The 15 Best Booths at Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2024 | Artsy

If the murmurs around the openings and parties across London this week are to be believed, this year’s Frieze London and Frieze Masters arrive at a crucial moment for the city’s art market. With the impending Art Basel Paris a stubborn talking point among dealers and visitors alike, and broader conversations around the state of the city’s art scene providing an uneasy backdrop to the fair, expectations leading up to its VIP day were almost as murky as the gray skies of Regent’s Park on Wednesday morning.

It was likely a relief to those in attendance, then, that the fair’s opening day seemed to paint a picture that was less “doom porn” and more “return to form.” With throngs of VIPs and associated art world insiders gathering throughout the park well before the fair’s 11 a.m. opening on Wednesday, both Frieze London and Frieze Masters remained busy and buzzy throughout a day that was as ripe for celebrity hunting as it was for artwork perusing: The likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Ford, FKA twigs, and Emma Raducanu were among the A-listers spotted across the aisles.

“This week has been a welcome reminder of the energy that is unique to London and the enduring strengths of the city’s art scene,” said dealer Thaddaeus Ropac. “I’ve said it before, but the extraordinary arts ecosystem in London is an enduring draw for artists and collectors alike.”

As it has been since 2012, Frieze is split into two main tents: the contemporary art–focused Frieze London at the southern tip of Regent’s Park, and Frieze Masters at the northern end, covering a broader span of art history. Some 270 galleries from 47 countries are convened across the two venues, which are estimated (quite modestly) to be a 14-minute walk apart (shuttle buses and Lime bikes are available). The total number of galleries this year, however, marks a slight reduction from last year’s edition, and includes some notable absences such as David Kordansky, Matthew Marks, and Pilar Corrias. (All three, it should be noted, are participating in Art Basel Paris next week.)

This year’s edition of the fair—its 21st in London—debuts a “groundbreaking new floorplan” for Frieze London. Rather than the phalanx of mega-galleries that visitors have come to expect as they enter, this year’s edition positions several more emerging names, such as New York’s 47 Canal and Mumbai’s Experimenter, at the front of the fair. Its Focus section, dedicated to young galleries, is also given more prominent real estate not far from the entrance.

“The redesigned geography of our space reflects the diversity of participating galleries, from the new and radical to the most established names, emphasizing the connections between these different perspectives and Frieze’s role in fostering creative dialogues,” said fair director Eva Langret. Indeed, those looking to make a beeline to mega-galleries such as Gagosian, David Zwirner, and Hauser & Wirth will now have to trek to the final part of the tent—not that this seemed to deter the thrumming herds during the fair’s opening minutes.

Frieze London has also added a new section to the concourse, Smoke, organized by Hammer Museum curator Pablo José Ramírez. Comprising eight galleries, the section is dedicated to ceramic works by artists who explore diasporic and indigenous histories.

Returning curated sections this year include Artist-to-Artist, where six renowned names have selected solo presentations by new voices. And at Frieze Masters, renowned art historian Sheena Wagstaff returns to curate the Studio section for its second year, with solo booths from late-career artists that explore the “creative connection between present.” Also returning to Masters is Spotlight, which hosts solo presentations of “both overlooked artists and lesser-known works” from the 20th century.

Early sales announcements from the fair offered tentative confirmation of the bullish mood in the tents. Reported sales on the VIP day were led by an $8.5 million Arshile Gorky painting, a sum almost three times the largest sale reported by the gallery at Frieze London last year. A number of dealers also reported sold-out booths, including Stephen Friedman Gallery and London tastemaker Ginny on Frederick. See our full roundup of day-one sales from the fair here and check back for the full sales report on Monday.

Below, we present our 15 best booths from Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2024.

Frieze London, Booth C13

With works by Billy Childish

From the start of VIP day, Lehmann Maupin’s solo booth of Billy Childish was hung with paintings, though a large chunk of it was set up like the artist’s studio—stretched Belgian linen canvases, a jar of brushes, reference images, and piles of hefty paint tubes were all arranged on tables and chairs, anticipating the act of painting. One collector inquired about purchasing what he thought was a brilliant installation. The makeshift workspace was in fact awaiting the British artist himself: Childish soon appeared and began drawing with charcoal, sketching out a landscape that would become his latest work. Indeed, from noon to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, he was painting live in front of a rapt audience (he returned to do the same again on Thursday).

