The Big Frieze

Tomorrow sees the opening of the ninth Frieze Art Fair, designed by architect Carmody Groarke, showcasing and selling artworks from over 170 galleries from around the world.

Running concurrently with the Pavilion of Art & Design , the fair will span London’s Regents Park and includes a large outdoor sculpture garden.

Thomas Houseago, Hemaphrodite, 2011
Thomas Houseago, Hemaphrodite, 2011

The garden, which is free to visit, will be showing new works from Thomas Houseago – who has created these eerie Hermaphrodite pieces – alongside sculptures by Tom Friedman and Kiki Smith.

Kiki Smith
Kiki Smith, Seer (Alice II), 2005 copyright Kiki Smith ; Courtesy, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London

LA-based British artist Houesago takes his cues from a wide range of different cultural influences, said to include Classical art, modern masters, comic books and traditional African art. His pieces aim to express the ‘performative and handmade aspects of sculpture’, with their deliberately weathered feel and abstract leanings.

Yang Fudong Installation view

Source: Courtesy Parasol unit and Yang Fduong, Photo Hugo Glendinning

Yang Fudong Installation view

The Frieze Projects programme, curated by Sarah McCrory, sees artists invited to apply to create a site specific work to be exhibited at the fair. Seven artists have been commissioned – Bik Van der Pol, Pierre Huyghe, Christian Jankowski, Oliver Laric, LuckyPDF, Peles Empire, Laure Prouvost and Cara Tolmie – as well as the winner of the Emdash Award, Anahita Razmi.

Circle Dance 4
Circle Dance 4, Tom Friedman

The award is given annually to an emerging artist based outside the UK. The works of video and performance artist Razmi, who is based in Stuttgart, are thematically rooted in ideas of identity and gender, often using objects with national and cultural significance. Her Frieze piece aims to highlight how Tehran’s skyline was recently used by protestors after the Iranian presidential election.

She will use choreographer Trisha Brown’s 1971 work Roof Piece, which took place on 12 different rooftops over a ten-block area in downtown New York within her video installation piece for the fair.

Choksi, Echo Cube 21
Neho Choksi, Echo of the Inside (Column Cube I) 2011

Video is also at the fore in Image Movement’s space, located in Frieze’s Frame section. Among the stand’s highlights will be a film edition by David Lamelas, Conflict of Meaning (Film Script), which consists of three glicée prints and a 16mm film transferred to DVD, and aims to examine cinema’s use of narrative and time.

Sprueth Magers Berlin, Image Movement, David Lamelas Conflict of Meaning 2
Sprueth Magers Berlin, Image Movement, David Lamelas Conflict of Meaning 2

Frieze Art Fair takes place in London’s Regent’s Park from 13–16 October

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