Frieze London has announced its planned events and curated sectors for the 2016 edition of its annual fair in Regents Park.  For its 14th edition, the fair will feature over 160 galleries, its annual projects sections, and a new section called “The 90s,” organized by Geneva-based curator Nicolas Trembley to reflect on important installations and projects from that decade. (more…)

Mark Leckey, Inflatable Felix (2014) at Galerie Bucholz

The doors have opened on Frieze 2015 in London, bringing the art world en masse to Regent’s Park for the 13th edition of one of the fall’s biggest selling events.  The exhibition, which capped its “VIP” day last evening, saw viewers flocking to its long, loping hallways to browse the works on view. (more…)

The founders of Frieze, Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, are interviewed in the Wall Street Journal this week as they prepare to open this year’s edition in New York, reflecting on the early days of the fair, and how they first started their coverage of the art world in London during the 1990’s.  “You couldn’t get away from the feeling that something was happening in London, and though we really didn’t know anything about art or magazines, we just knew we had to respond to it,” Sharp says. (more…)

Frieze New York has announced the details for the 2015 edition of the fair, with over 190 galleries from around the world set to return to Randall’s Island from from May 14 to 17, 2015.   (more…)

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (1981), via Sotheby’s

This past Friday, Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Sale concluded the week of auctions during Frieze Week in London, with a £28,203,200 final tally.  Following the results of the previous two evenings, the sales were relatively staid affairs, with few works exceeding their original estimates.

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Outside the Frieze Fair, via Art Observed

As Wednesday winds down, the 2014 edition of Frieze London is well underway, starting another fair off with strong sales and impressive attendance.  As the VIP preview opened, a number of prominent celebrities could be seen browsing the aisles.  Famed German footballer Michael Ballack was seen wandering the aisles, as was writer Salman Rushdie, joining MOCA’s new director Philip Vergne and his DIA successor Jessica Morgan.

Erwin Wurm, via Andrea Nguyen for Art (more…)

Frieze London has announced its “Projects” section for the 2014 edition of the fair in Regent’s Park.  Curated by Nicola Lees, the seven projects located both on-site and around London will include a “living stage” by Nick Mauss, where ballets will be performed each day, and a secret map of the fair routes by Sophia Al Maria, underlining conspiracies hidden throughout.  The presentations will also feature a reconstructed musical performance from the career of conceptual comedian Andy Kaufman, enacted by Jonathan Berger. (more…)

Joel Kyack, Clever Formal Gestures ≠ Something to Say, via Francois Ghebaly

As the month of May begins in earnest, another edition of Frieze Art Fair’s New York edition prepares to open its doors on Randall’s Island this week, bringing its familiar bounty of events, talks, special programs, competing events and a number of high-profile auctions and openings across Manhattan.

Yayoi Kusama, INFINITY-NETS [AOQBZ], via David Zwirner (more…)

Frieze New York has announced that it will restate artist Allen Ruppersberg’s work Al’s Grand Hotel, a 1971 installation that saw the artist turning a Los Angeles house into a gallery, performance space and functioning hotel.  “My hope is that the hotel at Frieze will function as a space where people can physically and mentally take a break from the bombardment of the other galleries at the fair and walk into a time capsule where you can almost jump back to 1971,” says curator Cecilia Alemani. (more…)

Bertrand Lavier, Dino (1984), Yvon Lambert, all photo by Caroline Claisse for Artobserved.

Contemporary and conceptual art spring forth once again within the Grand Palais in Paris yesterday for the first day of the Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain, or FIAC. Starting off as the Frieze Art Fair in London ends, it is the 40th year that FIAC has been held in France.   Below is a photoset from the fair.

Ai Weiwei, Iron Tree (2013), neugerriemschneider, photo by Caroline Claisse for Artobserved.
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All photos by Caroline Claisse for ArtObserved.

The last visitors have filtered out, the gallerists have begun packing up and preparing sold works for buyers, and another year of the Frieze London Art Fair  has concluded, following another action-packed week of new works, special commissions, sales, auctions and openings that once again placed London at the center of the contemporary art world’s cross hairs.

Work by Pierre Huyghe at Esther Schipper (more…)

Acquavella Galleries New York. All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed.

Running alongside the hustle and bustle of Frieze’s Contemporary Art proceedings next door, the Frieze Masters section is showing an exceedingly strong set of galleries and works, albeit somewhat removed from the spotlight its adjacent fair receives each year.  Mixing classic works by artists like Francis Bacon and Picasso with works by still active artists like Robert Long and Richard Serra, the fair offered a more subdued, but equally impressive offering.     (more…)

Glenn Brown, Ornamental Despair (painting For Ian Curtis) Copied From ‘the Stars Like Dust’, 1986 By Chris Foss (1994), via Sotheby’s

Another session of competitive auctions wrapped up this evening in London, with Sotheby’s Contemporary Art sale providing an uneven, yet overall successful auction of contemporary works during the ongoing events of Frieze week, bringing forth a total sale amount of £21,459,000, with 7 of the 49 works remaining unsold. (more…)

Elmgreen and Dragset, Powerless Structures (2013) and Hernan Bas, Pearl and pink pansy (fishing in the foliage) (2013) at Victoria Miro

Frieze London officially opened its doors today for its press and VIP preview, welcoming buyers from around the world to the temporary structure in Regent’s Park for another week of high-profile sales and new works.  A markedly reduced affair from last year (the number of galleries on view has been reduced by about 25), the fair still kicked off in traditional fashion, with a rush of early buyers passing through the galleries to review the plenitude of paintings, sculpture, videos and photography spread throughout the fair’s enormous space.

