Review: Frieze Art Fair 2009

Frieze / Zoo / Pavilion Round Up

The Frieze Art Fair was established six years ago in London’s Regent's Park and now ranks among the most important international art events in the calendar. This year featured over 150 stands displaying new works by the likes of Anish Kapoor, Julian Opie and Takashi Murakami. A new dimension was added to this year’s line up for new and emerging solo artists and their galleries called ‘Frame’. They certainly were a lively lot, by the look of the empties on the floor at the opening, Frame consumed by far the most alcohol at the fair. Frieze looked great this year and beyond the visual eye candy a message was prevalently scrawled on surfaces in paint, ink and neon. One such message by Jonathan Monk sculpted in bent neon read; do Not Pay More Than $20,000. A stand from Bucharest displayed a banner stating in red, “Long Live And Thrive Capitalism” and another gallery displayed a series of paintings exclaiming, The Days Of This Society Is Numbered in collage ripped from consumer advertising in the Sunday newspapers. Perhaps, you might think this was the sentiment of the “Frame” section sticking their middle finger up to the establishment. It would be an easy conclusion to surmise but this continued into section one with Dan Colen’s work, No Sex No War No Me. I suppose a bit of nihilism thrown in for good measure. If I were an archaeologist unearthing the remains of the Frieze Art Fair, preserved in a Pompeii style excavation, I would conclude that society in 2009 was in the throws of a looming disaster. The message, at least from many of the artists was a clear affirmation of last years western banking collapse. Lets face it many buyers of high end art are in financial difficulties. Art has always been an area reserved for the wealthy patron or the shrewd aesthete. It is a commodity with no intrinsic value, unlike gold and silver; it's simply worth whatever anyone is prepared to pay for it. Art goes up and down in value like stocks. It is, dare I say, a fashion, which has trends. Some artists overcome trends but others are obliterated and are erased from existence. After years and years of prices being pushed by the auction houses, Art is in for a reality check. I am a collector I don’t have a lot to spend, but I actually buy art with my disposable income. There was affordable art at the fair especially in the Frame section and although tempted by a number of items I left empty handed for the moment. Let us hope that some of the Goldman Sachs boys and girls came, as they announced profits of 3 Billion dollars this quarter and are set to dole out healthy bonuses this Christmas. See ArtLyst virtual tour of Frieze on: http://www.youtube.com/user/ArtLyst