I promised to update my reflections on contemporary art after I had visited the Frieze Art Fair in Regent’s Park and the Saatchi-owned display of contemporary Americans at the Royal Academy. To start with my conclusions sounds like the wrong way round, but when you’re moving in a world of hype, it pays to keep a firm grasp on realities. Proceed with a conclusion? Proceed with great caution. There is a lot of rubbish just begging to be bought.
Robert Polidori, 2520 Deslondes, New Orleans, March 2006
Photography as unforgettable art
Frieze is a phenomenon, though. On my visit to its white plastic pavilions, the Fair was hot in two senses - a very high, uncomfortable temperature and a very large, mostly young and evidently keen flood of visitors. The front-rank American dealers seemed to be missing, although with 300 plus galleries in Manhattan’s Chelsea district alone, there are plenty of possible exhibitors, to put it mildly. The heavyweight galleries were mostly British - Waddington, Marlborough, Juda, White Cube - but with the exception of the latter, there was no startling novelty about their stands. The backbone of the Fair appeared to be unfamiliar German dealers, plus a number of lesser-known Brits.
With so many works on display and so many artists, it was impossible to make any serious selections. But if you’re not interested in photography or in photo-based works, Frieze is not the place for you. The bulk of the artists exhibitng, however, have good reason to avoid painting, drawing or sculpting - they don’t know how to do it. It’s true, like it or not, that art is what the creator says is art. But it’s also true for viewers that bad art is what they say is bad. Frieze has done a terrific job of year-round promotion and backup to create a genuinely successful international event, but I wouldn’t rush to see it again, still less to take a stall.
It may well be that some of Charles Saatchi’s chosen artists were being shown round and about the Fair. But the selection at the RA doesn’t dispel general belief that American art is at a low ebb right now and that the Saatchi efforts to raise its profile are doomed. Hung in acres of empty space, the RA selections mostly lack imagination, virtuosity, vitality or intellectual interest - and never mind the lack of aesthetic appeal. Saatchi deserves all praise for his efforts to find a new art horse to ride, but I don’t think this one will get to the starting gate. Don’t take my word for it - go and have a look.
The predominance of photography at Frieze raises an interesting question. Are photos to be mentioned in the same breath as painting, or are these two separate art zones? Too often, photographic works use large format cameras to generate pictures whose only distinction is their great size. Truly great photography, like great painting, depends on the strength of the concept, the selection of the viewpoint, and the excellence of the technique.
I call as witness the photographs of New Orleans after the hurricane, taken by Robert Polidori and showing at my own favourite gallery, Flowers East in Shoreditch. A rave review in the Financial Times is no less than these heartbreaking images deserve. It’s amazing how the devastation turns these very different interiors into looking like rooms in the same, horribly ruined house. I won’t deny it, these photos are art, and unforgettable art, at that.
Flowers East
82 Kingsland Road
London E2 8DP
Tel: 020 7920 7777
http://www.flowerseast.com
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