LUXURY LIVING u
Frieze the iconic London art magazine, conceived back in 1991 by Amanda Sharp and Matthew Slotover, celebrates its 25th birthday this year.
Since its launch it has gone on to establish global recognition within the contemporary art world publishing three further magazines; Frieze d / e, Frieze Masters Magazine and Frieze Week and hosts three international art fairs; Frieze New York, Frieze Masters and Frieze London which is classed as one of the world’ s most influential contemporary art fairs in the world.
To mark its 25th anniversary Frieze London showcased a special retrospective‘ The Nineties’ at its annual fair held during the month of October. Selected by Geneva-based curator Nicolas Trembley, 14 galleries were invited to revisit seminal exhibitions from the 1990s,“ The Nineties signified such a radical shift in time from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the AIDS crisis and the creation of the internet” Trembley said,“ and galleries became key leaders rather than institutions.”
Each gallery was tasked with highlighting key collaborations between dealers and artists that had a lasting impact on contemporary art and shaped what it is today.
u RICHARD BILLINGHAM AT ANTHONY REYNOLDS GALLERY
126 LUXURY LIVING
The iconic photographs‘ Ray’ s a Laugh’, which were published in 1996 were some of the most defining images of contemporary art during the 1990’ s. Taken with a cheap throw away camera the photographs portrayed the poverty and deprivation in which Richard Billingham grew up and embodied everything the 1990’ s stood for; unconventional, troubled and Britpop!
The images were deeply shocking, not so much for their content but for how they showcased with such honesty the slobbish and grotesque family lifestyle most would keep hidden behind closed doors.
More than 30 pieces were later included in the‘ Sensation’ exhibition of 1997 at the Royal Academy of Art.