The FLO London Wishlist: Frieze London & Frieze Masters 2026

After what has been a troubling few years for the art market (at home and abroad), Frieze London & Frieze Masters have brought a sense of unexpected joy and magic both in the art on the wall and in the sales that have followed. Amidst the nauseating sea of paintings, sculpture and general objets d'art, we compiled a compact shopping list filled with all the art we can't stop thinking about. Christmas presents anyone?

Frieze London

Production by Gray Wielebinski

'Production', 2026, Gray Wielebinski.

#FLODown: There are many things to consider when putting on an event as large as Frieze London: from the restaurants inside the tent to the actual space itself and how the many artworks sit within that. Less important considerations are the fair's minutiae details such as the colour of the hangers in the cloakroom and the scent in the toilets, right? Wrong. This year, art infiltrated every crack and corner at Frieze. Described as an 'olfactive site-specific intervention', artist Gray Wielebinski's Production (2026) takes the art out of the traditional white booth setting and into a much more intimate and private area of Frieze: the toilets. Peer down the urinal and toilet bowls, and you'll discover toilet rim blocks encased in custom-made cages courtesy of the artist. Designed to omit the aroma of an artist's studio, the blocks waft hints of unusual but familiar smells: pencil shavings, dust, paint and sweat are just some of the notes that fill the cubicles. It's awfully bizarre but also novel and creative; as often are the very best works at Frieze London.

Gray Wielebinski: graywielebinski.com, @gray_wielebinski

Jamila Isa at Maureen Paley

Rock and a Hard Place', Jamila Isa, 2026. Oil on wood panel 59.4. Image courtesy of artist.

#FLODown: If Jamila Isa's painting reminds you of a dream you've never had, you're on the right track. Creating worlds that straddle both familiarity and peculiarity, Isa's paintings visualise the tensions and anxiety often embedded within stress dreams; the kind that feel real despite their absurdity. By using expressive brushstrokes and playing with the canvas' negative space, Isa paints scenes that are permeated by religion, myth and memory, often focusing on tracing the stories wrapped up in womanhood and identity, particularly across the African diaspora. Rock and a Hard Place at Maureen Paley (Booth D17) is a fantastic example of this, mainly due to the uneasiness so effortlessly conveyed by Isa. Look closely and you'll be able to spot a woman in a pink wedding dress and lace veil. How sweet, right? Look harder, and you'll quickly realise this is no fairytale or love story; The looming crimson devil is there to remind us of that.

Jamila Isa:  @jemilaisa
Maureen Paley: maureenpaley.com

Morag Keil at Arcadia Missa

Morag Keil, 'House', 2026. Arcadia Missa.

#FLODown: Over at Arcadia Missa's booth (B23) you'll find a sculpture by Morag Keil that is hauntingly eerie in its pointed reflection of a world in crisis. It features an adult and a child holding hands through a series of coloured wires. But that's not the only thing astray; look up, and you'll see the adult has a dollhouse for a head, while the child's head has been replaced with a video camera, exploring how consumer culture, the media and technology forever imprint themselves onto us, whether we realise it or not. It's a grim reality, but one Keil refuses to shy away from, especially when you consider how screens dictate our everyday. You're even reading from one right now.

Arcadia Missa: arcadiamissa.com.

Issy Wood at Carlos/Ishikawa

Carlos Ishikawa, Issy Wood (b.1993). Self Portrait 91, 2026. Oil on Linen. 215x175x5cm

#FLODown: There's an awful lot of bad painting at Frieze this year, and so seeing this oil on linen self-portrait by the contemporary artist Issy Wood (whose solo exhibition of equally fantastic and disturbing self-portraits recently opened at the National Portrait Gallery earlier this week) came as an absolute relief. It's so brilliant you can almost feel the hydration from the face mask Wood wears in this self-portrait seep onto your own skin. The sheen, the gloss, the expression; it's all so anxiety-inducing you can't help but continue staring back, confronting Wood's own unflinching gaze. Carlos/Ishikawa gallery describes Wood's work as 'a stream of consciousness hiding something foreboding, a medieval current creeping into the millennial'; we simply couldn't sum it up better ourselves. Photorealism may not always be as interesting as the talent needed to pull off this genre of painting, but when it comes to Issy Wood, the sky really is the limit. Whatever your plans are in the tent, make sure you make a beeline for this first, where you'll find it at the Carlos/Ishikawa booth (A17).

Issy Wood: @isywod
Carlos/Ishikawa: carlosishikawa.com.

Sophie Calle at Perrotin

Sophie Calle, Exquisite Pain, 88 days ago (right). Installation view of Perrotin booth C8, Frieze London, 2026. © ADAGP Paris, 2026. Courtesy of all the artists and Perrotin © Eva Herzog.

#FLODown: Another standout piece this Frieze is Sophie Calle's series Exquisite Pain at Perrotin (BC8). The artist is having what the press call 'a moment' thanks to the opening of her Turner Contemporary show Something Missing? last week, and so it only feels right to spotlight her artwork at Frieze, which is not so much art as it is a record of 99 conversations the artist had following her own painful breakup. Each record documents another painful experience of a stranger, in turn, helping Calle process her own grief. The series relies on many photographs and sprawling texts to narrate these stories, all of which remain incredibly intimate as they are profoundly inspiring. Calle may be the attributed author, but really, Exquisite Pain is a collaborative piece, stitched together by heartbreak, grief, unimaginable loss, and, somewhere in between, a copious amount of strength; all testaments to the human experience.
Perrotin: perrotin.com.

