Framing Highlights of 2019
As the year draws to an end, we wanted to say thank you to all of our wonderful customers, and take a look at some of our favourite framing moments. From Almine Rech to the V&A, we’ve been fortunate to frame for some of London's best museums and galleries. That’s not to mention all of the weird and beautiful framing projects we’ve worked on for our private clients — from a taxidermied bird arrangement, to locks of children's hair, family portraits, antique rugs to Picasso plates and Pettibon prints and an entire apartment's framing for a bollywood star. We have enjoyed it all and hope to see you in 2020!
Images ©Tim Walker Studio | Exhibition image © V&A
Tim Walker: Wonderful Things at the V&A
The unrivalled highlight of 2019 was creating the range of frames for Tim Walker: Wonderful Things at the V&A. We produce frames regularly for museums and galleries, however framers are rarely given a creative brief for a museum exhibition and certainly not on this scale. It was a huge treat to be able to put our creative design and production skills to the test on this project. From fluorescent yellow to high gloss jade and pink metal frames, to curved wooden profiles with pearlescent finishes; we complemented each themed section of Walkers extensive and vibrant body of work. We made 200+ frames for this exhibition which both draws inspiration and includes objects from the V&A’s own collection. Watch the video of the exhibition here.
Images © Lisa Brice | Exhibition image © Stephen Friedman Gallery
Lisa Brice at Stephen Friedman Gallery
At FRAME, we’re committed to working directly and collaboratively with artists in order to understand what they want to achieve. This September, we had the pleasure of working closely with Lisa Brice to design the frames for her phenomenal solo exhibition at Stephen Friedman Gallery, even fitting works in her studio. The frames we made were mostly for her powerful female nudes, each challenging notions of the male gaze. We chose to custom mill thin sapele tray frames with a walnut stain for these and used simple natural maple for smaller cobalt works. The highlight of this project was working with Lisa to create two hinged wooden folding screens, the kind an artist's model might undress behind, which were displayed in the middle of the gallery space, dividing and disrupting it. The screens were made with five integral frames and linen backings to house Lisa's painted panels, each depicting part of a scene. Listen to Katy Hessel’s Great Women Artists Podcast about Lisa Brice with Tate Britain curator, Aïcha Mehrez here.
Image © Kara Walker | Light box image © Sprueth Magers Gallery
Kara Walker at Sprueth Magers
This summer, we were delighted to meet Hilton Als — the curator of Kara Walker’s exhibition at Sprueth Magers, which is running concurrently to her monumental Hyundai Commission for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. A central part of the exhibition includes her cut paper silhouettes and shadow puppets used in the production of Walker’s films, and we discussed the challenge of mounting and framing them. Puppets are notoriously tricky to mount due to their moving parts and we did not want the work to lose any agency or integrity in the framing process. With annotated drawings from Walker, we positioned and then mounted the puppets on fabric inserts which were mounted onto light boxes to give a similar effect to that seen in the films they appear in. The mounted puppets were then housed in UV acrylic boxes to protect them. Read more about our process of framing Kara Walker’s puppets here.
Left image © Aaron Angell & FRAME London | Right image © Marc Camille Chaimowicz & Nottingham Contemporary
The Launch of FRAME Editions
This September saw the launch of FRAME Editions - a new project celebrating the relationship between artist and craftsperson with an experimental series of limited edition artworks. Our first collaboration was a small edition of 7 works, created with Aaron Angell, entitled Cabbage Solar. Each work is painted on glass and housed in a frame inspired by the techniques used to make Tudor doll's houses. Find out more about the project here.
This November, we were delighted to announce our latest FRAME Editions collaboration - a special new artists’ edition by Marc Camille Chaimowicz co-produced with Nottingham Contemporary, created to celebrate their tenth anniversary.
Image © George Condo and Tate Editions
Image © Helen Cammock and Whitechapel Gallery Editions
Framing Editions for our Partners: Whitechapel Gallery, Tate & ICA
As always we’ve loved framing limited editions for our gallery partners. For our friends at the Whitechapel Gallery, we framed new editions by Turner Prize-winning Helen Cammock alongside Rana Begum, Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, Gert and Uwe Tobias and Pello Irazu. Take a look at their full collection here.
