Frieze Art Fair | cheriecity.co.uk

Art, New York

Frieze Exhibition: ArtSpeak at The Surrey, NYC

April 13, 2016 by cheriecity

Frieze Art Fair is one of the most prestigious international art events in the social calendar, with must-see fairs in London, New York and Berlin that bring together the industry’s movers and shakers.

To celebrate its fifth year in New York, Frieze has partnered with Upper East Side Relais & Châteaux hotel The Surrey as the only official hotel partner.

Drawing on its reputation as a notable art hotel, The Surrey launches ArtSpeak curated by Natasha Schlesinger, Art Expert in Residence and founder of Art Muse.

The lobby and public spaces will be transformed into a mini gallery with art installations by eight emerging and mid-known artists, presenting 11 works that will be on show in the lead up to Frieze until the end of August, so there is plenty of time to catch them.

The line-up of featured artists includes Ryan McGinness, Faile, Desire Obtain Cherish, Annabel Daou and Leila Pazooki. Their works were chosen to fit the installation theme of “cultural influences of media” and explore the use of language and symbols in art to comment on culture, society and personal reflections.

There’s also an exciting rooftop garden botanical piece by Peter D Gerakaris and daily ArtSpeak tours with curator and Art Expert Natasha Schlesinger.

The thought-provoking pieces also compliment The Surrey’s most prominent permanent artworks including Jenny Holzer – You are My Own, Claes Oldenburg – Study for Sneaker Lace – White, Richard Serra – Promenade Notebook Drawing III & V and Chuck Close – Kate Moss.

Best of all, you don’t need to be part of the art elite or even a hotel guest to view the works, as the exhibition is open to the public. With its prime location close to Museum Mile and its see-and-be-seen Café Boulud and Bar Pleiades by Daniel Boulud, The Surrey is the place to take in the best of the New York art scene.

ArtSpeak at The Surrey runs from 4th May to 31st August. For more information, visit: www.thesurrey.com

Art, Events, London, News

Frieze Week: Free Art Fair

October 18, 2009 by cheriecity

This is the third and final Free Art Fair, so of course, everyone with a vague to impassioned interest in art flocked to The Barbican to try their luck at winning one of 52 pieces from a range of emerging and established artists.

Marlene Dumas was obviously the big draw, but also on the agenda were artworks by Cathy Lomax, Douglas White, Matthew Stone, Josef O’Connor and Free Art Fair founder Jasper Joffe.

Jasper Joffe

The artworks have been exhibited all week around The Barbican but the big show was the closing gala, with well over 1000 entrants.

Artist Jasper Joffe created the fair as a more democratic response to the extortionate cycle of demanding and paying ridiculous sums for art. Everything is free, everyone can enter and anyone can win, although there was so underlying corruption. Yes, one mean-spirited girl broke the rules and entered possibly a number of times and was rumbled when they drew her name twice in a row – what are the chances! Amazingly, she wasn’t disqualified and probably picked up the Matthew Stone or Josef O’Connor pieces I had my eye on…bitter, moi?

Matthew Stone

The fair’s volunteers drew names out of a barrel and the first 50 went downstairs to pick out their piece. The chosen few are asked to name their first and second choice, but here’s the rubbish part, if your choices have already been taken, they move on to the next person! It must have been crushing for the earlier ‘winners’ when after drawing 100 names, there were still 18 pieces up for grabs.

Free Art Fair

It seems to be pretty unfair, but at least it might keep the works from ending up on ebay, or someone living in a tiny studio being stuck with a giant concrete plinth.

So, the 150th person was called after a tedious wait and sadly neither Steven or I became new art owners, although his lucky art school tutor at Byam Shaw walked away with a piece.

Josef Valentino

Sadly, the Free Art Fair is now no more, but as Jasper said, there’s no reason why anyone can’t start their own free art fair. Lets hope that a well-connected and well-organised art student steps up to the gauntlet, so I might just have a chance to replace those beyond bland IKEA pear prints above my bed – they came with the flat, honest!

Art, Events, London, News

Frieze Week: Zoo Art Fair

October 17, 2009 by cheriecity

Zoo Art Fair has a new home in the East this year and really, it feels like it should have been there all along. Zoo used to be at the Royal Academy and now even the more conventional buyers will have to hop on the 149 to the three disused buildings just behind Shoreditch High Street.

Zoo is the place to find emerging artists but there are some Hirsts and Gilbert and George pieces to keep the bigtime collectors happy. The atmosphere of is a lot more relaxed and inclusive than the Pavilion of Art & Design, which attracts a more well-heeled, conventional crowd.

