The Frieze Art Fair
The Main Frieze Event
The Frieze Art Fair takes place once a year in London's Regents Park. It has been there every autumn since 2003, so this is its 10th successful year, epitomizing everything new, cool and fashionable in the art world. The exhibition takes place in a purpose-built building, and all the major galleries from throughout the world are represented there. As well as a place to see the latest art, it is a great place for people-watching. You can see the richest, thinnest, most beautiful and most fashionable aristocrats of the artistic world as they stroll around the exhibition space to see the art, and to be seen by others doing so.
Entry to Frieze is not free, but it isn't all that expensive, though most of the art shown there certainly isn't cheap. For the average person a visit will be a chance to enjoy an unusual day out, and experience some interesting visual art, rather than a chance to buy anything.
Frieze has become an unmissable fixture on the art world calendar, and as from 2012 it has expanded to open in New York for the first time in May 2012, as well as London in October.
The Sculpture Garden
The main Frieze exhibition is accompanied by an outdoor sculpture exhibition nearby in Regents Park, in the 'English Gardens'. Entry to the Sculpture Garden is free of charge: it is the only part of Frieze which doesn't charge admission. It should be an interesting show, curated as it is by Clare Lilley, who is in charge of the much-loved Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
A major concern for her has been selecting works which work along with the strong natural shapes of the outdoor location, and which work with each other to provide a meaningful occasion for peaceful contemplation. She has aimed to show pieces which have the power to draw visitors from the main Frieze show, but also to showcase new work, the selection of which has been developed in conversations with the galleries showing in the main exhibition. The emphasis is not only on the exhibits but the space between them too, and the visitor's progress through the gardens as a holistic experience.
The Frieze Masters Show
Another adjunct to the main Frieze exhibition, and a novelty in its first year of existence, is the 'Frieze Masters' show, which will exhibit an eclectic mix of pieces ranging from classical Greek sculptures, to works by Picasso, to art from the year 2000, the most recent to be represented here. The aim of this exhibition is to show near contemporary art in the context of historic art, casting light on both the ancient and modern.
To see the abstracted animals and human forms made by Picasso alongside ancient sculptures is to gain insight into the common human impulse to create art. The innovation of Frieze Masters looks like becoming extremely popular.