This article from Cultured serves as a guide to notable gallery exhibitions in London during the Frieze art fair season. It highlights shows by artists such as Dana Schutz at Thomas Dane, Eva Helene Pade at Thaddaeus Ropac, Ghislaine Leung at Cabinet Gallery, Arthur Jafa at Sadie Coles, and a group exhibition curated by Hilton Als at Michael Werner, each with descriptions of the works and themes explored.
Tony Cokes' solo exhibition "SM BNGR2" at FELIX GAUDLITZ in Vienna centers on club culture as a space for celebrating life through love, desire, queerness, music, art, aesthetics, and moving bodies. The show de-marginalizes club culture by examining its significance for subcultures, activist movements, and political resistance through the lens of writers and academics.
The Getty Center in Los Angeles has opened a new exhibition, "Queer Lens: A History of Photography," coinciding with Pride Month amid rising political hostility toward LGBTQ+ communities. Curated by Paul Martineau over six years, the show features 300 photographs from the 19th century to the present, including works by Claude Cahun, Imogen Cunningham, and Peter Hujar, alongside anonymous and amateur images. A companion exhibition at the Getty Research Institute, "$3 Bill: Evidence of Queer Lives," displays printed ephemera from the Merrill C. Berman Collection, highlighting queer resistance and community-building.
At Frieze London 2025, the Artist-to-Artist section features emerging artists selected by established names, including René Treviño chosen by Amy Sherald and Ilana Harris-Babou nominated by Camille Henrot. Treviño's solo presentation centers on the sculpture 'Regalia, Moscas Brillantes (Rojo)' (2025), which addresses queer resistance and colonial histories through a fusion of Aztec and European aesthetics. Other presentations include Katherine Hubbard's photographs about her mother's dementia (nominated by Nicole Eisenman), T. Venkanna's delicate works on gender and patriarchy (picked by Bharti Kher), Ana Segovia's subversive cowboy paintings (selected by Abraham Cruzvillegas), and Neal Tait's paintings (chosen by Chris Ofili).
Naomi Rincón Gallardo presents her first solo exhibition in London, 'Sonnet of Vermin,' at the Hayward Gallery. The show features her 2022 film following a group of animals from Mesoamerican myths—Bat, Snake, Scorpion, and a choir of frogs—as they navigate dystopian landscapes in Oaxaca, communicating via radio signals and calling for solidarity amid social and ecological devastation. Rincón Gallardo works across video, performance, drawing, and sculpture, weaving cuir/queer resistance, pre-colonial folklore, DIY aesthetics, music, and dance into surreal narratives that critique colonialism and exploitation.