Frieze London, one of the world's most buzzy and important contemporary art fairs, kicks off today. Meet 10 of the incredible women artists you need to see at this year's exhibition:
1. Sol Calero
Based in Berlin, Sol Calero, 33, grew up in Venezuela before moving to the Canary Islands as a teenager and later studying in Madrid. And the vibrant surroundings are visible in her work. Her largest exhibition to date transformed a studio into a Caribbean school where local people could take classes in Latin American art. Her past work includes a gallery turned into an exotic hair salon, and a Berlin salsa school decked out with paintings of tropical fruit and palm trees. Come to Calero's exhibition for a dose of South American kitsch.
2. Rachel Rose
New Yorker Rachel Rose, 29, won the Frieze Artist Award last year and will have an even bigger presence this season. Rose uses film to explore the definition of morality and has used the medium to look at everything from experiments in a robotics lab to hailstorms in Siberia, weaving together imagery and music to construct her narrative. At Frieze, Rose will create a scale-model installation of the fair. Complete with lights and sounds that simulate animals inhabiting Regent’s Park, the piece is designed to open up a sensory world for its visitors. We think she could be the next Tracey Emin.
3. Catharine Ahearn
Catharine Ahearn, 30, is a Los Angeles-based sculptor with an eclectic point of view. Case in point, her work includes furniture that looks like it’s made out of pretzels, sci-fi inspired doodles, and formalist sculptures using melted soap. At Art Brussels 2014, she won the Pirelli Prize for creating a tower of paper towel rolls that were made to resemble the ancient columns of a fallen civilization. With Ahearn, we've learned to expect the unexpected.
4. Nicole Wermers
German-born Nicole Wermers, 44, lives and works in London where she makes collages, installations and sculptures that explore the appropriation of art in consumer culture. She was nominated for the 2015 Turner Prize for her exhibition ‘Infrastruktur’, where she draped glossy fur coats over the backs of bland office chairs. In the past, she has created sculptures of unwashed dishes and rock dispensers that highlight the disposable status of nature in the modern world. Her sculptures drip with glamour and she is definitely one to watch for the future.
5. Sara Barker
Glaswegian Sara Barker, 35, works with cement, metal, brass and glass, creating elegant sculptures with intricate detail. The works of literary figures, from Virginia Woolf to Emily Dickinson, have been a source of inspiration for her, with their exploration of public and private spaces. In ‘The Subtle Knife’, glass panes are precariously suspended in midair, and in her sculpture ‘Patterns’ the glass disappears entirely among the trees in the garden in which it is displayed. Expect sharp edges and abstract ideas.
6. Lucy Beech
Londoner Lucy Beech, 30, explores the intersection of economic and emotional discourses. Her exhibition ‘Cannibals’ was made up of a series of video installations focusing on female empowerment. Images of a women’s support group were displayed which revealed them to be a microcosm of a capitalist society. Beech also creates films with dance performances that try to present sounds through movement. If her exhibition is anywhere near as bonkers and brilliant as her expressive dance 'Human Resources', we're going to be very excited.
7. Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer, 65, is a conceptual artist based in Hoosick Falls, New York. She relates modern information systems to politics, and is best known for her billboard adverts and projections on to buildings. She projected ‘Sex Differences are Here To Stay’ on to a theatre marquee, and placed the statement ‘Abuse Of Power Comes As No Surprise’ in LED lights over Times Square. Her work also includes silk-screen paintings, dance projects, and anonymous broadsheets pasted on walls around Manhattan. Holzer is a legend in the art world, and we can't wait to see what she has in store.
8. Carol Bove
Carol Bove, 44, lives and works in New York. Bove uses materials as varied as driftwood, peacock feathers and foam to create installations exploring the artistic movements of the 1960s. She has built abstract steel caterpillars on abandoned train tracks, sculptures of vintage bookshelves, and an expansive installation called ‘The Foamy Saliva of a Horse.’ Walking into one of her installations is a bit like visiting the magical home of your favourite eccentric aunt.
9. Samara Scott
London-based Samara Scott, 30, is an installation artist whose most recent work focuses on the beauty of washed up objects. She examines how technology has changed our relationship with nature. In one piece, she places sea debris on to wooden blinds, alongside washing machine tablets and plastic lids. Her psychedelic images always have a social conscience.
10. Rebecca Warren
Rebecca Warren, 50, is a sculptor based in London. In the exhibition ‘She’, Warren constructs a bold new figure of the female nude that couldn't fail to make us smile. Mocking the fetishization of women’s bodies, she creates earthy figures with dramatically large curves and, in one sculpture, comically cartoonish heels. In her more recent work, Warren uses bronze and steel instead of clay to build female forms with harder edges.
Words: Radhika Seth