Though it may sound gimmicky, it’s actually a rare glimpse into an esteemed artist’s process, lifting the veil on a facet of the art world that’s not typically accessible to the masses. Childish—clad in a denim, paint-speckled jumpsuit; a jaunty hat; and his signature mustache—is wonderfully unphased by the gawkers and the unusual ambiance; he appears to be going about his work as usual. Not to mention, the gallery sold 11 of Childish’s mesmerizing canvases—priced in the range of $50,000–$100,000 per piece—in the fair’s first few hours, including one of the new works made on site.

“Billy inaugurated our London gallery with an artist residency nearly five years ago, where he transformed the space into an active studio and developed a series of paintings,” said London-based Lehmann Maupin partner Isabella Icoz. “It’s part of his practice to work this way. He paints intuitively and fast-paced. Having him painting on-site today at his solo booth for our 20th year at Frieze felt like a natural fit and a lovely full-circle moment.” The presentation anticipates a January show the gallery will have with Childish at its temporary Mayfair space in Frieze No.9 Cork Street.

—Casey Lesser

Frieze Masters, Booth E11

With works by Feliza Bursztyn

Themes of craft, modernity, and labor are variegated together in the jagged sculptural works of Feliza Bursztyn, a trailblazing figure of 20th-century Colombian art. The presentation of works at the booth of London stalwart The Mayor Gallery spans the length of Bursztyn’s tragically short career—the artist passed away aged just 49 in 1982—and retains the raw power that made her such a critical success.

“We always [feature] artists that we feel need more promoting and more knowledge and I think she’s a perfect example,” said James Mayor, owner of the gallery. “I only came across her three years ago, and I felt instantly in love with her work.”

Many visitors to the booth will share in a similar discovery. Bursztyn’s works deftly combine materials such as machine fragments, cables, tires, and hand-dyed fabrics to explore the fragility of modern life. The result is a selection of works that are as visceral as they are delicate and strangely ornate.

“That’s what we like to use Frieze Masters for,” noted Mayor. “Showing people artists that I think are major that may have slipped by them.” Works at the booth are priced from $35,000–$275,000.

—Arun Kakar

Frieze London, Booth D01

With works by Leiko Ikemura

Despite its central location at Frieze London, Lisson Gallery’s booth is an oasis of calm, debuting a tightly curated range of Japanese Swiss artist Leiko Ikemura’s paintings and sculptures. This presentation—the artist’s London debut—begins an ambitious string of solo exhibitions in Germany, Tokyo, Switzerland, and New York over the next year.

“We wanted to create more of an exhibition, rather than an art fair booth, for the artist’s first presentation with Lisson,” said Max Bossier, director at the gallery, referencing the ship-like structure at the booth’s entrance that contains one of the sculptures on view at the solo exhibition.

Attracting visitor attention was the central triptych of tempera and oil on jute paintings rendered in muted hues—Yellow Scape (2020), Lago Rondo (2020), and B-bay (2020)—separate works sold to the same collection on the opening day. Ikemura’s practice takes cues from Japanese Shintoism, deftly combining human figuration and ethereal landscapes to reflect the ancient belief system’s focus on interconnectedness.

The booth was flanked by glass, bronze, and terracotta sculptures, which Bossier noted as an intentional choice to demonstrate Ikemura’s range. Usagi Kannon Pray (168) (2022), a human-sized patinated bronze sculpture of a usagi—a Japanese mythical combination of rabbit ears and a human face—is positioned at the outermost corner of the booth, as if both to greet visitors and guard the entrance. By the end of the fair’s VIP day, 10 works sold for prices in the range of €55,000–€170,000 ($60,179–$186,006).

—Veena McCoole

Frieze Masters, Booth D4

With works by Gillian Wise, Mary Martin, Anthony Hill, Sean Scully, Bridget Riley, Anthony Caro, and Nigel Hall

One of London’s most influential gallerists (The Guardian called her the “doyenne of British art dealers” when she passed away in 2006), Annely Juda exhibited some of the most formative developments in British art during the late 20th century.

