Frieze Week has become a collective noun for art and design fairs all opening at once in October. Deciding which ones to visit in which order becomes more challenging every year. When planning the launch of Echo Soho, gallerist India Rose James decided to delay the opening until Thursday, so she wouldn’t have to miss Frieze herself.
Every aspect of the boutique fair for female-led galleries reveals the personal touch of its founder who hand-picked the participants of the inaugural fair from her circle of friends. After all, the art world and its business is all about connections, and as a young gallerist selecting other young emerging galleries comes a natural choice.
While half of the galleries are located within walking distance to Echo Soho, the other half are based in less central parts of London, out of town or of no fixed abode. The results is a colourful mix of familiar faces and first encounters. I didn’t expect to spend one and a half hours at a fair with only a dozen stands, proof that size isn’t everything and visual storytelling a gift.
A female-led fair does not automatically translate into art exclusively made by women. The first space you enter on the ground floor is occupied by House of Bandits who dedicate their presentation to artists of any gender, background or discipline who are past or present residents at Sarabande Foundation.
The standout highlights are a couple of site specific installations, in particular Alicja Biala’s takeover of the building’s inhouse chapel which ties in with the artist’s current solo show at Berntson Bhattacharjee’s main gallery. The visually striking installation is enhanced by the multi-sensory sensation of walking across slag which feels and sounds a little like stepping on fresh snow. I didn’t previously know that sunflowers are hyper accumulators and capable of growing in soil with high concentrations of metals, here they grow as bronze sculptures from industrial waste material that remind me of Anselm Kiefer’s homage to Van Gogh.
