The Frieze Art Fair in London's Regent park opened to the public today. Whitewall was there for the opening and VIP preview Wednesday night where we spotted UK celebrities Lily Allen and Peter Gabriel and artists like John Baldessari, Ron Arad, and Grayson Perry as his alter ego, Claire Perry (bonnet and all).
[caption id="attachment_4642" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Grayson Perry at Victoria Miro's booth."][/caption]
Perry's enormous and intricate "The Walthamstow Tapesty" (2009) was on view at Victoria Miro's booth, and a larger version is worth checking out at their 16 Wharf Road location. More about the tapestry and Victoria Miro gallery in a later post.
[caption id="attachment_4643" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Yan Pei Ming at Zwirner's booth."][/caption]
David Zwirner's gallery was dominated by a breathtaking painting by Luc Tuymans, "Wonderland" (2007). It barely fit on the gallery wall it was so expansive. As a result, a large portion of the booth floor is left empty for ample viewing space. From a distance, visibly large brushstrokes of light grays, purples, blues and whites depict a wintry scene. In total color contrast at that same booth was a series of four bright, red watercolors by Yan Pei Ming. Up close, the works look like a collage of haphazard inkblots. From a distance, adorable faces of newborns appear.
[caption id="attachment_4646" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Dawn Mellor's painting of Kristin Scott Thomas at Team Gallery."][/caption]
Few galleries offered up surprises in their booths. Most left their walls white (with very few exceptions) and brought a variety of artists' work - mostly painting, photos, and sculpture. Standing out from the crowd were the striking solo booths like Team Gallery's Dawn Mellor and Gavin Brown's Rirkrit Tiravanija.
And while some booths lacked a certain level of exuberance, great work was present and some booths were curated quite well, like Marian Goodman. On opposite opening walls were large prints by Jeff Wall and Thomas Struth featuring an urban shade of green and nature's green respectively. In one corner browns and beiges from Christina Iglesias and Tacita Dean flowed into black and white varying media works of Gabriel Orozco and William Kentridge.
Courtesy of Frieze Art Fair 2009 www.frieze.com
