Balloons away
Frieze London There’s plenty of fun to be had at this year’s bumper fair but the prices are deadly serious. picks out his highlights
ON THE day Theresa May’s conference speech affirmed the chaos in Britain’s political life, the Frieze London art fair’s VIP day proved again that the capital’s art market remains buoyant, immune to the wider disarray. Works were selling for seven-figure sums within minutes of the arrival of the world’s biggest collectors in Regent’s Park, and the dealers seemed chipper.
The work at the booths of the more than 160 galleries from 31 countries at Frieze London, now in its 15th year, is typically eclectic, and the big guns among the galleries have adopted different strategies. Gagosian plays it low-key, with works on paper rather than the kind of show-stopping stand they’ve done before. Hauser & Wirth adopt a more playful concept, creating a mock-regional museum, with a show of bronze works, complete with a shop selling pencils for £1, random bronze items from eBay and works by artists such as David Smith and Louise Bourgeois on sale for millions, the whole thing curated by Mary Beard. Sex Work, dedicated to radical sexual politics, is a fascinating addition. Focus, dedicated to younger galleries and emerging artists, is the fair’s most dynamic and enjoyable section. This 33-year-old Estonian artist is at a breakthrough moment: she’s showing at the new Goldsmiths gallery in London when it opens next year, and in Performa, the performance art biennial in
New York, next month. Her work for Frieze evokes her performances, which often feature music, but it consists of a darkly absurd sculpture, made from found and handmade materials.
A faceless, keyboard-playing robed figure, fashioned in ceramic, sits atop the prow of real upturned boat on the spume of waves formed from balloons. The figure’s rope legs drop flaccidly over the side of the boat, and end in outsize, comic ceramic sneakers and socks. It’s a classic Romantic or mythological image gone slightly awry: funny, gently sinister and captivating.