Frieze Focus: Up-and-Coming Galleries Showing Previously Unseen Artworks
As the ferries dock at Randall’s Island for Frieze New York, fairgoers will cross the lawns to the fair’s iconic big-top tent. Those seeking fresh content from new galleries should beeline to the FOCUS section, where up-and-coming galleries (less than ten years old) will exhibit works previously unseen at an art fair.
Kate MacGarry, London: Solo Show of B. Wurtz
A solo booth of California-born artist B. Wurtz is incentive enough to head to the FOCUS section of Frieze New York. Gallerist Kate MacGarry, who has developed one of the most beloved spaces (and programs) in London’s East End, is filling her booth with Wurtz’s works from the 1970s to present, many of which have not been widely exhibited. Shoelaces, socks, plastic bags, wood, and marble are among the materials you’ll find, in early sculptures or loosely hanging assemblages, which the gallery hopes will “draw attention to the consistency in Wurtz’s practice over the years and to create an immersive experience of his work.”
GRIMM Gallery, Amsterdam: Charles Avery
Jorge Grimm’s eponymous gallery is one of Amsterdam’s best contemporary art spaces, known for its roster of international artists including American artists Matthew Day Jackson and his former studio assistant Nick van Woert, German artist Daniel Richter, and renowned Dutch conceptual artist Ger van Elk. At Frieze New York, Grimm shines the spotlight on London-based Scottish artist Charles Avery, best known for his “Islanders Project,” which uses sculpture, drawing, and film to imagine a fictional island. The artist’s solo booth will feature a tree from the island’s municipal park, among other works, and is a wonderful opportunity to get to know Avery before his major solo exhibition at GEM, Museum for Contemporary Art, The Hague, in 2015.
Mor Charpentier, Paris and Bogota: Milena Bonilla
In both Paris and Bogota, Mor Charpentier, founded by Alex Mor and Philippe Charpentier, is the place to look for new trends and emerging art practices—particular from Latin America—in addition to established artists for whom they seek new audiences. At Frieze New York, the gallery is showing Colombian artist Milena Bonilla’s video installation, Enchanted Forest, which is based on the once-forbidden plot of land between Germany and the Czech Republic. Sharing the booth, the gallery is also presenting Swiss artist Uriel Orlow’s audio-visual installation Unmade Film: The Reconaissance, which is set in Israel and Palestine and based on an unmade film of Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco: Amikam Toren
Although Jerusalem-born, London-based conceptual artist Amikam Toren has exhibited extensively throughout Europe, a mini retrospective at Jessica Silverman Gallery’s booth marks the artist’s first solo show in New York City in his 35-year career. The booth will include works from six series from the ’70s to present, including “Of the Times,” Toren’s large-scale paintings that depict letters made from the pulp of ground-up editions of newspapers, and “Pidgin Paintings,” which are made by cutting pieces of fabric from a stretched canvas, pulverizing the material, and reapplying it to the canvas, as if it were paint. Also on view are works from “Simple Fractions,” “Replacing,” “Hybrids,” and “Stack” sculptures, giving a comprehensive look at the artist’s oeuvre, filled with hints of Arte Povera, Minimalism, Gutai, and Pop Art.
