Frieze announced today that Sheena Wagstaff has been appointed Creative Advisor of Frieze Masters.
Most recently Wagstaff curated the much-celebrated Studio section at Frieze Masters 2023, which featured artists Maggi Hambling, Mona Hatoum, Lucia Laguna, Arlene Shechet and Hyun-Sook Song.
I am delighted to take up this new role of Creative Advisor. Frieze Masters offers extraordinary historical artefacts alongside contemporary art, in which the creative values of the past are embodied in new forms. I look forward to expanding, with the brilliant Frieze team, the fair’s mission to align ancient with modern: to convey the vitality and urgency of creative history, and how international artists translate this for our global future.
Sheena Wagstaff
In her new role as Creative Advisor, Wagstaff will shape the curatorial framework for Frieze Masters 2024 and beyond. Together with the existing team at Frieze, she will develop an ambitious vision for the fair
that builds on Frieze Masters’ efforts to reconsider our understanding of art history by bringing a new
perspective to the art of the past.
When we invited Sheena to develop a new section for Frieze Masters 2023, I was struck by her deep appreciation for the fair’s relationship with artists. Working together it became clear that Sheena’s energy, ideas, and enthusiasm for Frieze Masters were a significant contribution to the fair. Her understanding of the fair’s original aim, to apply the insights of living artists to art history, make her the ideal person to work with on further influential projects and initiatives.
Nathan Clements-Gillespie, Director of Frieze Masters,
Wagstaff has over 30 years of experience working in the arts, having previously held positions including the Chair of Modern and Contemporary Art at Te Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in which
capacity she led and determined the programme of Te Met Breuer. As Chief Curator of Tate Modern for
11 years, she was responsible for devising the exhibition programme and Turbine Hall commissions. She
currently serves on the Professional Fine Arts Committee of the Foundation for Art & Preservation in
Embassies, Washington DC; the International Advisory Committee of Istanbul Modern; and the Advisory
Board of Delfina Foundation, London.
Wagstaff will take up her position immediately and work closely with Kristell Chadé (Executive Director,
Frieze Fairs) and Nathan Clements-Gillespie (Director, Frieze Masters) as well as the wider Frieze team.
