Frieze London 2023: 20th Anniversary (Contemporary and Masters)
The fairs are scheduled to take place simultaneously from October 11th to October 15th, 2023, at Regent's Park in London. They will unite prominent galleries representing 46 different countries. In addition to the fairs, there will be a comprehensive lineup of events and activities both within the venue and throughout the city, all aimed at celebrating London's rich cultural scene. Frieze London and Frieze Masters are pivotal events on the global art calendar, serving as a worldwide hub where art, concepts, and individuals converge.
Some highlights include…
Sarah Lucas HAPPY GAS Installation View at Tate Britain 2023. © Sarah Lucas. Photo © Tate
Sadie Coles HQ will mark the fair's 20th anniversary with a group exhibition that echoes their participation in the inaugural edition in 2003. This exhibition will include works by gallery artists who were part of that first year, such as John Currin and Sarah Lucas.
Pilar Corrias will host a solo exhibition by Sophie Von Hellerman, an artist based in Margate. Her installation draws inspiration from the iconic Dreamland funfair, aiming to challenge and reclaim stereotypes associated with femininity.
Hauser & Wirth's presentation will shine a spotlight on the groundbreaking artist Barbara Chase-Riboud, with a solo exhibition featuring bronze sculptures from the Standing Black Woman of Venice series and recent works on paper created in her distinctive automatic writing style.
Timothy Taylor has invited Claire Gilman, Chief Curator at The Drawing Center in New York, to curate a solo booth featuring Eddie Martinez. This exhibition builds upon Martinez's 2017 exhibition at the Drawing Center, where he used a 'wallpaper' backdrop composed of thousands of drawings.
Renowned British artist Damien Hirst, famous for his controversial works involving preserved animals or a diamond-encrusted human skull, has opted for a more straightforward approach in his latest series. The yet-to-be-exhibited collection, titled "The Secret Gardens Paintings," will be prominently featured in Gagosian's booth at the upcoming Frieze London event.
Sprüth Magers will present a solo retrospective by Hyun-Sook Song, with a selection of works spanning the artist’s career.
White Cube will unite historical and recent work by Mona Hatoum, ranging from rarely exhibited reference material to sculptures that manifest elements, including the web and the body.
Frieze Sculpture
Louise Nevelson, Model for Celebration II, 1976, Pace Gallery. Frieze Sculpture 2023. Photo by Linda Nylind. Courtesy of Linda Nylind / Frieze.
Frieze Sculpture, the renowned open-air art exhibition, is making its return to London's The Regent’s Park from September 20th to October 29th, 2023. This year's Frieze Sculpture will be curated for the first time by the independent curator and writer Fatoş Üstek. The exhibition will showcase the works of 21 prominent international artists, strategically placed throughout the historic English Gardens of The Regent’s Park. The list of participating artists includes Ghada Amer, Leilah Babirye, Sanford Biggers, Jyll Bradley, Catharine Czudej, Ayşe Erkmen, Yuichi Hirako, Suhasini Kejriwal, Tony Matelli, Louise Nevelson, Temitayo Ogunbiyi, Zak Ové, Li Li Ren, Hans Rosenström, Tomas Saraceno and many more.
Ugo Rondinone, yellow blue monk (2020). Photo by Linda Nylind. Courtesy Frieze and Linda Nylind.
Frieze Sculpture 2023 includes artists presenting significant pieces in public spaces for their inaugural exhibitions, as well as emerging artists who are challenging artistic norms. The exhibition consists of projects that respond directly to the location and those that are created specifically for it. Frieze Sculpture explores how sculpture can simultaneously convey both a sense of grandeur and transience. This year's edition showcases a range of new and existing artworks, highlighting the diverse sculptural techniques employed by contemporary artists. The exhibited pieces span conceptual, experiential, playful, and imaginative approaches, all united by themes of change, political empowerment, modern rituals, and the exploration of societal ideas.
Must-See Exhibitions
Georg Baselitz, Untitled, 2014. © Georg Baselitz 2023. Photo: Jochen Littkemann, Berlin.
Georg Baselitz: Sculptures 2011 – 2015
5 October 2023 – 7 January 2024, Serpentine South
“Sculpture is a thing like a miracle. It is built up, decked out, made arbitrarily not as the sign of thoughts but as a thing within the limits of the shape.” – Georg Baselitz.