One of those developments, British abstraction, is the highlight of the gallery’s booth, entitled “Line and Space.” Taken together, these works from the 1960s to the 1980s illustrate the innovations of emerging generations of non-figurative artists and their influence on contemporary abstraction—much of which can be seen across other parts of the fair.

Examples include austere wall works from pioneering Constructivist artists such as Gillian Wise and Mary Martin, which are placed in dialogue with geometric works on paper by a young Sean Scully and Bridget Riley. Centering the booth, meanwhile, are imposing steel and aluminum works by the likes of Anthony Caro, William Tucker, and Nigel Hall, offering striking examples of formal innovation.

“There’s a strong history of these artists with the gallery, which started in the ’60s, and we thought that it’s a nice opportunity here at Frieze Masters,” said gallery director Nina Fellman. “You have very good people here, and it’s been a good start for us.” Works at the booth are priced in the range of £10,000–£650,000 ($13,071–$849,615).

—A.K.

Frieze London, Booth D19

With works by Jeff Walls, Lynne Drexler, Cinga Samson, Tracey Emin, Sara Flores, Theaster Gates, Al Held, Marguerite Humeau, Imi Knoebel, Alia Ahmad, and Tiona Nekkia McClodden

From a wall of 10 Tracey Emin bronze relief portraits commissioned by London’s National Portrait Gallery to Mona Hatoum’s striking sculpture constructed from compressed mattress coils and bed frames, White Cube’s booth was as busy as it was varied.

Highlights of the mega-gallery’s presentation also include an acrylic on canvas painting by Sylvia Snowden, Shell 72 (2003),an emotional, psychological portrait of her daughter rendered in bright red gestural brushstrokes; and a 2024 oil painting by South African artist Cinga Samson. Also featured is جال | Shore (2024), a vibrant new painting by the gallery’s newest roster member, Alia Ahmad. Surprisingly, the booth’s anchor piece, a large-scale Jeff Wall lightbox, Tattoos and Shadows (2000), was not for sale, but rather a preview of his forthcoming show at White Cube Bermondsey in November.

Business at the fair was clearly off to a strong start for the gallery, with its global sales director Leila Alexander reporting that 16 works sold on VIP day, including a $450,000 work by Al Held. “There’s been a lot of press lately about the market slowing, but it’s clear that Frieze Week and its constellation of related gallery and museum shows and special events across London continues to draw enthusiastic and engaged collectors both locally and internationally,” she said.

—V.M.

Frieze London, Booth AA6

With works by Nengi Omuku

The great Yinka Shonibare is something of a hero for fellow Nigerian artist Nengi Omuku. So it was a total joy for the younger artist to learn that Shonibare had nominated her to present new work in Frieze’s Artist-to-Artist section. Presented by Kasmin and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, Omuku presents three of her increasingly admired oil paintings on sanyan—a traditional fabric woven by the Yoruba people. “I’m aware that I’m bringing together Western and West African heritage,” Omuku, who is based between Lagos and London, has said. “I really enjoy being in the middle. It helps me have a broader view of the world.”

This presentation of three new paintings coincides with the artist’s first solo show at Kasmin in New York and follows her first solo institutional exhibition this year, at Hastings Contemporary and Arnolfini. The trio of works combine the serenity and unrest she felt during a residency in the stunning environs of Perugia, Italy, this past summer. “I did walks every single day, and at the same time, I was having flashbacks of different wars and conflicts that were happening all over the world,” Omuku told Artsy. “I couldn’t deal with the paradox, the polar opposites of having so much beauty in the world, as well as chaos.”

These resulting landscapes, in warm pastels with jolts of vivid color, are embedded with people in moments of repose, walking or resting, but also moments of turmoil. Rabble Rouser (2024), for example, shows a vision that Omuku had of people fighting while gazing at vines. “I was trying to deconstruct the chaos of the world through painting, and also to sort of save my mind because it’s hard to process,” she explained.

The trio of works, which float gracefully from the ceiling, are priced from $50,000–$90,000 per piece and had sold out promptly on VIP day.

—C.L.

