help bring it to fruition.
Christine Messineo, the director of Frieze New York and Los Angeles, said the fair employs more than 130 temporary and full-time employees, across a dozen departments. They include production staff members, handlers who install the artworks, electricians, security guards and guest relations members.
“No one thinks about them, but they’re essential to the look and execution of the fair,” Messineo said. “I see many of them year after year and highly depend on them.”
Below are profiles of four people who stay under the radar but are integral to Frieze.
Peter Pimentel, 34
He is a dockmaster for The Shed and oversees all of the fair’s deliveries and loading dock and freight elevator operations.
There’s not a work of art that gets in and out of Frieze New York without Pimentel’s supervision. “It’s pretty much a 24/7 job when the fair is going on, and I start working on the logistics two months in advance,” he said. “I need to make sure that the art leaves and comes to the fair in one piece.” He has had the role since 2022, and used to get “very stressed,” he said, but no more.
Pimentel ensures that the delivery companies have up-to-date certificates of insurance; generates security codes; and enters data for all deliveries. He also clears the dock and freight elevator to make room for incoming shipments, manages the delivery scheduling software and is the bearer of bad news about delivery delays.
“I’m stuck inside the dock for 14 hours and don’t see the light except when I eat lunch,” Pimentel said.
Drama occasionally figures into his day when two trucks arrive at the same time. “The drivers can get into a honking war and shouting match about who gets to go in first,” he said. “A delivery takes around 45 minutes, so the other truck has to wait. I go outside to fix the situation and try to keep everyone calm.”
Q Sulayman Ansari, 57
He is the security lead for the fair and an executive director at Citadel Security Agency, a New York-based company that provides security guards for events.
Ansari has been Frieze New York’s head of security since it debuted in 2012. “It used to take place in a massive tent on Randall’s Island that covered an area larger than three football fields, necessitating a team of over 40 fireguards and 60 security guards,” he said. “Our footprint at The Shed is a lot smaller now.”
The team now includes 30 fireguards and 60 security guards, nearly half of whom are women.
Ansari starts planning four months in advance, as soon as he gets the production schedule from the fair’s organizers. “I work with the Frieze staff to create a very intricate plan with blueprints and maps of the fairgrounds,” he said.
His team’s responsibilities include controlling access to The Shed, scanning tickets, monitoring surveillance cameras and securing areas where art is stored.
“We have to make sure that millions of dollars of art is protected from theft and damage,” Ansari said. “You can’t imagine how many people try to touch the pieces, and it’s our job to politely tell them they can’t.”
Keeping all visitors safe and providing a personal security guard for some of the celebrities who drop by is also part of his role. Over the years, he said, he has kept watch over stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Leonardo DiCaprio and LeBron James.
Unlike at some of his other assignments, the security staff has never had to deal with a violent incident or theft at Frieze New York, he said. “I’ve guarded events where attendees get into fist fights or whip out knives and guns or steal wallets and other items,” he said. “Frieze New York is tame. The atmosphere is peaceful.”
After working at the fair for 13 years, he said he feels as if he is spending time with family, rather than co-workers. “I know everyone on a first-name basis,” Ansari said. “We all fist bump and hug when we start the day and then get down to business.”
Ferran Mendoza Soler, 42
He is a video producer for the fair and the co-founder and co-owner of the New York production company Tokyo/Vermont.
Mendoza Soler racks up at least eight miles a day when he’s shooting video for the fair, all while carrying his eight-pound Canon 200. “I’m on high speed for three days going up and down in The Shed, running through the High Line and visiting off-site venues to capture the most artistically compelling moments at Frieze,” he said.
Mendoza Soler and Tokyo/Vermont’s co-founder and co-owner, Christian Balmer, have been the fair’s video producers since 2021. They have since added two video editors and another videographer, hired by Mendoza Soler and Balmer for the event.
“At first, we used to shoot just the fair’s highlights and short interviews with artists,” Mendoza Soler said. “Now, we have curators from museums in the city taking us on tours of their favorite pieces in the fair, produce videos about the performance art and get in-depth profiles of artists.”
The clips are used to promote the fair on its social media channels and its website.
Working at Frieze is high-pressure but exhilarating, Mendoza Soler said. He recalled shooting the 2024 performance by the Brooklyn-based artist Matty Davis on the High Line, which included running, diving to the ground and other physical moves. “I had to mimic his movements to get the best shots and felt like a performer myself,” Mendoza Soler said. “I was out of breath and sweating by the end.”
Contemporary art can be graphic and provocative, he said, and it’s a challenge to avoid shooting content likely to be censored on social media.
The video producer also shoots fairgoers, although many want to avoid the spotlight, he said. “They get intimidated when they see a big camera and turn the other way,” he said.
But, he added, “Frieze New York is buzzy, and it’s my job to make it look like the glamorous event it is, so I’m always chasing the best scenes.”
Mary Harris, 33
She is on the fair’s accreditation team. Based in Los Angeles, she is a multimedia artist.
As a part of Frieze New York’s accreditation staff, Harris’s job is to issue the identification badges and wristbands for exhibitors, art handlers and artists needed to get into the fair. “What’s fun is that I get a chance to put a smile on for some of the biggest names in art before we get started,” she said.
Harris has worked at Frieze Los Angeles since 2023. This is her first year in New York. She rubbed elbows on the West Coast with the likes of the gallerist Jeffrey Deitch, the artist Takashi Murakami and the actor Will Ferrell, she said. But, she said, “For me, New York is the epicenter of the art world and a city where I aspire to live and work. That’s exactly why I’m working the fair.”
Harris started her temporary position a week before the fair, to create badges for the participants. Before the opening, she said, she expected she would have to spend time making sure collectors don’t get in during setup. “From my experience in L.A., I’ve seen some galleries try to sneak in collectors to purchase the artwork before it’s officially allowed,” Harris said. “They’re not playing by the rules.”
Post-fair, the accreditation staff collects the plastic badges and wristbands for recycling. But Harris kept 450 discarded wristbands from Frieze Los Angeles this year and is using them to create a sculpture. “I want to do the same thing in New York,” she said. “Upcycling is important to me, and what better way to do that than transforming these discarded items from an art fair into my art?”
Shivani Vora is a New York City-based travel writer who considers herself a very savvy packer.
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