Toilet art plumbs new depths at Frieze
Even the toilets are arty this year at Frieze London. Fairgoers who spend a penny might spot sweet-scented deodorising cakes in the loos created by the London-based artist Gray Wielebinski, which are “meant to be pissed on”, he says. “The cakes are custom made in black and maroon. I really love the Frieze bathrooms, so this is a dream commission.”
However, Wielebinski was surprised to see gallery staff and on-site workers using the toilets during installation of the cakes. “That was a real boots-on-the-ground moment,” he says. The toilet art pieces, entitled Production, are fitted with security tags so they can’t be nicked (though some might be for sale, post fair). We can’t imagine fairgoers will take the piss, will they?
Try your luck on Savannah Harris’s claw machine
Roll up, roll up, cash-strapped art lovers!
Budget a bit tight this year? Then head over to Richard Wentworth and Andy Holden’s infiltration of Fisher antiques in Bloomsbury where, among the duo’s works, Wentworth’s bowl of plastic tail combs are selling for the very competitive price of a penny apiece.
The provenance of this “found multiple” was a charity shop where its combination of generous plenitude and miniscule price point reminded the artist of a more gentle past economic era. The catch? You have to pay with 1p coins.
But for those feeling a bit more flush, at the Minor Attractions art fair in the Newman hotel, a larger outlay of £1 will buy the chance to win a variety of prizes on a fairground-style claw machine installed by Savannah Harris. Grab it if you can!
Guess who? David Hoyle shows off his sketch of a fashion luminary
Fashion and art collide—but in a good way
Frieze week was launched with a vengeance at the Mount Street Festival pub quiz on Sunday night, hosted by the Hauser & Wirth-owned Audley pub in Mayfair. There David Hoyle, Manchester-based performance artist, singer and cabaret star, acted as MC—and showed more effectively than Edward Enninful’s much maligned The 90s show at Tate Britain how art and fashion can successfully be blended.
Before a rapt crowd he whipped up brilliant likenesses of Dame Vivienne Westwood, Rick Owens and the Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo for the contestants to identify. Given these impressive aesthetic skills, it is no surprise that, although details are being kept under wraps for now, Hoyle will be exhibiting in an eminent public London institution in 2027...
RA trustee Clara Amfo invites you to immerse yourself Matt Crossick/PA Media Assignments
Live your own Fauvist fantasy
Fancy diving into the heat of Cannes or the sea off St Tropez? During Frieze week, fairgoers have the chance to “snap their own Riviera moment” through some larger-than-life installations located in Piccadilly and Mayfair.
The free immersive experience, launched by Art of London and the Royal Academy of Arts, encourages passers-by to jump into the vibrant coastal scenes of Raoul Dufy and André Derain, plus a head-spinning tableau inspired by Yves Klein’s International Klein Blue. There’s even a curated Riviera-inspired playlist to go with the experience.
Hats off to the Surrealist master
Think of René Magritte, and bowler hats spring to mind. But visitors to the blockbuster Magritte exhibition at Gagosian gallery may have spotted a Stetson among the masterpieces on show by the famed Surrealist.
The cowboy hat was given to Magritte on a trip to the US in 1965. “During their stay, they were treated to a quintessentially Texan experience: a rodeo,” says the exhibition’s co-curator, Jasper Sharp. The hat was acquired by a private collector in 2025. Yeehaw!
