Frieze’s 20th anniversary kicks off with adventurous sculpture show

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London’s credentials as an art-market centre are on the mind of the organisers of this year’s Frieze, which marks the 20th anniversary of its first fair, held in Regent’s Park then as now. Although London is now less hospitable to emerging artists and gallerists trying to make their way, thanks to Brexit, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, London maintains a “rich history, diverse communities and thriving arts scene”, says Eva Langret, director of Frieze London, and is “a place where ideas are exchanged and innovation happens”.

Kicking off the events this autumn will be Frieze Sculpture, which runs in the park between September 20 and October 29 and is organised for the first time by the curator Fatos Üstek. She promises about 20 works in the park, mostly for sale, which will comprise “the monumental and the ephemeral”. These include large-scale pieces by Zac Ové (“The Mothership Connection”, 2021, Gallery 1957), which lights up, and Ayse Erkmen’s more muted “Model for Moss Column” (2023, Dirimart gallery). Works such as “The Hop” (2022, Pi Artworks) by Jyll Bradley include performance. The Frieze London and Frieze Masters fairs will run from October 11-15.

In Paris, meanwhile, Old Masters gallery Moretti Fine Art is preparing to set up shop. Adding to his headquarters in London and gallery in Monte Carlo, founder Fabrizio Moretti has secured an “intimate” street-level space at 1 Place du Louvre and will show a “major Italian Baroque masterpiece” when he opens on September 14.

Brexit was not behind the decision, Moretti says, though as the Italian-born gallerist concedes, “it will be easier to bring a picture to Monte Carlo from Paris than from London.” He says he was more influenced by the fact that “I found the right person to run the gallery”. Giulia Giustiniani is an Italian art historian who has lived and worked in Paris since 2012, latterly at the dealership Turquin. Being close to the Louvre, “a very active” museum in the market, added to the attraction, Moretti says.

Three senior directors of Marlborough Galleries have left and gone into business together. Frankie Rossi, at Marlborough for nearly 20 years, has set up Frankie Rossi Art Projects and been joined by Geoffrey Parton and John Erle-Drax, at Marlborough for more than 50 years each. They are operating out of offices above Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert gallery in London, with whom they collaborated for their first project. A show of compelling recent self-portraits by the 92-year-old Frank Auerbach, it runs until July 14.

The show has proved a critical and commercial success — its 20 works priced between £200,000 and £500,000 have all sold, and 4,500 people had visited by the end of June, the gallery confirms. “It’s a new business model and working with James Holland-Hibbert is a natural fit,” Rossi says. Their next collaboration comes in the autumn, with a recent body of work by Maggi Hambling, in conjunction with her showing at Frieze Masters in its new Studio section, which focuses on where artists work.

Marlborough, founded in London in 1946, has had a tumultuous few years including family infighting and a subsequent reorganisation under chief executive Douglas Walla. Emily Andrew, recently appointed as director of its London gallery, left the business after a matter of months and is now consulting through EKA Art Advisory. A representative from Marlborough Fine Art declined to comment on any aspect of its current situation.

Maureen Paley gallery now represents Turner Prize nominee Rory Pilgrim, who will have a solo exhibition in London’s Chisenhale Gallery next year. Pilgrim is an artist who works across several media and Paley says that she finds their emphasis on performance and film “appealing”, having discovered them through Between Bridges, a non-profit space founded by another of her artists, Wolfgang Tillmans.

Pilgrim was nominated for this year’s Turner Prize for “RAFTS”, a film, performance and sound installation shown at Serpentine and Barking Town Hall. The work addresses the climate crisis and was the result of a three-year research project with east London residents. Pilgrim is also represented by Andriesse-Eyck gallery in Amsterdam.

Art market activity doesn’t stop during the traditional summer break and instead follows the wealthy to their holiday destinations. These include Aspen, Colorado, where next month the Aspen Art Museum hosts its long-running fundraiser, organised by director Nicola Lees. Activity culminates in ArtCrush, an auction and gala on August 4, for which tickets start at $2,500, while the 70 works at an auction through Sotheby’s are estimated to make at least $3.5mn.

Of these, 10 will be offered live and are topped by “Tesseract #6” (2023) by Howardena Pindell, est $400,000-$500,000 (donated by Garth Greenan Gallery). The live lots also include an aluminium and wax sculpture “Coude à Coude” (2019) by Nairy Baghramian, this year’s honoured artist, whose solo show runs at the Aspen Art Museum until October 22. Her work comes courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery and Kurimanzutto and is estimated at $200,000-$300,000. Last year’s ArtCrush raised nearly $4.5mn, a spokesperson confirms.

Prince Harry still has some fans in the art world. On June 30, a 1998 painting of him by Elizabeth Peyton sold at Phillips for £385,000 (£488,950 with fees). The work didn’t quite hit its estimate of £400,000-£600,000 but the Duke of Sussex can claim to be pricier than former German chancellor Angela Merkel, whose Peyton portrait sold for £275,000 at Sotheby’s earlier in the week (£349,250 with fees, est £500,000-£700,000). “Prince Harry, September 1998” was the third highest price at Phillips’s 20th Century to Now sale in London, which made a disappointing £7.1mn total (£9.1mn with fees, est £8.6mn-£12.3mn) from 111 generally low-priced works.

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