Paul McCarthy White Snow Head, 2012 Silicon, Unique
The Disney-sourced face of Snow White greets visitors in the front row on this year's Frieze London on the booth of Hauser+Wirth, who will open their new gigantic 24,000 sq ft NY-space on West 18th in Chelsea, in the building of former Roxy's nightclub on 22nd January next year. The Paul McCarthy sculpture was snapped up within the first hour for a staggering 1.3 million dollars by a major European private collection.
Ariel Schlesinger Act Without, 2012
Yvon Lambert (Paris) brought Ariel Schlesinger's Act Without, 2012 for 23,000 Euro. Consisting of two chairs connected by motorized steel rope that repetitively moves the chairs toward each other and into a "kissing" position only to let them fall apart, the piece startled many visitors and occasionally even frightened gallery frontman Olivier Belot.
Mark Handforth Colour phone, 2012 Ca. 8ft
Zürich powerhouse gallery Eva Presenhuber offered Mark Handforth's Frieze-specific Colour Phone, 2012 for 60,000 dollars as part of a solo presentation of the artist. Taking elements from the urban landscape is one of the artist's themes, and here he took the image of a telephone receiver and drilled holes into the booth wall describing its outline. Completed with graffiti spay paint, the gallery was unable to comment whether the same paint was used as on the defaced Rothko.
Vadim Fishkin Sugar Twins, 2012
Gregor Podnar (Berlin/Ljubljana) brought this quietly spectacular installation by Vadim Fishkin titled Sugar Twins, 2012. Available for 12,000 Euro, it shows with humor and poerty how, with simple means of two sugar cubes and a light projector, one's imaginagtion can conjure up a cityscape's skyscrapers.
John Chaimberlian Knot in the Cards, 2001 painted and chromed steel 38 1/2 x 50 x 40 1/2 in
Surprisingly, Waddington Custot (London) did not opt for Frieze Masters, but preferred the "tried and tested regular Frieze", as a director told me. This 2001 John Chaimberlain sculpture, titled Not in the Cards, came with a price tag of 850,000 dollars and was a real eye-catcher on their booth.
Pawel Althamer Camp-fire (Stephan, Anna and Martin), 2012
Big guns Foksal from Warsaw brought Pawel Althamer's Camp-fire (Stephan, Anna and Martin), 2012, which was reserved minutes into the fair for 175,000 Euro. Made for the commissioned exhibition at the Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin earlier this year, the scupture consists of three plastic figures lying around a melted plastic refuse bin. Althamer consistently engages audiences to participate in an egalitarian way with various measures of success.
