Le Méridien at Frieze 2012

I just got back to my flat from a bit of an artsy fartsy staycation here in London. Spending the past few nights at Le Méridien Piccadilly as a participant in the hotel’s blogger outreach initiative, I was wined, dined and zipped across the London art world in grand style. At the best of times I was having a blast while mingling with inspired and inspiring folks from all walks of life talking about art, travel and all the sorts of things that make living in London so much fun. During other moments, I felt as if I’d been wedged into a scene from Zoolander. Either way, it was a winning situation for a fly on the wall dude like me.

I intend to write a whole lot more about my “Le Méridien at Frieze” experience but wanted to get one quick post up on the blog while everything was still fresh on my mind and while I was still able to offer my opinions of Frieze as a relevant preview.

Though I hardly had time to take in everything (and I still haven’t managed to check out the new Frieze Masters yet), I came away thinking this year’s fair had a lot more going for it than 2011. Stuff I liked a lot includes the following:

Jean Dubuffet, Waddington Custot Galleries (G12), London, waddingtoncustot.com

Martin Eder, Galerie Eigen + Art, Leipzig/Berlin (G4), eigen-art.com

Jayson Musson, Salon 94 (B14), New York, salon94.com

Xavier Antin, Galerie Crèvecœur (R13), Paris, galeriecrevecoeur.com

Aurel Schmidt, Pace (G8), London/New York/Beijing, pacegallery.com

And that’s just a few select highlights from Frieze. I also checked out the Thomas Schütte: Faces & Figures exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery as well as the Pre-Raphaelites show and the Turner Prize nominees exhibition at Tate Britain and the newly opened William Klein + Daido Moriyama exhibition at Tate modern. I enjoyed a gin infused afternoon tea, slept like a champ in an extremely comfortable bed, loved my stay at Le Méridien … and plenty more. Hang in there with me for the next week or so as my goal is to brag about getting to have all this fun and to let you know how you can too.

About Le Méridien’s connection to Frieze

Le Méridien is celebrating five years as the principle partner of Outset Contemporary Art Fund. As part of this partnership, the hotel group supports OFT (the Outset/Frieze Art Fair Fund to Benefit the Tate Collection) – a unique partnership between Frieze Art Fair and Tate, which enables Tate to buy work by emerging artists at Frieze. More:
outsetfriezetate.org

More about Le Meridien and its commitment to art:
starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien/lm100/unlock_art/index.html