Big on Insta
The brighter, shinier and more shocking the work, the more likely it is to be an Instagram favourite at Frieze. This year’s Sex Work section, full of raunchy feminist and radical political works, has been stopping many in their tracks, with Renate Bertlmann’s Kaktus (1999)—featuring pink dildos atop cacti—being one of the most-snapped works of the fair. Do Ho Suh’s works are always an Instagram hit, and this year, his bright blue fabric doorway on Victoria Miro’s stand has been the perfect frame for many a fairgoer’s snap.
Ian Cheng’s simulations to come to Serpentine
The US artist Ian Cheng is due to unveil a new immersive installation at the Serpentine Galleries in London next spring. Cheng is known for his computer-generated animated simulations drawing on video-game design and cognitive science; he recently showed his Emissary trilogy (2015-17), which was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art, at MoMA PS1 in New York. Cheng is due to appear on 7 October at the Serpentine’s Guest, Ghost, Host: Machine! Marathon talks and readings event at City Hall in London, where he will be in discussion with the research scientist Richard Evans.
Jasper Johns’s potter
Visitors to the big Jasper Johns retrospective at the Royal Academy of Arts (until 10 December) may recognise the ceramics by George E. Ohr on the Gallery of Everything’s stand at Frieze Masters. Johns not only depicted the ceramics in his paintings, but also collected them. London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has some pieces, but “this is the first time they are on sale in Europe”, says the gallery’s director Gabriella Sonabend. The works are priced from $5,000 to $65,000. Shortly before the death of the “Mad Potter of Biloxi” in 1918, his studio was converted into a car-repair shop. Half a century later, an antiques dealer called Jim Carpenter was looking for car parts when he came across a box of Ohr’s ceramics, eventually buying the whole lot and dealing in them himself.
