Frieze Stand Prize Awarded to Sprüth Magers

Frieze announces Sprüth Magers (Berlin/London/Los Angeles) as the winner of the 2018 Frieze Stand Prize, which is awarded to an outstanding gallery presentation in the main or Social Work sections at Frieze London. This year’s jurors of institutional curators and directors included Francesco Stocchi (Curator, Modern and Contemporary Art, Boijmans Museums); Anne Ellegood (Senior Curator, Hammer Museum); and Katrina Brown (Director, The Common Guild).

Sprüth Magers’s presentation at Frieze London 2018 includes works by Thomas Demand, Jenny Holzer, Marcel van Eeden and Kaari Upson. A selection of Holzer’s paintings based on redacted US government documents are accompanied by an LED work and new footstools in marble and labradorite. These works feature excerpts from her agitprop text series ‘Survival’ and ‘Truisms’ that she began to work with in the 1980s. The presentation also features a number of new and recent works by Marcel van Eeden in his characteristic pencil, charcoal and gouache. Included is ‘CAT 3.2: Modern Art’: 12 drawings that feature templates that appear like photographs, exhibition catalogues, newspaper clippings and illustrations from the time before the artist's birth in 1965. They form part of his ongoing project, ‘The Encyclopedia of my Death’. Photographs by Demand are hung on wallpaper that has been specially designed by the artist and depicts a multitude of institutional-looking ‘metal' lockers. The presentation also includes sculptural works by Kaari Upson.

Jurors commented that Sprüth Magers was ‘inventive with their use of space and created an absorbing environment that places the works in dialogue with each other, while also highlighting the significance of each individual piece,’ and that the presentation ‘brings together four distinct artists in unexpected harmony.’

Special commendations also went to The Box (Los Angeles), for the gallery’s presentation of three generations of drawing; Pilar Corrias (London), for a strong presentation of significant female artists; and the fair’s Social Work section, for the range of important and relevant works represented.

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