In response to Phillips’ bad day, a Focus on Frieze Focus, and a hop to Sunday

 

 

The results of the Contemporary day sale at Phillips has proved that something may be changing in the way the wave of highly speculative artists is moving. Even if Nick Darmstaedter’s penny paining has been sold 8 times over the estimate, other hot names such as Ryan Estep or Ethan Cook have not been bidden as expected. In the next hours we will see if the problem regards certain emerging artists by large, or if it is only limited to Phillips.

 

In the meantime, it could be useful to consider the section of Frieze London dedicated to the emerging galleries or, as Frieze puts it, to those galleries up to 12 year-old- presenting projects specifically conceived for the fair.

 

You will find it at the very end of the structure, marked by a violet colour and named “Focus”. But almost all of the 37 galleries which exhibit here ought to be included among the best galleries that at the moment are dealing with emerging talent.

 

At Kendall Koppe, who has showed us a preview copy of the book dedicated to Ella Kruglyanskaya that soon will be published (Taschen), we have spot a very nice desk by George Henry Longly, announcing a new step of the British artist towards furniture. Also the mirror hanging on the wall at the left side of the booth is by GHL, and would be a pity to miss it, as well as it would be a pity not to mention Alek O solo booth at Frutta gallery. These recent series of two-dimension works made of rolling shutters prove how coherently the artist is developing her research (please note that the photos sometimes associated to the works are a reference to the original owners of the employed rolling shutters).

 

A useful parallel could be traced between the impressive Nahmad’s booth at Frieze Masters and what Carlos/Ishikawa have made by mixing Oscar Murillo, Ed Fornieles and Korakrit Arunanodchai. But if the imaginary collector is absent at Nahmad, here the gallerist is definitely present on the scene, and without any nostalgia.

 

Olivia Erlanger (Fluxia) and Matthew Lutz-Kinoy (Freedman Fitzparick Los Angeles) are also to be mentioned. The cluster of references to economy, primitives signs and natural disasters set by the first one indicates that the sophisticated formal solution adopted by the artist is definitely not occasional (the small dark work reproducing details from paper money are made of graphite, and it will colour your finger if you touch it). While Lutz-Kinoy is simply a very promising painter who, like many emerging painters today, is dealing with performance.

 

At this point, if you see the two nice boards with light by Virginia Overton at Freymond-Guth Fine Arts and you start to feel satisfied, it’s then time to move to Sunday Art Fair and complete your training. Here the vibes are not as good as the last year, but two names have to be kept in mind: Peppi Bottrop (at Jan Kaps) and Florian Auer (Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler).

 

 

November 25, 2014