Part Three? We’ve just gone past that green neon piece, the “Things” piece, shall we go on? Did you read the first two parts first? Ir probably would make sense, that’s if any of this does? Part One is here. Part Two follows it here, welcome back my friends to this thing that probably never ends. Thankfully there aren’t too many neon words or pieces at this year’s London leg of the giant Frieze monster, we seem to have mostly got over that neon thing now. There are some strange ‘things’ in here though, what is that big Sgt Pepper album cover doing over there? Did it have a point to make? Are these galleries just  playing to the tastes of the tasteless rich? To those who can just buy these ‘things’ like they but watches or sports cars, without much thought or question, for those who just like their cheese extra cheesy? Dread to think where most of this art will end up, on who’s walls? There really are some things in here I wish I could un-see. There’s a lot of playing it safe, there’s a lot of ‘things’ my mum might like? “Why can’t you make nice art like that?” she’d say, anger isn’t really an energy she’d say. Oh and there’s a pile of house bricks! Neatly stacked house bricks, another stack of bricks? Another Sgt. Pepper piece of fan art, another soup can, actually we were spared the soup can this year (unless I missed it, I probably did?)  

Actually before we go too much further, time to take a moment to just say how good it is to see a wall of Khadija Saye‘s work. For those who don’t know, Khadija was a young British-Gambian photographer and artist who was a victim of the awful Grenfell Tower fire here in London back in 2017. She was said to be on the cusp of a major career breakthrough, with her work being exhibited at a show during the Venice Biennale at the time of her death. Her art explored her identity, heritage, and spirituality through photography, it is good to see it being shown here rather respectfully by Victoria Miro gallery. There are things you really do want to see, Khadija Saye’s work still being shown is one of those things, a sobering thing as we park our cynical smiles for a moment and head towards Perrotin Gallery‘s rather international booth and then on to New York Gallery Uffnet & Lia‘s space without seeing too much before we get to a solo presentation of Daniel Crews-Chubb work in the Timothy Taylor booth and a small body of paintings that grab attention for a moment or two as they throw a few questions at us. There’s a Yinka Shonibare piece that Goodman Gallery are showing, a piece called Nature Works that needs a moment.

And this really is the thing, we’ve been in here getting on for three hours now, we are surrounded on all sides by art, walls to the left, to the right, in front of us, behind us, above us, there’s that big Sgt Pepper album cover painting we already mentioned, what is that doing over there? I’m sure there must be a reason, not really seeing that reason right now though? I’m sure there must be a reason for bringing it all the way over here? It looks like a piece of fan art to me, I must be missing the point? We really should stop for a cup of tea, park that cynical smile, we would stop for a brew if it didn’t cost an arm and several legs. This ain’t no place for the likes of us, art has long since priced most people out, and of course we know that’s long been the case in here, I’m not exactly seeing a bus load of familiar faces from the broke-ass London Art Scene in here, I’m not seeing that many of my fellow artists in here looking at what at times is some, shall we politely say rather average art. Most of the new Young Galleries that are being championed over there in that section of hot new kids on the block galleries, they’re mostly run by rich kids whatever they might try to collectively tell us, a whole load of new middle class rich kid gate keepers with expensive degrees in curating by the book.  Karma Gallery from both New York and Los Angeles are the guilty party in terms of the shipping halfway around the globe of that piece of Beatles fan art and I’m starting to want to be somewhere else, somewhere away from all this ‘stuff’, from all these ‘things’. There another Van Goch sunflower with more paint thrown over it (yet again), “that’s an interesting concept says the man in the expensive shoes stoof next to me.   

I almost don’t want to say it about such a part of the establishment gallery (or operation, they are far more than just a gallery now) but what a great big relief it is to to get to the big Gagosian booth and at last find a bit of attitude, a bit of a challenge, a bit of bite, a bit of something. I guess Gagosian don’t have to play it so safe, then again, I do believe the were the first gallery to declare their booth a complete sell out (although once again, who buys it? Where does it all go? It isn’t always that black and white is it?).  Gagosian are presenting “new works by Lauren Halsey at the 2025 edition of Frieze London. Born in South Central Los Angeles and based there, Halsey is known for large-scale works and immersive installations that draw on the histories, architecture, social contexts, and vernacular poetics of her community”.    

“The installation brings together several components and offers a portal into Halsey’s latest exercise in world-building and fantastical flight: In the centre, a six-foot-tall plaza sign honours the textual iconography, colour palettes, and creative wordplay found on Black-and Brown-owned business signage in working-class neighbourhoods. Surrounding the plaza sign are monochrome protruded engravings (2022 – ), sculptural reliefs that assemble a historical, contemporary, and mythic graphic record of South Central LA. Lastly, dense compositions of wallpaper on the structure’s exterior showcase the multiplicity and abundance of Blackness and Afro-diasporic expressive life via its innumerable forms, colours, textures, bodies, complexions, and frequencies”.

The combination of the three elements are immediately powerful, dynamic, and to some extent, from this London point of view, otherly as in, in some form or other, from another place.  Lauren Halsey’s work feels alive, it feels very now, it feels challenging, engaging, it feels a little bit more exciting than most things have been in here, especially those two identical giant pieces of collaged wallpaper on two of the big exterior walls of the very big booth, that wallpaper is so full of positive life, art, pop, colour…       

 Here’s another #43SecondFilm…

Meanwhile alongside the aforementioned wall of Khadija Saye‘s work that’s quietly away from the internal noise on the outside wall of Victoria Miro‘s rich crimson red booth, we find rather a lot of dare we call it entertainment? Must admit I rather enjoyed the big Grayson Perry tapestry as well as his I know Who I Am quilt, wonder if I might have liked it so much if I had looked at the label first? I do find his thoughts rather irritating at times. By the way did I just get berated over a piece of art that I liked, was it really dismissed as not being art and instead just a bit of textile design? Really?  

And there’s more Lee Bae and that very (very) black work of his, once again brought to the fair by Johyun Gallery (Busan, Seoul), his big charcoal pieces lack the power and impact they had last year when they were shown alongside the 2024 highlight that was those glorious giant black (bronze) sculptures. Still good but not quite so exciting as Lee Bae was in here last year.

Not sure what is to be made of that pink leaf/flower piece, does it look like something you’d find in the flowering arranging department of Harrods? It is actually front and centre in the Casado Santapau (Madrid) booth. Shall we continue this with Part Four? We are about four hours in now, I think we’re having fun, is art ever fun? More fun with Part Four in a moment. all the fun of the fair… (sw) 

Previously…

ORGAN: Frieze week – The Fair itself Part One; in via The Pit and Viola Frey, a gorgeous Katherine Bradford painting, the colour of Ana Segovia, Faiza Butt, llana Harris-Babou, the first hour and a bit…

ORGAN: Frieze week – The Fair itself Part Two; heading towards Amitesh Shrivastava’s powerful Backyard, via Matthias Weischer, Anna Ruth, those No Nose tributes under the bed frame and are we having fun yet?

ORGAN: Frieze Week – Exploring Frieze Sculpture before the week seriously kicks off, exploring the work of Reena Saini Kallat, Andy Holden, Assemble, Simon Hitchens, Burçak Bingöl and more, we’re off…

Frieze London 2025 is on now at Regent’s Park, London until Sunday 19th October.

As always, do please click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show (the labels will miraculously appear on the work a little later on)