Frieze London: Advisory Selections

Louise Giovanelli at White Cube

A glittering sense of wonder radiates from the surfaces of Louise Giovanelli's paintings, and this intimate oil painting, Altar (2022), showing with White Cube, is no exception.

Cropping is a method Giovanelli frequently uses throughout her work. As the artist explains to Ocula Advisor Rory Mitchell, 'The cropping device is probably the earliest device I ever used, and I think it's a way of dislocating or decontextualising the image.'

'Cropping tunes into the part of an image that I find the most significant, so I guess that's what I want the viewer to do—to look at parts that might otherwise be overlooked in certain scenarios,' Giovanelli said.

Giovanelli often employs this framing technique to complement her thematic explorations of devotion, worship, and ritual—alluded to in this work's title.

Giovanelli has been in the spotlight of late, with a brilliant debut at White Cube Bermondsey earlier this year. She forms part of the gallery's newest female talents, which also includes Danica Lundy and Ilana Savdie.

Sahara Longe at Timothy Taylor

Sahara Longe is a relatively new player in the London gallery scene, with Timothy Taylor announcing their representation of the young artist earlier this year.

Her talent has obviously made quite the impression on the veteran gallerist, who will be presenting a solo booth of paintings by Longe for Frieze London.

Trained in classical painting techniques at Charles H. Cecil Studios in Florence, Longe brings a fresh approach that fuses traditional, modern, and contemporary styles.

For Frieze, Longe brings a collection of large-scale stylised portraits that explore the psychology of social interactions. Rendered in oil on linen, Longe's subdued cast of characters carry a sartorial elegance; their inscrutable interactions spread across multiple scenes.

Joseph Yaeger at Project Native Informant

Six of Joseph Yaeger's powerful watercolour works will feature in Project Native Informant's presentation at Frieze London.

One of the smaller works on show, Speech is failed music (2022) brilliantly showcases Yaeger's ability to utilise the translucent properties of watercolour to bring an almost-photographic depth to his paintings.

Speaking to Ocula Advisory earlier this year, Yaeger explained, 'I think there is a kind of method acting involved when I paint. I probably do manipulate my own face and try to get into what emotional state the people in the paintings are experiencing and heighten it as much as possible to get that overture, good-cry feeling, which is indistinguishable from happiness or sadness.'

Yaeger will have his first solo institutional exhibition at The Perimeter in London, opening in January 2023.

Betty Woodman at David Kordansky Gallery

Betty Woodman is remembered for being a pioneering figure in post-war American art.

The Connecticut-born artist studied ceramics at the School for American Craftsmen in Alfred, New York from 1948 to 1950, marking the beginning of what was to become a career that spanned seven decades.

Arlechino Still Life Vase (1995) is a product of one of Woodman's genre-expanding periods where she began experimenting with new glazes. Her ceramic works became imbued with adventurous syntheses of form, line, and colour.

Later this month, David Kordansky Gallery New York will present Betty Woodman: Conversations from the Shore, Works from the 1990s (29 October–17 December 2022).

Minoru Nomata at White Cube

Minoru Nomata's paintings of architectural superstructures draw from a vast range of influences—from the tropes of Greek and Roman architecture to the surreal neutrality of René Magritte, or the mechanical aesthetic of American Precisionist, Charles Sheeler.

Nomata, who has been represented by White Cube since 2021, embarked on his 'Skyglow' series in the 2000s as a means to reflect upon socio-ecological concerns in the urban environment. High-rises are seen to tower over expansive cityscapes in snapshot-like compositions that convey an ambivalence towards urbanisation.

A single tower is the focal point of Skyglow-V9 (2008), depicted against an ominous, darkening sky.

Paula Rego at Victoria Miro

Paula Rego's extraordinary ability to capture human relationships is embodied in the captivating work, The Windmill (2018).

Blending personal experience with folklore, literature, and art history, Rego's paintings unpack the trials and tribulations of being human, with a particular focus on the hardships experienced by women.

The Windmill presents several characters, each with unusual features. Though Rego's composition and use of colour appears at first to be playful or dreamlike, a darker underlying narrative is hinted at—one that considers the impact of patriarchy on women's roles in society.

Recent exhibitions featuring the late artist include Secrets of Faith at Victoria Miro Venice (23 April–18 June 2022) and Women Painting Women at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (15 May–25 September 2022).

Ayesha Sultana at Experimenter

Heralding a standout selection of boundary-pushing interdisciplinary artists, Experimenter presents Ayesha Sultana's painting Untitled (2021) at Frieze London this year.

Untitled demonstrates the Bangladesh-born artist's talent for capturing abstract forms on a small scale. Sultana's mesmerising painting elevates the depths of select warm, earthy hues, while drawing attention to delicate lines that trail languidly across the linen surface.

Sultana explores the ways that space, form, and vision can materialise in abstraction. Engaging with a diverse spectrum of techniques and materials, Sultana's most recent paintings experiment with the variable opacities of oil and ink on materials such as linen and tissue paper.

Earlier this year, Sultana's works were included in San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's all-women group exhibition, Shifting the Silence.