Frieze Art Fair

Deutsche Bank

Press Quotes

‘And the art forms themselves look relentlessly forward – the excitement of a Frieze Art Fair or a Tate Modern installation; the breathtaking technical accomplishment of an Avatar; the conceptual audacity of an Enron; the truly satisfying complexity of television’s The Sopranos and The Wire. This is a remarkable cultural backdrop against which to grow up.’ Peter Aspden

The Financial Times, 6 February 2010

‘For sheer excitement and surprise, nothing in the decade matched the opening of Frieze.  It came from nowhere, took London by storm and became the most glamorous art fair in the world.’ Waldemar Januszczak

'Best of the decade', The Sunday Times, 13 December 2009

‘Now in its seventh year, Frieze Art Fair has become an annual see-and-be-seen event.’ Carol Vogel

The New York Times, 17 October 2009

‘The energy from within [the fair] was noticeable even before I got through the door… Every single dealer I saw, among the 160 participating, was beaming.’ Linda Yablonsky

Artforum.com 17 October 2009

‘The most exciting week all year in the art calendar.’

The Telegraph, 17 October 2009

“Frieze Art Fair is a rare beast among international art fairs [...] an instant hit with major dealers, curators, collectors and the general public alike.” Susan Moore

Apollo, October 2009

“When we walk around Frieze art fair, we do not only resemble collectors visiting Warhol’s Factory or flâneurs at a Paris salon. We also emulate 13th-century monks looking at the latest thing in stained glass.” Jonathan Jones

Guardian.com, 6 October 2009

“Together with the Cartier Award, Frieze Projects and Frieze Film are considered to be important indicators of the zeitgeist in contemporary art; a barometer for emerging talent on the international scene.” Ken Pratt

Wound, Autumn 2009

“Frieze Art Fair takes place in London over four days (15-18 October) and is the best, most enjoyable arty outing you can have all year by miles.” Jonathan Heaf

GQ.com, 2 October 2009

“The heavy hitters of the art world are gathering in London for Frieze, the youngest, coolest art fair on the calendar.”

The Independent, 10 October 2008

“The Frieze Art Fair, now in its sixth year, has become one of the biggest, yet unlikeliest, highlights of our cultural calendar.”

“Through their 12 annual ‘projects’, Slotover and Sharp are often cocking a subversive snook at the market system, in the very same space where galleries are doing their biggest business of the year. Now that takes some statue, naughtiness and nerve.”

The Sunday Telegraph, Seven, 12 October 2008

“The Frieze Art Fair is Britain’s youngest, hippest and wealthiest celebration of contemporary art.”

The Scotsman, 6 October 2008

“With first-time exhibitors from China, Turkey, India and Argentina ...Frieze still managed to provide a random snapshot of an increasingly global and youthful art world in transition.” Roberta Smith

The New York Times, 18 October 2008

“It’s the sixth edition of this social event which has boosted London into the capital city of contemporary art in Europe.”

Le Figaro, 17 October 2008

“Frieze Art Fair is the magnet which rules the international art market.”

Die Welt, 18 October 2008

“When is a fair not just a fair? When it’s just about any one of the world’s biggest art bazaars – and in London this week that means Frieze. Its counterparts in Basel, Shanghai, Dubai and elsewhere have all evolved their associated programmes of discussions, commissions and the like, but London’s premier art fair goes far beyond its primary purpose of selling and uses a wide curated programme to establish itself as a rounded cultural event. Frieze has an excellent record in this, even in the few years since it first burst on the London scene, and it has cast its net wide – the presence of the legendary composer Karlheinz Stockhausen three years ago set the bar high.”

“The Cartier Award is a sort of Turner-Prize-in-reverse, as it is open only to artists living outside the UK.”

The Financial Times, 11 October 2008

“Since starting in 2003, Frieze, sponsored by Deutsche Bank, has established its place as a key event for international buyers.”

The Evening Standard, 15 October 2008

“Thanks to the revolutionary effect of organisers Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover’s fair, it’s not even October any more – it’s Frieze Week.”

Monocle, October 2008

“The deals, the buzz, the people, the parties – all this has made Frieze, the contemporary art fair based in Regent’s Park, an event not to miss.”

