our top picks for the frieze week 2014

​It is the week of the year here in London. Everybody suddenly becomes very cultural and talks about art. Yes, everybody.

So you want to catch up with the chat and impress people on how cultural you are? Here is our annual cheatsheet, free of charge. We would appreciate if you mention @londonart to others if they praise your insight. Thank you.

If you are visiting for the occasion, we suggest you try to take into all of the below (in no particular order) in your stay in London -


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1. Sculpture Park at Frieze Art Fair
This is where everything starts, so it deserves to be mentioned year after year. A stroll in Regent's Park is an essential stop of your art week. No matter it is raining or sunny, you would be able to enjoy the wonderful marriage of horticulture, nature and art. No admission fee.


Anselm Kiefer, Ages of the World, 2014; Private collection; Photo courtesy Royal Academy of Arts. Photography: Howard Sooley / © Anselm Kiefer


2. Anselm Kiefer at Royal Academy
We attended the blogger's event from the Academy and curator Kathleen Soriano explained that site-specific works are commissioned in the show, "Yes, it’s a retrospective – 60 percent of the show is a retrospective – but the 40 percent remaining we really hand over to the artist. We want them to work with these fantastic galleries and create something that’s specific for those spaces." The very nature of Anselm's works strike one's mind because it asks fundamental questions about life. Read his interview with the Telegraph if you still have second thoughts.


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3. Aiko Miyanaga at White Rainbow



4. Matthew Barney at Sadie Close


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5. Tom Dale at Copperfield


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6. Pierre Huyghe at Hauser & Wirth
The gallery has brought both installations as well as video works of Huyghe. The centre-piece is a disturbing piece of a masked monkey left behind after the Fukushima disaster. Huyghe's use of materials with life in his works adds another layer to the meaning of 'creation' in the hands of nature as well as the artist. 


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7. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer at Carroll / Fletcher
First solo exhibition by the Mexican-Canadian artist, which displays 4 sound installations


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8. Jan Kempenaers at  Breese Little


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9. Performances Evening in DRAF on 16/10
DRAF is transformed into a stage for their annual evening of performances. Quinn Latimer & Megan Rooney, Joe Moran, planningtorock, Sarah Lucas and Eloise Hawser present new live works for a unmissable event. The gallery space is showing works by Nina Beier


10. Krijin de Kroning's Dwelling at Turner Contemporary & Folkestone Triennial
This is the first time we recommend something outside central London on our list. When it takes over 2 hours from Heathrow to the galleries in East and South London, we think it is fair to include something outstanding as de Kroning's work which is only about an hour away from St Pancras or Stratfor Intetnational stations on high speed train. And if you really take the courage to ride the train there, your would be rewarded with other amazing works of the Triennial in Folkestone or Edmund de Waal and Jeremy Deller in Margate. Here's an interview with the artist himself by Icon magazine.



More photos here on our flickr album for de Kroning's Dwelling.

*****

And one last thing. As usual, we list the official websites of all the other art fairs in town we know here for your easy reference -


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1:54 Art Fair - The African art fair in Somerset House has firmly established itself to be the place where people could go see contemporary art from the continent.


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Sunday Fair - This is the satellite fair in Ambika P3 focussing in North American and Northern European galleries and artists. We love its no-frills approach, the website has only gallery listings, nothing else. You need to REALLY go to the fair to see what it's about. Now that's confidence.


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Kinetica Art Fair - Kinetica moves its date from February to the frieze week this year, and change venue to Truman Brewery (probably because Sunday art fair is occupying its past base). We expect a lot of cool performances in the fair as usual, which differentiates itself from the other satellite fairs.

The Other Art Fair - Director Ryan Stainer has Polly Morgan on this year's committee to pick who should show in this fair

The Independent Artist Fair - Now tell me what's the difference between this one and the one above? Less commercial? What does that actually mean?

