Frieze London contemporary art fair

Frieze London presents a ceramics section with a Latin American focus
The contemporary art fair presents a new section of ceramic artists, who work with clay based on ancestral traditions
The contemporary art fair Frieze London has the novelty of a section of ceramic artists, mostly Latin American, who work with clay based on ancestral traditions.
For this 21st edition, the curator of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Guatemalan Pablo José Ramírez, created a thematic section that he called “Humo”, to weave a link between the art of ceramics and the work of 11 artists, mainly from the American continent.

This space “gives visibility to artists who, otherwise, probably would not be present at an international art fair,” says Ramírez, who was previously in charge of bringing contemporary indigenous art to the collections of the Tate Modern.
“Ceramic and clay work has always existed, but only recently has it been recognized as an art form,” which has given it “a boom in the world of contemporary art.”

But more than the technique, it is the fact of navigating between various worlds, between “indigenous and ancestral stories” and globalized contemporary art, which unites the artists of “Humo,” she points out.
The totems of Venezuelan Lucía Pizzani, who arrived in London in 2007, which stand like guardians, are made of deep black English clay, on which Latin American plants such as corn or eucalyptus are printed. A mixture that “reflects my history of migration,” says Pizzani.
Her other terracotta ceramics were made in the pottery community of El Cercado, on the Venezuelan island of Margarita, collecting clay from the mountain and then cooking it over an open fire, according to traditions transmitted orally since pre-Hispanic times.

Also present are Brazilian Ayla Tavares, Karla Ekaterine Canseco (USA) and Roksana Pirouzmand (Iran), Manuel Chavajay (Guatemala), Adán Vallecillo (Honduras), Christine Howard Sandoval (USA), Linda Vallejo (USA), Yeni Mao and Yuri Yuan (China) and Noé Martínez (Mexico).

As every year, around 60,000 gallery owners, influencers and visitors are expected until Sunday in the giant white tent installed in Regent's Park, where big names and emerging artists exhibit.
“Frieze brings together the entire artistic community, with collectors from all over the world, galleries with exceptional presentations (...) and already with great sales,” says the director of Frieze London, Eva Langret.

In parallel to this unmissable commercial event, for which 160 galleries from 43 countries have reserved their space at a high price, exhibitions, auctions and private parties will be held every day in the four corners of the British capital.

Visitors will be able to discover the Francis Bacon exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, works by Tracey Emin at the White Cube gallery or Yayoi Kusama at Victoria Miro. They will also be able to see works by Banksy during the auction of one of his bulletproof vests with the Union Jack, the British flag.
Frieze London comes in a gloomy context for the global art market, whose sales fell by 4% in 2023, according to a report by UBS and Art Basel. Due to economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions, buyers are increasingly reluctant to acquire contemporary works whose value often fluctuates.

The UK remains a bastion of art, with 17% of the global market share in 2023, according to UBS and Art Basel. But it has seen its luster fade since Brexit and its new tax regulations, being overtaken for the first time by China (19%).

Frieze, created in London in 2003 before spreading to New York or Seoul, is also facing the emergence of a competitor across the English Channel with the “Paris + by Art Basel” fair, opening on October 16 in a restored Grand Palais that could eclipse it.
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