Damien Hirst, The Afterlife (2012) (more…)

Gerhard Richter, White, (1988), via Phillips

Frieze London opened its doors to VIP’s and the press today, beginning another hectic week of exhibitions, sales and, as is to be expected, major auctions from Phillips, Sotheby’s and Christie’s.  Beginning tonight, the three auction houses will look to capitalize on the atmosphere of frenzied competition that so often marks the major art weeks, with each bringing forth a strong collection of works from across the contemporary art landscape.

Peter Doig, Red Canoe (2000), via Christie’s (more…)

Jeff Koons, Sacred Heart (Blue/Magenta) (1994-2007), Courtesy Gagosian

As the month of October reaches its halfway mark, the annual Frieze Art Fair in London’s Regent’s Park prepares for its 11th edition, welcoming back a selection of 152 galleries from around the world, all vying for prominent sales and broader market exposure.  With a broad program of exhibitions, special commissions, installations and discussions, the fair will look to once again capture the attention of the art world for the next week, bringing over $2 billion in art to market over the next five days.  Art Observed is on site in London for the happenings.

William Kentridge, In Nervoser-Erwartung (2013), Courtesy of the Artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York (more…)

London’s Frieze Art Fair has announced its program of talks for the 2013 edition of the fair.  Leading the names on the list are appearances by Jérôme Bel, Meredith Monk and Stephen Shore, among many others at the October art fair in Regent’s Park. (more…)

Paul McCarthy’s 80-ft inflatable balloon dog, which welcomed visitors to the Frieze New York Art Fair last week, has sold for $950,000, dealers at Hauser and Wirth have confirmed. The piece commanded a fair amount of attention just outside Frieze’s main entrance.  The other highly-noted work, Tino Seghal’s Ann Lee, also sold, commanding a price of $80,000. (more…)

Financial Times reports on the growing popularity of performance works at major art fairs, helping the traditionally market-centered proceedings to rebrand themselves as cultural events.  The trend is especially notable at this year’s edition of Frieze New York, where nearly every piece covering the fair has reported on Tino Seghal’s Ann Lee, of particular note because the work is sold via oral contract, in which Seghal explains to the buyer how to re-enact the work.  “I’m an expert and even I get tired after seeing 180 booths. But performance can capture viewers’ attention.”  Says Frieze Projects curator Cecilia Alemani. (more…)

The Art Newspaper has published an article by Whatever Press on the increasing clout of art fairs worldwide, noting the diverse contemporary art offerings for visitors, bringing galleries from around the world to a single location.  The downside, it notes, is the distracting, overwhelming environment not conducive to experiencing works past a superficial sampling.  “Fairs are great for a scan of the pulse of the moment. One thing they are not is ideal for looking at art.”  Says Maxwell Anderson, the director of the Dallas Museum of Art.

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Outside the NADA Art Fair

The NADA Art Fair opened yesterday for its second annual New York event, bringing over 70 galleries and exhibitors to downtown Manhattan’s Basketball City for a diverse exhibition of new works by artists around the globe.

Alex Da Corte at Joe Sheftel (more…)

The Frieze New York Art Fair has announced the artists exhibiting in this year’s edition of its annual Sculpture Park section.  The 2013 edition of the Sculpture Park will see works by Paul McCarthy, Martha Friedman, and Nick Van Woert, among others.  “Building upon the success of last year, our aim for this new edition is to increase the ambition of the Sculpture Park program both in scope and scale. Placed in an exceptional location, the program will continue expanding visitors’ experience by displaying large outdoor sculptures in dialogue with ephemeral pieces.”  Says curator Tom Eccles. (more…)

Frieze New York on Randall’s Island will once again host a variety of local food vendors at this year’s edition of the fair.  The list of vendors, announced Friday, will include pizza from Roberta’s Pizza, coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee, and a full-service restaurant by Frankie’s Sputino.  The fair runs from May 10th to the 13th. (more…)

Following up on the success of last year’s special series of sound art installations at the Frieze New York Art Fair, the organization has announced the program for 2013’s Sounds Program.  Premiering in the VIP cars and available for listening at stations throughout the fair, the roster of artists includes Trisha Baga, Charles Atlas and New Humans, and Haroon Mirza.  Says curator Cecelia Alemani: “Last year Frieze Sounds captured visitors’ imaginations beyond my expectations. This year I wanted to commission artists who could use both the medium of sound and the journey to Randall’s Island as inspiration to metaphorically transport visitors up the East River.” (more…)