Editor’s Pick. Frieze Art Fair in London 2022 Painting heavily dominated Frieze this year

The Frieze fair occurs annually in October in the Regent’s Park, London. Each year, Frieze puts on two events: Frieze and Frieze Masters. Frieze is an opportunity for collectors and art lovers to be immersed into the world of contemporary art where they can see and discuss the latest trends, and where established contemporary artists are exhibited with rising stars of the art world. The Frieze fair and its sibling, Frieze Masters attract over 60,000 people each year, and this year there were more than 200 galleries exhibiting. Frieze Masters, which is located 15 minutes’ walk away in the same Regent’s Park, combines both contemporary and historical art, along with rare objects which this year included a 154-million-year-old Camptosaurus skeleton and a meteorite rock. Sadie Coles HQ, Hauser & Wirth, Pace, Maureen Paley, White Cube were among the major galleries represented in the 2022 edition of Frieze and Frieze Masters. 

Painting heavily dominated Frieze this year. Gone are past maxims about the death of painting: it’s now apparently radical, it’s urgent, and it’s politicised. The moral impetus that seemed to emanate from many of the galleries exhibiting was wispy and inconsequential, nothing more than the two-dimensional plane it came from. There were hidden gems: Rhea Dillon’s subtle and charged work at Soft Opening was a highlight, along with Chris Killip’s historical photographs that captured the uncanny moments of the Miner’s Strike with humour and poignancy.

Frieze Master’s offered more this year. The curation was a visual and sensory delight: Modern masters such as Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud were exhibited in close proximity to objects such as Roman swords and rare editions of medical books from centuries past. Highlights from Frieze Master’s included painting by Chung Chang Sup, whose work echoed Rothko, and the work of Lucio Fontana which was exhibited across several galleries and was perennially popular with audiences.