This is the 9th Frieze Art Fair. How has it changed over the years?
I love Frieze! Its always been solid and organized well since it first opened in 2003. Change is happening through the actual offering which is expanding with new initiates like Frame and The Sculptural Park. The fair has become a must in the arts calender and because of Frieze we now have a week packed with contemporary art in London from auctions to museum shows and private viewings.

With the recession biting, what’s the atmosphere been like at Frieze? Is business booming?
The atmosphere is great. People are upbeat and engaged in the art and its overall a very strong fair this year. I wouldn’t say that business is booming but it’s solid. I think the art market overall is holding up exceptionally well and there is real support and structure in the market. Quality works are still in extremely high demand and you will have to pay the price to get your hands on the great pieces. The recession hasn’t changed that. The main effect I’m seeing from the recession today has to do with time. The galleries have more time to spend with collectors and collectors have more time to think before they buy. It’s a great thing – it means people are back to buying art with their eyes.

What kind of work is desirable right now? Are there any common themes?
We are seeing a lot of ‘sculptural paintings’. Artists are pushing the three-dimensional artwork and questioning painting today. Works are being produced in raw materials like iron and construction materials like cement and we are back to abstraction and geometric variations. Its minimal, cool, raw and it’s examining the endless opportunities in painting.

How has the recession affected artists? Has it changed their work?
Yes in a positive way it has. There is less pressure on the artists to produce works ‘on demand’ which really brings us back to the issue of time. The artists have more time to think about the works that they are producing and I think most of them are really enjoying that. When the artists have more time the works are maybe becoming a bit more conceptual and less commercial. Its a good thing!

Does London have a ‘school’ or style – and if so what is it?
I’m currently seeing young artists in London using very cheap material, found material and ready mades to produce their works. Its kind of a modern day Arte Povera movement with a Duchampian feel to it.

Who are the top London buyers right now? Is buying art still elitist or more accessible to all?
Buyers are now coming from all over the world. The key term here is globalization. Its still very much European and American buyers but China in particular has made its mark. So too have other countries in Asia and Latin America such as Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico.

No the elitism of the 80’s is gone! Art is now very accessible today through the internet, art fairs are happening from Rio to Hong Kong, there is an increased number of auctions taking place throughout the year and there is a real growth in numbers of galleries around the world. There is almost a ‘generation’ shift happening in the art world now, where the new generation of collectors are becoming the movers and shakers. It’s new, smart and savvy collectors who have found their way through these channels.

Who are your top five galleries at Frieze?
Massimo de Carlo, Standard Gallery, Sadie Coles, Emmanuel Perrotin and Balice Hertling.

And your five artists to watch?
Kilian Ruethemann at Raebervon Stenglin, Kaari Upson at Andrea Rosen, Joe Bradley at Gavin Brown, Elmgreen and Dragset at Nicolai Wallner, Lara Favaretto at Franco Noero

If you had to buy one work from Frieze, which would it be?
Olafur Eliasson lamp at Tanya Bonakdar – its simply stunning!

What do you think about Frieze Projects including Lucky PDF and crowd-pleasers including the Credit Card Destroying Machine? ( Michael Landy’s 12 ft Jean Tinguely-inspired contraption comprised of rusty saws and retro toys that takes visitors’ credit cards, whirs, screeches, then spits them out in 100 pieces)
I’m less excited about that, the initiative is good but the outcome is not. The Credit Card Destroying Machine only works as a crowd pleaser and nothing more then that but the Pierre Bismuth’s specifically commissioned work for Frieze is quite something, an aquarium with a lobster swimming around, instead of hiding inside a shell, he is inside Brancusi’s Golden Head…

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About the author

Loma-Ann Marks
Loma was a performer and freelance writer before becoming a journalist on the Daily Star Sunday, Daily Star and Express. She's the Founder and Editor of Culture Compass. North, South, East or West? I'll go anywhere. I like to think that I'm a pretty good map reader ( not everyone would agree ) but then I remind them that I navigated my way around the Paris one-way system with NO mistakes. High Class or Common or Garden? High class in the garden. Clothes or Culture? Culture in new clothes. My best night out ever made me feel....... That things would never be the same again. And they surely weren't the following day.