London's Frieze art fair goes potty for ceramics

LONDON

London's Frieze art fair, which opened on Oct. 10, for the first time devotes a special section to ceramics, largely featuring Latin American artists.

And it was a Latin America gallery that picked up this year's Frieze Gallery Stand Prize. The Guatemala City gallery won for its Proyectos Ultravioleta, featuring work by Guatemalan artists Edgar Calel and Rosa Elena Curruchich.

Some 60,000 gallery owners, collectors, influencers and visitors are expected in the British capital until Oct. 13 for the annual event.

One of the world's biggest and most prestigious contemporary art fairs, it offers visitors the chance to see works by both big names and emerging artists.

The ceramics showcase was the brainchild of Pablo Jose Ramirez, curator of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.

Entitled "Smoke," a reference to the process of drying out clay in a kiln, the section features the work of 11 indigenous or diaspora artists, mainly from Central and South America.

It aims to give "visibility to artists who probably otherwise would not be represented in an international art fair," said the Guatemala-born curator.

After an upbeat period in the wake of the COVID pandemic, this latest Frieze London opens against a more gloomy backdrop.

The global art market's sales slowed by four percent in 2023, according to a report from the bank UBS and Art Basel.

Cooled by economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions, buyers are now more reluctant to bet on contemporary works whose value can often fluctuate.

The UK, however, remains an art stronghold, with 17 percent of the global market share in 2023, according to UBS and Art Basel.

Even so, it has lost some of its shine since Brexit due to extra red tape and tax, and was overtaken for the first time by China (19 percent) last year.

First held in London in 2003 before expanding to New York, Los Angeles and Seoul, Frieze also faces competition from Art Basel Paris being held in the French capital in October.