Frieze Art Fair 2011. Photo by Linda Nylind. © Linda Nylind/Frieze
This year’s Frieze Art Fair London celebrates its 10th anniversary, with a ceremony already marked by the launch of Frieze New York in May earlier this year. This week begins another sibling event with Frieze Masters making its debut. Frieze Masters is dedicated to art ranging from antiquity to 20th century masters presented by over 100 galleries from 18 different countries (79 in the main section & 22 in the Spotlight section, committed to solo 20th century artist presentations). “Frieze Masters will attract the world’s most adventurous and imaginative art collectors to London”, says Nicholas Penny, Director of the National Gallery. “The fair is designed to revolutionise the relationship between ancient and modern, old and new” Frieze Masters also stocks a brilliant line up of talks, matching Cecily Brown with Nicholas Penny, Luc Tuymans with Dominique de Font-Réaulx, senior curator of Musée de Louvre and Glenn Brown with Bice Curiger, curator of Kunsthaus Zürich & editor-in-chief of Parkett magazine. Frieze Masters is flanking Frieze London on its north side, next to the London Zoo. The 12,500 square metre temporary architecture is setup by Selldorf Architect, renowned for designing art spaces whose clients include galleries such as David Zwirner, Barbara Gladstone as well as studios for Jeff Koons and David Salle.
Frieze Masters 2012. Photo by Linda Nylind. © Linda Nylind/Frieze
Frieze London, meanwhile, proudly raise its banner over the same camp as last year, with a Carmody Groarke signed structure raised in Regent’s Park. The 10th edition of Frieze gathers an evermore international procession of 170 galleries, now from a record 34 different countries. The fair franchise first introduced Focus in New York, to group together galleries under ten years of existence, a section which will be emulated in their London edition. Half of the 20 attending Focus galleries are first comers to Frieze, including Jessica Bradley in Toronto, ELASTIC gallery in Malmö, Dependence in Brussels and more. Even younger galleries are found in another section called Frame, established up to six years ago, to dedicate solo artist presentations. 15 out of the 21 galleries from Frame section debuted this year in the fair to include Carlos/Ishikawa in London, Mendes Wood, São Paulo, NON in Istanbul and more.
DIS Magazine, One of the artists for Frieze Projects. © DIS Magazine
To boot, more pop, foody and earthy commissioned pieces are coming via Frieze Project, this year curated by Sarah McCrory. Among these figure Thomas Bayrle, recognised as a key figure of “European Pop Art” or “Grey Pop”, as well as Asli Çavusoglu presenting “Murder in three Acts” (2012), a work inspired by the representation of art in popular media. Post-internet art, fashion and commerce magazine DIS, is producing a feature film called “Fair Trade”, directed by a team of artists and collaborators from all over the world. Scripted and shot on location, the team will use the fair galleries and architecture as the backdrop and subject matter of their production. Similarly, China’s Yangjiang Group are hosting a program of events in a makeshift tent within the main structure of Frieze, curated by Grizedale Arts. Entitled “Colisseum of the Consumed”, this program assembles an array of food related performance, discussion, representation and consumable products, such as Joanna Rajkowska’s “Forcing a Miracle” performance, which involves burning and producing smoke from under the tent’s soil, grass and stones. Yet another component of Frieze accommodates the exterior Sculpture Park arranged by Clare Lilley, encompassing the work of Yayoi Kusama, Michael Landy, Jean-Luc Moulène, David Nash, Damián Ortega and more. Among all these events of course stands Frieze Talks with seven unmissable programs including Tino Sehgal in conversation with Jörg Heiser, co-editor of Frieze d/e; Sturtevant talking to John Waters, and more.
View from Frieze Masters 2012. Photo Photo by Linda Nylind. © Linda Nylind/Frieze
No doubt, the occasion of Frieze’s 10th anniversary promises a real extravaganza experience, adding so many new dynamics to attract more collectors and art lovers. This rings especially true from the perspective of Frieze Masters, offering more conservative pieces than Frieze London’s typically cutting-edge agenda. This year’s total value in art works is estimated at about US$1.5 billion, a huge leap from the 2011 edition which barely reached US$350m. Now Frieze seems comfortably squaring up as a main contender to Art Basel, to gradually expand a broader empire than any other art fair.