Damien Hirst jaws

This year, Zoo features 50 contemporary arts organisations from all over Europe, including London galleries such as Serpentine Gallery, White Cube, Other Criteria, Camden Arts Centre, Whitechapel Gallery. There are three art zones comprising four main exhibitions, curated by FormContent, LUX, Studio Voltaire and Rob Tufnell.

Zoo art fair

LUX’s Film As A Subversive Art is a project inspired by Amos Vogel’s 1974 book of the same name that continues the question of subversion in contemporary art and film. It was developed by six students from the Curating Programme at Goldsmiths, with Ellen Cantor’s captivating Pinochet Porn showing on Friday. It narrates the tragi-comic lives of five adults who grew up during Pinochet regime, including the charming trainwreck Paloma and her Six Husbands, and ends with the question: Is tragedy a choice?

Zoo art fair

Confetti covered the floor of Mariel Lopez Gallery (Berlin) booth, which was in fact a piece by Ruben Grillo called 20 Manifestos – famous manifestos shredded, scattered and stood upon. Also, Ant Macari showed his work behind a giant wall cavity and used his trademark scrolls and symbols to communicate cultural and religious ideas.

Ant Macari

After viewing the art, you can quaff some champagne at the elegant Champagne Perrier-Jouet Bar and of course, it wouldn’t be an east end trendy knees up with Bistrotheque and their pop-up restaurant.

Also, if you’re new to the treasures of the east, Zoo have printed a map of the best places to drink and break bread with emerging artists and the galleries where they hang out.

Bistrotheque

The only trouble with Zoo is the hefty ticket price at £15, with no student discount. The poor, impoverished art school students there can barely afford to make any huge purchases, or even a can of coke at the cafe from what I heard, but they could well be the next generation of talent at Zoo.

Zoo Art Fair is on now until Monday 19 October. 3-10 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6PG.

Art, Designers, Events, London, News, Paris

Frieze Week: Pavilion of Art & Design London

October 14, 2009 by cheriecity

Last night, I headed down to the VIP Opening of the Pavilion of Art & Design in Mayfair’s Berkeley Square, which will be the home of the hot pink palace until Sunday.

Pavilion is a reinvention of last year’s DesignArtLondon fair, with the new addition of contemporary art pieces.

Among the guests inside were the cream of the internation art community – the world’s wealthiest art dealers and collectors, distinguished art critics and mini Dasha Zhukovas clad in Hervé Leger and Louboutins (black, of course).

Pavilion art fair

This is a place where the buyer is treated like one of the family, sales are negociated over glasses of Ruinart champagne (I wangled a thimble full of fizz perfection) and the press are treated to an earlier lunch and preview, which I unfortunately missed.

Pavilion features 45 of the world’s most prominent and influential dealers of contemporary art, design and decorative arts. Galleries from Paris, London, Brussels, Milan, New York, Barcelona and Geneva are showing a covetable selection of fine art, antique jewellery, statement furniture and design pieces.

Skulls

As a self-confessed magpie, I spent a great deal of time pawing over exquisite jewellery created by some of Britain’s greatest contemporary artists presented by Louisa Guinness Gallery.

Jewellery has been a relatively unexplored medium in art and Louisa Guinness sought to change that by working with high-profile sculpters and painters to create ‘jewels of art’.

On display was a giant gold orb necklaces by Anish Kapoor, a ruby necklace spelling out ‘cunt’ by Sam Taylor-Wood, colourful geometric necklace by Meret Oppenheim and Louise Bourgeois’ silver Araña brooch.

jewellery

On the design front, Todd Merrill’s Studio Contemporary (New York) features some subversive, hand crafted pieces such as a feather-light molecular chair and Galerie Downtown François Laffanour mixes the functionality of iconic designers like Le Corbusier with more avant-garde pieces by George Nakashima and Takis.

velvet chair

A highlight for me was seeing two mixed media pieces by Gottfried Helnwein – The Red Gun and a lucid, blue-tinted portrait – represented by Friedman Benda.

Toshio Shibata’s Japanese bondage photographs at Michael Hoppen Gallery were intriguing and enigmatic and I marvelled at the two Francis Bacon paintings at Faggionato Fine Art.

Art

A great start to the art world’s version of London Fashion Week, but if you’re actually in the market for an artwork, you better get there quick, as some sales were reportedly made before the fair even opened!

Pavilion of Art & Design London is on from 14 – 18 October in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, W1J 6ES.

Tickets are £15, FREE for students and children under 15.