Frieze Art Fair 2008

Frieze Art Fair 2008

15 October, 2008
by: Tom Jeffreys

Click here to read Tom's guide to 2009's London Art Fairs.

Roll up! Roll up! It's Frieze Art Fair 2008. And my god, what a sight it is. It's like Selfridges in here, but for the head-spinningly wealthy. Armies of old Burberry hags and their Lanvin-clad offspring; oil barons, media tycoons, people with serious cash and a vague interest in arty things. Never has so much tailoring been seen in one place: gallery owners in 'eccentric' checked suits, slicked-back blonde euro-heirs (blazers and jeans), chic black-clad aunts and even more chic gallery assistants. And then the press: cameras to the fore, pens and notebooks ready, expressions of ennui, or is it fear? Fear? Yes, the fear of being crushed under the almighty brogue of wealth.

It's my fault I suppose. The first day is buyers' day. But this is an art fair, and they're the people who matter. I overhear the following from a passing girl: 'yeah, it's just all about sales isn't it?' Too right sweetheart. ABC. A – Always. B – Be. C – Closing. Always Be Closing. ALWAYS Be Closing.

Ok, so the atmosphere is horrible. But what about the art? Ought somebody with no intention of buying bother to fork out up to £25 for the entry fee? Well, no. And yes. No, because it's always packed and most of the work on show is not that great. But yes, because nowhere else can you get such an amazing survey of the state of contemporary art. There's so much here that it really is a day out. And some of the stuff is good. And, if you're a smoker, there's an extra special reason.

As part of Frieze Projects, Norma Jeane presents three Perspex cabinets. In each one is an ashtray, a chair, and a water-cooler. A girl sits in each cabinet, smoking away merrily. It turns out that anyone can take part. I wait my turn, enter the middle cubicle, and smoke myself a little Gauloise. It's strangely elating. Each smoker periodically gives the others a shy nod and a smile. We're smoking inside!

What else is good? At Art: Concept, Paris, there's a series of fifteen photographs by Jeremy Deller that each depict different 'no chaining up bicycles' signs. It's entertainingly entitled The War on Terror. There's also a stack of posters by Deller, each one depicting a bicycle in the colours of the London Underground map. It's called Poster Stack (rejected design for underground map) and there's a note encouraging visitors to take their own. It's a nice gesture, and pleasantly sidesteps the whole sales thing. It's a cool poster too.

There's two works by Grayson Perry that are worth checking out over at Victoria Miro: Head of a Fallen Giant and Moon Jar, with its beautiful nacreous shine. I also love the three works by Francois Morellet on display at Annely Juda. I saw these in the gallery a while back, and unfortunately Frieze is not really the place to appreciate their quiet, mathematical beauty. But worth a look nonetheless.

At Vilma Gold, there's a cool piece by Michael Stevenson called Lender of the Last Resort. It's a large glass vitrine full of worthless objects loaned from London pawnbrokers: old weights and measures, empty ring boxes, incomplete file dividers, and the empty packaging of a watch-care cloth. It's an amusing comment on ownership, display and, of course, the commodification of art. Similar in a way is Thomas Locher's Marx/Capital at George Kargl, Vienna. It quotes Marx's phrase about 'this fetishism of commodities…' It's pretty apt.

My favourite piece though dates from 1954. It's Josef Albers' Study for Homage to the Square (Calm Hour) on display at Waddington Galleries. It provides a solitary note of tranquility amidst the buying and selling frenzy. It's small and muted and the only thing in this whole place that isn't screaming for your attention and your money. But it too, of course, is for sale.

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Tom Jeffreys