Frieze London Diary: pirate-turned-artist Johnny Depp heads to London, an authentic Boer war experience and fake news at the fair

Hold the front page: shock news at fair

The power of the press is on display (sort of) at Harlesden High Street gallery at Frieze London this year. The artist Marcus Jefferson has turned the stand into a de facto newspaper bureau replete with a 1970s filing cabinet, tatty desks and a series of newsstand posters plugging stories published in the esteemed Ham & High local London paper dating from 2013. The bizarre headlines include “Police lose stab video” and “Hammer thugs in Rolex robbery”. What inspired Jefferson to turn to the H&H paper? “I thought the name of the paper was hilarious. I also thought, ‘Is this what the good people of Hampstead and Highgate need to be fed?’” But “newsman” Marcus is a little camera-shy, so chose to hide behind a plant for his photo.

Homage to London’s feathered friends

The Colombian artist Ivan Argote is making a splash in London with the launch of his new show Mamarrachos: Quinceañera at Perrotin gallery, which features works derived from scribbles. Guests at the private view this week relished an work called Circles, which involves spraying the gallery walls using cans on chains. “The spraycan is free to be used until there are no more paintings; after that nobody replaces it, it remains like a trace,” Argote says. The merch is also a hit. A limited edition Dinosaur T-shirt showing Argote’s famous pigeon work—his huge bird work that appeared on New York’s High Line earlier this year—is also a draw. The T-shirt is a “love letter to all our feathered friends” in London, Argote’s studio says.

Johnny Depp’s art may be your cup of tea

Johnny Depp fans are in for a treat with his first major UK show opening at Halcyon Gallery in London this month. The Pirates of the Caribbean star loves putting brush to canvas, with his latest efforts focused on nature, such as the Yesterday’s Flowers series (2026) and a rather quaint collage called Untitled—Yorkshire Tea (2024)—yes, that famous British cuppa brand. An absurd half-human, half-rabbit figure also features prominently in the show in the form of The Bunnyman, the star’s first (rather imposing) sculpture. “In his sleep, the [bunny] character always appeared both as a friend and a foe, standing at the entrance to his childhood home’s basement,” according to Galerie magazine. Nothing could be scarier than Edward Scissorhands standing at the entrance to your basement, surely.

The authentic stench of warfare

In his show Situational Awareness at Pilar Corrias, Rirkrit Tiravanija pays critical homage to the gallery’s former life as the premises of a military outfitters. Not only has the artist installed a working tailor in the space, but he has given her the task of deconstructing and reversing genuine historic military uniforms—including a thick woollen Boer War jacket, which was opened up at the private view to reveal the literal sweat from someone under fire more than a century ago. Yikes!

Home is where the art is

There’s no place like home for the Polish artist Marcin Dudek who has designed the Edel Assanti stand to echo the floorplan of his former flat on a Krakow housing estate. Dudek has decorated the spaces with his and other artist’s works, which riff on the theme of “home”. Especially unwelcoming are Jenkin van Zyl’s row of P.E.E.P. buzzers with such labels as “private view”, and the tangled wire profiles of Lonnie Holley’s Tension at the Door. Let’s hope the collectors aren’t scared away...