The painter shares all that happened during their jam-packed week at Frieze London.
Pre-Frieze Week
I’ve been in London since last week, getting ready for my first UK solo exhibition, which opened last Thursday at P•P•O•W’s pop-up space at Frieze No. 9 Cork Street. The show brings together a new body of work exploring AI, gender identity, the sublime, tech bros, and the fine line between psychosis and mysticism.
The whole experience has been amazing. Selvi May Akyildiz and the whole No. 9 Cork Street team have made us feel so welcome. After the opening, they took us to 45 Jermyn St. for a great dinner—a perfect way to kick off Frieze Week.
After my opening, I spend two nights in Paris with my friend and my partner. For both of them, it’s their first time in Paris, so we made those few days memorable.
Monday
I head to the National Portrait Gallery to see Issy Wood’s show of self-portraits. I love how she renders a digital photo in paint, especially the pixelated soft edges. The self-portraits nod to front-facing video confessional sad-girl culture in a way that’s funny but also poignant. Even when she’s painting vinyl car interiors or porcelain figurines, there is a melancholy sweetness to all the work. I also love Issy’s music.
I get a chance to wander around the permanent collection where I found some incredible portraits by John Singer Sargent, some very spooky British royals and an iconic painting of Mary Shelley by Richard Rothwell. Frankenstein is one of my favorite books, and an influence for my latest show, so that felt cosmic to stumble across.
Tuesday
I start the day at Tate Modern with Ana Mendieta, Frida Kahlo, and Tarek Atoui’s Turbine Hall commission. I’d been looking forward to the Mendieta show for months, so it was very moving to finally see such an in-depth survey. Her work and her life story have had a big influence on my own painting practice. The Silueta series always knocks me over, and her video pieces are so powerful and timeless. Seeing everything together was so important to me.
After Tate, I head to the Corinthia for afternoon tea with my partner and friend. We told a white lie and pretended it was my friend’s birthday. They played Happy Birthday on the piano and brought her a special little cake with a candle. That was on top of their High Tea menu, which was great – very British. We heard a rumour that Andrew Garfield was staying at the hotel but didn’t spot him there.
My studio neighbour Louis Fratino also has a solo show nearby at David Zwirner. His surfaces are so rewarding to see in person, and his compositions are rhythmic and swirling. Whether he’s painting a still life, a sex scene or a subway commute, every canvas feels alive and romantic.
Wednesday
It’s the VIP opening of Frieze London, and it’s packed. I keep running into a familiar face, stopping to catch up, then getting pulled toward a great looking booth.
Some highlights are Sasha Gordon’s mind-bending work at David Zwirner; Joan Semmel’s new paintings and historic works on paper at Alexander Gray Associates; Caroline Walker’s paintings at GRIMM; and Ilana Savdie’s booth with White Cube. Ilana and I kept bumping into each other. She tells me she saw Andrew Garfield, and we decide he must have been staying at the Corinthian. While I talk with my friend Lee at Alexander Gray, they see Tilda Swinton over my shoulder. I freak out and make my partner take a picture of me with her in the background. I’m too star-struck to say hi. Later, we see Andrew Garfield while eating oysters in the cafe.
Next I walk over to Frieze Masters through the park and bump into a collector. He tells me to pace myself at Masters, that there is so much to see. I try my best but spend most of my time in the Zwirner booth with Alice Neel, then with this beautiful Magritte painting titled “L’Idée fixe” from 1928–29, and then with a big Trisaratops skull that catches me totally off guard. They are fully selling dinosaur bones at Frieze Masters. I forgot to ask for the price.
Thursday
By Thursday, I want to spend some real time with Nicole Eisenman’s solo exhibition at Sadie Coles. There are big night skies with dense galaxies, a melting abominable snowman, soilders in a clown car, and a Guernica style bedroom scene.
I’m lucky enough to attend a cocktail party at a collectors house and get to ogle his incredible collection, Guston, Bonecou, Twombly, Hesse, Hockney. I feel spoiled.
On my way to an opening at the National Gallery, I find myself under Tschabalala Self’s monumental Fourth Plinth commission in Trafalgar Square. I’m glad to see her at night. Her blue dress looks amazing all lit up from below.
I head up to Unexpected View at the National Gallery, a series inviting contemporary artists to engage with works from the collection. I’m especially excited to see Botticelli’s paintings, which connect to a few of the figures in my own show.
Friday
Friday morning I tell myself I will rest, but my partner and I go shopping instead. We head to Spitalfield and wander through a few of those vast vintage clothing markets and buy a few things to take back to Brooklyn from Goodhood.
In the afternoon, fellow P•P•O•W artist Suzanne Treister and Whitechapel Gallery associate curator Hannah Woods will join me for a public conversation at my show. Suzanne has been making work about new technology, spiritually, and sci-fi utopias for decades. She was also recently featured in the tarot exhibition at the Morgan Library, so there’s plenty for us to talk about.
I’ll spend the next day decompressing before heading back to the States. That went fast!
–Robin F. Williams