Intelligent Life, Autumn 2008

“It is enough to say Frieze and the whole world understands. They see immediately Regent’s Park in London, the marquee, the galleries, the hippest fair in Europe. They see the collectors and gallerists take their most innovative works of art outside of their galleries.”

L' Espresso, August 2008

“London is now more than anywhere else the centre of the modern art world. For Frieze, the whole world comes to the British capital. On the first day the sales went well.”

NRC Handelsblatt, 17 October 2008

“At the entrance stands a long row of VIPs, collectors, hip art-lovers, and journalists, every type can be clearly identified by their appearance. Everything looks perfect at Frieze Art Fair in London, one of the greatest fairs from contemporary art. Indeed the crisis of the outside world seems far away.”

De Volkskrant, 17 October 2008

“A hugely successful art fair that has put London back on the map as an art capital.”

Wallpaper, October 2008

“Now in its fifth year, the fair attracts the trendiest galleries and most celebrated contemporary artists from around the world. The fair now attracts so many top collectors that the international auction houses piggyback benchmark contemporary sales on it”

Wall Street Journal, 14-16 September 2007

“the world’s coolest art fair”

The Guardian, 6 October 2007

“London’s Frieze Art Fair is global in scope and cheeky in spirit”

Vogue (America), October 2007

“It is very big, extremely glamorous, and positively packed with high-rollers, movers and shakers”

Apollo, October 2007

“The place also teems with the general public, who are here to enjoy the fair as an art show”

Michael Glover, The Independent, 12 October 2007

“perhaps the most important contemporary art fair in the world”

Stefanie Marsh, The Times, 12 October 2007

“All this is evidence of how deeply and widely the Frieze Art Fair, founded by Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp, has burrowed its way into British culture”

Charlotte Higgins, The Guardian, 13 October 2007

“Frieze Art Fair remains the magnet in the London autumn art spectacle”

Anne Reimers, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 13 October 2007

“one of the most important international contemporary art fairs”

Christiane Hoffmans, Welt am Sonntag, 14 October 2007

‘Frieze Art Fair…has rapidly become one of the most important fixtures in the international culture calendar’

Alastair Sooke, Daily Telegraph, October 6 2007

“On paper its just an art fair. But then, on paper, Michelangelo’s David is just a lump of stone. On paper, the Taj Mahal is a building, and Helen Mirren is an actress...I am not saying that Frieze isn’t, technically, an art fair. My point is that this glum definition doesn’t begin to capture the drama and buzz of the event in the tent.”

Waldemar Januszczak, Sunday Times, 7 October 2007

“Frieze Art Fair in London is an irresistible mix of art, commerce and glamour, and has quickly made a reputation for itself as an international showcase for some of the best contemporary art”

New York Times, 30 September 2007

“Frieze Art Fair attracts scores of collectors eager to snap up the latest talents”

Economist, 24 September 2007

“Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp have put together a hugely ambitious series of events, performances and talks designed to move Frieze beyond an art fair and turn it into a larger event where art is made and the cultural agenda is set.”

Joanna Pitman, The Times, 6 October 2007

“...never before have there been so many well to do collectors, so many high price works, as seen at Britain’s most important fair for contemporary art. The boom in the art market seems to be as strong as ever.’

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 14 October 2006

“… a spectacularly successful melding together of culture and commerce.”

Financial Times, 13 October 2006

“ One of the few opportunities to get a truly representative picture of artists across the world.”

The Times, 07 October 2006

“The Frieze Art Fair is entering its fourth edition with a firm step and the confidence to make it the most attractive date for international contemporary art. From its site in Regent’s Park in north London it sets out the cultural agenda, with creative potential and the absolute latest art works.”

El Pais, 12 October 2006

“Monday was the start of ‘Frieze Week,’ the unofficial name of the week defined by Britain’s major contemporary art fair, Frieze… Such is the draw of the fair that museums, dealers and auction houses all want to attract the international community, who are in town for the fair.”

“Frieze has come from nowhere, and has brought about a festival and a £100 million sales machine - a triumphant compliment to the founders, Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp.”

International Herald Tribune, 12 October 2006

“It’s astonishing that until three years ago London didn’t have a fair. It is a huge achievement that organisers Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp have created something that is regarded already as one of the best three fairs in the world.”

