American artist Tom Sachs was dishing out espressos and 86-proof mezcal from behind a bar at Thaddaeus Ropac’s gallery on Dover Street during Frieze Week. He was launching his new show, “A Good Shelf” (it runs until December 20), featuring 30 NASA-emblazoned ceramics inspired by Japanese tea bowls (chawans), ritual, bricolage, and space travel. Sachs deserved a stiff drink after a testing couple of years; his sneaker-release partnership with Nike was paused in 2023 following allegations that he created a “hostile and unduly strict” workplace in his New York studio. Nike pressed play again last February and Sachs, who vowed to improve working conditions, is back at the coalface, toiling as intensely as ever.

He’s completed several international projects over the last few months, including another exhibition at Ropac’s Seoul outpost scrutinizing Pablo Picasso.

Only a handful of living artists have reached the heady heights of commanding a studio team realizing ambitious, large-scale visions. Sachs, 59, whose auction record stands at $302,400 for his Tiffany Value Meal (1998) at Christie’s, is one of t...