Discover the Highlights from Frieze London 2023

Major international collectors spotted wandering the aisles in the first couple of hours of the fair were Miami patrons Don and Mera Rubell; Swiss mega-collector Uli Sigg, who was in town for a special event with Hong Kong’s M+ Museum, Turin-based Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, who is featured in Galerie’s annual 2023 Collectors Issue; and Belgian art heavyweight Alain Servais. Artists like Tracey Emin and Yinka Shonibare were seen mingling with collectors in the Deutsche Bank Lounge, which featured an installation of Shonibare’s new work African Bird Magic. Of course, it wouldn’t be Frieze without a few celebrity sightings too, and movie stars Florence Pugh and Rami Malek were caught admiring the offerings on view, as was fashion designer Raf Simmons. 

Love him or hate him, Damien Hirst caused a stir at the buzz at the fair this year. To celebrate 20 years in London, Gagosian gallery dedicated their entire booth to the British YBA artist, displaying 12 new floral paintings that were priced between $450,000 to $1m, all of which sold on the first day. Titled “The Secret Gardens Paintings” (2023), the works depict blooming gardens of roughly painted flowers finished off with the artist hurling thick glops at paint at the canvas from a loaded brush. A far cry from his progressive early conceptual art, the paintings represent  Hirst’s shift in direction, building upon his recent cherry paintings, and prove that he’s still as popular as ever amongst collectors. 

Near the the entrance, London-based Pilar Corrias gallery created a show-stopping solo presentation with nine striking new paintings by German-born artist Sophie von Hellermann inspired by Dreamland, a historic amusement park in the English town of Margate where she now lives. The rising-star artist painted the walls of the booth with swathes of her signature rich color palette, adding a colorful carpet to the floor to round out the interactive, sensory experience. 

Another ambitious booth takeover was Timothy Taylor, which paid tribute to the singular creative imagination and unique process of New York artist Eddie Martinez. Curated by Claire Gilman, chief curator of the Drawing Center in New York, the dizzying booth features a whopping 2,362 sketches covering every almost square inch of an immersive floor-to-ceiling hang with drawings and painted works on paper exhibited on top. “This installation sheds light not only on Eddie Martinez’s approach to art making but on the crucial role drawing plays in general,” Gillman tells Galerie. “It showcases the foundational aspect of the medium laying bear Martinez’s vulnerability and also his strength,” she says. Despite many enquiries throughout the day, these drawings were not for sale and will remain in the artist’s archives, but the paintings and framed works on paper had all sold out. 

Also presenting a must-see solo booth was London’s Stephen Friedman Gallery, which dedicated their space to Leilah Babirye, a Ugandan artist living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Her monumental and politically charged sculptures of women crafted with ceramics, metal and hand-carved wood and found materials like bike tires for their hair—stopped visitors in their tracks. “My works are all so different so I am excited to be showing these new works here,” Babirye shares from the booth on the opening morning. “I am not used to seeing them standing here on their own like this. They are normally grouped closely together in my studio like a little family.” Against the bright red walls of the booth, Babirye also presented a series of new framed paintings. Outside the fair, don’t miss the artist’s work being presented in an exhibition curated by Yinka Shonibare at the gallery’s stunning new space on Cork Street in Mayfair, which was designed by David Kohn Architects. 

An unlikely grouping can be seen at The Sunday Painter, which paired a series of dreamy, color-washed paintings by the Norwegian artist Tyra Tingleff with a historic sculpture installation by Nicholas Pope, who represented Great Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1980. Crafted from black stoneware, Pope’s work depicts a gathering of his family members and their psychological nature. 

Showing her work for the first time in the U.K. with a solo booth of new paintings, New Jersey–based artist Danielle Mckinney’s mesmerizing paintings at Marianne Boesky gallery depict women caught in luxuriating in moments of leisure. The display of her pieces sold out before the fair opened, confirming the hot demand for the rising star’s work and her ascension. 

Presenting at Frieze London for the first time was New York’s Nicola Vassell gallery, who is showing a series of charcoal work by Jamaica-born Deborah Anzinger in a new section this year titled Artist-to-Artist, for which the fair invited established artists to curate a booth of emerging artists work. Venice Biennale Golden Lion winner Simone Leigh nominated Anzinger, who will have her first exhibition at the gallery next year. “It’s been a great experience so far to be here,” shares Vassell, who had sold half the works that morning. “New voices and spaces have continuously been a source of inspiration for London and the fair’s evolution, looking at how we can platform them at Frieze,” says Eva Langret, the director of Frieze “I would encourage everyone who comes to the fair to stop and make some discoveries here.”

Frieze London is on view at Regent’s Park from October 11–15, 2023.