Frieze London 2023 – bigger, better, longer than any Frieze before – sees the world’s cultural magpies descend on the city. As Frieze marks its 20th anniversary, it’s a big moment for the world’s most famous art fair, and one it is celebrating with a packed programme of events, spanning the established – El Anatsui, Frans Hals and Ai Weiwei lead the heavyweights at Frieze Masters – to the eclectic, such as Sprüth Magers’ presentation of a Hyun-Sook Song retrospective and White Cube’s Mona Hatoum exhibition. More than 160 galleries from 46 countries will come together from 11 – 15 October.
The action extends far beyond the perimeters of the fair’s epicentre in Regent’s Park. Saatchi Yates art cabaret with Will St John at The Box; Berlin-based and Jamaican-born multimedia artist MJ Harper’s one-off performance at London’s Koko; and Avery Singer’s show at Hauser & Wirth coinciding with Frieze’s opening are just some of our Frieze Week highlights.
Frieze London 2023: what to see in the fair
Van Hanos Beyeren’s Banquet, 2023
Frieze Masters presents works from the last few centuries in a generous curation. Galleria Continua will focus on the years 1983 to 1999 in a presentation of Ai Weiwei’s works including his famous Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn and June, 1994. El Anatsui, whose 2023 Hyundai commission is concurrently opening at the Tate Turbine Hall, will showcase a 30-year career with a solo booth at Jack Shainman, while D’Lan Contemporary’s showing of Emily Kam Kngwarray’s paintings marks the first appearance of an Australian First Nations artist at Frieze Masters. Also not to be missed is Nigeria’s most important modernist, Ben Enwonwu, at Kó Gallery from Lagos.
Ben Enwonwu, Dancing Figure, 1956. Courtesy of kó gallery
Leading galleries are presenting a selection of group, solo and thematic shows. Look out for Sadie Coles HQ, which nods to the fair’s first edition in 2003 with works by artists who took part, including John Currin and Sarah Lucas. Also feeling nostalgic is Pilar Corrias, whose solo exhibition by Margate-based artist Sophie Von Hellerman is inspired by Margate’s Dreamland. Immersive works, such as Julianknxx’s video presented by Edel Assanti, which coincides with his Barbican Curve commission, join bronze sculptures by Barbara Chase-Riboud at Hauser & Wirth.
For Lisson Gallery, US-born artist Van Hanos is the focus, with paintings that draw from time spent in Vienna, while Pace Gallery is giving us a taster of 2024, with works by Paulina Olowska, Mao Yan, Yto Barrada, Kiki Kogelnik, and Robert Longo. At Nicola Vassell, a presentation of new paintings by Deborah Anzinger will examine the ways the artist works with ground cookshop charcoal, a fuel indigenous to her native Jamaica. In the Breguet booth, ‘Resisting Time’, curated by independent curator Somi Sim, will look at the concept of time through artists including Hanne Darboven and Julien Coignet. Marianne Boesky Gallery will showcase Danielle Mckinney’s first U.K. solo presentation, shining a light on her paintings of female figures, caught in moments of leisure.
Franz West, Agoraphobischer Gymnopäde,1982
To celebrate Frieze London’s 20 years, eight established artists have been invited to propose a solo exhibition from an emerging artist. For Tracey Emin, Margate-based Vanessa Raw’s paintings are a natural choice; for Olafur Eliasson, it is Fabian Knecht and his installation of pieces of clothing used as camouflage to protect Russian targets in Ukraine. Anthea Hamilton champions Carlos Villa’s 1980s body-print series, Wolfgang Tillmans’ new sculptures and silver gelatin prints by Mark Barker. Meanwhile, the Modern Institute is showcasing the work of artists Rachel Eulena Williams, Jim Lambie and Andrew Sim and more
Elsewhere, talks not to miss include Thomas J Price in conversation with Gus Casely-Hayford (director, V&A East), Arlene Shechet in conversation with Sheena Wagstaff, and Rachel Whiteread with art historian Briony Fer. Towards the end of the week, catch Maggi Hambling, Sarah Lucas and Louisa Buck and Mandy El Sayegh, Flavia Frigeri and Valerie Cassel Olive.
Frieze London 2023: what to see outside the fair
There’s a packed programme of shows, performances and talks taking place around London during Frieze.
