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The big Frieze is nearly over
29 October 2013
The big Frieze is nearly over and we finished the week with a spectacular performance from Andy Holden with his Grubby Mitts and the Johnny Parry Chamber Orchestra at Zabludowicz Collection.
It was a huge success with the performance selling out twice over.
They sung my favourite song accompanied by animation with famous sayings.
Olivia and the audience are hypnotized by the low, raspy crooning of Johnny Parry.
I managed to visit Open Heart Surgery at The Moving Museum on the Strand. Simon Sakhai and Aya Mousawi did a grand job with the help of their friends. Clunie Reid, Samara Scott and Hannah Perry were all showing and I thought the James Capper machine was brilliant.
Next door Steve Lazarides' show was horror and Halloween all in one. Mark Jenkins, as usual was very real.
Not sure if this was a relic of torture or a work of art.
Then it was back to Frieze for one more look and we definitely found one that got away by Frances Stark.
The following week it was straight to FIAC in Paris where I discovered the boring question of 'art or not art' was going on in the '90's with Guy Mees' 'Espace Perdu' at Valentin.
I was confronted with the same question from the 70's at Zak/Branicka with Bill Bollinger's 'Waterpipe'. I could easily have mistaken it for the work of Michael E. Smith.
This strange vessel caused me to continue to wonder if we should be taking our art so seriously.
Until I realised it was the very container Franz West used to create his sumptuous sculpture. However, saying that this inanimate object still became an art work!
Rob Diament had just celebrated his birthday and was showing me an Edith Dekyndt at Carl Freedman.
One of my favourite works at FIAC was 'The Mirror Stage' by Simon Fujiwara where he had created a replica Patrick Heron at the back of the TV screen. Totally bonkers and very entertaining.
Talking about stage, there were many absent scenarios and no performance to be seen. Latifa Echakhch's work is a great example of this.
Pierre Huyghe was on the same path with his work 'Singing in the Rain.'
Kelley Walker's work at Paula Cooper was superb. If I was an art advisor I would be telling all budding collectors out there to go for it if they can!
I loved KAWS at Perrotin. His work always manages to put a smile on my face.
The work of John Wood and Paul Harrison always manages to capture my imagination. They have obviously, like myself watched all the series of Breaking Bad and Dexter to be inspired to make a work of blood splatter on such magnitude!
Their little car made me chuckle.
As did the Duane Hanson 'High School Student' next to the Damien Hirst spin painting.
I also loved Brian Jungen's 'Moon' mounted on a freezer at Catriona Jeffries.
I was once again confronted with the video and performance artist Shana Moulton at Galerie Crèvecoeur. Her work is most intriguing.
Finally, the best moment of the fair was viewing our new acquisitions by Gabriel Kuri at Sadie Coles. It has been a long few years looking for the right work for the collection. <br><br>With a sense of achievement I jumped back on the Eurostar and headed to the same bed I slept in the night before. What a luxury!