Frieze/Bridge/Zoo Art Fairs in October 2007

Reviews


Frieze Art Fair
London 10 – 14 October

The fifth edition of frieze took place this year from the 10 to the 14 of October in London. Regents Park was again the home for this international contemporary art event, now recognized by all as one of the three pillars of the contemporary art market, alongside Art Basel and Miami Art Basel.
151 galleries representing 28 countries were exhibiting in this year’s edition. This show has become an international source of knowledge for all those who work or are interested in contemporary art at an international scale. It has since it begun, struggled to show its public new trends in contemporary art and it had been successful at that so far.
According to statistics released by the Frieze Press Office, 80% of the public visiting the show are not coming to buy art but to look at art, and to learn about contemporary art. While that is true for the general public, the professionals are starting to show some disappointment with the art exhibited in the sense that we are all starting to see too many deja vue pieces on exhibition. The same stands are now too often showing the same artists, some times with the same works from the previous year, but different editions. This is cause for discomfort for professionals that are hoping to come to the show and see the chosen galleries exhibit what is new in the contemporary art world, not necessarily the same works they were presenting the previous year.
While this is disappointing for the contemporary art professionals it isn’t for the new and more mature contemporary art buyers visiting the show, these come to buy and invest in art, and for them this repetition of works is great because it gives them the chance to catch up with the art market.
Frieze has become a commercial enterprise, to be honest, it was always a commercial enterprise, it is an art fair, and a successful one from the beginning, but in its early years, the galleries exhibited were not afraid to exhibit new works and be “outrageous” in their choice of artists. Today, those same galleries have settled into a commercial practice of showing what they know they will sell, and for a lot of money. That is not a problem at all as far as I am concerned, but it does, for me, take away from Frieze Art Fair, some of its cutting edge and excitement.
Like its two counterparts of the contemporary art fair trinity, Art Basel and Miami Basel, Frieze Art Fair has settled and has established itself as a contemporary art commercial event. This is nothing to be ashamed of, just a new reality that all visitors should be aware of.
Some of the already veteran galleries to this fair were present in the show again, Brazilian galleries like Galeria Fortes Vilaça, exhibiting interesting works by Valeska Soares, among other artists, and Galeria Luisa Strina, exhibiting Carlos Garaicoa, among others. Mexican Gallery Kurimanzutto was also present again this year.
This year, Gallery Aurel Scheibler from Berlin was exhibiting for a second consecutive time, new works from Anthony Goicolea, beautiful photographs full of desolation but somehow very inspiring and poetic. Their booth was chosen by Deutsche Bank as one of the "must sees" of the fair, due to their presentation of works by Anthony Goicolea.
Galeria Casa Triângulo from Sao Paulo was this year one of the 9 new galleries to exhibit at Frieze Art Fair for the first time. They were exhibiting among other artists Rubens Mano and Felipe Barbosa. New York Gallery Tanya Bonakdar was exhibiting some pieces by Ernesto Neto.
We were glad to discover that this year’s Cartier Award was given to Mario Garcia Torres. His new commission for the fair was presented in the form of a keynote speech by Allen Smithee. Mario was also granted an artist residence in London to produce and research his work.

Bridge Art Fair
London 11 – 14 October

This year was the first edition of Bridge art fair in London, the fair was housed at The Trafalgar Hotel in London, very close to Trafalgar Square itself. There was nothing too special about this fair; it resembled a lot Scope Art fair, even in the setting of the gallery stands. The works were exhibited at different floors in some rooms of the hotel.
There was not a great variety of galleries participating, American, European and some Asian galleries mainly. The works exhibited and their quality varied, it was possible to see works of good quality and works that had no place in a gallery to begin with.
Bridge is another art fair jumping on the Frieze Art Fair “satellites” band wagon, a fair that happens itself in two other locations annually, Miami and New York. Apparently it will return to London next year, which is good, it increases the offer of contemporary art that the London Public in general, and in particular the Frieze Art Fair visitors can also have access to.
Bridge Art Fair was not breaking ground with their gallery choices and their galleries were not taking any major risks with the artists they were choosing, but none the less it is another contemporary art event promoting contemporary art. It is a new forum for new artists to be shown and to have a chance to get noticed and bought by a larger public. Like Zoo Art Fair, I thing this fair will consolidate its position in London, during “Frieze week”, and become a “must visit” event also.


Zoo Art Fair
London 12 – 15 October

The success of this art fair has continued in this year’s edition, the organizers reported a significant growth with increased attendance and sales figures. The fair moved from its original location at the London Zoo to the more sophisticated and central Royal Academy of the Arts. This move allowed the participating galleries to bring and exhibit more ambitious works this year.
This is a fair that has year by year seen its reputation and high level of visitors and collectors increase. There is no doubt that initially it was the fact that the fair was very close to Frieze that was attracting public, but with the succession of editions of this event, it became clear that new and interesting contemporary art could be seen at this event and ultimately that was the fact that captivated collectors and visitors.
At this 4th edition of the fair, 61 galleries were exhibiting and one of the new galleries exhibiting this year was Gallery A Gentil Carioca from Rio de Janeiro, showing Laura Lima, Jarbas Lopes and Renata Lucas among other artists.
One of the successful strategies of this fair has been to exhibit new artists alongside well known artist, that has allowed the visiting public to see their favorite artists but at the same time to learn about new talent, something that is beneficial both for the galleries/artists and the public.
I do not want to mislead the reader into believing that the gallery choices of artists for exhibition is always a hit, it’s a hit and miss as it is for most other fairs, even Frieze, but this young art fair is still very refreshing and a great counter balance to Frieze. It is a chance to come down from the high sphere art dealing occurring at frieze and see how smaller scale galleries can operate with the same professionalism and offer great contemporary art at much more reasonable prices.




Sidonio Costa
London