Every October, the world’s art market arrives in London.
asserted
market → arrive → London
Collectors fly in, international galleries take over Regent’s Park, and for a week the city feels like the centre of everything.
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city → fly → everything
But what makes London matter isn’t what arrives for a week: it’s who stays all year.
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who → make → week
London’s galleries connect it to artists and collectors across the globe, and its museums, many of them free, put extraordinary collections within everyone’s reach.
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many → connect → reach
Together with our art schools, small exhibition spaces and independent organisations, they help make this a city where artists can find their peers, test an idea and build a career.
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artists → help → career
I know how much those encounters matter.
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encounters → know → ?
When I first came to work in London, the conversations I had with artists and curators shaped my understanding of art as much as anything I had studied.
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I → come → anything
That sense of community, of learning from people with different perspectives, is still what excites me about the city.
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what → learn → city
You can see it in the artists in this issue.
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You → see → issue
George Rouy came from Sittingbourne to study at Camberwell College of Art in 2012; his canvases of contorted, ambiguous bodies are now shown by Hauser & Wirth.
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canvases → come → Hauser
Alex Margo Arden began working with her gallerist, Freddie Powell, when Ginny on Frederick was still a curatorial project in a sandwich shop.
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Ginny → begin → shop
Last year, that partnership brought her to Frieze London’s Focus section with an installation of decommissioned mannequins from the National Motor Museum.
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partnership → bring → Museum
It won the inaugural Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation Prize, and her work is now on view at the Foundation in Chelsea until January.
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work → win → January
Okiki Akinfe and Hettie Inniss were both born in London in 1999, studied at the Royal College of Art and are building their careers in the city.
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Akinfe → bear → city
Akinfe’s paintings bring humour and imagination to questions of identity and representation.
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paintings → bring → identity
Inniss explores how memory lives in the senses: how a smell, a sound or a change in light can return us to another time and place.
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smell → explore → time
Rene Matić came to Central Saint Martins and, five years after graduating, was shortlisted for the Turner Prize for work exploring identity, intimacy and belonging.
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Matić → come → identity
Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings studied at Goldsmiths and have spent more than a decade examining the histories and politics of queer life through drawing, film and fresco painting.
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Quinlan → study → drawing
Marcus Jefferson draws on his upbringing in north-west London, transforming everyday materials to explore class, race and cultural identity.
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Jefferson → draw → class
Ella Fleck uses scent, sound and installation to investigate desire and the ways technology shapes our behaviour.
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technology → use → behaviour
What interests me is how differently these artists help us understand the world we share.
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we → interest → world
The city’s strength lies in the meeting of different histories, cultures and ways of thinking.
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strength → lie → thinking
Everyone who benefits from London’s art scene has a part to play
That freedom needs practical support.
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freedom → benefit → support
A studio you can afford.
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you → afford → ?
A gallery willing to take a chance before anyone knows your name.
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anyone → take → name
London still offers those possibilities, but rising costs and the expense of art education make them harder to access.
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them → offer → education
Everyone who benefits from London’s art scene has a part to play.
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who → benefit → part
Frieze brings international collectors and curators into contact with that year-round scene, helping artists and galleries build relationships that extend far beyond the week itself.
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that → bring → week
We put Focus, our section for galleries operating for 12 years or fewer, at the entrance because discovery should be at the heart of what we do.
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we → put → what
We connect artists and galleries with public collections: Alex Margo Arden’s prize-winning installation is now in the Arts Council Collection, while the Contemporary Art Society’s Collections Fund at Frieze celebrates ten years of acquiring work for museums from Middlesbrough to Plymouth.
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Fund → connect → Plymouth
For one week, London’s artists have the world’s attention.
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artists → have → attention
Let’s carry some of that curiosity and commitment into the rest of the year: visit their exhibitions, support the spaces that take a chance on them, and help keep London a city where they can build a life.
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they → carry → life
The Aporia
