In a piece for The Guardian Grayson Perry and Gillian Wearing visit degree shows at some of London’s art schools, and reflect on the young crop of aspiring artists.  “It used to be that each generation had a ‘thing’ that was trendy to do, but I’m struck by how Chelsea students seem to do a bit of everything,” Perry says. “No one seems able to commit to one single form. I guess, because of the internet and their economic situation, it’s about contingency, but it means there’s a non-committal quality to the show. It might be fear, or maybe just be the nature of contemporary culture, where everything’s going on at once, and it does make me wonder about the future.” (more…)

Gillian Wearing, Self Portrait at 17 Years Old (2003). All images courtesy Maureen Paley.

On view through January 6^th at Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf is a survey of Gillian Wearing’s film and photographs. The 1997 Turner Prize recipient’s work explores the relationship between one’s public and private personas, and the difference between reality and fiction.

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Lynda Benglis sculptures and Hans Hurting paintings at Cheim & Read’s booth at Frieze Masters. All photos by Caroline Claisse for Art Observed unless otherwise noted

Frieze Masters and Frieze London concluded on October 14th, with both fairs reporting solid sales on the high end. This year, there was a distinct focus on curated booths and curatorial projects and less of an overt feeling of commercialization. Frieze Masters in particular focused on serious connoisseurship and an academic approach, both of which translated into a successful fair for dealers.

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Toby Ziegler‘s The Cripples, image via Art Observed

Back in 2003 in Frieze’s first year, no major international art fair had ever been hosted in London before. Frieze Art Fair, organized by Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp, has helped take London from being a city without a focused art scene to its current state at the center of the European art market. Now in its tenth year, Frieze Art Fair in London’s Regent’s Park has seen around 60,000 visitors, with 264 dealers from 35 countries hoping to sell work (valuing an estimated  £230m) created by more than 2,400 artists within 175 of the world’s leading galleries.

An Aaron Young motorcycle burn out work at Massimo de Carlo in Milan, photo via Art Observed

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Image: Sean Daly, Shaun Regen, Kathryn Bigelow, and John Loga via Vogue

Shaun Caley Regen opened her new location in Los Angeles last night at 6750 Santa Monica Boulevard, in a newly developing section of Hollywood, just east of Highland Avenue. The new space was designed by architect Michael Maltzan, creating a museum-like exhibition venue.

Image: Regen Projects’ inaugural exhibition via Regen Projects

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Gillian Wearing, Snapshot (detail) (2005). All images Nicolas Linnert for Art Observed.

Gillian Wearing’s expansive, multi-room exhibition enters its final week at Tanya Bonakdar gallery. For People, the Turner prize-winning artist has installed works in a variety of media including video, sound, sculpture and photographic prints. Much of Wearing’s artistic practice explores notions of identity and memory, and the performativity associated with both.

More text and images after the jump…

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