FRIEZE MASTERS

Louise Bourgeois and Jan Brueghel the Elder at Hauser & Wirth

Jan Brueghel The Elder, Still Life of Flowers in a Stoneware Vase, 1607-1608. Courtesy of Hauser & Wirth.

#FLODown: Jan Brueghel the Elder gets a mention mainly because who wouldn't want to see a still life painting that's been reportedly sold for $6.6 million on the opening day of Frieze Masters? Louise Bourgeois gets a shoutout because, well, it's Louise Bourgeois. Need we say more?

Louise Bourgeois, UNTITLED, 2002. Image © Sotheby's.

Representing the French artist at the Frieze Masters Hauser & Wirth booth is a sculpture, Untitled, 2002, exemplifying the renowned artist's innovative use of materials as well as her lifelong dedication to making psychologically charged works that reflect themes of abandonment. But why do we like it? The sculpture's perplexed, almost saddened expression mirrors our own after spending hours aimlessly wandering around a corporate white tent in the middle of London. Enough said.

Hauser & Wirth:  hauserwirth.com.

John Davies at Annely Juda Fine Art

John Davies, 'Three Figures', 1971.

#FLODown: Considering that the end of October ends in Halloween, John Davies' Three Figures (1971), seems to fit the mood of this Frieze London. That is to say, we are feeling both haunted and exhausted, an emotion mirrored in Davies' work. Presented at Annely Juda Fine Art, Three Figures shows three sculptures involving three men assuming three different poses; one is standing on a chair, the other on the ground, and another is kneeling. What's interesting is that the figures can be placed in an infinite number of positions to suggest a myriad of meanings, and yet, no matter the placement, feelings of repression and brutality arise. There's an uneasy quality to the work that cuts right through you, reminding you of the power dynamics that are at play all around. Yes, especially at Frieze.
Annely Juda Fine Art: annelyjudafineart.co.uk.

Pacita Abad at Alison Jacques

Pacita Abad, Angkor Wat, 1998. Oil, rhinestones, beads, mirrors, batik cloth, buttons, sequins stitched on canvas. 260 x 310 cm, 102 38 x 122 in. © Pacita Abad Art Estate Courtesy of Pacita Abad Art Estate and Alison Jacques.

#FLODown: You could spend hours marvelling at a Pacita Abad painting and no time would have been wasted, nor would it have felt like time passed at all. The longer you look, the more it becomes clear that Abad's work at Alison Jacques' Frieze Masters booth (specifically Angkor Wat, 1998) is a feast for the eyes thanks to its exuberant layering of oil, batik, beads, mirrors and sequins that dreamily converse. Amongst other things, the artist's layered works reveal an attentiveness to the people, places, communities and histories that shape geographic identity and so, the least we owe the artist is our attention. Once you give it, you'll gain a newfound appreciation for not only the artist's provocative use of materials, but also an imagination that refuses to be tamed by convention.

Pacita Abad:@pacitaabad; Alison Jacques, alisonjacques.com.

Claude Cahun at Alberta Pane

Claude Cahun, 'Théâtre de recherches dramatiques, Mai-Juin 1929. Claude Cahun (autoportrait) et Solange Roussot dans Le Mystère d' Adam', 1929.

#FLODown: It's always interesting when viewing works by revolutionaries and anarchists alike while confined to a security-controlled Frieze Masters tent surrounded by money and Birkins. That said, the juxtaposition makes Claude Cahun's work at Alberta Pane Gallery's Masters booth all the more compelling. Included as part of the fair's Queering Modernism section, curated by Anke Kempkes, Cahun's work has been placed in dialogue with other 20th-century great Judy Chicago. Showing off the very best of Cahun's artistic oeuvre, much of the work on show brings equal attention to the lesser-known artist and Cahun's life partner, Marcel Moore, who shared in Cahun's desire to play with identity in what was ultimately a bold and fearless manner for 1920s France.

Alberta Pane: albertapane.com.

Bahman Mohasses at Ab-Anbar Gallery

Bahman Mohassess, 𝘍𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘰 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦, 1973. Bronze sculpture. Courtesy of Bahman Mohassess Estate and Ab-Anbar Gallery.

#FLODown: Our final pick also comes from the Queering Modernism section at Frieze Masters and brings nothing but pure joy thanks to Ab-Anbar Gallery's presentation of Iranian avant-garde artist Bahman Mohasses. Among a collection of collages and paintings by the artist is a bronze sculpture titled Fauno Musicante(1973), featuring a centaur-like figure playing the flute, which feeds into the artist's own use of anthropomorphic forms to reject the heroic idealisation of conventional masculinity. Its majestic presence is imposing but also rather calming, making this a must-see at Frieze Masters, egged on by the fact that this work has only been exhibited once before, in 1980. What's more, a second version of the sculpture also existed, seen by many when it was installed in front of the City Theatre of Tehran, before being removed following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Ab-Anbar: ab-anbar.com.

By Christina Donoghue