Top Booths at Frieze London 2016

The 14th edition of Frieze is well under way and as always there’s plenty of art and people to gawk at. This year, new additions include a gallery section dedicated to the ‘90s and the reintroduction of Focus, a segment which highlights young galleries. If you happened to be at the fair on Saturday at 2.30pm do not miss SLEEK’s discussion at the Reading Room. Here our Editor in Chief, Dr. Jeni Fulton and Auto Italia will discuss collaborative art practice in contemporaneity and London’s viability as an artist city post Brexit. For more info follow this link.
For those who won’t be able to attend the fair, here’s the top booths as chosen by SLEEK’s online editor Will Furtado.

Stuart Shave/Modern Art (A6)
This year, the London gallery presents a series by Josh Kline featuring works that poke fun at our tech-obsessed culture. “Facial Incarceration Software, 2015-2016” features two shelves stocked with cut-off forearms holding cameras in a poignant yet witty representation of the perils of technology. Other works include Eva Rothschild’s “Natural Disasters” in the form of spilled glasses of water.

Marianne Boesky (B11)
Comprising only one artist – Hans Op De Beeck – the London/NYC/Berlin gallery has put together an eerie installation washed-out in white. Entitled “The Collectors House”, this artwork provides an intense experience that makes you feel more like you’re in a biennale than an art fair.

P.P.O.W (B19)
New York’s P.P.O.W gallery brings to London an impressive round-up of feminist artist heavyweights. Included in the group is Portia Munson and her “Pink Project: Table 1994/2016”, which drew the crowds and cameras like no other work. First shown 20 years ago at the New Museum, the work remains as powerful in its commentary on how companies define gender. “It really drew a crowd back then too,” says the artist. “Though now it has gained yet more meaning given our newly found awareness of environmental issues.” Carrie Mae Weems is also present with table project – “The Kitchen Table Series, 1990”. The series explores the different dimensions of Black women with powerful and tender reenactments of the artist’s experiences.

Hauser & Wirth (D8)
The international gallery has boldly crammed a bunch of its artists’ work in one big booth – literally. Recreating an artist’s studio, artworks stand beside art utensils and other objects, presumably not for sale. Walking through it feels like being in a game where you have to guess the artwork. Yet in the midst of it all, you will be able to recognise Thomas Houseago’s sculptures next to Paul McCarthy’s and Louise Bourgeois’ drawings. The whole scenario is messy and overwhelming, but it’s definitely fulfilling.

Carlos/Ishikawa (H24)
While making art about precarious work can be contentious, the duo Lloyd Corporation have recreated an insightful micro-world fit for an art biennale. The work replicates an internet café filled with notes alluding to the lives of the establishment’s imaginary patrons, all while highlighting the body as a work tool.