Friezeing in Regents Park...

And to follow, the Amanda Sharp feature interview, conducted during the Frieze Art Fair.

The fair, lasting 5 days, is ranked among the top three fairs in the world, so I was very happy to score an interview with the organiser at its height.

I have offered a longer feature article based around the interview to a few specialist art magazines, one of whom is hoping to publish later this month. We are, however, having problems with the pics. Still...fingers crossed!

So here is the original, as submitted to the Ham & High. A slighly shorter, sub edited version appeared as a centre spread in both the Wood and Vale and the Ham & High...so not bad for a first days work. The front page, and the centre spread.

A FAIR AFTERNOON, IF SLIGHTLY FRIEZEING

Strolling through the stalls, you are struck by the substantial sense of diversity. Passing the Marc Foxx gallery, Los Angeles, on your right, you continue into the huge space, littered with light and colour. You continue on past the Szwajcer gallery, Antwerp, before popping into the Sommer gallery, Tel Aviv.

80 days? The Frieze art fair takes you around the world in half an hour.

Within the world of contemporary art, the annual Frieze fair is regarded among the top three exhibitions in the world, playing host to 151 galleries from 28 countries over the course of five days every October in Regent’s Park. Many of the world’s foremost artists and collectors are attracted to our doorstep, not to mention around 70,000 visitors.

At the centre of the storm, we caught up with Amanda Sharp who, alongside Matthew Slotover, is joint organiser of the fair, and joint publishing director of Frieze, Europe’s leading magazine of contemporary art.

The fair sprung to life in Regent’s Park in 2003. “To start with, the purpose was pretty simple,” Amanda says. “To try and get the best galleries in the world under one roof. We wanted to make it a place in which you’d want to stay for a while.”

Due to the attraction to big money collectors, some have labelled the fair too commercial, attracting work from artists for the purpose of sale, rather than exhibition, but as Amanda says:

“If somebody actually bothered to come in here, I don’t think they’d feel the same. It’s a prejudice that I would love for someone to come and confound for themselves. If I felt that art was the prerogative of the rich…I would not be sitting here now.”

Amanda says that, since 2003, the purpose of the fair has remained much the same. “I’m very happy that it has the same energy today, that it had the day we opened. If we can keep that, I feel we’re doing well.”

Frieze is more than welcome to its annual space in Regent’s Park. Though who knows where Amanda will stand with her peers next year? Until recently, she was named the 8th most important person in art, but, as of Friday, has fallen to 17th.

Amanda appears somewhat amused: “I think if you’re silly enough to believe you’re the 8th most important person in art, then you’re silly enough to be upset about dropping down!”