exhibitions in london during frieze week

BY GÜLAY YAŞAYANLAR & MÜMTAZ SAĞLAM

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The 2024 editions of Frieze London and Frieze Masters, as two separate yet comprehensive and disciplined organisations that effectively emphasised the will for renewal and change, once again made significant contributions to the city’s cultural and artistic landscape.

The vibrancy that began in London during Frieze Week continues with full intensity. Exhibitions opening one after another welcome art enthusiasts with rich programs resulting from institutional collaborations. To list a few: at the National Portrait Gallery, “Francis Bacon: Human Presence”; at Whitechapel Gallery, Lygia Clark: “The I and The You” and Sonia Boyce: “An Awkward Relation”; at the National Gallery, “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers”; at Camden Art Centre, Nicola L.: “I am The Last Woman Object”; at the Barbican, Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum: “It Will End in Tears”; at Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery, and Robert Longo: “The Searchers”. Notable solo exhibitions also include Michael Craig-Martin at the Royal Academy of Arts and Danh Vo at White Cube (Mason’s Yard). Additionally, JD Malat Gallery is hosting John Copeland’s “Mirrored Viewfinder,” while Flowers Gallery features the impressive exhibition “The Crossing” by renowned Scottish artist Ken Currie. Equally noteworthy are Guimi You’s “Unwind” and Farah Atassi’s “The Lost Hours” at Almine Rech Gallery.

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stories of bodily transformation, time and space

Meanwhile, it is fitting to specifically mention several headline-making events such as Mire Lee’s monumental installation and solo exhibitions by Tracey Emin, Oscar Murillo, Jonas Wood, Mike Kelley, Jack O’Brien, Haegue Yang, and Lauren Halsey.

Korean artist Mire Lee accompanies Frieze Week with her installation “Open Wound,” placed in the vast expanse of the Turbine Hall. Lee confronts the viewer with a reality of a decaying and deformed body. [1] By making references related to the history of the space and through a mechanized organism she hybridizes, she creates a blurred area reminiscent of mysterious situations and strange beings. On the second floor of the same building, American artist Mike Kelley’s exhibition “Ghost and Spirit,” summarizing his entire career, narrates a more intimate, provocative, and imaginary world. Known especially for his handmade sculptures made from stuffed plush toys, Kelley draws attention to the destructive impact of popular culture on individuals through imaginary film characters, taking references from underground culture, literature, and philosophy. [2]

Jack O’Brien, last year’s recipient of the Frieze Artist Award, attracted crowds eager to witness his development with his solo exhibition “The Reward” at Camden Art Centre. The artist, who exhibits objects wrapped in polyethylene or cloth, has diversified his approach that openly references a state of insecurity. As evident from his large-scale installation centered around a spiral metal staircase, he paradoxically subjects the functions and meanings of objects to a critique of idealism, almost attempting to safeguard the world. [3] 

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Tracey Emin’s extensive exhibition “I Followed You to the End” at White Cube (Bermondsey) is laden with narratives of a life woven with stories of love, loss, death, and rebirth. Stemming from a recent personal experience, it is an emotional exhibition dedicated to rediscovering the meaning of passing time. [4] Located on Grafton Street, David Zwirner is showcasing paintings by Colombian artist Oscar Murillo under the title “A Balancing Act Between Collapse and Spirit.” Murillo’s works reference the idea and reality of disconnection arising from intercultural ties. By gradually eroding surfaces formed through scribbling, he reaches these landscapes-mysterious and dark areas he describes as “places of untraceable freedom.” [5]

Haegue Yang’s first comprehensive exhibition in London, “Leap Year” at the Hayward Gallery, is a significant event reminiscent of a personal historical study, touching upon cultural differences in the divide between tradition and modernity within a magical atmosphere laden with authentic transitions, diversity, and mystical colours. [6] The exhibition is presented as a large meditative construct arranged within a multilingual framework. Similar to Haegue Yang’s approach, Lauren Halsey’s solo exhibition “Emajendat” is also situated within a brand-new visual unity based on collage-installation practice. Located at the Serpentine South Gallery, this exhibition has transformed into an enriched subcultural archive and documentation project formed by the accumulation of all kinds of images and objects related to the culture produced by everyday life. Particularly, this transmission belonging to African migration stories and Black and queer culture emerges within a dynamic and intense chaos, with a narrative structure compressed into micro spaces. [7] 

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Finally, the Jonas Wood exhibition at Gagosian Gallery adapts an effective visual language faithful to the tradition of canvas painting into interior arrangements. It embodies a study of color, pattern, and texture that reinforces spatial dynamics. These works, woven with fine details, are actually laden with simplified, abstracted figurative elements and are the product of a stylization dependent on disciplined line work. [8]

Undoubtedly, there are many more events in London beyond the scope of this brief review, such as Yayoi Kusama’s long-awaited exhibition “Every Day I Pray for Love” at Victoria Miro Gallery although that has proven to be a difficult one to get hold of.

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Gülay Yaşayanlar & Mümtaz Sağlam, Copyright © 2024 / All Rights Reserved.

See also: https://saglamart.com/frieze-london-2024