Behind The Walls of Frieze Art Fair

You may or may not have heard of Frieze. It is currently one of the World’s most elite Art Fairs, with tickets costing close to £200. After hearing about it through word of mouth in certain circles for years, I managed to finally get a Press pass to see what really happens inside the giant tent congregating Regents Park each October.

To provide some history, Frieze was founded in 1991 by Amanda Sharp, Matthew Slotover and Tom Gidley with the launch of frieze magazine, a leading magazine of contemporary art and culture. Sharp and Slotover established Frieze London in 2003, one of the world’s most influential contemporary art fairs which takes place each October in The Regent’s Park, London. In 2012, Frieze launched Frieze New York taking place in May; and Frieze Masters, which coincides with Frieze London in October and is dedicated to art from ancient to modern. In 2019, Frieze opened its first edition in Los Angeles at Paramount Pictures Studios, taking place in February. In September 2022, Frieze Seoul will launch in South Korea.

Being an art school graduate, I’m very used to visiting galleries and art exhibitions for fun, gather inspiration and to simply absorb the art energy in the room so here is my experience visiting Frieze in 2022.

First stop is Frieze London - The larger tent of the fair focussing on contemporary art with hundreds of galleries from all over the world. Depending on what kind of Art viewer you are, I would leave coats and heavy bags in the cloak room so that you are free to roam with little fuss or even better - dress light. You can expect people to be dressed smart casual in designer shoes/ boots and handbags with the exceptional few who make a lot of effort to stand out like at Fashion Week. There are a few nice restaurants dotted around the venue such as Petersham Nurseries, Bentley’s and various coffee and Champagne bars if you wish to make an occasion out of it and catch up with friends during your breaks throughout the day.

Papa Can Blow by Faith Ringgold

There are no dedicated power sockets for visitors so I would highly advise that you bring a powerful portable charger with you because there is so much content to capture. Set a side the entire day to visit if you want to thoroughly look at everything. I went for a second time and saw things I didn’t see on the first day and still didn’t have time to visit Frieze Sculpture.

It was great to see so many black artists being showcased at the fair. A few of my favourite galleries were Tyrell Mitchell’s photography, ACA galleries NY featuring work by Faith Ringgold and Van Der Wegh NY featuring Basquiat.