The Figure, Unbound
I was invited to attend two of the opening days of Frieze London and, arriving in my home city, I was immediately reminded of its extraordinary energy, gathering pace around the nucleus of the Regent's Park venue. The art on display was more than equal to the occasion. A-listers from across the wider cultural landscape, including film, music and fashion, mingled with professionals, enthusiasts and cultural icons from London’s eclectic art scene, all seemingly loving, living and breathing art. A room full of wannabes? No. Ammabees? Yes!
Across Frieze London and Frieze Masters, some 95,000 visitors were welcomed from 108 countries and regions, with galleries reporting sales at every level. Amid the buzz, I found myself drawn to the work of three female artists whose approaches to the human figure challenge the boundaries between representation and abstraction. Each, in her own way, invites us to look beyond the body as we know it.
After several years of attending Frieze and Art Basel, the work of Joan Semmel continues to stop me in my tracks. Presented by Alexander Gray Associates, Semmel, who has just turned 94, draws on her own body to create figurative work centred on the female perspective. Since the 1980s, she has explored the ageing female physique, continuing a lifelong investigation of self-portraiture and female identity. Her gestural techniques, saturated palette and diluted hues often blur the distinction between representation and abstraction.
At Study for Center Hand, my gaze comes to rest. The painting evokes a sweeping desert landscape, its forms opening up a way of seeing the body that feels both unfamiliar and full of possibility. I see in it the contours of a future body, and a new beauty that still awaits me.
One of the compelling works at the David Zwirner booth was Dana Schutz's The Musicians (2026). Tightly compressed figures appear at once coordinated and discordant, their interwoven limbs creating a composition that borders on abstraction and challenges the eye to distinguish one form from the next. Saturated colour and sharp contrasts heighten the painting's intensity, while an emotional undercurrent prevents it from becoming purely formal. The result is a work that balances complexity with feeling, rewarding sustained attention as the shifting relationships between its figures gradually come into focus.
That tension between figuration and abstraction surfaced again in the work of Márcia Falcão. Some works catch your eye at an art fair. Others seem to follow you around it relentlessly. Falcão was very much the latter for me. By the time I had encountered her paintings again, I knew I was looking at something special. Born in the south of São Paulo, Brazil, Falcão explores the liberation of feminine energy, although her practice encompasses a far broader constellation of themes. Her work will stay with me for years to come. Here's why.
Profound brushstrokes are matched by an unwavering sense of purpose. There is nothing ambiguous or uncertain about Falcão. The force of her work possesses an astonishing magnitude. Encountering it at Frieze was one of the highlights of the fair for me.
I was particularly drawn to Sentada Arara em Luz e Sombra Quente. Its interplay of browns and oranges, and its remarkable tonal contrasts, hint at the painting's extraordinary richness and delicious warmth, yet such descriptions barely begin to do it justice. This is a work that invites you to look, then look again, and return once more. Each encounter reveals something new, as though the painting resists being fully absorbed in a single viewing. Its warmth is profound, yet never uncomplicated; beneath its sensuous surface lies an emotional complexity that rewards sustained attention.
Three extraordinary artists, owning their unique identities. I arrived at the fairexpecting to take the pulse of contemporary art in London, but left with something more profound—a sense that art can meet the turbulence of the world with a force equal to its challenges.
Sources:
Frieze London
What extremely exciting female artists. I love their explorations ❤️❤️❤️