Last week, INTROE had the pleasure of experiencing all Frieze London has to offer, from the Fair, to Frieze Sculpture, to galleries celebrating with their own special exhibitions during the month. The fair itself is hosted in an infamously large white tent, erected in the middle of Regent’s Park, and draws an international crowd of gallerists, artists, buyers and art admirers. The celebration extends well beyond the tent and seeps into the rest of the park through Frieze Sculpture, as well as month-long exhibitions from galleries marking the occasion as an opportunity to embrace the international art scene.
Regent’s Park is arguably one of the most scenic settings for the event, and even more so with an array of sculptures placed in the historic English Gardens. Curated by Fatoş Üstek, Frieze Sculpture comprises 11 international artists' sculpture's and runs till the of 1st November.
While exploring the gardens, we were fortunate to speak with two of the featured artists about their work. One was Catriona Robertson, a London-based artist and sculptor, who told us about her large-scale project WYRM presented by Muse Gallery. A burrowing worm constructed from reclaimed materials and corrugated metal, it reimagines the relationship between art, urban waste and our connection to the land. The idea came from an eco-conscious outlook and a desire to unearth the truth that lies beneath human activity and the waste we leave behind.
“I’m interested in the ideas of urban geology and future fossils, and how we are affecting and disrupting ecologies with human activity.”
WYRM feels like a natural habitat for the work, revealing the historic ruins that remain beneath the park’s pristine surface. Catriona added that the sculpture is designed to weather with the elements, embracing its natural charm.
“I feel it’s a sculpture that belongs outside, enjoying the elements.”
Watch Catriona Robertson's full interview
Our second conversation was with Czech artist Matyáš Chochola, who brings three monumental sculptures to Frieze Sculpture: MACE II, METEOR and BRUTALIST, presented by The Chemistry Gallery. Part of his twelve-work series Virtues and Vices of Our Time: 300 Years Later, they reimagine Matthias Bernard Braun’s Baroque allegories, carved in the early 1700s for the Kuks estate in eastern Bohemia.
“There was a baroque castle full of baroque sculptures, which were figurative allegories of virtues and vices... I had to recreate them in a more abstract way, in the version of current contemporary society.”
Where Braun’s figures belonged to a shared moral order, Chochola’s emerge from a world without one. Made with Czech company Voxell, they were 3D concrete printed with deliberate glitches, then finished by hand with glass, bronze and brass. Each stands three to four metres tall.
“I had the aim to touch correlations of future and historical themes, so they will lead us to some otherworldly gap in between of time, a presence, future and past, so we can see them as mementos of some different era which may be already disappearing, or maybe just coming.”
Watch Matyáš Chochola's full interview
After strolling around the beautiful English Gardens, we headed inside for the highly anticipated main event, Frieze London. Inside the white tent were aisles upon aisles of some of the best contemporary art on offer. The fair had sections for everyone, from Focus, which highlights emerging artists, to Artist to Artist, to the main Galleries section, which hosted over 116 galleries from all over the world.Attending on the VIP day, it was especially interesting to see the networking between esteemed galleries and art dealers and buyers. Although the fair has now closed, we’ve listed some of the galleries and artworks that are worth keeping an eye on, whether at the next Frieze or in their future exhibitions.Frieze is about much more than the fair itself.
Beyond the tent, galleries across London are hosting exhibitions throughout the month, featuring international artists, special events and shows curated especially for Frieze. We met up with Soup Gallery director and co-owner Hector Campbell about their current exhibition, “Communication Breakdown” by artist Kyvèli Zoi, and gained an insight into life as a gallery owner working with emerging artists. On the flip side, we spoke with artist Anna Sebastian about her debut solo exhibition, “The Same Dust”, at IMT Gallery. Both conversations were incredible eye-openers to the talent and community that rise through art in London, especially within local galleries.
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