Frieze Masters, Booth D11

With works by Natvar Bhavsar, Maqbool Fida Husain, Krishna Shamrao Kulkarni, Ram Kumar, Sayed Haider Raza, and Mohan Samant

John D. Rockefeller founded the Asian Cultural Council in 1963 to fund fellowships for artists from across Asia, inviting them to spend a year in New York City. For the Indian artists whose works are on view at New York gallery Aicon’s booth, the grant would come to have a profound influence, which in turn would have a major impact on the trajectory of Indian art in the 20th century.

“Most of them had not traveled outside India,” said owner Prajit Dutta. “So the opportunity to spend a year in New York, getting to meet people like Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning at the height of their powers—several of these artists talked about how profoundly changed their practice, and some of them essentially became the founders of modern Indian art.”

Sayed Haider Raza, for instance, one of India’s leading modernist painters, arrived in New York as a painter of landscapes and came back as an “abstractionist painting in acrylic.” His work at the booth, Untitled (1970), provides a prime example.

Framed in this way, and featuring works by some of the leading names in 20th-century Indian art, the booth offers a fascinating historical perspective on a group of artists that are currently receiving reappraisal both in India and internationally. Works are priced from $45,000 up to the “seven figures.”

—A.K.

Frieze London, Booth F24

With works by Nils Alix-Tabeling

In the Focus section at Frieze London, dedicated to galleries featuring emerging artists, Public Gallery presents a striking solo booth by French artist Nils Alix-Tabeling. Fusing human, animal, and insect forms, Alix-Tabeling’s sculptures explore themes of folklore, mysticism, and camp.

One of the booth’s standout pieces is Peacock Spider (2024), a mesmerizing sculpture inspired by the spider’s courtship dance, which features casts of the artist’s face and hands. Conjured from a mix of wood, papier-mâché, embalming resin, and beeswax, the playful work is tinged with intriguing darkness, bringing together themes of vanity, death, and transformation.

For these works, Alix-Tabeling mined inspiration from the ruins of a pre-Roman pagan temple near his studio in Montbouy, France, which he frequently visits. This mystical setting is echoed in the sculptures’ materials, which range from mirrors and recycled metal to pearls encased in tripe and hand-felted wool, all of which combine to evoke ancient rites of reflection and metamorphosis. The towering sculpture La Déesse de Montbouy (2024), modeled after a Celtic goddess with wings, combines camp aesthetics with grotesque imagery, celebrating fluidity and transformation. The more modestly sized wall-hung mirror works are just as compelling, similarly evidencing Alix-Tabeling’s fluency with material and his flair for teasing the occult from familiar objects, though they’re quite refined, too. Works range in price from €10,000–€21,000 ($10,937–$22,968).

The tastemaking, East London–based Public Gallery is known to showcase works by daring emerging artists whose works are well suited to institutions and private collections alike. “We’re so happy to present Nils Alix-Tabeling in the Focus section this year,” said gallery director Nicole Estilo Kaiser. “He’s worked with a number of French institutions including FRAC Corsica and Palais de Tokyo, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to continue conversations with curators as Frieze London brings together an overwhelming number of museums and institutions.”

—C.L.

Frieze London, Booth C16

With works by Minjung Kim, Kim Tschang-Yeul, Yun-Hee Toh, Shin Sung Hy, Sung Neung Kyung, Lee Kang-So, Lee Kun-Yong, Seung-taek Lee, Yoo Geun-Teak, and Chung Zuyoung

With its multi-artist booth, Seoul’s Gallery Hyundai showcases the boundless variety of modern and contemporary Korean artists. Rooted in the country’s identity and heritage, yet encompassing international experiences and unique experimental approaches, the booth encapsulates the odyssey of Korean artists and their contributions to the art world at large.

Highlights include Seung-taek Lee’s works that draw from his concept of “non-sculpture.” The process sees the artist tie a rope around a porcelain jar in Tied Porcelain, the soft rope indenting the solid ceramic surface to trick the viewer into seeing the jar as the more pliable of the two materials. The artist, whose work featured at the Venice Biennale earlier this year with a show at Palazzo Caboto, has developed an experimental practice that resists definition, but all three of his works on view nod to his fondness for unconventional raw materials: in this case, rope.

