Rujeko Hockley's Top Picks From Frieze Los Angeles Viewing Room 2023

The Whitney Museum curator selects her favorite works, from a painterly ‘vision’ by Chioma Ebinama to Terry Adkin’s ‘intuitive and highly specific pairings’

in Frieze Los Angeles , News | 14 FEB 23

Garrett Bradley

1924 - Ball, 2019

Inkjet on soft matte paper

29 1/8 x 33 x 1 5/8 in; 74 x 83.7 x 4 cm (framed)

ed. 2 of 3 + 2 APs

$10-20k

Presented by Lisson Gallery

Radio Day Dream
Garrett Bradley, 1924 - Ball, 2019, Inkjet on soft matte paper, 74 x 83.7 x 4 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Lisson Gallery

There are so many layers here, formally and conceptually. I love the narrative questions the picture raises; I love the visual contrast between the boys in profile and the girl facing forward, her glow literally emanating from the picture’s center; I love the hint of context in the suburban homes in the background and the girl’s rolled ankle socks. Garrett Bradley’s eye is so sharp, and always full of love.



Helen Evans Ramsaran

An Eloquent Wall

Bronze

17.99" x 17.01" x 12.01" (45.7 cm x 43.2 cm x 30.5 cm)

$75,000

Presented by Welancora

An eloquest wall
Helen Evans Ramsaran, An Eloquent Wall, Bronze, 45.7 × 43.2 × 30.5 cm. Copyright The Artist Courtesy of Welancora Gallery

Helen Evans Ramsaran stopped me in my tracks. This sculpture is so visually striking, and I am taken with the idea of a wall having eloquence. It looks life-size, yet it could fit on a desk. I want to be inside of it, the bronze arches circling overhead, but I also want to hold it in my hand. I love it!



Che Lovelace

Tobago Bench, 2016-2022

Acrylic and dry pigment on board panels

50" x 60" (127 cm x 152.4 cm)

$40,000

Various Small Fires (VSF)

Tobago bench Che Lovelace
Che Lovelace, Tobago Bench, 2016-2022, Acrylic and dry pigment on board panels, 50 x 58 in. Courtesy of the Artist and Various Small Fires, Los Angeles / Texas / Seoul

Che Lovelace’s paintings are evocative and transporting. I love that he is bringing the vibrant culture and massive creativity of the Caribbean, specifically Trinidad & Tobago, to Frieze. I could look at this painting for hours – the color, the composition, the figure, the story. Gorgeous!



Chioma Ebinama

Clouds observing the cruelty, 2022

watercolour, sumi ink, and coffee on paper

52.24" x 35.98" (132.7 cm x 91.4 cm)

$16,000

Presented by Maureen Paley

Chioma Ebinaba Clouds observing the cruelty
Chioma Ebinaba, Clouds observing the cruelty, 2022, watercolour, sumi ink, and coffee on paper, 132.7 × 91.4 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Maureen Paley

This drawing by Chioma Ebinama feels intimate, like it’s talking just to me, but it’s large; it has presence. There is a sincerity and a sweetness – something about the color palette and the perspective – but also a detachment – the clouds quietly observing the cruelty of life below, doing nothing (but what could they do?). It feels like a dream, or maybe a vision.



Terry Adkins

Marshall, 2013

Wood-handled fruit harvester, chrome, blown glass, and velvet cushion

45" x 12.01" x 12.01" (114.3 cm x 30.5 cm x 30.5 cm)

$100-250k

Presented by Paula Cooper

Terry Adkins Marshall
Terry Adkins, Marshall, 2013, wood-handled fruit harvester, chrome, blown glass, and velvet cushion, 114.3 × 30.5 × 30.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Paula Cooper

Terry Adkin’s practice of mining and repurposing objects is forever powerful, and this is no exception. His intuitive and highly specific pairings bowl me over. This sculpture is so beautiful, so tactile, and so mysterious. I want to know all the embedded histories, all the ideas, people, and places Adkins wanted us to remember and raise up. 

About Rujeko Hockley

Rujeko Hockley
Rujeko Hockle. Photography: Jody Rogac

Rujeko Hockley is the Arnhold Associate Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She co-curated the 2019 Whitney Biennial. Additional projects at the Whitney include 2 Lizards (2022), Jennifer Packer: The Eye Is Not Satisfied With Seeing (2021), Julie Mehretu (2021), Toyin Ojih Odutola: To Wander Determined (2017) and An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1940-2017 (2017). Previously, she was Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum, where she co-curated Crossing Brooklyn: Art from Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, and Beyond (2014) and was involved in exhibitions highlighting the permanent collection as well as artists LaToya Ruby Frazier, Kehinde Wiley, Tom Sachs, and others. She is the co-curator of We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965-85 (2017), which originated at the Brooklyn Museum and travelled to three U.S. venues in 2017-18. She serves on the Board of Art Matters, as well as the Advisory Board of Recess.

About Frieze Viewing Room

Frieze Viewing Room is a free digital platform, connecting global audiences with Frieze's galleries and artists.   

Opening to all from February 09–20, the Viewing Room offers fair visitors a preview of the wealth of gallery presentations coming to Frieze Los Angeles 2023, as well as the chance for audiences around the world to experience and acquire the artwork on show.

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