Georg Baselitz, Zero Mobil (Zero Mobile), 2013-2014. © Georg Baselitz 2023. Photo: Jochen Littkemann, Berlin.
Over the course of a remarkable career that spans more than six decades, Georg Baselitz, born in Saxony, Germany in 1938, initially gained prominence as a painter in the post-war era. However, it was from 1969 onwards that he embarked on a transformative artistic journey, becoming renowned for his distinctive practice of inverting or upending human forms and various motifs within his expressionistic paintings. Through this bold approach, Baselitz sought to transcend conventional content and narrative in his artistry. Instead, he directed his creative focus towards the interplay of form, color, and texture, thereby introducing fresh and innovative perspectives into the rich tradition of German Expressionism. In 1979, Baselitz embarked on a new dimension of his artistic exploration, venturing into the realm of sculpture. In this medium, he continued his exploration of the dynamic tension between the figurative and the abstract, manifesting it through raw and primal renditions of figures and body fragments meticulously carved from wood.
Wrapped Trees – Project for Fondation Beyeler & Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland (1998) Photo courtesy Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation & Gagosian
CHRISTO Early Works | Curated by Elena Geuna
October 6–22, 2023, Gagosian Open, 4 Princelet Street, London
Gagosian unveils a unique exhibition showcasing the early artistic endeavors of Christo. This extraordinary exhibition will find its home at 4 Princelet Street, nestled in the picturesque Spitalfields district of London. Meticulously curated under the discerning eye of Elena Geuna, this exhibition serves as the inaugural endeavor in the Gagosian Open series—a collection of off-site projects that beckon to push the boundaries of artistic expression.
Christo and his artistic collaborator and wife, Jeanne-Claude, have earned worldwide acclaim for their monumental and ephemeral works of art. They have, in essence, redefined the very essence of the relationship between art and the public space, stretching the boundaries of scale and utterly transforming the landscapes we thought we knew. Their creations, often requiring intricate planning and intricate negotiations, are self-funded, temporary masterpieces that grace our world for only fleeting moments. After their brief existence, these artworks gracefully yield their materials for repurposing and recycling, returning the sites they once occupied to their original, untouched state.
Sarah Lucas HAPPY GAS Installation View at Tate Britain 2023. © Sarah Lucas. Photo © Tate
Sarah Lucas: Happy Gas
28 September 2023 – 14 January 2024, Tate Britain
Happy Gas presents a captivating and unexpected installation featuring a blend of older and newer works by the artist Lucas, spanning from 1991 to the present day. In contrast to a typical retrospective that follows a linear progression of an artist's career, Lucas curates this exhibition in a fresh and unconventional manner. She juxtaposes older pieces with more recent creations, allowing viewers to perceive them in a novel light. Lucas, often characterized as a "slacker" since her emergence in the late 1980s, has been remarkably prolific. She not only created the artworks but also meticulously designed the exhibition, from the arrangement of seating to the placement of the works on plinths.
Lucas's sculptures, which often depict headless figures, exude a sense of vitality and variety. Constructed from materials like stuffed tights, wire, bronze, raw concrete, and painted resin, these figures twist and contort in unexpected ways. They convey a dynamic presence, challenging traditional notions of form and representation. In one instance, an androgynous figure reclines on a robust chair, boldly asserting itself with a silvery-bronze erection reaching toward the ceiling. In another, a figure appears entangled in a folding chair, adorned with expressive paint strokes. Throughout the exhibition, black cats playfully roam the galleries, adding a whimsical touch to the overall experience. Lucas's ability to infuse humor into her art shines through, even in the most unconventional and thought-provoking pieces. "Happy Gas" thus offers a unique and engaging exploration of Lucas's oeuvre, demonstrating her mastery in combining creativity, wit, and artistic diversity.
Daniel Richter Stupor
10 October—1 December 2023, Thaddaeus Ropac
In his second solo exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac in London, Daniel Richter's latest artistic offerings showcase his ongoing ingenuity in capturing the human form. Richter's distinctive approach to depicting biomorphic shapes in a series of dynamic, contorted poses takes center stage. Since 2015, he has dismantled traditional compositional boundaries, blurring the distinctions between background, foreground, and subject. This body of work departs from his previous series, which drew inspiration from an array of sources, from explicit imagery to historical postcards featuring World War I casualties. Instead, Richter's new creations are a reflection of his surroundings, inspired by everyday scenes like an elderly woman passing by or kids playing basketball. These knotted figures, often solitary or in small groups, are defined by bold black lines, their limbs, facial features, and hunched torsos emerging and vanishing amid vibrant, smeared paint. Against striking red backdrops, these contorted forms pulse with energy, a result of the artist's audacious use of color and dynamic mark-making.
