Frieze London diary: art historical speed dating and frozen faeces – The Art Newspaper

Art historical speed dating at the National Gallery

The talks series Unexpected Views—when eight contemporary artists are invited to speak for ten minutes in front of their favourite works at the National Gallery—is always a Frieze week high point. “It’s like art historical speed dating,” quipped a befrocked Grayson Perry, who chose to talk about William Hogarth’s Marriage A-la-Mode painting cycle, which he praised for its “storytelling, observation and sense of humour”. He added that “humour is greatly under-rated” and that “we over-privilege misery”. Perry also stated his admiration for Hogarth’s graphic skills, confessing, “I’m staging a one-man campaign against Expressionist brushstrokes.” Other participants included Shirazeh Houshiary, who said Francisco de Zurbarán’s St Francis in Meditation was “an image of interconnectedness“, and Haegue Yang, who enjoyed the deathly connection between the hidden crucifix and the anamorphic skull in Hans Holbein the Younger’s The Ambassadors. The National Gallery’s current artist-in-residence, Ming Wong, added that Gerrit van Honthorst’s Saint Sebastian was not only a queer icon image but also “such a drama queen!”

Emin confesses and Cullinan coos

Tracey Emin was on fine form on Friday during a Dunhill x Frieze Masters talk with the British Museum director Nicholas Cullinan, intriguingly titled “Confessions in the Museum”. Emin was her typically frank self, describing how “recently big museums have started buying my work which is important. I think it’s because when I had cancer… they thought, ‘Fucking hell, we haven’t got any of her work.’” Cullinan meanwhile gave his reflections on recently having a child. “My husband Mattias and I have a ten-month old daughter… what will be wonderful especially at the British Museum is seeing that through a child’s eyes. I’m sure she’ll come into work at times and see what I do.” An Emin project is in the pipeline at the British Museum. “We are going to do a show [there],” Emin exclaimed.

Frozen faeces for Frieze week

The elusive art collective Konn Artiss caused a stir during Frieze week by placing 40-stone blocks of ice outside London’s major galleries and auction houses. Passersby were surprised to see a framed picture of faeces taped to the window of Phillips auction house this week beside an ice block encasing another “immeasurable piece of poo”, said a project spokesperson. “I froze a block of shit because that’s what the market feels like right now. The frame on the wall is the context; the ice on the pavement is the reality. Make of it what you want,” Konn Artiss says. “As the ice melts, what remains is residue, puddles, curiosity, and a city that can’t look away”. Konn Artiss also placed ice blocks outside Frieze London that contained effigies of famous artists such as Damien Hirst.

Salmon, Sampha and speculation

Art world glitterati descended on the Frieze London tent on Thursday evening for the lavish Collectors’ Dinner attended by gallerists, patrons and (some) journalists. Guests including the Frieze owner Ari Emanuel, the dealer Sadie Coles and the collector Christian Levett, joined a throng of luminaries who dined on dishes such as salmon rillettes and coq au riesling. Art world tongues wagged about hot topics of the day—who will win UK Celebrity Traitors?—while quaffing a scrumptious Fortnum’s wine. Goodie bags included Loewe perfume and a BMW test drive experience. As the evening wore on, attendees waited for “a secret live music performance” (“is it Madonna?” said one rather optimistic partygoer). The act turned out to be the Mercury Prize winner Sampha, who wowed the crowd.

Leonardo, Leonardo and Michelangelo

Leonardo DiCaprio is not just a top-notch movie star—he’s also an art history buff ready to opine on his Renaissance namesake, Leonardo da Vinci. In a post on Instagram, the star of The Revenant is seen huddled around an image on a smartphone, alongside the legendary Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto and the dealer Lorenzo Fiaschi of Galleria Continua, who posted the pic. The trio can be seen pondering on a painting by Piero della Francesca alongside—but what exactly were they discussing?

According to a spokesperson for Galleria Continua, “Michelangelo and Leonardo talked about the Renaissance. Michelangelo explained the perspective in The Flagellation of Christ(1459-60) by Piero della Francesca, describing how this work was important to him and saying that this masterpiece is not only a work of art, but also a scientific inquiry.

“Leonardo DiCaprio then highlighted the importance of the depth of the landscape in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa—the way it was painted, softly blended and with light colours.” This then apparently generated an interesting exchange about how architecture and landscape, along with artifice and nature, produced similar results through different artistic procedures. Go Leo(s).

Kate Bush makes a deal with artists

Art lovers splashing their cash around town might want to dig deep for a special cause. Kate Bush has invited 52 artists to respond to her lyric “If I only could, I’d make a deal with God”—from her song Running Up That Hill—in aid of War Child, which raises money for children caught up in global conflicts. Big names obliged, such as Peter Doig, who donated works titled The Hill and Child of War. Other contributors include Susie Hamilton, Corbin Shaw and Maggi Hambling. The works feature in an online auction (28 October-13 November) and will also be displayed at London’s Iconic Images Gallery (4-8 November).