Imagine, if you will, that crowded field of New York's art fairs as a jam-packed subway car. Now imagine a particularly entitled 800-pound gorilla muscling in, wearing a proper British hat. That, in essence, is what happened this morning, when the Frieze Art Fair announced that it plans to make its long-rumored New York edition a reality in 2012, launching a roughly 170-exhibitor fair — the same size as its acclaimed London event — on Randall's Island, a tiny landmass in the East River known primarily for opening its pock-marked fields to high school sports teams. The fair will take place on May 3-6, meaning that it will follow the scrum of Armory Week by two months and precede Frieze's October fair in London. It will likely have a seismic impact on the New York art world.

Founded in 2003 and taking place yearly in Regent's Park, Frieze is prized by the international gallery community and buyers for being a scrupulously vetted fair with a focus on artistic quality, embellishing the commerce at its heart with commissions and curated programming. The Armory Show, the Merchandise Mart-operated fair that anchors New York's March fair week (commonly called Armory Week), is on the other hand often criticized for being less discriminating about the galleries it lets in, and for the often grab-bag flood of lesser-quality art that results. In recent years other fairs have entered the fray to win over dissatisfied dealers, most notably Independent, which is also a curated market event. There were 12 fairs in New York last March, total. With Frieze coming, one expects many dealers will now be weighing whether it makes more sense to wait until May. It could also affect which galleries choose to exhibit at Art Basel, the other leading European contemporary art fair, which takes place in June.

Talk that Frieze was on its way has been around for a while now, building a palpable buzz. Matthew Slotover, who runs the fair with Amanda Sharp, told the Financial Times that dealers had encouraged the move. "The local galleries want it, and so do the international galleries, which want a window on New York," he said. An earlier rumor circulated that Frieze was eying Governors Island for its fair, but Randall's Island makes much more sense — for one thing, it is accessible by the 125th Street bridge, meaning gallerists won't need to bring their art over on ferries. The fairground itself will be designed by New York's SO-IL firm, best known for creating the outdoor courtyard for MoMA PS1's "Warm Up" series last year. Last year's Frieze drew more than 60,000 people in London, suggesting the architects will have a larger canvas to play with this time around.

In the press release announcing the fair, Frieze organizers included a quote from Mayor Bloomberg: "New York City has long been a global center for arts and culture, and in recent years, the number and size of local art fairs that attract New Yorkers and visitors from around the world has grown dramatically. Frieze has a reputation for hosting world-class arts shows, and with Randall's Island Park as the location and New York City's waterfront as the backdrop, this new event should be extraordinary."
 
In addition to the New York fair, Frieze has also announced that it will be launching a new event in London to parallel the October fair: Frieze Masters, a boutique event that will "present approximately 70 international galleries showing work made before the year 2000, ranging from antiquities and old masters through to art of the 20th century." The fair will be directed by Victorial Sidall, and like the contemporary fair, it too will take place in a tent in Regent's Park. The structure will be designed by Annabelle Selldorf, who has previously worked with leading galleries and museums including the Gagosian Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, Acquavella Galleries, the Clark Art Institute, and the Neue Galerie.  Following in the footsteps of Massimiliano Gioni's Gwangzu Biennial, which contextualized art with objects from across disciplines and the ages, Frieze Masters will create a dialogue between ancient and modern artworks.

News that the Frieze brand is expanding comes swiftly on the heels of Art Basel's announcement that it had taken over Art HK, giving it a foothold in the Swiss city, as well as in New York and Miami. Clearly the market's major players believe there is much more money to be squeezed out of the contemporary art world.