Here is the second in our series of Frieze week blog posts from Harriet Cooper, one of the curators in our Visual Arts team:
"In my day-to-day work, my current focus is the British Pavilion for the 57th Venice Art Biennale in 2017. We are working with sculptor Phyllida Barlow to develop an ambitious new installation for the exhibition, so I have been excited to witness the buzz around Hauser & Wirth’s display at Frieze Art Fair which includes examples of her work.
Straying away from the repetitive ‘white cube’ stands littered across the main Frieze tent, ‘L’atelier d’artistes’ (Booth D8) is a play on the trend of recreating artist studios within museum and gallery environments. A busy, chaotic jumble of works compete for attention within the cluttered studio of an imaginary artist amidst a landscape of used palettes, plants, furniture and even a Chas ‘n’ Dave Christmas record! Subtly nestled in alongside these domestic objects and tools, Barlow’s sculptures seem particularly self-assured. The raw, tactile textures of the surfaces communicate an excitement and experimentation with materials that seems entirely fitting for the creative space of an artist’s studio.
Elsewhere in London, there are significant presentations by two UK artists who will also be presenting work at the Venice Art Biennale in 2017: James Richards and Rachel Maclean. Richards has just opened a solo exhibition at the ICA and will be representing Wales in Venice curated by Chapter, whilst Maclean is debuting a new work as part of Frieze Film programme in advance of a commission for Scotland + Venice curated by Alchemy Film and Arts in partnership with Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh. Maclean has a work in the British Council Collection and both artists feature in Moving Pictures, our touring programme of artists' film."
