Raphael Fonseca’s Top Picks from Frieze Viewing Room
The Curator from Denver Art Museum selects works at Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2024, from Pacita Abad to Oren Pinhassi
The Curator from Denver Art Museum selects works at Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2024, from Pacita Abad to Oren Pinhassi
José Antonio da Silva, Queimada (The Burning), 1971
Oil on canvas, 81.5 × 101.5 × 4 cm. Presented by Cecilia Brunson. Price on application
José Antonio da Silva is not very well known outside of Brazil, and even in his country, he is still not seen as part of the canon. A fantastic painter and provocateur, his works deal with a variety topics, from Brazil’s fragile art system to ecological concerns. This work is an excellent example of his intelligent use of colours and brushstrokes on a larger scale.
Oren Pinhassi, Tower of Babel, 2024
Steel, sand, burlap, polymer and rock, 243 × 54 × 43 cm. Presented by Edel Assanti Gallery. $ 28k
Oren Pinhassi’s works caught my attention due to their expressive and mysterious shapes. Occupying an entire space, Pinhassi’s sculptures experiment with different materials. Instead of expanding horizontally in the space, they invite us to rethink our verticality in relation with our bodies and spines. The holes in the works’ surfaces create an interesting relationship with their backgrounds, asking us to spend more time with the images and their details.
Selma Selman, Ophelia’s Awakening, 2024
Oil on Mercedes hood, 120 × 148 × 10 cm. Presented by ChertLüdde. € 22k
Selma Selman’s work is remarkably varied. While her medium is painting, her research explores physicality, performance and layers of narrative. Taking autobiographical elements and unfolding them into powerful and experimental images, Selman’s body of work continues to grow. I am particularly interested in how she uses fragments of cars as the surface of her works: her self-image is often a starting point for narrative.
Amol K. Patil, The voices that remain S1, 2024
Bronze, 14 × 30 × 21 cm. Presented by Project 88. Price on application
After his participation in the last edition of Documenta, Amol K. Patil has gradually been gaining attention from institutions and galleries. Deeply interested in the idea of mystery through storytelling, it is interesting to learn that he experiments not only with big formats – like the impressive installations he showed in Germany – but also with small, precise, surgical objects, like this one. Working on a small scale invites the audience to dive into his very peculiar imagery.
Pacita Abad, Masquerade, 1988
Acrylic, oil on canvas, stitched with glass, cotton and plastic buttons, 188 × 162.6 cm. Presented by Tina Kim Gallery. $100–250k
Pacita Abad is simply one of my favourite artists ever. From her early to last works, her capacity to play with colour, texture and different scales always impresses me. This work is an excellent example of how her wide travel influenced her practice and how often she played with the invisible boundary between abstraction and figuration.
About Raphael Fonseca
Raphael Fonseca is the Curator of modern and contemporary Latin American art at the Denver Art Museum and the Chief Curator of the 14th Mercosur Biennial in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2025. He is part of the curatorial ensemble of the third edition of the Counterpublic Triennial, which will happen in 2026 in St. Louis, USA. He worked as a Curator at MAC Niterói (Contemporary Art Museum of Niterói, Brazil) from 2017–20. He holds a PhD in Critic and Art History (State University of Rio de Janeiro).
About Frieze Viewing Room
Open to all from 2 – 18 October 2024, Frieze Viewing Room is the online catalogue for the fair, giving global audiences access to gallery presentations coming to Frieze London and Masters 2024. Visitors can search artworks by artist, price, date and medium, save favourite artworks and presentations, chat with galleries and much more.
Further Information
Frieze London and Frieze Masters, 9 – 13 October 2024, The Regent’s Park.
Tickets to the fairs are on sale – don’t miss out, buy yours now. Alternatively, become a member to enjoy premier access, exclusive guided tours and more.
To keep up to date on all the latest news from Frieze, sign up to the newsletter at frieze.com, and follow @friezeofficial on Instagram, X and Frieze Official on Facebook.
Main Image: Selma Selman, Ophelia's Awakening, 2024. Oil on Mercedes hood, 120 × 148 × 10 cm. Courtesy: the artist and ChertLüdde. Photo: Marjorie Brunet Plaza
