Each year at Frieze London, Tate gets to buy works on view at the fair through a dedicated fund, and this time around, the museum purchased just two pieces: an abstraction by Michaela Yearwood-Dan and a sculptural work by Luis Fernando Zapata.
Prices were not supplied by Tate, but the Yearwood-Dan painting, titled Peace Unknown (2026), was likely the more expensive work of the two. Sold by the mega-gallery Hauser & Wirth at Frieze London, the painting features bursts of yellow, blue, and green, along with text at the bottom reading: “IF THEY NOT PLAYING BY THE RULES, WHY THE F K ARE WE?” Its surface includes glitter, beads, a ribbon, and paper.
Yearwood-Dan, one of the youngest artists represented by Hauser & Wirth, has had a quick market ascent, with her auction record standing at $880,000. The London-based artist will soon have a New York solo show with Boesky Gallery and is currently the subject of an exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, England.
Zapata, by contrast, is less established. The Colombian artist had a relatively short career—he died of AIDS-related causes at age 42 in 1994—and has not had much visibility outside his home country. Yet he has gradually entered museums in the US and Europe, with the Centre Pompidou, the Museo Reina Sofía, the Guggenheim, and others acquiring his art.
Tate bought the 1992 piece Barge from a booth by Galería Elvira Moreno and Alonso Garcés Galería at Frieze Masters, a sister fair that is generally devoted to historical art. Like other works by Zapata, this one is intended to mimic the look of ancient artifacts and is made from papier-mâché.
Neither Yearwood-Dan nor Zapata was previously represented in the Tate collection.
Karin Hindsbo, the interim director of Tate, said in a statement, “The works both represent varied and complex approaches to materiality, evident in the large-scale richly layered surfaces and experimental use of natural and found materials. I look forward to the public being able to enjoy these stunning works in Tate’s galleries and beyond.”
Elsewhere at Frieze, the Contemporary Art Society gave its inaugural artist prize to Okiki Akinfe, whose work was on view at Ginny on Frederick’s booth in the Focus section for emerging galleries. Akinfe won £30,000 (just under $40,000). Ella Fleck, whose work was shown in the Focus section by Ehrlich Steinberg, won the Camden Art Centre Emerging Artist Award; she will now have a show at the titular art museum.
The Contemporary Art Society also spent £100,000 ($132,500) at the fair, acquiring three works: one by Claudia Alarcón and Silät from Proyectos Ultravioleta’s booth; one by Karimah Ashadu, the winner of the Silver Lion at the 2024 Venice Biennale, at Sadie Coles HQ’s booth; and one by Gala Porras-Kim at Sprüth Magers’s booth. All of these works will enter the collection of the Whitworth.
Through its own dedicated Frieze fund, the Arts Council England spent £90,000 ($119,300) to buy works by Armando D. Cosmos, Oliver Osborne, Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, and Laurie Smith. These works were respectively sold by Phillida Reid, Union Pacific, Arcadia Missa, and Wschód.