London-based artist Sophia Al-Maria has been introduced as the recipient of the 2025 Frieze London Artist Award. The award – in partnership with Forma – gives an early- or mid-career artist the chance to grasp an formidable new fee at Frieze London.
Al-Maria’s new fee, Wall Primarily based Work (a Trompe LOL), will take the type of a ‘drop-down’ comedy present, performed each day on the honest by the artist contained in the Frieze London tent. Responding to this yr’s Frieze Artist Award theme – shared throughout London and Seoul – of ‘future commons’, the work makes use of the language and rituals of comedy to speak about issues that aren’t essentially humorous.
‘It’s the final sincere artwork type,’ says Al-Maria. ‘Stand-up requires presence.’ As AI looms over the notion of particular person creativity, the panic-inducing bareness of the comedy-club stage is a final bastion of authenticity. Al-Maria could also be acting on her personal, however the expertise is a collective one, tapping into shared fears of publicity, vulnerability and artistic openness.
About Sophia Al-Maria
Sophia Al-Maria lives and labours in London. Her work spans disciplines together with drawing, collage, sculpture and movie, united by a preoccupation with the ability of storytelling and delusion and imagining revisionist histories and different futures. She has had her work proven at Gwangju Biennale, the New Museum and Whitney Museum in New York, the Venice Biennale, and Tate Britain.
Additional Data
Frieze London and Frieze Masters, The Regent’s Park, 15 – 19 October 2025.
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Fundamental picture: Sophia Al-Maria, TIGER STRIKE RED, 2022, set up view. Courtesy: the artist, Undertaking Native Informant, London, and Henry Artwork Gallery, College of Washington, Seattle; {photograph}: Jueqian Fang
