Frieze Fair: the Weird and the Wonderful

Melissa Williams
Apr 6, 2018
3 min read

Probably the biggest contemporary art event in London, the Frieze Fair is a conceptual marvel. I was able to visit the London fair in October 2015, located in Regents Park. The magazine publishers Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover put on the event every year in celebration of the talent in the contemporary art sector. Artists’ work from all over the globe is showcased to buyers and the public.

The experience starts from the moment you get to Regents Park with the Frieze Sculpture Park. During my visit this included ‘Earth Play’(1989) by Seungtaek Lee, a huge inflatable Earth tied to the ground. It could move freely in the wind, and because it was only tied down people could go inside it. Lee stated that its meaning was rooted in environmental issues, with the intentions of encouraging people to take care and love the planet.

The journey continues into the fair, with walkways and white walls emerging from every angle like a maze. Around each corner, new work appears each demanding your attention. Frieze Fair is home to work that is loud and opinionated which could sometimes make it hard to know what to look at first. I have included some of my favourite pieces of work from the fair…

I discovered my love for Mary Weatherford’s abstract paintings at the fair. Her work features intersecting fields of colour, changing in temperature and mood with each piece. We see the fusion of painting and installation in her work with use of neon lights and the wiring. These lights sometimes harmoniously correspond to the painting, and other times they contradict. The composition of the paint to the neon light also lends to the atmosphere around the installation. Some pieces at chaotic with colour clash and twisted neon lights whilst others have a consistent temperature and a strip of neon running throughout.

Throughout the fair there were many neon light pieces that I loved but unfortunately didn’t get the name of the artists. I think neon-art really demands attention because it’s so effortlessly beautiful. As well as space, form and composition, neon-art is able to take advantage of light in a way that can change the story of the piece completely.

This piece instantly transported me to a crowed street in downtown Tokyo. It’s late and dark and only the light from the inside of the small shops and their flickering neon signs light up the street. The wet ground reflects waves of overlapping colour from the signs; the only interruption is stream from the shops grey pipes and the flickering of the light.

This piece is more architectural, more concerned with space and the viewers experience than the last. It features several metal planks with neon led copy running through integrated screens. Behind each plank is a dim orange light reflecting onto the floor. This allows for some colour conflict between the blue text and surrounding environment being tinged with an orange hue. The text ran through the screens very fast, too fast to read and make sense of the words. This reminded me of some sort of warning sign flashing fast to grab attention.

This neon installation doesn’t use text like the others, but the abstraction of space. The artist has created the illusion of water through use of light. To the viewers the buckets look as though they’re filled with liquid, until they move closer and look over and realise it’s just an illusion. The extension plug, wires and the lights almost take on the role of a garden hose or a water pipe. The artist has abstracted everyday objects and given them a new purpose (if there even is one). Reminiscent of cartoons, the light glows out of the buckets like some kind of toxic waste substance.