Frieze

The annual art fair taking place in Regents Park, London every October is like a "going back to school" event. Everyone clean and dressed up and anticipating...
A buzz is in the air, expectations,...
I enjoy going although it IS exhausting mainly because of the great people watching. That might sound funny since it is an art fair however people involved with art tend to be colourful fashionable dressers and many have interesting faces.
The art gets poorer and more expensive every year.
The Wrong Gallery which is my favourite was not there this year which disappointed me no end. They do the best installations.
The most talked about event was Jake and Dinos Chapman drawing on Twenty or Fifty pound notes at the White Cube gallery and the queue was long and slow.
I later saw Chuck Close drawing on money given to him by a television arts programme personality. How many artists can you get to draw on money?- a new competition. But they better be famous!
I saw Tracey Emin, Norman Rosenthal, the aforementioned Chuck Close, Guy Brett, Peter Kennard with a secret companion, Mirabel Marden, Hester van Royen, Jack Wendler, Nick Serota and Mark Francis out of the corner of my eye. These were the only people I knew. Oh yes I also bumped in to Mario Diacono whom I knew from Boston but he did not seem to recognize me or if he did he did not remember who I am! Not surprising really. I also saw the back of Francesca Pia.
As for the art, well Richard Prince had a healthy young looking woman polishing a turning yellow car during the whole afternoon and evening, in a cardboard box tent performers were reading from Lenny Bruce and Annely Juda had the best looking stand.
Each year there are fewer freebies but I got three Jeremy Deller posters each with a song on it in Arabic, Hebrew and English.
Do I sound jaded? I suppose I am.
Frieze is about the art market. And it leaves me cold.