It’s the moment the London art world waits for all year, with a mixture of excitement and dread. Next week is Frieze week, so called because it’s the time that the city’s biggest and most important art fair, Frieze, takes over Regent’s Park for five days of selling very expensive art to very expensive people. The interested punter can visit too, but with general weekend admission to just one section of the event costing as much as £46, it’s beyond most casual visitors.
Still, it’s a moment, and one that the public can also enjoy — for the simple reason that there are so many high-net worth individuals jetting into town that every gallery and every museum, from the smallest experimental space to the Tate Modern, puts their best foot forward. I can’t wait to see the Royal Academy’s William Kentridge show; or Hauser & Wirth’s display of paintings by Michelle Obama’s portraitist Amy Sherald. I’m nipping across to Peckham this weekend to catch Rene MatiÄ’s exploration of Britishness at the South London Gallery, then I might venture up to Bermondsey to see Sid Motion Gallery’s group show Same Same, or pop into Gagosian on Davies Street to see the new photographs by Tyler Mitchell. And I’ll definitely be heading to the Simon Lee Gallery to pay homage to the recent winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale, British artist Sonia Boyce.
Every gallery is making a special effort, and especially in the centre, near the hub of the fair, it gives London a palpable buzz. I hope the amazing line-up of shows will encourage still-cautious visitors back into the city’s galleries — and remember, commercial galleries are free to visit. Just stride in, pick up one of the paper information sheets and enjoy the art, snooty gallery assistants be damned.
I do wonder, though, how the Kamikwasi budget-not-budget is going to affect the art world. This will be a moment to take the temperature and find out whether, after dragging itself out of Covid, it’s worried about the long-term effect of the recent weeks’ events. British collectors will be particularly reticent — but perhaps there’s one silver lining. With the dollar at an all-time high against the pound, we may see a return to the big American bucks being spent at Frieze. Yee haw.