Richter's commitment to artistic evolution is evident in this exhibition, as he experiments with the flat backdrops that characterized his earlier works. Here, the figures are set against a gray backdrop almost entirely concealed beneath a layer of vivid red paint, casting the bodies adrift in a sea of intense color. In a reverse of the typical painting process, the background becomes one of the final stages of each artwork. Richter's philosophy of embracing change is succinctly expressed in his words, "I think it's good to change. I had milked the cow, now I am riding the pig." This approach to artmaking makes these pieces not only studies in color, line, and technique but also explorations of the human figure, carving out a distinctive niche within Richter's extensive body of work and the broader landscape of contemporary painting.
Sylvie Fleury S.F. Installation view, Sprüth Magers, London, Photo: Ben Westoby
Sylvie Fleury: S.F.
22 September – 4 November 2023, Sprueth Magers
Sylvie Fleury's art practice creates captivating pieces that bring together art, consumerism, and life. Her sculptures, paintings, neon artworks, and videos address contemporary themes, refusing to be confined by conventional expectations and definitions. Monika Sprüth and Philomene Magers are excited to announce a comprehensive exhibition at Sprüth Magers in London. This exhibition not only celebrates the long-standing relationship between the gallery and the artist but also provides a deep dive into Fleury's diverse and impressive body of work, spanning three decades.
Sylvie Fleury S.F. Installation view, Sprüth Magers, London, Photo: Ben Westoby
In this exhibition, Fleury transforms all of the gallery's spaces, employing strategies reminiscent of the fashion, beauty, and advertising industries. She uses these strategies to challenge established norms in Western art history, particularly the male-dominated modernist canon, and to scrutinize the art world's involvement with consumerism. Alongside showcasing several of Fleury's iconic artworks, the exhibition also features new pieces created specifically for this show.
RICHARD PRINCE Early Photography, 1977–87
5 October –22 December 2023, Gagosian Grosvenor Hill
Gagosian announces two upcoming exhibitions by Richard Prince in London. Opening on October 5, 2023, at the Grosvenor Hill gallery, "Early Photography, 1977–87," and at the Davies Street gallery, "The Entertainers," will feature a collection of Prince's renowned cowboy, girlfriend, and advertisement photographs, including some never-before-seen pieces in the city. At the Davies Street gallery, visitors can explore the complete series "The Entertainers" (1982–83), a rare set of manipulated photographs capturing the gritty allure of New York's Times Square bars, clubs, and restaurants. Meanwhile, the Grosvenor Hill gallery will showcase works from various other series.
Richard Prince's art revolves around collecting, documenting, and reinterpreting unsettling elements of mainstream humor and images from mass media. He delves into the crossroads of America's diverse cultures and subcultures, shaping its national identity. In 1977, he pioneered the technique of "rephotography," appropriating images from advertising and lifestyle publications, effectively redefining concepts of authorship and originality. This approach, later expanded to include social media, disrupts traditional image-making techniques, allowing Prince to shift the authority of a visual reference.
Avery Singer, Deepfake Marcy, 2023. Photo courtesy of Hauser and Wirth.
Avery Singer. Free Fall
11 October – 22 December 2023, Hauser & Wirth London
Singer has designed an exhibition that recreates her memories of the interior of the World Trade Center offices, where her mother used to work before 9/11. This installation blends the mundane aspects of office life with the distinctive architectural style of the World Trade Center towers designed by Minoru Yamasaki. It creates an installation that is both reminiscent of a stage set and resembles minimalist sculpture, subtly disorienting the viewer.
In this recreated environment, the artist showcases new paintings that bridge the gap between the impersonal digital world and her personal experiences. These paintings merge computer-generated landscapes produced with software like Autodesk Maya, the same 3D software used to construct the immersive architectural setting based on Singer's memories. Since 2010, Singer has utilized the binary language of computer programs and industrial materials to eliminate any obvious traces of her artistic hand, all the while engaging with the rich traditions of painting and the heritage of modernism. The new large-scale paintings featured in 'Free Fall' combine digital representations with a combination of manual and digital airbrush techniques, liquid and solid masking, and intricate layering processes.