We created a beautiful maple frame for Tate Editions for the renowned American artist (and FRAME favourite) George Condo. His limited edition etching, The Insane Clown is a twisted tribute to art historical traditions, a work we felt very fortunate to have in the studio. For the ICA, we framed a magnificent limited edition print by Jordon Wolfson depicting an image of JFK Jr. This edition, among many other special productions made by some of the most interesting artists working today, are available to buy on the ICA website.
Image © Jasmine Thomas-Girvan
Image © Jasmine Thomas-Girvan
Jasmine Thomas-Girvan & Chris Ofili at David Zwirner
Affinities at David Zwirner Gallery, was a two-person exhibition which ran at the tail end of the summer, featuring work by Trinidad-based artists Jasmine Thomas-Girvan and Chris Ofili, showcasing the rich artistic conversations that have been happening between them for the nearly two decades they’ve known each other. We were delighted to frame Jasmine Thomas'-Girvan’s work for the exhibition, and as Ofili notes: “Jasmine’s work tells beautiful and mysterious tales that are a combination of fragility and dread with a knowing nod towards alchemy and witchcraft of the past, present, and future.” Read more about Jasmine Thomas-Girvan here.
Images © Buck Ellison | Exhibition image © The Sunday Painter
Buck Ellison at The Sunday Painter
This year, we’ve had the pleasure of working with the excellent The Sunday Painter gallery. In April we framed Buck Ellison’s exhibition Tender Option — a reimagining of American politician Betsy DeVos’ early life in 1970s America. The work ‘examines how ideas of normality and the American Dream have become inextricably enmeshed with WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) aesthetics.’ (Another Mag). Read more about the exhibition on The Sunday Painter website.
Image © Jannis Kounellis | Exhibition image © Almine Rech Gallery
Jannis Kounellis at Almine Rech
The exhibition comprised of works that Kounellis made between 1960 and 2014. A major figure in contemporary art for over fifty years, and a forefather of the Arte Povera movement, it was a pleasure to frame these impressive works in a simple, natural ash wood, raising the art to float off the conservation backing. Read more about the exhibition on the Almine Rech website.
Images © Linder | Exhibition image © Modern Art
Linder Sterling at Modern Art, London
We were honoured to frame the work of the brilliant Linder, for her first solo exhibition in London since 2011, Ever Standing Apart from Everything. The exhibition included previously unseen and new photomontage works — we framed a multitude of collages in her signature metal frame and window mounts. Read more about the exhibition here.
Images © Susan Hiller | Exhibition image © Somerset House
Image © Honey-Suckle Company
Framing for London’s Major Museums
From Tate Britain to the V&A, we feel very fortunate to frame for some of London’s most celebrated museums.
Highlights include our work for the Royal Academy’s John Flaxman display, which was designed to the last detail - the frames made to the exhibition designer’s request, in a thin black stained sapele wood, which has a warm hue and matched the display cabinets in the exhibition space. These black frames with black float mounts highlighted Flaxman’s intricate illustrations to Homer's Iliad and Odessey. Read more about these fascinating illustrations here.
We were delighted to work with Somerset House on their groundbreaking 24/7 exhibition, creating solid black frames for Adam Chodzko’s Sleepers Hole series and simple oak frames for Susan Hiller's Dream Mapping series. The exhibition runs until 23rd Feb 2020. Find out more here.
For the ICA’s first UK exhibition dedicated to the American writer and performer Kathy Acker, we created a range of crisp white box frames to display the artist’s photographs. And for the current Honey-Suckle Company: Omnibus exhibition, we had the pleasure of making four extra deep 20cm sapele box frames displaying 3D archival material from their 25 year history.
In May, the British Museum unveiled the world’s largest manga exhibition outside Japan, for which we framed a a number of iconic anime artworks.
It was a huge honour to frame a series of archival posters and flyers for Nam June Paik’s major retrospective at Tate Modern - a mesmerising riot of colours and sounds, bringing together over 200 works from throughout his five-decade career. A brilliant show, open until 9th February.
Lastly, we were honoured to design and make bespoke white frames for Gustave Dore’s lithographic works in an exhibition dedicated to Vincent Van Gogh and his relationship with Britain at Tate Britain - how it inspired him and how in turn he inspired British artists. Take a look at these unique, custom white frames over on our Instagram feed.