Art Apart - A boutique art fair from Singapore in Town Hall Hotel

Moniker - The focus is on street and graffiti art, which it labels as 'urban art'

Frieze Art Week 2013


It's the time of the year in London when everybody suddenly talks about art. Yes, it's Frieze week (or weeks) coming up. Following our tradition, we have handpicked our favourites from the endless offers in town so you don't have to be frustrated scanning through the listings.

Our top 10 of the week are as follows (in no particular order!) -

1. Catch L’Expédition Scintillante, Act 2 (light show) by Pierre Huyghe in Raven Row's current show “Reflections from Damaged Life” - A great retrospective show spanning decades of works, make sure you stay in the gallery until you see this performance, it runs every half hour.

2. "Tomorrow" by Elmgreen & Dragset in V&A - The Norwegian duo's greatest site specific commission yet in Britain inside the V&A museum's former Textile Galleries.

3. "Beyond the Black" by Idris Khan int Victoria Miro - an important departure from Khan's photographic based works, this show comprises a suite of large black paintings, a monumental site specific wall drawing and a series of works on paper.

4. Tatsuo Miyajima's "I-Model" in Lisson Gallery - the Japanese artist is famous for his zen minimal pieces incoporating LED digit displays. There is a clay chamber room for meditation in the show, only one person to enter at time.

5. Wolfgang Tillmans' solo show Central Nervous System in Maureen Paley - once again Tillmans returns to Frieze week and we couldn't wait to see his latest creations.

6. "A series from Within" by Larissa Nowicki in Man & Eve - intriguing pieces formed from the printed pages of books, sliced and intricately woven to form new works that cannot be read in the traditional sense

7. "Sandra Blow Paintings & Prints" in Kings Place - Sandra Blow is a pioneer of the British post-war abstract movement. Seeing her works in the multi-storey atrium in Kings Place is a joyful experience

8. "Erebus" (film) by Du Preez & Thornton Jones in Londonewcastle Project Space - Du Preez & Thornton Jones have created a new body of work in collaboration with choreographer Russell Maliphant, inspired in part by the work of Auguste Rodin

9. "The Seymour & Milton Posters Show" in Kemistry Gallery - a great retrospective show about one of the most influential designer duos in the 20th century who signature push-pin style has become iconic.

10. Frieze Sculpture Park in Regent's Park - this year's sculpture park is the largest in the history of Frieze, and it's free so how can you miss it?

And apart from the Original Frieze and Frieze Masters, you have the choice of numerous satellite fairs around town. Here are a few we believe most of our followers could find something they like and go have a look -

Sunday & Touch Art Fair in Marylebone
Sluice in Bermondsey
The Other Art Fair in Brick Lane
Multiplied at Christie's
Moniker in Brick Lane

Visit our facebook page over the week to see what we have found in town apart from the above. Enjoy the best London offers in the Autumn!

*****

Further Readings -

Page - Top 10 Photograph Exhibitions in town on TimeOut London
Page - Top 10 Art Exhibitions in town on TimeOut London
Interview - of the Director of Sluice Art Fair Ben Street by Tabius Khan for Londonist

interview with jester jacques gallery

by Tom Rowbotham

The Other Art Fair will open in a week's time (25-28.04.2013), with 'buying direct from artists' as its USP. Jester Jacques gallery is teaming up with the fair's media sponsor FAD to showcase several emerging artists in their stand. We had an interview with co-owner of Jester Jacques, Karen Shidlo to tallk about their participation.

Q: Is there a recurring theme throughout this presentation, 'Electric Moon Candy', in the fair?

A: Each of the artists I chose brings something unique to the show yet they tie together quite nicely. The work of Steven Quinn and Super Future Kid go hand in hand through the artists’ approach and process; both use the cut and paste technique, whether in painting or collage. Both are outwardly playful, with Quinn’s series exploring apocalyptic Americana scenes, whilst SFK’s characters can be a bit haunting and sinister. In a similar vein, the work of Nicholas Goodden offers layered narratives through his tightly composed architectural shots or captures the faint silhouettes of strangers in timeless images of London.

