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Frieze Art Fair in London

Every year in October, several orange construction cranes begin to arrive in Regent’s Park, London, United Kingdom. The arrival of Autumn marks the beginning of the Frieze Art Fair’s setup for three key events - Frieze London, Frieze Masters, and Frieze Sculpture. The Frieze Sculpture tends to open earlier to the public, inviting Londoners to enjoy the outdoor art sculptures within one section of Regent’s Park. As for Frieze London and Frieze Masters, the tent structures begin to arrive about three weeks prior to the five-day event between the 15th and 19th of October 2025. In the final few days leading up to the opening on the 15th of October 2025, one can see the night lights turned on 24/7, and this year, since the Frieze Art Fair’s inauguration in 2003, is no exception.

Booth by Salon 94 and Karma Gallery at Frieze Masters 2025. Image by Von Chua.

In 2025, Frieze London and Frieze Masters recorded an estimated 90,000 visitors. From industry experts to art enthusiasts, the Frieze Art Fair’s strong curatorial approach marks it as one of the most important art fairs within the industry’s annual calendars. With many travelling into London to enjoy the city’s immersive art week, there are large numbers of satellite events by other exhibitors and gallerists, and others banking on the same crowd to attend art openings for up and coming contemporary artists. The Frieze London focuses on contemporary art, showcasing artworks completed mainly after 2000, which is great for discovering work from emerging artists. On the other hand, Frieze Masters focuses on historical art, ranging from antiquity to the late 20th century artworks.

Having attended a mixture of the art fairs over the past decade, Frieze London in recent years became slightly less about the art, but rather more about people who appear to want to be seen. An iPhone camera-first type of approach when viewing art. This year, with limited time, I chose to attend the Frieze Masters only, to see what the 137 galleries have brought on display. Compared to a few years ago, a notable difference is that there appears to be a new generation of collectors for ancient masterpieces at the Frieze Masters. The crowd is enthusiastic and engaged, a slight departure from the slow and ageing collector crowd who appeared likely to have works by the ancient masters hung on the walls at home somewhere. There appears to be a noticeable change between contemporary art and antiquity, with some exhibitors reporting a higher demand for antiquity, signaling the timeless quality of ancient art. There seems to be a strong presentation of Ancient Egyptian art displayed this year too, which was a pleasant surprise. Is the Grand Egyptian Museum’s opening this year influencing this? This year, there is also the addition of a curated section titled “Reflections”, inspired by Sir John Soane’s Museum and Kettle’s Yard, for decorative arts and objects. 

The Frieze Masters that I visited was designed by Selldorf Architects; Selldorf Architects, based in New York, has been the team designing the art fair since its inception. Across the park at Frieze London, since 2024, the art fair’s venue has been designed by A Studio Between, a London-based studio designing between interiors and architecture, furniture and design, who drew inspiration from urban design, modularity, and material reuse.

Walking along the long corridors at the Frieze Masters 2025, Salon 94 and Karma Gallery’s joint presentation this year was particularly memorable. The two New York-based galleries showcased the work of Australian artist Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, Japanese-Brazilian artist Shoko Suzuki, and architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai’s works. This particular booth had the most exciting presentation, in my opinion, providing a calmness through the juxtaposition of Suzuki’s minimalist ceramics with Gabori’s bold paintings in bright fuchsia, red, and yellow tones within the sea of paintings, sculptures, and people. Not to mention, the booth recorded strong sales during the art fair too, successfully closing the sales of Suzuki’s ceramics for prices ranging from USD 24,000.00 to USD 46,000.00. During the five-day event, the most successful sale during the entire art fair was a major old master painting by a significant artist, recorded at USD 10 million. In addition, there may be an uptick in institutional art collectors scouting for pieces at such major art fairs too, as there was a mention of a sale made to be added to a museum collection.

Despite the global downturn, the United Kingdom still dominates the top three positions of global art sales. After the United States, the United Kingdom and China closely followed. The Frieze Art Fair continues to present globally in cities, ie. London, New York, Los Angeles, and Seoul. It was also recently announced that the organizing committee will be adding Abu Dhabi as one of the cities it will display from 2026. The art fair truly covers an international footprint from Europe, North America, Asia, and soon to be in the Middle East. London marks the end of the calendar year for the Frieze Art Fairs; the next upcoming Frieze Art Fair will be held in Seoul in September 2026.