Art Beyond the Fairs

LONDON—If you're anything like us, there will come a moment (more likely, several) during Frieze week when you're sick of booths and tents but still have a stomach for art. In anticipation, ARTINFO recommends some noteworthy London art-world events beyond the fairs.

Banksy on the Block: Is the street-prankster outsider now a big-ticket insider? It sure seems so, if the estimates his works are expected to fetch at several London auctions this month are to be trusted. Bidding is likely to climb highest at Sotheby’s, where an irreverent revision of Thomas Beach’s The Rude Lord (1776) [shown at left], is said to be worth £200,000 ($400,000). But surely the livelier action will be at the Shadow Lounge, a gay bar where the spray painted “Rat with Roller'' is on offer.

No-Fare Fair: It’s not a fair, or is it? Visit the Free Art Fair and decide for yourself. The work goes on view today and on Sunday it can be yours—if you’re first in the queue. We just hope the lines aren’t too long; you know what they say about time and money…

Galleries, Galleries, Galleries, Galleries, and Museums: With apologies to those we’re forgetting, here are shows in permanent venues we’re especially looking forward to:

"Chuck Close: Family and Others" at White Cube Mason's Yard, October 10–November 17

Rodney Graham at Lisson Gallery, October 10–November 17 [check back tomorrow for “What’s in Your Studio, Rodney Graham?”]

"Zhang Huan: Ash" at Haunch of Venison, October 10–November 10

Turner Prize Retrospective at Tate Britain, through January 6, 2008

Yayoi Kusama at Victoria Miro, October 10–November 17  

Want more? The list we compiled is very long...

Decadence Decay Demimonde: Something about this show reminds us about a line we once read: “Have you ever noticed how all the good words start with D?” We cannot vouch for the art here, but if the charmingly alliterative title doesn’t intrigue you, perhaps the setting will: Home House, once an 18th-century pleasure dome built by the Countess of Home, now a swanky private club.

Paddle Prognostication: If you haven’t exhausted your capacity to spend money or gawk at big collectors, why not head to the auction houses? The usual big-name contemporaries will be available at important evening sales at Christie’s (October 14) and Sotheby’s (October 12), but the most interesting action might be at Phillips de Pury & Company on October 13. The world’s undisputed third most-important auction house for contemporary art has four sales that day, including the John L. Stewart Collection of Russian Contemporary Art at 6 pm, and the Farber Collection of Chinese avant-garde art at 7. If only we could make sense of that faint zzzing sound we hear: Is it buzz buzz buzz or fizzle fizzle fizzle?...