Despite coinciding with four days of biblical-style downpours, the general consensus was that the second edition of London’s Frieze fair built successfully on the momentum of the first and ironed out many of last year’s wrinkles.
Architect David Adjaye elegantly expanded his stylish tent to accommodate an extra 25 galleries, and there was much relief at the additional space provided for meeting and seating, eating and drinking: all essential to staving off a profound fall in morale at such events.
Although no gallery will ever admit to having a bad fair, the buzz seemed genuinely good and sales abundant. “It’s even better than last year”, was the verdict of Gagosian director Stefan Ratibor. “The quality of the people, the conversations and business done on the spot, as well as the prospect of excellent after-business have all exceeded expectations.” Although Gagosian make a policy of not mentioning figures, on the fair’s second day they had already sold major pieces by Rachel Whiteread, Franz West, Jeff Koons, Ed Ruscha and Richard Hamilton.
Heavyweight newcomers were happy too, with Sperone Westwater reporting brisk sales and James Lavender of Barbara Gladstone reporting sales of work by Matthew Barney, Richard Prince and the Beckers by day two and declaring, “We are delighted with our first time here and will definitely be back. All the key people have come, both from Europe and America.”
One of the many talking points of the fair was White Cube’s presentation of Jake and Dinos Chapman’s single vitrine from their now-destroyed nine-part sculpture “Hell”, which they re-created using a model church and mini-mutants left over from the original piece. In this new version the Chapmans have given the church a decidedly scorched appearance and teasingly entitled it “Shape of Things to Come” (1999-2004)
The work was immediately sold for £450,000 ($810,000 ). Marc Quinn’s huge, bronze “Cybernetically expanded, cloned and grown rabbit” attracted a swift buyer at £135,000 ($243,000). There was brisk business on the stand of Glasgow’s Modern Institute, which especially benefited from the attentions of the selectors for The Frieze Fair Special Acquisitions Fund.
This year the fund, donated by London collectors “to ensure that some of the best works in the fair will find a home in the Tate” was increased to £150,000 ($270,000), with selectors Richard Flood of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and Kasper König of the Ludwig Museum in Cologne in collaboration with the Tate’s Jan Debbout making four out of the fund’s eight purchases from the Modern Institute, including a very fine “Souped up tea urn and tea pot” co-created by Turner Prize shortlisted Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane.
It is always difficult to spot new trends in art at fairs, as many galleries prefer to play safe with tried and true names. However in comparison to last year there was markedly less photographic work and more painterly paintings. Timothy Taylor completely sold out his stock of large luminous works by new stable member Tim Braden (£1,000-£6,500), to the extent that the gallery had to get more from the artist’s studio. There were collectors drooling over the lush work of Claire Woods on Modern Art’s stand and Cabinet Gallery, who were showing one of Gillian Carnegie’s dark, dense flower paintings declared that they “could have sold it 15 times over.”
Because it is organised by an art magazine, Frieze aims to place art and artists at the centre of the fair in ways that extend beyond the commercial by commissioning a series of artist’s projects, including Annika Eriksson’s open forum “Do you want an audience?”, a fully functioning day-and-night club area supplied by Mexican artists group Los Super Elegantes, and Pae White’s eyecatching sunset and sunrise decals that adorned the VIP courtesy Rover cars.
Another way in which Frieze broke the standard art fair mould was the way in which it interspersed a smattering of interesting smaller galleries among the larger stands: Mexico’s kurimanzutto between Luhring Augustine and Sperone Westwater; or Green Grassi sandwiched by Metro-Skarstedt and Barbara Gladstone, for example. All parties seemed happy with the arrangement, the larger spaces enjoying the shot in the arm of a younger presence and the younger galleries appreciating the proximity to the collector base of the major-league stands.
If there was one overall criticism of the fair, it was that this year the organisers had taken the safer option of attracting bigger name galleries at the expense of the smaller, younger spaces that, to a great extent, are what give London its cultural buzz. The fear expressed by a number of Frieze visitors was that the fair was at risk of becoming too mainstream, with not enough new discoveries to be made on the stands themselves. (“What is the point of coming to London to see the galleries I could see at the Armory or Basel?” one collector was heard to complain.) It was therefore astute of David Risley (who runs his own East End Gallery as well as being a co-curator of the Bloomberg Space), and Soraya Rodriguez (formerly of Max Wigram Projects), to redress the balance by hosting a satellite event with work by younger artists.
As its name implies, Zoo took place across Regent’s park in London Zoo’s Prince Albert Banqueting Suite and the Mappin pavilion next to the bear enclosure. In these idiosyncratic surroundings one saw more than 20 of the capital’s youngest galleries and project spaces, including Fa Projects from Bankside, which represent Hamlyn award-winning sculptor David Burrows, and the widely admired video artist duo Paul Harrison and John Wood; and the East London space of Kate MacGarry, who took part in Frieze last year. Everyone reported excellent sales, and many to known collectors, many of whom were brought in by Zoo backers and major London-based collectors Anita and Poju Zabludowicz.
Zoo even sported a stand entitled “Unsigned”, devoted to artists who do not yet have a gallery of their own. This was curated by Sorayta Rodriguez and the redoubtable David Thorpe, formerly of the South London Gallery and Henry Moore Institute, and here works, such as Neil Hamon’s sinisterly breathing stuffed hare, which comes accompanied by a photograph of the seemingly dead artist, could be purchased.
Inevitably, the four days of Frieze have created an extended autumn art weekend for London, with activities timed to coincide with the influx of art lovers (and buyers).
Among these is Scope, the rival art fair that already takes place to coincide with major fairs in in New York, Miami and Los Angeles, and in London set itself up in the Melia White House hotel, not far from Regent’s Park. Here 46 galleries from America and Europe (and just one from London) established themselves in an hotel bedroom each, where their works of art—with varying degrees of success—attempted to compete with the overwhelming decor. An exhibition of emerging artists had been selected by a specially appointed ScopeCircle Committee, which included artist Gavin Turk, film director Mike Figgis and Tate Liverpool curator Simon Groom, and this gave the event slightly more of a London-based feel. One visitor declared that wandering down the lengthy corridors made him “feel like an extra in ‘The Shining’”, and all the gallery owners looked somewhat gloomy.
But whether in its hotels, its galleries, its Zoo or that big tent in the Park, by the end of what came to known as “Frieze week”, London certainly felt itself to be truly colonised by contemporary art. The amount of activity and energy generated in those four days confirms that London has come of age as a centre for the global contemporary art market. As significant is the growth of the home market, with many important sales reportedly being made to new collectors based in the UK as well as to those from overseas.
It now seems impossible to imagine October in London without the Frieze fair. Let’s just hope that it manages to keep its adventurous edge.