Frieze Sculpture 2024
The countdown to Frieze London begins!
Yes, that's right—London’s Frieze Art Fair is just around the corner! The signs are up, and once again, art is sprouting in Regent's Park.
We kicked things off yesterday morning with a leisurely walk through the southeasterly corner of the park to take in Frieze Sculpture, which opened September 18th. This annual outdoor exhibition precedes the upcoming Frieze London and Frieze Masters commercial fairs (October 9–13). While these fairs will have you parting with anywhere between £32 and £245 per ticket, Frieze Sculpture is a free opportunity to experience cutting-edge art in the great outdoors.
Curated for the second year by Fatoş Üstek, the 2024 edition features 22 international artists from five continents. Üstek explains, “This year’s Frieze Sculpture features daring and experimental artistic approaches. It also carves a place for playful encounters, socially and environmentally conscious themes, as well as conceptual and spiritual practices that expand the notion of public sculpture.”
Building on her successful 2023 debut, this year Üstek broadens our understanding of sculpture by incorporating works with sound, light, performance, and even augmented reality into the presentation. This year’s show includes 18 new works, creating a sensory playground where art meets nature and our early morning visit perfectly captured this fusion.
There’s something magical about strolling through Frieze Sculpture in the morning. When we visited, the park was almost empty, save for some curious squirrels and the odd pigeon eyeing up the sculptures as if considering them for a new perch.
We began our journey at the corner of the park closest to Great Portland Street and were greeted immediately by the captivating work of Leonora Carrington. Carrington broke records earlier this year when her painting Les Distractions de Dagobert, 1945, sold for more than £22.5 million, making it the most valuable artwork to sell at auction by a British-born female artist.
Here, Carrington’s sculpture, The Dancer, 2011, embodies her signature Surrealist style. The outstretched hand of the bronze figure almost seems to beckon visitors further into the park, where other works await, like Theaster Gates’s commanding maritime bollards and Yoshitomo Nara’s whimsically melancholic Ennui Head, 2020, a larger-than-life rendition of a smaller hand-carved clay sculpture. At the far side of the park near Chester Road lies Nathan Coley’s neon text work, I Don't Have Another Land, 2022. Part of an ongoing series inspired by graffiti found on a Jerusalem wall in the early 2000s, this piece hums with a quiet urgency, evoking themes of displacement and belonging.
Among artworks made in 2024, standout pieces include Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim’s The Form, 2024. Inspired by ancient cave art and primitive tools, Ibrahim’s bright cyan sculpture contrasts perfectly against the surrounding autumnal backdrop. Also notable is Libby Heaney's augmented reality piece, Ent- (non-earthly delights), 2024—a high-tech nod to Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights that questions our relationship with technology and nature.
Frieze Sculpture is open now until October 27th, so head down to Regent’s Park to experience these works up close before the fair frenzy kicks in. For added insight, we recommend downloading the Bloomberg Connects app, where audio guides by Fatoş Üstek, the artists, and their gallerists offer deeper context on the pieces.
Here’s a first look at some of our favourite sculptures to land in the park this autumn:
Leonora Carrington presented by rossogranada, The Dancer (El Bailarín), 2011
Theaster Gates presented by White Cube, The Duet, 2023
Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim presented by Lawrie Shabibi, The Form, 2024
Woody De Othello presented by Jessica Silverman, Stephen Friedman Gallery and Karma, seeing both sides, 2024
Yoshitomo Nara presented by Pace Gallery, Ennui Head, 2020
Kirstine Roepstorff presented by 2112, LIGHTNING ROD, 2024
İnci Eviner presented by Dirimart, Materials of Mind Theatre, 2024
Nathan Coley presented by The Page Gallery, I Don't Have Another Land, 2022
Libby Heaney presented by Gazelli Art House, Ent- (non-earthly delights), 2024
Theresa Chromati presented by VETA by Fer Francés, steadfast, step into me (allow silence to create the sounds you desire most), 2022
There’s definitely some good works this year, and I’m also super excited that they are incorporating sound and live performance. But, I dunno, the overall impact just doesn’t seem as “fun” as some of the recent years. Then again, art doesnt always have to be fun. Maybe I’m just being selfish!