David Shrigley's 'Ostrich', 2009
Last night I was taken to the preview of Frieze Art Fair. A Frieze virgin, I was advised not to look at the art, but at the people. How is one to view the art anyway in such a frenzied atmosphere? Hundreds of posh, face-lifted women and colourfully dressed men fluttered around the huge tent currently set up in Regent's Park, delicately holding champagne flutes and barely noticing anything but their fellow party-goers. Listening to dealers from Berlin try to sell an extremely high heeled woman a horrible plastic lightbox (something about "the intensity of the light is very in this year") or spotting a man dressed oh so casually as a hooker-booted snail (complete with a butterfly tiara) made the evening totally worth it.
Of all the fab and not so fab art that I did manage to catch a glimpse of, the stand out for me was Galleri Nicolai Wallner's booth devoted to artist David Shrigley. Complete with his famous taxidermied animals and clever drawings, his self-awareness and love for mocking the pretentiousness of the people and galleries that support him was refreshing and much appreciated at this particular schmoozefest.
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