Frieze returns in all its majesty. Let Spoonfed guide you through the highs and lows.
Urgh Frieze. Yes, yes it's here again. The galleon has set sail. A sea of pinstripes, lushly draped flannels and greed. The art is but flotsam. Sales patter sprays, art-speak spatters – dashed against the monolithic cliff-face of monumental wealth. What's important is the price.
In short Frieze Art Fair is a bit of a nightmare, but everyone in the art world has to go, just so they can be rude about it. And there is some good stuff here; it's just that the whole thing is so unspeakably vast that it tends to get rather lost amidst the seond-rate Damien Hirsts and bits of old Emin that White Cube haven't managed to flog off this past year.
Anyway, what's good? Here's our picks:
The conversations
Not quite as good as last year – but it's still always worth listening in where possible, particularly when the poor gallery folk are trying to flog their wares to the mega-rich. My favourite was at Alison Jacques where the gallerist was desperate to highlight the “unheimlich” nature of a work, only to be interrupted by the potential buyer: “Yes, but what's the price?”
The outfits
The outfits are always one of the best parts of Frieze: men in crazy red suits, wacky hats, the heaviest brogues in town, acres of caramel-coloured cashmere, grey flannels, vertiginous heels... Interestingly, much of the work on show seemed to explore this – coats, jumpers, t-shirts and suits all featured in various guises. Note to anyone trying to get into the VIP – black is essential. Apart from the 75-year old fellow in the gold sequined hoodie of course. What a dude.
The celebrities
Today we saw Grayson Perry – looking natty in bright pink tights and matching quilted lederhosen, bib and baggy cap; Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran in ill-fitting black suit; Bob and Roberta Smith looking bored; and Ronnie Wood – looking more like a crude wooden carving than ever.
Oh, and the art...
Simon Fujiwara – Frozen
Various locations
The Cartier Award 2010 sees Simon Fujiwara create a fair-wide installation that imagines the discovery of an ancient civilisation buried beneath Regent's Park. The work looks at ideas of archaeology, documentation, history and – of course – the contemporary art world today. It's also funny, and painstakingly done.
Eric Baudelaire – Foundations
Galeria Juana De Aizpuru, Madrid
Baudelaire's large-scale photograph sees concrete and wire columns (literal foundations) jut out of a waterlogged site, which in turn catches their reflections. Like his other photos it's deserted, barren and beautiful..
Erwin Wurm – Gherkins
Jack Hanley Gallery, New York
Wurm is known for creating sculptures that make the ordinary less ordinary, or just making cool weird things, and he doesn't disappoint with a series of plinths hosting different shaped and coloured gherkins. We assume this is intentionally comical; if so it certainly works, and provides a welcome interlude.
Candida Hefer – Theatre de Montansier Paris III
Galerie Rodiger Schottle, Munich
Hefer has a penchant for splendour, often photographing the insides of theatres, palaces and grand libraries. This is another of those large-scale empty interior shots, but is impressive and stands out amongst a lot of the other photographic work on display.
Jesper Just – Sirens of Chrome
Galleri Christina Wilson, Copenhagen
We can't pretend to understand any kind of logical narrative in this video work, but it's shot beautifully and appears almost as a series of stills
Marcus Coates – Shamanic costume and video
Kate MacGarry, London
We bloody love Marcus Coates – mainly because he seems both completely insane and utterly rational. Check out the outfit we saw him busting in Elephant and Castle a while back, as well as his brilliant encounter in Israel – his shell-suit/badger combo is quite the strongest look in the whole of Frieze.
Frieze Art Fair runs in Regent's Park until 17th October 2010.
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Return to Spoonfed's London Art homepage.
Image credit: Linda Nylind for Frieze, 13/10/2010.
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