Frieze London 2023

'The art fair is a market, not a museum'

As this year's calendar gets under way—next stops, Delhi and Los Angeles—Chibundu Onuzo reflects on her experience at Frieze London to assess what these global events offer

Christie’s brings in a solid £96.5m across back-to-back Frieze Week evening auctions in London

The evening kicked off with a sale of 20th- and 21st-century art, followed by works from the collection of the late businessman Sam Josefowitz

Diaryblog

Frieze London diary: from a star-studded anniversary bash to Madonna's tribute to her son

Plus, artists on artists at the National Gallery, Maggi Hambling's eye-popping evocations and a sleepwalking sculpture in Regent's Park

For a new generation of artists, sex is back in fashion

At Frieze London this year, you are never far from naked bodies and erotic scenes, with young artists demonstrating a new confidence in expressing sexuality and desire

The ugly bug ball: insect-themed art takes over Frieze

While Paris hotels are reportedly crawling with bed bugs, the only critters we saw at Frieze London and Frieze Masters were in the exhibits

Friezenews

French government hosts London reception to boost visual arts relations

Event was held during a fortnight of back-to-back art fairs in the the UK capital and Paris

Art world figures snub UK prime minister's party for Frieze anniversary

Artist Ryan Gander, Sarah McCrory, the director of Goldsmiths’ Centre for Contemporary Art and Chisenhale Gallery director Zoé Whitley all decided not to attend

Rising talent: stand-out galleries from this year's Focus section at Frieze London

One highlight, East London’s Public Gallery, has won the 2023 Focus Stand Prize on its debut at the fair

Ragnar Kjartansson work that was withdrawn from show at Moscow's GES-2 House of Culture goes on sale at Frieze

The work was deaccessioned after the artist cancelled the exhibition in protest at the war in Ukraine

‘The first years were wild’: artists, gallerists and auction house specialists reflect on Frieze

Luminaries from across the art world look back over the London fair’s first two decades and tell us what makes the event so special

Emerging art collector Mauro Mattei discusses ‘golden showers’ and eating well at fairs

The party-loving tax adviser and Titian fan, who sponsors an annual prize for emerging artists, dedicates his time at Frieze London to the Focus section

Zak Ové: ‘I learned that the important thing is never to be shut down’

The artist’s rocket sculpture explores Black influences on the Western world

Frieze turns 20: what's next for the popular art fair?

Plus, we speak to the artist Hildigunnur Birgisdóttir, who will be representing Iceland in Venice next year, and pick a work from the Matisse show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York

Sponsored byChristie's

‘The market has changed’: Sotheby’s scrapes together £45.6m from Frieze Week double-header in London

The auction house’s The Now sale of ultra-contemporary art was a success, but its marquee contemporary art sale came up well short of expectations

Economic turmoil in China hits the country’s commercial galleries

Though the wealthiest collectors remain untroubled by recent jolts to the economy, many galleries and younger collectors are being hit hard

Art marketfeature

Blurred lines: are galleries and museums getting too cosy?

As public institutions are working more with the private sector, there are calls for greater transparency

Two art advisers on what they’d buy for under £10,000 at Frieze London

Jane Suitor has an eye on Andreas Schulze's paintings, while Benjamin Gosill's picks include work by Mariana Rocha

‘I can buy a work by looking at it on my phone‘: Nana Sao on being decisive with his collecting

The South African-born businessman, who helped bring a large-scale sculpture from Lagos to the Nevada desert, is developing a taste for tapestries

Claudette Johnson: ‘I’m trying to introduce another gaze—a Black feminist gaze’

The artist discusses her Courtauld show and why Black men became subjects for her work

New show at London's No.9 Cork Street opens doors to Australian art’s diversity

Australia’s new cultural initiative launches its international arm at Frieze London with a group show co-curated by the Indigenous artist Tony Albert

Beyond the white cube: galleries search for new and unusual places to show art

A former home for Huguenot refugees and a secret garden in the middle of Mayfair are among the venues used to host exhibitions in recent months—but public sculpture brings its challenges

Natural causes: artists address climate crisis in inventive ways

With world temperatures hitting record highs this summer, a plethora of exhibitions in London and beyond explore our relationship to the planet

Best in show: India's Experimenter gallery wins Frieze in London's top stand award

The gallery, which has spaces in Kolkata and Mumbai, is showing eight South Asian women artists on its roster at the fair

Frieze London diary: cute bomb dogs and a return to order in the VIP queue

Plus, a moving talk with artist Nick Cave and an unholy mistake at Allied Editions

Frieze boss says he will fight for London as rival Paris fair gains traction

Simon Fox also discusses the challenge of juggling multiple mega fairs at once and why London's art scene is still flourishing

Galleries rely on tried-and-tested names at Frieze London

Secondary-market dealing on the rise as interest in young talent cools

Kabir Jhala. Additional reporting by Anny Shaw and Tim Schneider

Tate, Fitzwilliam and Arts Council scoop up works at Frieze

Plus, the winners of prominent young and emerging artist prizes have been revealed

Londonnews

London's mayor Sadiq Khan pledges to build new artist studios

Khan spoke at Frieze about plans to partner with other stakeholders across the public and private sectors to build 71,000 sq. m of affordable workspaces by 2026

Despite economic headwinds, galleries continue to open in London

To the surprise of some, post-Brexit London is holding its own in the global art market, with new galleries setting up shop throughout the city, and long-term players opening new, larger venues

Georg Baselitz: ‘I continue despite an almost complete lack of pressure’

With a new show opening at the Serpentine, the German artist explains how the past continues to inform his work