Frieze London 2012

Artist Highlights

This past month London was bustling with art openings, projects, and performances, all a part of a phenomenon known as “Frieze.” From October 11–14, Regent’s Park played host to the Frieze art fair, presenting over 170 international contemporary galleries as well as a prestigious program of artist commissions and talks. Now in its tenth edition, Frieze London continues to be one of the art highlights of the year, generating a week filled with not only lucrative transactions, but also creative expression and critical awareness.

Notably, works by many Studio Museum in Harlem artists were prominently featured throughout the fair grounds. Here are some highlights of pieces by artists involved at the Museum, either through being represented in our Permanent Collection or having participated in our acclaimed Artist-in-Residence program. Enjoy!

Mickalene Thomas
Interior: Zebra with Two Chairs and Funky Fur, 2012 and detail
Photo: Katherine Finerty

It was also an especially exciting moment for artist Theaster Gates, who kick-started the Frieze week with soulful music performances accompanied by the Black Monks of Mississippi. During their visit to London, Studio Museum in Harlem Director Thelma Golden, past curator Naomi Beckwith, and artist Glenn Ligon were all front and center to experience and relish Gates’s powerful musical offerings. Gates is an artist and cultural planner whose practice ranges from sculpture to installation and performance to urban uplift. Through the re-purposing of historical objects and archives in activated contemporary sites, Gates leverages our past to generate a provoking yet poetic understanding of cultural moments and spaces today.

[L]: Thelma Golden and Glenn Ligon enjoy Theaster Gates’s performance at White Cube
[R]: Gates performs at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, London
Photos: Katherine Finerty

The vibrant diversity of works by artists of African descent at the Frieze fair and events this past week in London reflects the increasingly global and culturally nuanced dialogue activated by the contemporary art world. Congratulations to all of the artists featured for putting forth such beautiful, inspiring, and successful works, enabling all exhibitors and visitors involved to partake in an evolving transnational art experience.