Frieze Art Fair 2009 Highlights
Notable Works from London’s Premier Contemporary Gallery Show
Nov 2, 2009
The Frieze Art Fair, one of the most significant on the global fine arts calendar, was held in London’s Regent’s Park from 15 to 18 October and included 165 contemporary art galleries from around the world.
Frame Young Gallery Section
For the first time this year, the Frieze Art Fair showcased a special section of “young” galleries (who have been in existence less than six years and would not normally be eligible for exhibit). The section, called Frame, featured focussed solo artist presentations from such galleries as New York’s Lisa Cooley, Mumbai’s Project 88 and London’s Limoncello.
The program serves to bring a new dimension to the prestigious fair, giving exposure to exciting emerging galleries as well as introducing lesser-known (and lower-priced) artists. Frame captures a niche previously uncatered for at the Frieze, and more generally associated with the satellite Zoo Art Fair, founded in 2004 to showcase emerging art.
The inaugural Frame has been hailed as a success. Project 88 director Sree Goswami said: “It has gone very well for us. We’ve sold to corporate collections and new buyers. There is a really good vibe and feel to the Frame section.”
Another Frame participant who sold all their works at the fair was London’s Seventeen. Said owner Dave Hoyland, “It has been amazing and vastly surpassed our expectations. We have placed all the work with great collections. We’re flattered to be here, the architecture of the Frame section is great and the respect shown to younger galleries has been amazing.”
Contemporary Art Galleries
Some of the giants of the contemporary art gallery scene also enjoyed success with established artists in what could be seen as similar to the “flight to quality” effect seen in financial and real estate markets in difficult economic times.
New York’s Lehmann Maupin generated excitement with a unique program of commissions from Tracey Emin entitled Neon Life, for which the artist created neon designs based on intimate interviews with the client. Hauser & Wirth scored the biggest sale of the fair with the venerable Louise Bourgeouis’ sculpture The Couple bringing in $3.5 million; and Alison Jacques Gallery had a successful first showing of Hannah Wilke works.
John Baldessari at Frieze Talks
One particular highlight of Frieze 2009 was artist John Baldessari participating in the Frieze Talks program. Veteran California conceptual artist Baldessari has enjoyed a groundswell of interest this year, with his Pure Beauty retrospective exhibition at the Tate Modern running through January 2010.
Baldessari, known for his witty, ironic commentary on the art market with such works as Tips for Artists Who Want to Sell (acrylic on canvas, 1966-68), answered questions from frieze magazine readers on everything from his working studio routine to the nature of beauty and the perennial puzzler “what is art?” to which Baldessari replied, “For me art and artists are a convincing lie. You have to convince someone about something they are not ready to be convinced about. If they’re already convinced about something it’s not so interesting.”
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