18 October, 2023

The 2023 edition of Frieze, the London art fair par excellence, has just closed its doors, after an intense week full of art happenings and events in the beautiful Regent’s Park setting, where the fair is based, and throughout the city. 

Although the brand “Frieze” is expanding throughout the world, with annual appointments in Seoul, New York and Los Angeles, only in London, the homeland of the fair, we can see the presence of two sisters fairs based on two different formats: Frieze Masters, which offers a unique perspective on thousands of years of art history; and Frieze London, focusing only on contemporary art, which this year celebrated its 20th anniversary.

Overall, in its 2023 edition, Frieze saw the participation of 290 art galleries from all over the world, exhibiting their works at Frieze Masters (n. 130 galleries) and Frieze London (n. 160 galleries). The London-based galleries, or having at least one location in the city, are predominant, especially at Frieze Masters, where they represent the 50% of the participating galleries (n. 64), while they account for the 32% at Frieze London (n. 52). For the rest, while it seems to decrease the presence of European galleries, it is interesting to observe a growing presence of galleries coming from Asia.

Frieze Masters showed a great heterogeneity of artworks, from collectible objects to significant masterpieces from the prehistoric era and Old Masters to the late 20th century. 

Focusing on the most ancient eras, David Aroon’s booth stood out with a 68 million-year-old T-Rex dinosaur skeleton, valued at $20 million, together with other unique pieces such as a prehistoric giant turtle fossil.

T-Rex Skeleton, David Aroon both, Frieze Masters

Moving forward with history, another top lot at the fair was a beautifully maintained Rembrandt piece, exhibited at David Koetser’s booth, valued £ 26 million and considered one of the most important artist’s pieces still in private hands.

Rembrandt at David Koetser’s booth

Focusing on a more recent historical period, Alighiero Boetti was among the most recurrent modern artists featured at the fair, confirming the current strength of the artist on the market. His work was present in the booths of many prestigious galleries, such as Robilant+Voena, Tornabuoni Fine Art, Ben Brown and Larkin Erdmann.

In relation to Frieze Masters, it is also worth mentioning 'Modern Women', a new themed section steered by Camille Morineau (Co-founder of non-profit organisation AWARE – Archive of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions) and dedicated to solo exhibitions by women artists with a special focus on works created between 1880 and 1980, a pivotal period for women’s rights and feminism. In the section, we found, amongst others, solo shows by Maria Lai (M77 gallery), Anna Eva Bergman (Perrotin) and Kangja Jung (Arario gallery).

Maria Lai piece at M77 gallery

Also, Frieze London showed a wide heterogeneity of artists, ranging from internationally acclaimed artists to emerging, lesser-known ones, adopting various media and research.

Among the big names of the contemporary art scene, we recall the presence of Anselm Kiefer’s work at Lia Rumma Gallery and White Cube, and Damien Hirst’s solo show at Gagosian, which presented the latest artist’s series, 'The Secret Gardens Paintings' (entirely sold out on the fair’s opening day).

Anselm Kiefer at Lia Rumma booth

The fair also highlighted the presence of prominent female artists, such as Tracey Emin, whose work was exhibited at White Cube and Lorcan O’Neill booths, and Paula Rego, with multiple works by the artist exhibited in the Victoria Miro stand.

Paula Rego, Victoria Miro booth

On the other hand, the fair provided visibility also to less known artists, represented in the Focus section, dedicated to galleries founded within the last 12 years, aimed at creating a platform for emerging artists across generations, cultures and continents. The section included scenographic booths, such as the Harlesden High Street one, which made its debut in the fair selling out its booth on the opening day with works by Mattia Guarnera-MacCarthy and Hamed Maiye, while in some others it was even possible to play videogames, as in the Copperfield booth presenting a Larry Achiompong’s show.

Hamed Maiye works at Harlesden High Street one

In relation to Frieze London, it is also worth mentioning the “Artist to Artist” section experiment. For the first time, eight world-renowned artists took over the curated section and proposed counterparts for solo presentations: among the others, Tracey Emin selected Vanessa Raw’s paintings (entirely sold out), Olafur Eliasson proposed Fabian Knecht’s textile works, while Wolfgang Tillmans proposed Mark Barker’s sculptures.

Vanessa Raw (selected by Tracey Emin) at Carl Freedman’s booth

Overall, Frieze is confirmed to be an excellent platform for representing the art momentum, offering art professionals, collectors and the curious a glimpse of art coming from centuries of history as well as the latest trends. In relation to sales, the morale was higher at Frieze London than at Frieze Masters. However, both the fairs registered satisfying results, with top lots interestingly represented by works by female artists such as Tracey Emin’s 'I kept moving' (2022), sold at Frieze London for $1.2 million, and Louise Bourgeois’s Knife Work (1949) sold for $3 million at Frieze Masters. Let’s hope that the fair will be able to maintain its allure despite the threats coming from the Brexit scenario.