Eight Works to Fawn over at Frieze London 2024

Frieze London (9–13 October 2024) returns to Regent’s Park in London with a revamped space and a stronger focus on emerging artists. Designed by A Studio Between, the fair’s new layout prioritises solo presentations and curated sections.

More than 160 galleries from 43 countries will participate, including prominent galleries like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, and Pace Gallery, and notable London spaces such as Arcadia Missa and Maureen Paley.

Ocula Advisors Simon Fisher, Eva Fuchs, and Rory Mitchell have selected eight standout artworks to linger over, including Moka Lee‘s painted social media portrait at Carlos/Ishikawa, Kim Yun Shin‘s wooden sculpture crafted from old Korean architecture at Lehmann Maupin, and Yu Nishimura‘s rural Japanese landscape at Sadie Coles HQ.

Yu Nishimura‘s lakeside at Sadie Coles HQ

Yu Nishimura’s presentation with Sadie Coles HQ coincides with his debut solo exhibition in London, Synopsis, on view at the gallery’s Davies Street location until 9 November 2024.

It’s exciting to finally see this Japanese artist’s work in London. Based in Kanagawa, Nishimura harmonises solitude and calm in his paintings. His depictions of quiet landscapes and adrift figures, rendered in a soft focus, translucent style, are enchanting.

Rory remarks, ‘Nishimura is a discovery for me. Sadie Coles HQ is featuring him in one of their smaller spaces during Frieze, and I love this large painting they have at the fair. His flat composition and surprising use of colour remind me of Alex Katz and Peter Doig, while the figure and trees reflect a distinctly Japanese influence.’

Kim Yun Shin‘s Stacking Wishes 2 at Lehmann Maupin

As a child, Kim Yun Shin accompanied her mother to the mountains, where she would gather rocks as her mother prayed. Kim watched her mother light a candle, praying until the flame went out. Then, she would add a rock and light another candle.

‘I wanted to tell the story of a mother’s wishes that pile up,’ Kim told Ocula in 2024. ‘I remembered my mum doing this when I was a kid. It was about making the invisible visible, praying to the sky. That’s how I began my stacking and ascending shapes, expressing that desire and heart reaching toward the sky.’

Kim’s sculpture Stacking Wishes 2 (1970s) is crafted from wood sourced from traditional Korean buildings, made from a technique that joins wooden blocks without nails. This seamless method is evident in Kim’s wooden totem, where separate blocks are securely stacked atop one another.

Eight of Kim’s sculptures are also featured in Foreigners Everywhere at the Venice Biennale, where they are on view until 24 November 2024.

Moka Lee‘s Ego Function Error 05 at Carlos/Ishikawa

Moka Lee has an eye for capturing subtle emotions in her subjects’ faces. Based in Seoul, the artist draws inspiration from social media to paint portraits of women that examine the divide between identity and appearance.

Starting with a story in mind, Lee scrolls through social media until a post catches her eye. She will then contact the account holder to buy the rights for a reimagined, larger version. This approach lets her connect with her subjects without real-life interaction, giving her the freedom to reshape their characters from a new perspective.

In Ego Function Error 05 (2024), stark light and dim shadows create an eerie atmosphere around a girl in a sweatshirt, her face framed by dark hair. Staring at viewers, she toys with a Red Bull can, her expression a mix of curiosity and anticipation.

Represented by Jason Haam in Seoul, Lee has primarily exhibited in Asia, with only one group show in the U.K. Carlos/Ishikawa’s presentation of her work at the fair is a great opportunity to experience her paintings firsthand.

Nancy Spero‘s Liberty - Athlete at Frith Street Gallery

‘I have always loved Nancy Spero’s work since seeing her show at Serpentine Galleries, London, in 2011,’ said Rory. ‘Her late printed collage works often appropriate from history and place the woman front and centre as a heroic figure.’

Spero disrupts art history by overturning the tradition of portraying men as heroes. Her hand-printed figures on paper subvert idealised representations of womanhood.

In Liberty - Athlete (1995), Spero contrasts a nude runner with the revolutionary figure from Eugene Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People (1830). The red, white, and blue layered atop the first image echo the French Republic’s tricolore she holds.

Spero explained: ‘These are female bodies—I use them to speculate on what is possible and to comment upon immediate events—political, sexual, rites of passage or otherwise.’

Li Hei Di‘s Oblivion blest at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery

At 27, Li Hei Di is the latest rising star to join Pace Gallery, who represent her alongside Michael Kohn Gallery and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery. The latter bring her luminous large-scale painting, Oblivion blest (2024), to Frieze.

Rory, who visited Li in her studio last year, was smitten by both her art and her personality. ‘She is heavily influenced by Chinese literature and film, as well as her sexual identity. She’s definitely one of the most exciting young painters working today,’ he said.

‘The erotic ambiguity of my paintings feels like I’m capturing a ghost of something not quite abstract, but not quite figurative either,’ Li told Ocula in 2023. ‘This ephemeral style permeates my work and grants me space to navigate stories of repressed desires and provocation,’ she added.

Li will open her first solo exhibition with Pace Gallery in Hong Kong in 2025.

Sylvia Snowden‘s Shell 72 at White Cube

In an era primed for rediscovering overlooked artists, Sylvia Snowden’s paintings have long deserved a wider audience. Solo exhibitions at Franklin Parrasch Gallery in New York and Edel Assanti in London last year have partly remedied this, along with her upcoming exhibition at White Cube in Paris.

For Frieze, White Cube presents the American artist’s painting, Shell 72 (2003). Expressively rendered with a thickly churned surface, the acrylic-on-canvas work conjures a splayed red figure with arched, exaggerated limbs.

It’s a striking example of Snowden’s talent for capturing humans in a profound way. By painting the depth of a person’s energy, she reveals the individual beyond their outward appearance, making her work truly exceptional.

Her exhibition, Inside the White Cube: Sylvia Snowden, opens at White Cube Paris from 15 October to 16 November 2024.

Francis Alÿs’ Kharkiv, Ukraine at David Zwirner

Francis Alÿs’ recent exhibition at the Barbican in London, Ricochets, received glowing praise from critics. The Belgian artist transformed the gallery into a cinematic playground, presenting multi-screen installations that immersed visitors in scenes of play from around the world, capturing the chaos and joy of urban childhood.

Accompanying his beautifully filmed reels were miniature oil-on-canvas paintings depicting life amid devastation. David Zwirner bring one of these delicate, palm-sized works to the fair.

‘His tiny paintings are always magical,’ said Rory. ’Kharkiv, Ukraine (2023), a poignant depiction of war-torn Ukraine, feels like a lost relic from World War II returning to haunt us.’

Gertrude Abercrombie‘s Toddy, Possim and Christine at Karma

‘Time spent with cats is never wasted.’ While this quote’s attribution to Sigmund Freud may be uncertain, its sentiment beautifully aligns with Gertrude Abercrombie’s charming painting of three pet cats.

Sitting in a grassy field beneath a charcoal sky, the trio has whimsical clouds hovering above their heads. The black cat in the middle, named Possim, as noted in the title, draws the viewer’s eye with its cheeky, tongue-out expression.

Known for her surreal, dreamlike compositions, Abercrombie infused her works with personal narratives and psychological depth. In this work, the cats embody the quiet comforts of life, reflecting Abercrombie’s exploration of connection and companionship. —[O]

Selected Artworks

Main image: Moka Lee, Ego Function Error 05 (2024) (detail). Oil on cotton. 157.2 x 193.9 x 4.5 cm. © Moka Lee 2024. Courtesy Jason Haam Gallery, Seoul, and Carlos/Ishikawa, London.