Listen: Art for Thought Coffee Cocktail evening
Illycaffè’s collaboration with arts club The Cultivist is a fruitful one. A series of evening talks at the Michelin-starred Apricity will see experts lead the way on arts-based topics. Joey Lico, executive director of The Cultivist (and former director at the New York Foundation for the Arts and art advisor to the White House under the Obama administration) will advise ‘How to Build an Art House’ on 9 October, while curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum East, Dr Madeline Haddon, will discuss ‘Art Through the Ages’ on 23 October. Guests can relax, learn and sip on their coffee cocktails.
Tickets available @ £40 per person from Eventbrite.co.uk
Eva Jospin, Maison Ruinart, 2023. Laura Vasconi
Listen: Ruinart x Talkart podcast at Serpentine Pavilion
Maison Ruinart and Serpentine have teamed up to explore the possibilities in contemporary art. This live TalkArt podcast recording, the first in a series, will see contemporary artist Eva Jospin and Talk Art Podcast hosts Russell Tovey and Robert Diament discuss Jospin’s inspirations behind Ruinart Carte Blanche Commission, Promenade(s).
Tickets available from Eventbrite.co.uk
See: Saatchi Yates
Catch Brooklyn-based artist Will St John chatting to journalist and photographer Marc C O’Flaherty on 9 October. See St John’s work while you are there, on show until 22 October.
Do: Minor Attractions
Don’t miss this ‘non-fair’ of performance, music and nightlife, held across two weeks at two different London sites.
minorattractions.com/Minor-Attractions
1-54 London 2022 © Jim Winslet
154 Contemporary African Art Fair
Held for the 11th year at Somerset House, this year’s exhibition will host over 60 international exhibitors, making it the largest show to date.
See Saatchi Yates and Will St. John kick off Frieze Week with an exhibition and cabaret
Saatchi Yates is marking the beginning of Frieze London 2023 with a celebration of its three year anniversary. To commemorate the the occasion, the space will host an exhibition with artist Will St. John, who created classically influenced portraits of New York’s drag queens and trans community through painting and sculpture. The gallery will be hosting a talk at 6:30 on Monday 9 th October which is open to the public and his eponymous exhibition itself will be running until 22nd October.
Don't miss: Nanomuseum, a limited-edition collaboration between French jewelry house Dauphin and Serpentine Galleries, at Dover Street Market
Charlotte Dauphin and Hans Ulrich Obrist have worked together to create a series of pieces inspired by works of art.
Visit: Kaws' takeover of London’s Shreeji News
Gabriel Chipperfield, who transformed the newsagent’s in 2020, creating a salon and reading room and space for events and exhibitions, as well as a wide selection of magazines, let Kaws lead the way when it came to his residency
Visit: Avant Arte at Matches
Avant Arte is taking over Matches townhouse at 5 Carlos Place, London, during Frieze, with the installation on display until 4 November.
Fall down the rabbit hole into Charlotte Colbert’s Frieze Week dreamland
‘Dreamland Sirens’, a London exhibition from Charlotte Colbert, is curated by Simon de Pury and LA-based gallery UTA Artist Space
Don't miss: MJ Harper’s performance piece at London’s Koko
Artist MJ Harper will premiere ‘Arias for a New World’ at Koko in London this Sunday, 15 October 2023
The Very Large Array (This Is The Rhythm Of The Night), 2023
See: Bronx-Based Artist Kenny Rivero's UK debut
The artist's first exhibition outside of the US and Mexico unites his paintings and drawings at Charles Moffett, No. 9 Cork Street, from 5 - 21 October.
https://charlesmoffett.com/artists/13-kenny-rivero/
See: Yinka Ilori's piece created for member's club George for Frieze London
Yinka Ilori draws on his Nigerian heritage for the piece on show at George Club throughout Frieze.
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Saatchi Gallery is in full bloom with floral works from Vivienne Westwood, Marimekko, Buccellati and more‘Flowers – Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture’ at Saatchi Gallery, London, explores the relationship between creatives and their floral muses, and spans from fashion and jewellery to tattoos
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‘A call to action for more authentic expressions of working-class life’: a London show reframes working-class BritainLondon exhibition ‘Lives Less Ordinary’, at Two Temple Place, challenges age-old stereotypes
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‘Dr Tetris’ on the biggest ever iteration of the puzzle in LondonTetris comes to 360-degree, 23,000 sq ft, 16k LED screens in London; Craig McLean speaks to Henk Rogers, the man who’s kept the game alive
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Never-before-seen Barbara Hepworth works go on show in landmark exhibitionIn ‘Barbara Hepworth: Strings’, various Hepworth sculptures will be exhibited in public for the first time, at Piano Nobile, London
