Frieze is the champion of London's unofficial art week, when art mania spreads across the city and leaves a trail of pop-up bars, private views and exhausted journalists in its wake. There is much to see and do in town, from performances to parties and club nights (don't miss our Frieze Week guide) to people-watching and celeb-spotting at the champagne tent.
We are on the ground all week; follow along to experience the best of London's art scene. See you in the tent – and stay tuned!
Hannah Silver is Head of Art & Culture at Wallpaper*. A writer, editor and author with over 20 years of experience in journalism, spanning national newspapers and independent magazines, she has overseen offbeat art trends and conducted in-depth profiles for print and digital, as well as writing and commissioning extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury since joining in 2019.
Hannah enjoys travelling, visiting artists' studios and viewing exhibitions around the world, and has interviewed artists and designers including Maggi Hambling, William Kentridge, Jonathan Anderson, Chantal Joffe, Lubaina Himid, Tilda Swinton and Mickalene Thomas.
She is a regular contributor to luxury and lifestyle books published by Phaidon, sits on panels for luxury authorities such as Sotheby’s and writes for a diverse portfolio of publications. Hannah is the author of the Wallpaper* Travel Guide to London.
London-based arts writer and editor, and former Managing Editor of Ocula Magazine. Her writing has appeared in Frieze, AnOther, Art Journal, Wallpaper*, Plaster and other publications.
Alvaro Barrington at Sadie Coles, Frieze
It is gorgeous to see Alvaro Barrington's work in the flesh, or in this case, in the brightly coloured yarn, woven onto burlap. The frame, which pairs gold leaf with wood, is pretty spectacular too.
Khalif Tahir Thompson at Victoria Miro
I always forget just how cool Victoria Miro’s space is. It’s vast, with views of the city on one side and the canal on the other. This is Khalif Tahir Thompson’s first show with the gallery, and the paintings are great. As the artist puts it, “Send in the Clowns is a love letter to my younger self, my journey as an artist, and Brooklyn. It encompasses what I value in painting and how it allowed me to reflect on important experiences and honour the people I hold so dear.” Go on down!
Annabel Downes
Andrew J. Greene at The Modern Institute
I should have taken a video, really. Andrew J. Greene’s stainless-steel swan toast rack actually rotates, a timely reminder, after a few hours traipsing around Frieze, that it was time to brave the queues for lunch.The Los Angeles-based artist provides one of the fair’s more joyful Instagrammable moments (David Zwirner also has a Rirkrit Tiravanija robot programmed to drop red and white pills onto a steel table top).
Annabel Downes
Magritte at Gagosian
Queues are always something to be suspicious of. These days, a show going viral on Instagram can say more about its PR vlog-lets than the work inside. But Magritte at Gagosian is a rather wonderful exception. They’ve secured loans of some of his finest paintings, including The Philosopher’s Lamp, The Key of Dreams and The Commonplace, alongside works by contemporary artists including Sarah Lucas, Glenn Ligon and Issy Wood (admittedly, some of the connections to Magritte are a little lost on me). And then there are those rippled curtains, which make the whole thing feel like a rather cosy sitting room. No wonder the queues are so long. Once you’re in, you don’t really want to leave.
Annabel Downes
Luce Turnier at Harlesden High Street (with Frieze Masters: Spotlight)
As solo booths go, Harlesden High Street’s presentation of Haitian artist Luce Turnier was a serious highlight. It’s the first time her work has been shown in London. Loved this painted sculpture, and next door were these wonderful framed miniature shelves lined with tiny handmade books and trees flowering shells. A reminder of why curated sections like Spotlight, dedicated to rediscovering overlooked artists working between the 1950s and 1970s, are such a joy (and so important).
Annabel Downes
Kimathi Mafafo at Kristin Hjellegjerde, 1-54 Art Fair
It is difficult to see from a photograph how intricate Mafafo's work here is. Hand and machine stitched in embroidered fabric, the embrace of textures mean her subjects jump off the canvas.
Henry Taylor at Xavier Hufkens at Frieze London
The frame of a Henry Taylor painting might not be the most obvious place to hang your nail clippers, but I’m here for it. Boy, what a painting (and what a frame!) this is. The two become one, really. Xavier Hufkens also has a great Thomas Houseago sculpture next door. Two reasons to stop by, then.
Annabel Downes
Robert Ryman at Barbican
Everyone’s talking about this show. It’s Robert Ryman’s first major exhibition in the UK in over 30 years. Barbican has done a remarkable job in showcasing his experiments, with white paint making for a fresh and accessible experience. With thoughtful curation from Wells Fray-Smith (and an accompanying booklet mercifully free of artspeak), if there’s ever been a time and place to see what Ryman was getting at, it’s here.
Annabel Downes
How Es Devlin started out: the designer holds sway at her Frieze Masters Talk
Our October 30th-anniversary-issue guest editor Es Devlin joined Design Museum CEO Tim Marlow in an absorbing discussion around her portfolio career as an artist, designer, scenographer and bibliophile for the inaugural 2026 Dunhill Frieze Masters Talk. Reflecting on her 30-year career, Es described how time spent as a designer of stained glass, a book seller and a brief spell at a map-making company finally bore fruit after she received a commission to design the sets for Christopher Marlowe's Edward II at the Octagon theatre in Bolton. As they say, the rest is history – encapsulated in ‘Es Devlin: Other Worlds’, currently on show at the Design Museum, where the multi-hyphenate's understanding of 'the mechanics of suspending disbelief', as she describes her work, forms the centrepiece of a remarkable archive of audience-focused achievements.