Elsewhere, Lee Kang-so’s Serenity 22020 (2022) features a decisive, continuous flourish of a calligraphy brush, transmuting the energy he has captured into a sense of artistic release. “He does this in one go, so it can’t be fixed or undone once the brushstroke is made,” said the gallery’s associate director Fiona Hyewon Kwon.

—V.M.

Frieze Masters, Booth G8

With works by Manuel Felguérez Barra

Mexico City–based gallery PROYECTOS MONCLOVA’s presentation of works by Manuel Felguérez Barra is a concise contextualization of one of its country’s most influential post-war artists. Born in 1928, Barra played a key role in the Generación de la Ruptura (Rupture Generation) movement of mid-century Mexico that embraced more international artistic trends and formal experimentation.

Bringing together sculptures and paintings from across his career, the gallery’s presentation shows how the artist melded together elements of geometric abstraction, Abstract Expressionism, and other avant-garde influences of the time.

The works on view here still vibrate with originality, as well as a controlled sense of “chaos and order,” as the artist once described his painting process. Of particular note in the booth are a series of 1970s works made in collaboration with the Harvard mathematician Mayer Sasson, early dalliances in digital art that make for fascinating formal experiments.

Works at the booth are priced from $15,000–$135,000, and gallery director Alexandra Lovera struck an enthusiastic tone during the early hours of the fair. “We have some sales already,” she told Artsy. “The reception of the people is incredible.”

—A.K.

Frieze Masters, Booth E7

With works by Duncan Grant, Dod Procter, Maria Verelst, Alfred Wolmark, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Cedric Morris, Mary Beale, Roger Fry, Sarah Biffin, and Godfrey Kneller

This is only Philip Mould & Company’s second appearance at Frieze Masters, but the works on view showcase a gallery that is a natural fit with the fair’s Old Master and 20th-century sensibilities. With a program that extends over the last 500 years of British art, the gallery brings a dual focus to its booth, owner Philip Mould explained.

“There are two areas that we constantly find create the most interest, and those are works done a long time ago, in the 1560s and ’70s, and works in the early part of the 20th century, when modernism is beginning to suffuse its way through the language of art,” he said.

The works on view offer several fine examples of both junctures. Duncan Grant’s Dancers (1912) is an early example of British modernism that blends cubist elements with impressionistic dapples of color. Roger Fry’s Autumn Landscape, South of France (1920) offers a similar perspective, encapsulating the profound influence of Paul Cézanne on the Bloomsbury school of British artists.

Winding the years back further, a portrait from the 1710s of the Duchess of Chandos by Maria Verelst—among the most celebrated women artists of the 18th century—is a demonstration of timeless elegance. Mary Beale’s early 1660s portrait of her son Bartholomew, meanwhile, is a touching painting by one of Britain’s first women artists that will come as a discovery to many visitors.

Taken as a whole, the gallery’s booth represents much of what Frieze Masters is premised on: looking at the past afresh while learning a thing or two about art history along the way. “The thought is that it’s a good fair and that our area of specialization mercifully finds a place here,” Mould said. Prices for works at the booth range from £30,000–£600,000 ($35,844–$71,688).

—A.K.

Frieze London, Booth C20

With works by Ji Xin, Trudy Benson, Brian Calvin, Alejandro Cardenas, Ali Cherri, Roby Dwi Antono, Genieve Figgis, Hew Locke, Dr. Esther Mahlangu, Vivian Springford, Claire Tabouret, Tom Wesselmann, and Guimi You

If an art fair can feel like sensory overload, gazing at the ethereal, otherworldly female portraits of Chinese artist Ji Xin on view at Almine Rech is a tonic that can soothe the soul. Drawing inspiration from the Italian Renaissance and Chinese Song Dynasty paintings, Ji’s portraits invite viewers into a pastel-hued world of introspection and contemplation.

Silent Dance (2024), for instance, depicts two elongated, intertwined figures, their one-eyed heads seemingly balanced atop each other. The booth also features the third sculpture Ji has ever made—a medium he is less well-known for. Within an hour of the fair’s VIP day opening, all the artist’s works had sold.

