Two days in to the Frieze week marathon and I headed to the Charlie Smith opening at The Old Truman Brewery – decision made mainly on the title of the exhibition, The Future Can Wait. Plus a quickly snapped up an invite to a Sketch Gallery opening in Mayfair…who wouldn’t.
The Future Can Wait is a project of the Charlie Smith gallery established in 2007, aimed at spotting and supporting early rising talent, the project acst as an "alternative experience to the art fair routine." With over 30 artists, this show combines painting, drawing, video, sculpture, performance and installation.
The Old Truman Brewery is a refreshing choice of environment for a commercial gallery. The venue that may not surprise for a graduate show – an abandoned factory, where entire chunks of plaster on the walls can be ripped off by a nudge and large puddles loom large on the ground, but Charlie Smith manages to pull it off.
Being on the top floor of the building, drinks were served on the rooftop with a view that would be hard to beat. Rather romantically – and also painfully sickeningly – we watched the sunset throw pink light across the cityscape in the near distance. Whilst the light was going down over in the City, amongst the high-rise and flashy gherkin shaped buildings, over here things were only just getting started. Despite best efforts, my attempts at capturing this poetic moment however were far from effective – my mobile phone camera isn’t quite as professional as hoped.
From East end grime to West, and the chic glam of the Sketch Parlour for the preview of AiM. Until now I was feeling fairly smug at having successfully avoided alcohol for the last week and a half. Naively, I thought that if I managed to survive Frieze week without breaking this detox, then I would certainly do myself proud. Day two of Frieze week and it's broken far too easily by the temptation of a free Sketch cocktail, resistance almost nil. Blast.
There is undeniably a good buzz in the air for the start of Frieze week this year. After the doom and gloom of the first half of the year with the economy overshadowing the art world, it is great to see that this hasn’t stopped the Frieze fun for 2009. Tomorrow, the big day itself: Frieze opening night.
Holly Willats
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