A stroll around London's Frieze Art Fair 2016

London hosts a large number of art fairs in October but the daddy of them all is Frieze where the world's top galleries gather in a huge marquee in Regent's Park to show off their best wares. 

I go each year with a friend who lectures in Fine Art so I get the best low down on what we are seeing. You can discover new artists but also find new work from established favourites. 

I didn't see much I would want to buy but was sure there was little I could afford, although it's hard to tell as it is a world without price tags!


Here are just a few of the works you might have seen if you went to Frieze and for those who didn't go, have a stroll around with me.  This are by no means the best works on display but just some which caught my eye. 

Melik Ohanian

Mona Hatoum

Paulina Olowska

Paulina Olowska 

Michael Landy 

Michael Landy - detail 

Peter Piller

Damien Hirst 

Jake and Dinos Chapman

Tracey Emin

Damien Hirst - detail  

Raqib Shaw 

Raqib Shaw - detail 

Grayson Perry 

Grayson Perry - detail 

Grayson Perry - detail 

Grayson Perry 

Haegue Yang 

Jesse Darling 

Berta Fischer 

The toilets had been turned into an artwork by Julie Verhoeven and were great fun - loud music, dressed toilet seats and scattered pieces around the wash basins. I'm voting for more interesting toilets everywhere!

 
It's an intense afternoon, trying to see as much as possible inside the marquee so it's good to round off the day with a wander around the sculpture park just outside.  An added bonus is that you can explore these pieces for free!

Claude Lalanne 

Conrad Shawcross

Jean Dubuffet 

Barry Flanagan

Can't wait for next year!

I hope you enjoyed a stroll around Frieze. Follow me on Twitter to explore more of London,
Sue  @itsyourlondon
www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

Come on a virtual visit to London's Frieze Art Fair

Frieze Art Fair takes place each year in a huge marquee in Regent's Park and attracts the top art people from all over the world - artists, collectors, buyers, galleries and the likes of you and me who like to just visit. When I say visit, there is the people watching, the lusting after out of reach pricey art, there is the lunching and then, sometimes, there is the champagne. So all in all a big day out!

On my way to the main entrance I stumbled upon the edge of the impressive Sculpture Park which is a free side exhibition to the rather more expensive main event.  In just a few minutes I saw some good and some fun stuff on one corner of the park and this map tells you how much else there is to see: 

Then it was time to enter the beast of a show that is Frieze and we spent a good 4 hours exploring the rooms and even then missed out on many galleries. There was the important matter of lunch, of course, just a few snacks at Caravan, to keep us going. Despite this distraction,  we did see some interesting, some beautiful and some downright strange stuff so here is my selection for you to enjoy:

Damien Hirst

Tony Cragg

Goshka Macuga's wool tapestry

Mariana Castillo Deball

Mark Wallinger's curated room. Was he supposed to be sleeping? Yes!

Angus Fairhurst

Darren Bader. One of the strange pieces - an axe in sugar

Wolfgang Tillman - beautiful and impossible to photography

Joyce Pensato

Callum Innes - loved this colour and form

Alicja Kwale - yes a wrapped door

Alexandre da Cunha

Slavs and Tatars

A performance piece

Eric Bainbridge

Tacita Dean

 I hope you had a good time at my virtual Frieze. There is a lot of art on in London at the moment,  so watch out for more arty blogs over the next few weeks.

Bye for now.
Sue
@itsyourlondon
www.itsyourlondon.co.uk

Is it art? A visit to Frieze Fair London

That big question - what is art? I've been to thousands of art exhibitions and galleries, taken tens of art courses and I still have no real answer to that question but I don't think I'm alone in this dilemma. Is it in the eye of the beholder? Like beauty, there is usually some agreement on what is and what is not but there is also space for the quirky one offs. 

October in London sees the great and the good (and the bad) in the art world gathering at Frieze Art Fair. Collectors and artists from all over the world can be found in the enormous tents pitched in Regent's Park for 4 days of schmoozing and being seen and trying to spot the next big thing so they can say they 'found them ages ago'! 

I was lucky enough to be invited to the evening preview (big thanks to The Marylebone Hotel, London, part of the Doyle Collection) so I got to wander around, with my glass of champagne, checking out the art before the crowds piled in the next morning.  I took loads of photos so I could  share the fair with you. I make no judgement and some are pretty 'out there' but I hope you enjoy your virtual Frieze and for those of you who like a bit of people watching, scroll towards the end of the photos and you'll see some of the fashions.....

 

This one's interactive - you could sit in the middle!

Here are just a few photos of the people at the fair who were mostly dressed up and some in amazing outfits but there were also a few jeans and grubby trainer types too but no photos of them!

 Coinciding with Frieze are loads of new openings at London's great museums and art galleries so watch out for future blogs about these and some more unexpected openings!  I'm not giving any clues about that but watch this space.......

Bye for now,
Sue
@itsyourlondon
www.itsyourlondon.co.uk