With help from Lubaina Himid, Glenn Ligon and more, Frieze’s Artist-to-Artist initiative is supporting new talent

When in search of rising artists making extraordinary work, there’s typically no higher place to start out than with the opinions of different extra established artists. Frieze found this final 12 months by means of the success of its Artist-to-Artist initiative, which noticed six famend creative figures, together with Tracey Emin and Simone Leigh, nominate the subsequent technology of expertise for solo exhibitions on the truthful.

Frieze has introduced Artist-to-Artist again this 12 months, inviting one other six main artists—Hurvin Anderson, Lubaina Himid, Rashid Johnson, Glenn Ligon, Zineb Sedira and Yinka Shonibare—to place ahead their choices. “All of our nominators have a longstanding dedication to supporting different artists in their very own observe, by means of educating, curating or establishing areas to assist artists,” says Frieze London’s director, Eva Langret, noting that for a lot of this will likely be their truthful debut. Right here, the nominating artists inform The Artwork Newspaper about their decisions.

Lubaina Himid on Magda Stawarska

I’ve identified Magda Stawarska for over twenty years. Though our work contrasts aesthetically and differs in material, we’re each concerned with revealing the hidden elements of the reminiscences and histories we discover. I chosen her for Frieze as a result of I significantly admire her and her gallery, Yamamoto Keiko Rochaix.

Magda is an individual who layers issues, and I discover how she does this endlessly fascinating because it’s totally different from my observe. Artistically, I’m within the layers of historical past you possibly can peel again, however that’s not how I paint. Considered one of Magda’s items in Frieze, for instance, is a 20m by 20m print made with 12 layers of patterns. Equally, when she makes sound works, there could possibly be a discipline, a voice, and an archive recording composed one on prime of one other.

Choosing her for this mission can be a chance to commemorate the numerous issues I’ve realized from working together with her in varied methods. She was one of many first folks to assist me make prints. Then, in 2017, I used to be requested to restage my paintings Naming The Cash, which, on the time, had a soundtrack that I made in 2004 in a shoddy method. She remade and recomposed the sound so it matched the standard of the paintings. I’ve additionally participated in a few of her sound items. I feel extra folks ought to find out about her.

Rashid Johnson on Rob Davis

Rob Davis is from a reasonably under-resourced background and his work explores photos and signifiers from this. I first met the New York-based artist round 25 years in the past once we have been each in Chicago. He was in a curatorial collective with one other painter, Michael Langlois, engaged on an exhibition that included me and some others. I fell in love with Robert and Michael’s observe as a result of it was out of step with the instances. Their representational work spoke this candid language round photos, exploring themes and ideas that weren’t de rigueur on the time. I grew to become very intrigued by the sophistication of their strategy.

Rob ultimately started making work on his personal, which carried on the sensibility of what he had been doing within the collaboration, however with extra of a relation to nostalgia and the exploration of his personal experiences. I’ve watched his observe mature and turn out to be extra sophisticated, and I feel he’s making a number of the most attention-grabbing and trustworthy photos of any artist I do know as we speak. I’m in deep gratitude for the seat I’ve had in watching his work unfold and evolve.

Hurvin Anderson on Peter Uka

I got here throughout Peter Uka’s work by means of a mix of common analysis and a pal’s suggestion. I’ve but to satisfy Peter [in person], however we’ve had a couple of conversations and I’m significantly concerned with his use of color, particularly its depth and boldness.

His work centres across the Black determine, which feels extra necessary to me now than ever. Whereas it’s improbable that there have been many outstanding exhibitions which have targeted on the Black expertise not too long ago, I don’t assume the momentum ought to change in that respect. So, if I get the possibility to have fun the work of a Black artist I like, I take it.

There aren’t that many parallels between Peter’s work and mine, other than perhaps our concepts round reminiscence and the truth that we’re each attempting to recapture the essence of one thing from the previous. That mentioned, like me and lots of others, Peter has painted the barbershop. It’s a culturally important house, in order that’s no shock. Nevertheless it’s at all times attention-grabbing to see one other artist’s interpretation of it.

I hope that Peter’s show at Frieze will introduce many different folks to his work and that guests will see the talent he has together with his palette and the refreshing notion in his storytelling and composition.

Yinka Shonibare on Nengi Omuku

I met the Nigerian artist Nengi Omuku simply over ten years in the past when she was a pupil at Slade Faculty of High-quality Artwork, and I’ve been watching her progress ever since. As a substitute of engaged on canvas, she paints on Sanyan material, a standard Yoruba cloth, the place she creates lovely photos that mix elements of Nigerian and Western heritage.

Rising up, Nengi labored together with her mom, a florist and horticulturist, throughout college holidays, and he or she has introduced this expertise into her work in a multifaceted method. In her work, you possibly can see nature, landscapes and figuration, referencing her upbringing, in addition to the local weather. Her figures are additionally considerably nameless trying as a result of she doesn’t need them to have any pronounced racial options, permitting them to be seen extra as common folks.

Nengi’s items are generally displayed unconventionally, too, with some hung away from the wall so viewers can stroll round them. This provides folks the chance to see the talent that goes into making these materials, breaking the boundaries between artwork and craft whereas additionally championing girls’s work. In 2022, she went on an artists’ residency in Senegal, the place she labored with girls who weave such materials.

It’s necessary for folks to see different views, totally different tales, and totally different folks. And as somebody with an African British background, she has a voice that must be heard.

Glenn Ligon on Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom

Appau Junior Boakye-Yiadom’s work is multifaceted, utilizing efficiency, images, video and sound. I selected him as a result of platforms like Frieze permit artists to get their work out to a wider viewers. I feel it’s exhausting to search out institutional areas to accommodate the number of his observe, which Frieze will permit him to do.

We frequently think about that artists are totally shaped, and I like that his work is concerning the want to be taught and the method of studying in public, in addition to the will to collaborate. I’m additionally impressed together with his capacity to assume by means of what it means to make in and with the general public. Crucial side of that is the chance. To be taught in public is to fail in public, too, and I feel that’s a generosity his observe affords—letting the creative course of be seen.

Over time, his ambitions have turn out to be extra advanced. He’s diving into his works in many alternative kinds and contemplating their implications. He’s considering deeply about how he needs to interact audiences and who he’s collaborating with. We’re not merely watching him be taught, we’re studying too as a result of we get perception into how artists assume and the way they make work. That’s what makes him stand out to me.

Zineb Sedira on Massinissa Selmani

I selected Massinissa Selmani as a result of he’s an artist I respect. Like me, he’s from Algeria, and his work offers with many elements of the nation’s politics and tradition, which I can connect with.

There’s solely a small group of artists popping out of Algeria, so we are likely to know one another, both bodily or by means of one another’s artwork. His work took me aback as a result of it was very witty and had a way of humour particular to the nation. I additionally did an enormous mission on humour from the Nineties, and I keep in mind having a really lengthy dialog with him concerning the caricature, jokes and humour used to battle towards what we name the “black decade” in Algeria. Massinissa and I are related in that we’re each concerned with researching and pulling out histories from Algeria that would disappear if no one mentions them.

In my determination, I additionally thought of the house the place the works could be proven. I see Frieze extra as cubicles than exhibition areas, and I felt he might do one thing attention-grabbing with that. He makes use of animations, drawings and installations. He exhibits drawings on the partitions framed in a really classical method but additionally goes past that by displaying objects and animations on small screens and tables. I wished to decide on an artist who wouldn’t simply slap issues on the partitions like many galleries do.