The Dazzling Spectacle of Frieze: Through the Eyes of an Intern
James Cohan Gallery, Studio section, Frieze Masters 2024. Photo courtesy of Georgia Dougherty
Walking into the immense white tent that is Frieze Art Fair for the first time is a stimulating experience, to say the least. Coming into it, I had no real expectations of what an art fair was, having never been to one before. What I encountered, then, was a vibrating energy and bustle unusual to the more typical art world experiences in a gallery or museum, which tend to be slower, more thoughtful, inviting you to take your time to reflect and look. This, on the other hand, was fast. Visitors clambering at the entrance, hustling to different booths, people interjecting to speak to each other, spending seconds at a time with each other and with the art. This dizzying array of fashion, visual art, and performance was Frieze Art Fair 2024.
First held in 2003, Frieze Art Fair, also called Frieze London, is an annual contemporary art fair held in London’s Regent’s Park. In 2012, the fair added Frieze Masters - also in London - dedicated to art created before the year 2000. The fair involves approximately five days of galleries showing artists and group exhibitions; meanwhile, outside of the fair, the London art scene explodes with gallery openings, museum exhibitions, performance art, and art world after-parties. With no shortage of events to attend, it is exhausting and overstimulating, but also the most innovative and exciting week for the London art world.
Performance art piece, Regent's Park, Frieze Sculpture 2024. Video courtesy of Georgia Dougherty
I attended Frieze Masters as an intern with James Cohan Gallery, a contemporary art gallery based in New York. I supported the gallery directors at their fair booth by mostly getting them coffee and lunch (your typical intern tasks), but also speaking with clients and art enthusiasts that approached the booth. In a word, it was incredible. The people I worked with were wonderful, telling tales of past fairs, speaking about their clients and about their amazing artworks. The gallery was representing artist Mernet Larsen this year at Frieze, an 84-year-old Floridian specializing in highly enigmatic and geometric figure paintings. Her abstracted canvases engage in past art historical narratives - dissecting the work of Paul Cézanne for example - while also narrating an idiosyncratic parallel world through the cast of characters that she builds. She is definitely an artist to check out, if you have not yet.
As an intern, I spent two days at Frieze Masters. Visitors would approach the booth and I would direct them to my superiors or try to answer their questions myself. In my opinion, the most uncanny part of the fair was the status of attendees. While chatting with visitors, it would be difficult to assess if they were anyone from the Prince of Monaco, to an art student, to the top art advisor in New York City. At Frieze, anyone could be anyone.
In the afternoon, when the fair traffic slowed down ever so slightly, I walked around the fair, exploring booths, chatting to galleries, and paying close attention so as not to accidentally walk into priceless works of art. Works by Renaissance masters, ancient artifacts, and even mummies were circulating throughout booths. Old world art mixed with contemporary artists in fascinating ways. I continued walking through the airy expanse of the tent, the white walls and perfectly clean gray floor contrasting with the crescendo of gossip, greetings, and schmoozing all around me.
On Saturday, James Cohan Gallery gave me a VIP ticket so I could explore Frieze London. This contemporary counterpart to Frieze Masters was bigger, wackier, and highly commercial. The tent opens into the Focus section - a section devoted to younger, smaller, more hip galleries. This position of Focus, in the heart of the tent, is part of Frieze’s new layout, and decidedly centers new talent and innovation. The must-sees here are Brunette Coleman presenting works by Nat Faulkner and Ginny on Frederick representing Charlotte Edey. Moving through the vast, geometrically layed-out, clinical interior of the tent, I realized almost everything in Frieze London had already been sold. VIP previews on Wednesday and waitlists ensured that these booths had long since sold-out. The point of being there, then, is more about “showing face” and networking.
As Frieze London reflects the subversive, eccentric, and diverse tastes of the commercial art world, I was most enthralled by the sheer amount of art - both incredible and strange. It is impossible to walk through the fair without constant stimulation of the senses. Eventually, my eyes started to glaze over from constant visual art and my nose could no longer stand the excessive perfumes, colognes, and expensive smells of sashimi and coffee (they had installed a Nobu and Gail’s in the tent, if you can believe it). Despite these sensations, I kept going, determined to take in everything the fair had to offer.
In this tent, I encountered a booth with a drummer, a performance piece at the Lehmann Maupin booth which showcased artist Billy Childish painting live in front of visitors, and a very cool section called Artist-to-Artist, which saw artists like Glenn Ligon and Lubaina Himid choosing artists to showcase on behalf of galleries. My favorite section of the fair, however, was the Smoke section. Organized by Pablo José Ramírez, Smoke brought together international artists focused on indigenous histories and pre-colonial traditions working with clay and ceramics. Hatch Gallery and Galeria Athena presented the incredibly aesthetic and complex clay work of Ayla Tavares in this section. Finally, if I had to choose a favorite piece from the whole fair, it would be Joy Labinjo’s immense oil and charcoal painting called Gratitude, presented by Tiwani Contemporary. A beautifully vibrant portrait of contemporary companionship and the bliss of well-formed human connection, this portrait evokes pure positivity.
Joy Labinjo, Gratitude, 2024. Represented by Tiwani Contemporary, Frieze London 2024. Photo courtesy of Georgia Dougherty
Overall, Frieze is worth more than its net worth of expensive handbags, women with fashionable bobs and pixie cuts, and men with wide brimmed glasses. Of course, the people watching is half of the fun, but Frieze presents a complex and well-rounded portrait of the London art scene and the global art sector. It provides valuable insights into what is “trendy,” what is selling, and is a place to catch up on connections. Would I go back? Absolutely. With no shortage of art to look at, it might be the best possible place to get inspired, learn about art, and view some of the best works of art in the contemporary moment.