Sarah Ball
Frieze London 2025
For Frieze London 2025, Stephen Friedman Gallery exhibited a solo presentation of new portraits by British artist Sarah Ball. Bringing together large and small-scale paintings alongside a series of 20 works on paper, the presentation continued Ball’s sensitive exploration of the human condition and how it is outwardly conveyed through physiognomy, hairstyles, clothes, jewellery, and make-up. This coincided with Ball’s major institutional exhibition at Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, which opened in August 2025.
Queer Love
Stephen Friedman Gallery, New York
7 April - 21 May 2025
Queer Love brought together a selection of significant and recently discovered erotic drawings by British artist and key Bloomsbury group member Duncan Grant (1885–1978) in dialogue with new works by contemporary queer artists including: Soufiane Ababri, Leilah Babirye, Anthony Cudahy, Kyle Dunn, Alex Foxton, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, Wardell Milan, Sola Olulode, Tom Worsfold, and Jimmy Wright. The exhibition was organised in collaboration with Charleston, the UK charity that cares for the modernist house, garden, and studio of Grant and fellow Bloomsbury artist Vanessa Bell (1879–1961).
Reverb
Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
22 November - 18 December 2024
Reverb comprised new works by eight leading artists from the Caribbean diaspora: Julien Creuzet, Denzil Forrester, Hulda Guzmán, Suchitra Mattai, Zinzi Minott, Kathia St. Hilaire, Charmaine Watkiss, and Alberta Whittle. Comprising paintings, sculptures, mixed media, and sound-based works, 'Reverb' foregrounded the significance of contemporary art from the Caribbean region.
Drawing on the legacy of Life Between Islands at Tate Britain (2021) and Forecast Form at MCA Chicago (2022), the exhibition took inspiration from Michael Veal’s (Professor of Ethnomusicology at Yale University) description of dub music and its use of reverb as a “sonic metaphor for the condition of diaspora”. Reverb is an effect that occurs when sonic waves bounce off surfaces and create a series of echoes that gradually fade away, making the listener feel like they are physically enveloped by sound. Julian Henriques (Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London) compares the visceral vibrations of Caribbean music to the far-reaching impact of its people and cultures, writing that “the dancehall session serves as a model for diasporic propagation”. Like ripples across the ocean, these reverberations communicate stories of identity, nature, and colonialism.
Caroline Walker & Clare Woods
Frieze London 2024
For Frieze London 2025, Stephen Friedman Gallery brought together new paintings by British artists Caroline Walker and Clare Woods. The presentation explored how these two women artists take on the role of observer in their work.
Walker is known for her paintings that examine the diverse social, cultural and economic experiences of women living in contemporary society. In this new series, the artist explored the overlooked jobs performed by women, focusing on workers in her daughter Daphne’s nursery in 2022 when the artist still lived in London. Whilst these scenes are rooted in personal experience, the paintings are also universally relatable.
Clare Woods shares Walker’s interest in documenting everyday subjects, with both using their own photography to inform their work. Woods’ recent paintings have been preoccupied with destabilising traditional art historical genres such as portraiture, landscape and – as seen in this body of work – still life.
Images:
[1] Installation view: Sarah Ball, solo presentation with Stephen Friedman Gallery at Frieze London (2025). Photo: Rory Black.
[2] Installation view: Queer Love at Stephen Friedman Gallery, New York (2025). Photo: Olympia Shannon.
[3] Installation view: Reverb at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London (2024). Photo: Mark Blower.
[4] Installation view: Caroline Walker & Clare Woods, dual presentation at Frieze London (2024). Photo: Mark Blower.