Passionate about art? Then you may know that Frieze New York takes place this week – it’s an international art fair that showcases some of the world’s leading, most inspiring galleries and visionary artists.
The event runs from 17–21 May at The Shed in Manhattan and features a strong representation from New York to celebrate the city’s creative vibe. If you’re not lucky enough to be in New York right now, happily waving around your Frieze ticket, you can preview all the gallery presentations via the Frieze Viewing Room online (it’s free!). We’ve been busy browsing already – here are some exciting artists and works to check out…
Lauren Halsey
LA-based artist Lauren Halsey is known for combining found, fabricated and handmade objects to create art that reflects the people and places around her and addresses topics affecting people of colour, working-class citizens and queer populations. Being showcased at David Kordansky Gallery is a collection of digital, colourful collage prints incorporating images taken on Halsey’s mobile phone, clipped from magazines and extracted from friends and family.
Claude Lawrence
A self-taught artist originally from Chicago, Claude Lawrence started out as a jazz musician before turning his hand to painting in 1987. His bold and lively abstract work is often inspired by the rhythm and improvisational spirit of jazz. See this example, LAWCL040, displayed at the David Lewis Gallery.
Liao Wen
From Capsule Shanghai comes a solo project by Chinese artist Liao Wen, whose artistic practice includes sculptures inspired by the human body and her experience of creating ventriloquist puppets early on in her career. In her collection for Frieze New York, Wen explores how bodily perceptions are fashioned by societal values and power dynamics. Watch this fascinating video of Wen at work.
Carlos Villa
The late Carlos Villa was a groundbreaking Filipino-American artist renowned for his teaching and activism. His notable works include ‘Worlds in Collision’, a spectacular collection of mixed media paintings, drawings and constructions, including a painted cloak adorned with feathers. Displayed in the main section of Frieze is Kite God Coat (1979), an exquisite construction made from rooster and pheasant tail feathers and paper pulp. Villa was known to try on each of his ‘coat’ creations at least once, although they were intended as objects for display.
Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings
London-based artist duo Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings focus on fresco painting (an obsolete method of mural painting that uses pigment mixed with water on freshly-laid lime plaster). The Arcadia Missa gallery is presenting three new frescos by the duo that explore the recent nurses’ strike. Take a sneak peek at one of them: The Strike.
Ghada Amer
As an internationally-recognised contemporary artist, Ghada Amer is represented by several prominent galleries around the world. Her work, which often deals with issues of sexuality and gender, includes bronze sculptures, clay ceramics, prints, paintings and garden installations. One of Amer’s sculptures, Dripping Jenny, is on display via the Goodman Gallery.
Head over to Frieze to check out many more fascinating artworks and exhibitions. But before you go, we think you’ll like to learn how Matthew Slotover, the founder of Frieze, got his start.
If you’re a CE member, you can access many more resources, including our Founder File with art entrepreneur Marine Tanguy, where you can discover how she’s supporting the next generation of artists through her company, MT Agency.
Not yet a CE member? Learn why you should join us.