Sir Nicholas Serota, Guardian, 12 October 2006

“This art fair, founded only four years ago, has soared from strength to strength.” “And they [galleries] don’t just come from the familiar cultural capitals, but also from places such as Cairo, Sao Paulo and Beirut.”

Times, 11 October 2006

“It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the fair in the contemporary art calendar.”

Charlotte Higgins, The Guardian 07 October 2006

“one of the world’s most important venues for showing international contemporary art, which attracts thousands of visitors to London.”

Colin Gleadell, Telegraph 07 October 2006

“The extent of the Frieze effect is remarkable.”

Evening Standard, 04 October 2006

“Frieze is a phenomenon. It might call itself an art fair but it has redefined the boundaries of the term...a showcase for international dealers to present much of what is exciting and new in contemporary art...also a place where art is created and debated, where people meet and where things happen. “

Financial Times, 30 September 2006

“One of the great strengths of Frieze is that it has always brought together an eclectic mix. This comprises some of the world’s biggest and most powerful galleries purveying the latest...hot property alongside younger galleries representing emerging talent - work so new to the market that it stands on its own, unsupported by critical comment or established market value.”

Financial Times, 30 September 2006

“…he [the Prime Minister] could perhaps pen a letter of thanks to Matthew and Amanda for bringing millions of pounds of revenue into Britain in a thoroughly enjoyable and positive way.” “Hotels will be full, restaurants packed to bursting, bars thriving and taxi drivers smiling. Through hard work and chutzpah they’ve made art accessible for all.”

Janet Street-Porter, The Independent, 20 October 2005

“Frieze is the centrepiece of a weekend of frenetic activity for contemporary art in London…(it is) essential viewing for just about everyone interested in cutting-edge contemporary art…London’s position looks assured as the centre of the European business world. (Revealingly, the fair’s corporate sponsor is Deutsche Bank)”.

The Financial Times, October 2005

“If the gallery owners themselves are hoping to snap up pieces at Frieze, then you know that you can’t afford to miss it.”

Sunday Times, October 2005

“Frieze produces a three-day firework display that no gallery or museum staging exhibitions that last for months can match.”

The Observer, October 2005

“The single most important thing to happen in contemporary arts in London since the opening of Tate Modern.”

The Observer, October 2005

“By the end of what came to be known as ‘Frieze week’, London certainly felt itself to be truly colonised by contemporary art. The amount of activity and energy generated in those four days confirms that London has come of age as centre for the global contemporary art market. It now seems impossible to imagine October in London without the Frieze fair.”

The Art Newspaper, November, 2004

“This second edition of the fair is a success on a commercial and artistic level. The artists themselves love Frieze, and can be seen at the parties organised by the galleries...Frieze has a real energy and is home to the biggest names in contemporary art.”

Le Monde, 18th October 2004

“Frieze Art Fair has become the most relevant factor in London’s development as an Art Metropolis”

Welt Am Sonntag, 17th October, 2004

“It was once the yacht, the sports car or the racehorse that marked one out as smart, cool and successful. Now it’s an art collection… For four days (ringed in red in the savviest diaries) a glittering crowd of art world insiders, celebrities and the seriously rich will descend on Regent’s Park for the Frieze Art Fair.”

Financial Times, How to Spend It, October 2004

“It was once the yacht, the sports car or the racehorse that marked one out as smart, cool and successful. Now it’s an art collection… For four days (ringed in red in the savviest diaries) a glittering crowd of art world insiders, celebrities and the seriously rich will descend on Regent’s Park for the Frieze Art Fair.”

Financial Times, How to Spend It, October 2004

“The fair took £26 million in new art business this year and brought together so many dealers and galleries that it now rivals Art Basel… I spied Madonna and Kate Moss, royals, politicians, City financiers, media luminaries and ambassadors all flocking around the art… As the International Herald Tribune noted a few weeks ago, Frieze is changing trends.”

Evening Standard, 19 October 2003

Press Quotes by Year

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Frieze Art Fair Yearbook 2009-10

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An essential publication for anyone interested in contemporary visual art, the Yearbook profiles almost 300 emerging and established artists from around the world.

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1 June – 31 October 2010, full time
Deadline for Applications: 29 March 2010

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