Bill Prince
Maxwell Alexandre at Carlos/Ishikawa at Frieze London
OMG, these are great! A wall of colour in that bright, white-lit tent, by Brazilian artist Maxwell Alexandre was a new discovery for me (perhaps I’m late to the party). Issy Wood’s paintings are usually the pin-up at Carlos/Ishikawa’s booth (and there are still one or two), but Alexandre’s works – plastered in brick formation floor to ceiling – more than hold their own. As I write this, I learn he’s got his first solo show at the East London gallery. Once I file this, I’ll be heading straight there.
Annabel Downes
Issy Wood at National Portrait Gallery
Wood just oozes cool, doesn’t she? The fact that she turned down Larry Gagosian’s offer of representation makes her even cooler, and she’s been doing pretty well without him. She’s stuck with Carlos/Ishikawa (where you’ll find a couple of her paintings at Frieze), there’s a great oil on velvet work over at VeneKlasen, and now she’s the first artist to feature in the National Portrait Gallery’s new contemporary portraiture programme. I’m also really into this rippled-curtain trend as a background to a hang (see also Magritte at Gagosian).
Annabel Downes
Gray Wielebinski, Dean's Bottom, at Frieze
Gray Wielebinski, via Dean’s Bottom, install numbered, security-tagged artworks containing scented toilet pods in every Frieze loo. An exhibition that invites visitors to take a closer stream.
Gabriel Annouka
Oniosun Victoria Erioluwa at Dozie Arts, 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair
Oniosun Victoria Erioluwa applies paint to the canvas in such a way that her work feels alive - a (poor) photograph really doesn't do it justice. You can't quite make out the details of Erioluwa's figures, a quirk which invites us to imprint our own narrative on their richly textured forms.
Gertrude Abercrombie at KARMA at Frieze London
I’ve never really understood why security bothered searching your bags on the way out of the Frieze tent, but then I came across this tiny Gertrude Abercrombie painting. That frame, too! And speaking of Abercrombie, The Art Newspaper reported last week that one of her paintings, picked up at a Michigan estate sale for just $30 last summer, had sold at auction for a staggering $1.3 million last week. Lucky them!
Annabel Downes
Alice Neel at David Zwirner X Victoria Miro at Frieze Masters
A friend I’d dragged along to Frieze (and dragged really is the key word here) took one look at these two paintings side by side and asked whether Neel had 'fu*ked up the one on the right, given up and started again with the one on the left.' Perhaps. But more importantly, her brilliance in how she can paint half a face and somehow capture more of a person’s character and temperament than most artists manage with a whole one. By the time we left the booth, he’d declared, 'If I ever had my portrait painted, I’d want her to have done it.' I couldn’t agree more.
Annabel Downes
Louise Giovanelli at Grimm, Frieze
I love Grimm's roster of artists, who are adept at capturing the beauty in the everyday. Louise Giovanelli is a favourite - she captures that feeling of observing and being observed so well.
Parker Ito at Rose Easton
Over at Rose Easton, immerse yourself in Parker Ito's world - part mechanical, part craft, it's akin to entering a fantasy-filled dystopia.
Tim Walker at National Portrait Gallery
Tim Walker's Fairyland is a genuinely joyful celebration of queer identity. Walker's love for his subjects shines through from every room - go to be uplifted.
Issy Wood at Carlos / Ishikawa
Issy Wood is having a moment. Catch her self-portraits at the National Portrait Gallery, or don't miss her painting at Frieze.
Sarabande at Selfridge's
If you're in town make sure to stop by Sarabande's pop-up at Selfridge's, for a tempting selection of homeware, art and jewellery by the very talented Sarabande cohort.
Favourite booth award goes to Edel Assanti
I love Edel Assanti's booth, created around the idea of 'home' by Marcin Dudek, who draws on his childhood home in a Krakow housing estate. It's hard to create an atmosphere under the bright and unforgiving lights of the Frieze tent.. but he's managed it.
Paul Robas at Artist-to-Artist, Frieze
I love this work by emerging Vienna-based artist Paul Robas, who was nominated by Louise Giovanelli as part of Frieze's Artist-to-Artist programme. The multi-layered paintings are dreamy, half-remembered memories.
Pop over to Alex Margo Arden at Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation
While you're in town, take a detour to Alex Margo Arden at Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation. Arden's incredible exhibition is inspired by Amy Winehouse's personal belongings for a mediation on ownership.
Drop into Heidi's new home on Maddox Street
Berlin-based art gallery Heidi has found a new home in London. Located on the third floor of a beautiful building at 47 Maddox Street, the space opens its doors in honour of Benjamin Lallier’s Frieze London presentation, and an exhibition of Brook Hsu’s Trout Fishing in America.
Christina Kimeze at Hauser & Wirth Frieze
Christina Kimeze achieves the gorgeously rich texture of her paintings by painting directly on to suede, instead of traditional canvases. Don't miss seeing this in the flesh.
Enjoy 15 minutes of fame with Miles Aldridge
Miles Aldridge is inviting you to pose for your portrait all week as part of the Mount Street Neighbourhood Arts Festival. All you have to do is choose your prop and take a seat. It's a lot of fun - book here
Corbin Shaw takes over the Groucho
Corbin Shaw was inspired by William Blake's, 'If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise,' for his playful reimagining of The Groucho Club’s Dean Street awning. Go inside to discover Feast of Fools, Corbin’s public installation and group exhibition which celebrates the next generation of artists.