The booth also convened a diverse array of both emerging and established artists, including works by Hew Locke, who has an upcoming solo show at the British Museum opening on October 17th, and Esther Mahlangu, who will be unveiling a new site-specific mural at the Serpentine later this week, according to Thibault Geffrin, senior director at the gallery.

—V.M.

Frieze London, Booth D12

With works by Carol Bove

This isn’t exactly a banner year for bold, ambitious Frieze London booths, making Gagosian’s presentation of looming Carol Bove sculptures especially exciting. The nine large-scale sculptures, titled Grove I–IX (2024), represent an idea Bove has toying with for nearly a decade—an immersive “forest” of abstract forms. Each of these nearly 10-foot-tall “trees” sees her crumpled, stainless steel tubes painted in electric greens and yellows which snake up along and around rough, rusty metal beams, some dangling with chains or adorned with painted discs. The delectable, matte forms we’ve come to expect from the artist in recent years seem to be plucked from perfection and combined with raw, industrial elements. Tall and lithe, the sculptures have a compelling edge, though they’re also quite elegant.

Viewers are meant to take in and move about these towering pillars, experiencing them indoors or outdoors, a lush clashing of the digital and analog, natural and industrial worlds. It’s no surprise that Bove has envisioned Grove I–IX potentially living in nature, where they can weather and change as they’re exposed to the elements. “The palette was devised with a changing outdoor setting in mind—one that would appear to transform with the green of spring and summer, the brown of fall, and the white of winter,” Bove has said of the works.

Gagosian announced representation of Bove last September, and she has since had solo shows with the gallery in New York and Gstaad. The presentation was well received by fairgoers, who curiously lingered within and around the forest for the entirety of the fair’s first day.

—C.L.

Frieze London, Booth D06

With works by Virginia Chihota, Joy Labinjo, Emma Prempeh, Miranda Forrester, Sikelela Owen, Muzae Sesay, Leo Robinson, Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers), and Samuel Nnorom

At London and Lagos gallery Tiwani Contemporary’s booth, vibrant multimedia works from represented and associated artists were a draw for visitors at every turn. Two new works by Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers) unite fictional and historical narratives in richly layered paintings, prompting viewers to revisit ideas from the past through a new, often quirky lens. In Rashid’s universe, UFOs and isolated eyes hover over scenes of conflict and combat, and—in the case of Terror in the Alps (2024)—appear staged against a tranquil backdrop of snow-capped mountains.

Elsewhere in the booth, works from Joy Labinjo’s recent exhibition at South London’s Southwark Park Galleries are featured, including a strikingly textured and deeply evocative portrait, Gratitude (2024).

“The fair has started with a great energy,” said the gallery’s associate director Isabel Vegas. “We love its new layout, and we have been excited to have the opportunity to show pieces that were shown only institutionally this year.”

Another standout work is Muzae Sesay’s painting Dancefloor (2024), a geometric expression reminiscent of descending a staircase into a nightclub, accented with neon-like shapes. This debut of work from the artist’s series precedes a solo exhibition at the London branch of Tiwani Contemporary in late November. There, the artist will continue his psycho-geographic practice of reflecting the inner thoughts that the outer environment sparks in him.

—V.M.

Frieze Masters, Booth S21

With works by Dora Maar

Dora Maar is primarily known for two things: her exceptional Surrealist photographs and her portrayals by Pablo Picasso, with whom she had a tumultuous relationship in the 1930s and ’40s. Given this, it’s a delight to see Maar celebrated for her own remarkable painting practice—an aspect of her career that still remains unfamiliar to many.

Maar had initially studied painting in Paris before becoming a celebrated photographer in the 1930s, and the story goes that it was Picasso who encouraged her to return to painting. By the 1950s, Maar had moved to Ménerbes in the south of France, where she became deeply inspired by the landscape. The resulting body of paintings from that time are characterized by rich yet raw interpretations of the natural world. During her lifetime, Maar’s paintings were seen by few, with just a handful of exhibitions, including one solo show at Heinz Berggruen Gallery in Paris in 1957. Following Maar’s death in 1997 without an estate, a large cache of her works, including paintings on canvas and paper, was dispersed at sale the following year.