Circa hits the circus with great demand

Where do we start from now? This is a question we have all asked ourselves over the past few months and, in the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference COP 26 in Glasgow at the end of this month and to celebrate its first anniversary, Circa, the digital arts platform that lights up the giant screens of Piccadilly Circus – has elicited a wide variety of responses from art luminaries, including Hans Ulrich Obrist and Marina Abramović. Many of these are reproduced on a printed “roadmap” that Circa distributes today to Frieze. Ai Weiwei, David Hockney, Patti Smith and many others also donated prints to raise funds for Circa’s many projects aimed at the wider creative sector. Last night, Abramović appeared on the Piccadilly screen to announce the winner of their first Circa x Dazed award of £ 30,000, which went to queer artist, activist and drag performer Joseph Wilson.

Where art and pop meet

The faces might be covered, but the art world still channeled its party spirit on the two main evenings to mark the opening of Frieze. Christie’s hosted a Champagne and Cocktail Party to celebrate their exhibition of works by Stanley Donwood, who has produced all of Radiohead’s visuals since meeting band frontman Thom Yorke at the art school of Exeter. Yorke performed an experimental electronic set in front of a giant striped painting by Gerhard Richter with Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood also present. Meanwhile, the Arts Club x Evening Standard party was chaired by legendary house music DJ Seth Troxler, who kept artists Conrad Shawcross, Shezad Dawood and Yinka Ilori as well as Princess Eugenie up until the early hours of the morning.

The little-known heroine is causing a sensation

Janet Sobel may well be one of the best-kept secrets in the art world – and James Brett, the founder of The Gallery and Museum of Everything, is determined to shine a light on this “unsung great heroine of the art of 20th century ”with a presentation of his works at Frieze Masters. Sobel seems to have been erased from the canon of abstract expressionist art – “she has been perpetually excluded,” Brett says – but some commentators argue that she pioneered the drip painting style a few years before Jackson Pollock does not splash and make its way through art. the story. “Sobel’s son’s poor painting was also a source of inspiration for her,” says Brett. Ouch.

The court artist says it with flowers

Artist Lakwena Maciver wows crowds at the Contemporary African Art Fair 1-54 with her vibrant basketball paintings that fill the courtyard of Somerset House. Maciver is a fan of the game and even painted two full-sized courts in Pine Bluff, Arkansas last year in honor of State Senator Stephanie Anne Flowers, who spoke out against the laws on the “Stand your Ground” firearms. Meanwhile, Maciver’s intricate hair arrangement, adorned with an array of flowers, certainly caught the eye at the VIP preview. But the young London artist takes no risk with her flowery hairstyle: “I took a hay fever tablet just in case! she joked.