Chris Daniels and Rob Bellman both attended Royal Academy / Royal College of Art and they both lean towards abstraction. Bellman is multidisciplinary, highly adept at installation work, constructing sculptures, and creating drawings, whilst Daniels uses acrylic and oil paints to create an impeccable finish on the surfaces of the paintings allowing the viewer to engage in the strong tensions between figure and ground. The drawings and paintings of these two artists work very strongly together and tackle the fundamentals of colour and form.

Hydapes and Issus by Chris Daniels

Q: What motivated you to choose these artists?

A: I met Steven Quinn and Rob Bellman last year and loved their work from the start; I was simply waiting for the opportunity to show their art. I wanted to exhibit work that worked welltogether, yet showed a variety of genres and techniques; setting out to be bold, whimsical and engaging, I chose Daniels and Super Future Kid, as both are incredibly strong painters with their own compelling style. Nicholas Goodden is an artist I came across online whose photography really captured my attention, and I felt his voice would be cohesive with the other artists work.

Q: Do you have any favourite pieces from the exhibition?

A: I like every piece for a different reason, but I feel that ‘Smoking on the Moon’ by Steven Quinn is particularly poignant and really represents his current body of work. Having spent time with him, I know his process is painstaking and that allows me to appreciate it on another level!

I also love both paintings by Chris Daniels as I have a degree in painting and his work is exactly the kind of painting I am passionate about; I love Ellsworth Kelly and Ab Ex in general, so I really engage with his work.

Scuta II by Chris Daniels

Q: Have you always been interested in curating?

A: Even though I studied painting in college, I interned for most of my 4 years at Pratt Institute and I think that is where my passion for curating started. I worked at a few different galleries, an art agency and an art council on Long Island, and I began to feel that even though I loved painting, my heart was really more in the business side of art.

Curating is only one aspect of my job, and I love it, but I relish every part of what I do, from meeting artists and doing studio visits, to dealing with clients and organizing pop ups, exhibitions and art fairs.

Q: Do you have any advice for young curators?

A: I would say to go to as many museums and galleries as you can and try to make connections. Make mental – or physical, if necessary – notes on similarities you see. Also, when you go to an exhibition that is either particularly exciting for you or has received wonderful press, make sure you ask yourself as you go around what makes it stand out and cohesive? What themes are there, how is the work hung, etc.?

As far as work goes, I know a lot of people are against internships, but I did them for 4 years – sometimes for no pay, sometimes for little pay – and what I learned from them was incredible! Something that they can’t teach you in school, you get real life experience and, if you are lucky, a good connection for the future. Build up as many experiences for your CV and trust me, people will give you a chance, especially if you show that you are hard working.

Legio II by Chris Daniels

Q: What is the most memorable exhibition you have seen?

A: When I was studying in New York City, I went to The New Museum desperate to see an exhibition of Mary Heilmann. When I walked in, I saw the shipping crates stacked against a far wall in a closed off area through the large glass window. It was then that it struck me that they were taking the exhibition down; it was the last day of the show! All of a sudden, a beautiful painting caught my eye. It was ‘Surfing on Acid’ byHeilmann and it was breath taking. I stared at it for a good long time and even though I couldn’t see all the works, seeing that one was enough to satiate me. I was lucky enough to see her solo show at Hauser & Wirth last year here in London.That was wonderful!

Q: What do you have in-store for the near future?

A: After The Other Art Fair, I want to get back to what Jester Jacques is all about – working closely with emerging artists! We will be working on getting more artwork for our online shop, an on-going project which is very slow and tedious, as everything is hand-picked. We meet all the artists, discuss their work and build our stock slowly.

We will also be working on putting together a book, maybe doing a pop up in Shoreditch, definitely another workshop and planning more future events for the long term/later in the year. Perhaps more art fairs! We are also working on a monthly, online curated image gallery, where we select the best submissions of art to our website and work with a guest curator to put it all together to create an online venue of interest, discussion and learning. Our first curator is Tabish Khan, Art Critic for Londonist.