To Frieze, or not to Frieze?

Eduardo Paolozzi by Emma Paolozzi Paul Smith Albemarle Street

I’m not sure if I’ll make it to Frieze London, but if I do it will most likely be Frieze Masters than Frieze.

One of the hits of last year was dealer Helly Nahmad’s depiction of an imaginary collector’s lived-in apartment. I missed it but it famously inspired the set design for Erdem’s Aw15 LFW show.

We all love to see behind the scenes of an artist or creative. There’s definitely something very magical about getting a glimpse of an artist’s messy studio space. Paul Smith has tapped into this with his own Frieze installation in the Albemarle Street store. An avid hoarder collector himself, Smith enlisted Eduardo Paolozzi’s daughter to create a replica of the late sculptor’s studio – complete with original plaster castings, sketches, digestive biscuits and all manner of other intriguing ephemera.

It’s incredibly well done, because of course, these sorts of installations take immense skill and patience to look this casual. On the walls are sketches torn from Eduardo Paolozzi’s sketchbooks and the display is accompanied by Emma Paolozzi’s jewellery, which has also been inspired by her father. Inside the store are exclusive pin badges for sale, plus this bronze ‘Jelly Mould’ sculpture…

Eduardo Paolozzi Jelly Mould bronze sculpture
Eduardo Paolozzi by Emma Paolozzi Paul Smith Albemarle Street
Eduardo Paolozzi by Emma Paolozzi Paul Smith Albemarle Street
Eduardo Paolozzi by Emma Paolozzi Paul Smith Albemarle Street
Eduardo Paolozzi by Emma Paolozzi Paul Smith Albemarle Street
Eduardo Paolozzi by Emma Paolozzi Paul Smith Albemarle Street
Eduardo Paolozzi by Emma Paolozzi Paul Smith Albemarle Street

This year, Helly Nahmad is making waves again with a display called ‘Jean Dubuffet: The Asylum’ (below). A vignette of the types of insane asylums Dubuffet visited for inspiration (along with the work that it inspired), Robin Brown has once again been called upon as production designer to painstakingly create the set. It’s a brilliant way to contextualise art and looks great so I’m really hoping to see this close up…
Jean Dubuffet The Asylum by Robin Brown at Helly Nahmad Frieze

WORDS AND IMAGES: Disneyrollergirl/Navaz Batliwalla