After a year-long hiatus, Frieze Sculpture is heading back to London next month, taking over the English Gardens in Regent’s Park to bring a healthy dose of culture to the bucolic idyll in the heart of the city. Featuring big name international artists as well as a wealth of exciting emerging talent, this year’s exhibition is set to be one of the must-visit art events of the year.
Frieze Sculpture 2021
There is something about coming across a work of art in the great outdoors that adds a little frisson of excitement to the viewing – removed from the white walls of a gallery, you almost feel as if you’ve uncovered a rare gem hiding in the undergrowth. And while that’s unlikely to happen with the large-scale works on show at Frieze Sculpture, there’s no denying that al fresco art brings a whole new dimension to the experience.
Held concurrently with Frieze London and Frieze Masters (which will run from 13-17 October), the free exhibition will be running from 14 September to 31 October and is one of the largest outdoor sculpture shows in the city. Curated by Clare Lilley, the director of programming at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the works this year were chosen to tackle a variety of themes, ranging from displacement and geopolitical power imbalances to nature and environmental concerns, and feature everything from brightly-coloured pineapples to giant titanium monoliths.
The exhibition also prides itself on featuring a globally diverse roster of artists, which feels particularly poignant this year. “Each Frieze Sculpture installation brings such a different picture of sculptural practice and it’s heartening that this year is especially global, including artists who herald from South America, South and North Africa, Indonesia, Pakistan, the USA and Canada, and from across Europe,” says Lilley.
As well as a carefully curated list of emerging talent, the show will also include works by Rose Wylie (represented by David Zwirner), Ibrahim El-Salahi (Vigo Gallery), Rasheed Araeen (Grosvenor Gallery) and Isamu Noguchi (White Cube). Frieze is also teaming up with the Serpentine Gallery in Hyde Park to present Counterspace, marking the first time a public institution has participated in the exhibition.
“Although the artists span three generations, I see exciting sculptural conversations across time and geography and while many sculptures here relate to social and environmental concerns, there is much heightened colour and dextrous handling of material, resulting in an overall sense that is celebratory,” says Lilley. “As we learn to live with the pandemic and emerge into public spaces, Frieze Sculpture 2021 allows people to come together in safety and with pleasure and is a tonic for the mind, body and soul.”
Frieze Sculpture is accompanied by a free audio tour by Clare Lilley, available on frieze.com. The exhibition will have a virtual presence on the Frieze London and Frieze Masters Online Viewing Room, 13 – 17 October 2021, enabling audiences from across the globe to engage with the works.
Full list of artists and their galleries below:
Rasheed Araeen, Grosvenor Gallery
Daniel Arsham, Perrotin
Anthony Caro, New Art Centre
Gisela Colón, GAVLAK
Counterspace, Serpentine London
José Pedro Croft, Galeria Vera Cortês
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Galerie Philippe Gravier, Paris
Stoyan Dechev, Anca Poterasu Gallery
Ibrahim El-Salahi, Vigo Gallery
Divya Mehra, Night Gallery
Annie Morris, Timothy Taylor
Isamu Noguchi, White Cube
Jorge Otero-Pailos, Holtermann Fine Art
Solange Pessoa, Mendes Wood DM
Vanessa da Silva, Galeria Duarte Sequeira
Rose Wylie, David Zwirner
Tatiana Wolska, L’Etrangère/Irène Laub Gallery *Supported by the Mtec Bursary
Yunizar, Gajah Gallery
Frieze Sculpture takes place in Regent’s Park, London from 14 September – 31 October 2021;
frieze.com
