From new work by Albert Oehlen, Dalton Paula and Marina Perez Simão to an intoxicated-looking history of Modernism, digital culture, disappearing queer spaces and an ancient Egyptian bronze that may have inspired the Oscar statuette, Frieze has revealed more of what to expect in Regent’s Park this October.
Frieze London and Frieze Masters return to Regent’s Park from 14th–18th October 2026, bringing together 318 galleries across the two fairs: 176 galleries operating across 43 countries and regions at Frieze London and 142 from 33 countries at Frieze Masters.
At Frieze London, the emphasis is firmly on new work. Lisson will present Dalton Paula, whose new works draw on overlooked biographies, oral histories and visual records to restore visibility to Black historical figures from the 16th to 19th centuries, while Gagosian brings six major new large-scale paintings by Albert Oehlen. Pace Gallery will show new paintings by Marina Perez Simão, inspired by natural and geographical phenomena and shifting light across land and sea.
Other solo and focused presentations include Miriam Cahn at Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Francesca Mollett at Modern Art and the first European solo presentation of Haitian artist Myrlande Constant with Fort Gansevoort. Richard Saltoun Gallery pairs Helen Chadwick with Cathy de Monchaux, bringing together two practices that have explored the uneasy territory between beauty and revulsion since the 1980s.
There should be plenty of spectacle too. Sadie Coles HQ has commissioned a new monumental sculpture by Alex Da Corte, Princess Daffodil, standing more than 3.5 metres tall, while Edel Assanti will reconstruct the Soviet-era Kraków apartment in which Marcin Dudek grew up, filling it with works by artists including Lonnie Holley, Jenkin van Zyl, Dale Lewis, Vinca Petersen, Sheida Soleimani and Yoshinori Niwa.
The next generation comes first
As ever, Focus is likely to be one of the places to find something unexpected. This year it brings together 35 galleries from 17 countries, all no more than 12 years old, with newcomers including London’s Galerina and 243 Luz & Co, Chemould CoLab from Mumbai, Linseed from Shanghai and Theta from New York.
Among the projects is Laurie Smith’s presentation with Wschód, based around the real history of Huddersfield’s Gemini Club, a gay nightclub whose closure following police harassment led the UK’s national Pride march to relocate to the town in solidarity. Ryan Huggins, meanwhile, explores German sex cinemas through paintings and an installation recreating a private viewing cabin, while Marcus Jefferson transforms Harlesden High Street’s booth into a life-size office with a sound work inspired by Lover’s Rock.
Elsewhere, Jayeeta Chatterjee combines woodcut prints on recycled sari scrolls with Nakshi Kantha quilting to explore the working lives of Bengali women, and Steph Huang is bringing oversized olives skewered onto a giant metal toothpick. It is an art fair, after all.
Art after the internet
One of the most interesting additions is The Code Universe, a new curated section from Carol Yinghua Lu, Director of Beijing’s Inside-Out Art Museum and co-curator of the forthcoming 19th Istanbul Biennial.
Stretching from the late 1970s to today, it looks at how popular culture is made, circulated and consumed and at the continuing relationship between Pop, Conceptual art and a post-digital generation.
Selma Selman paints personal observations and reflections on global capitalism onto scrap metal; Payne Zhu’s Anal Intelligence becomes a partly networked computational apparatus processing everything from fish and seafood to British literary illustration and UK and European TikTok and Instagram content; while Carolyn Lazard turns to the structures and histories of medical care.
Artist-to-Artist also returns with seven artists nominated by established international figures. Among them are Jota Mombaça, nominated by Otobong Nkanga; Unathi Mkonto, selected by Yinka Shonibare; Caroline Monnet, nominated by Jeffrey Gibson; and Paul Robas, nominated by Louise Giovanelli.
Over at Frieze Masters…
The joy of Frieze Masters is its ability to produce combinations that shouldn’t really make sense anywhere else.
This year you can encounter a nearly two-metre-high Anthony van Dyck portrait, a monumental 19th-century model of Delhi’s Qutb Minar, Iznik ceramics, Gutai, Egyptian antiquities, Anish Kapoor, Kay WalkingStick and Abbas Kiarostami within the same tent.
Perhaps the best story, though, belongs to a 26th-Dynasty Egyptian bronze figure of Ptah being brought by Rupert Wace. Once owned by William Randolph Hearst and displayed at Hearst Castle, its stacked, mummiform silhouette is thought to have influenced MGM art director Cedric Gibbons when he sketched the original Oscar statuette in 1927.
Frieze Masters is also introducing Queering Modernism: Visual Languages of the 20th Century, curated by Anke Kempkes. Running as a thread through the fair rather than a standalone section, it traces queer experience and LGBTQIA+ representation from early Modernism through to the 1980s.
Claude Cahun will be placed in dialogue with Judy Chicago; Ab-Anbar presents Iranian artist Bahman Mohassess; while Victoria Miro and David Zwirner join forces for a solo presentation of Alice Neel, including works responding to the theme and subjects including Allen Ginsberg.
Meanwhile, Spotlight continues Frieze Masters’ work of bringing overlooked 20th-century artists back into view. Alison Jacques presents Pacita Abad ahead of her 2027 Reina Sofía retrospective, including the first-ever showing of her large-scale Angkor Wat (1998), while Saskia Fernando Gallery presents Dr H.A. Karunaratne, considered the father of abstract art in Sri Lanka.
Outside the stands, the programme includes Theo Triantafyllidis’ Feral Metaverse (Spider), winner of the Frieze London Artist Award; Gray Wielebinski’s Production; and Hwang Sueyon’s first UK presentation, We Are Old Weight, Still Tender.
Plenty, then, to start making a list for — before inevitably getting distracted by something completely different once inside the tent.
Frieze London & Frieze Masters 2026, 14th–18th October 2026, The Regent’s Park, London.
