''Freeze'' is the title of an

art exhibition An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhi ...

that took place in July 1988 in an empty London Port Authority building (the old fire station) at Surrey Docks in London Docklands.Setting the 'scene'.
''Exposure''. Retrieved from Internet Archive 27 April 2015. Its main organiser was

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...

. It was significant in the subsequent development of the

Young British Artists The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Goldsm ...

Organisation

''Freeze'' was orchestrated by

, who was then a student at Goldsmiths College of Art. He was assisted by Luigi Scalera, a young architecture graduate working for the London Docklands Development Corporation, who identified and made available the derelict building for the exhibition together with modest funding for painting the interior. Hirst and his collaborators intentionally imitated the look of Charles Saatchi's first gallery in St John's Wood that had opened a few years earlier. Saatchi, an art collector, attended ''Freeze'' and purchased a piece of art by

Mat Collishaw Matthew "Mat" Collishaw Hon. FRPS (born 6 January 1966) is an English artist based in London. Collishaw's work uses photography and video. His best known work is ''Bullet Hole'' (1988), which is a closeup photo of what appears to be a bull ...

Michael Craig-Martin Sir Michael Craig-Martin (born 28 August 1941) is an Irish-born contemporary conceptual artist and painter. He is known for fostering and adopting the Young British Artists, many of whom he taught, and for his conceptual artwork, '' An Oak Tre ...

, a tutor at Goldsmiths Art College, used his influence in the London art world to convince Norman Rosenthal and

Nicholas Serota Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota, (born 27 April 1946) is an English art historian and curator, who served as the Director of the Tate from 1988 to 2017. He is currently Chair of Arts Council England, a role which he has held since February 2017. ...

to visit the exhibition. A show of work by

Angus Fairhurst Angus Fairhurst (4 October 1966 – 29 March 2008) was an English artist working in installation, photography and video. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). Life and work Angus Fairhurst was born in Pembury, Kent. Having attended ...

in February 1988 was the precursor to ''Freeze''. Fairhurst, along with other students from Goldsmiths College of Art, were instrumental in organizing ''Freeze''. It was there that the work of the Young British Artists caught the attention of the collector Charles Saatchi. The catalogue for ''Freeze'' had surprisingly high production values for a student exhibition. It was designed by Tony Arefin and included an essay by art critic Ian Jeffrey. The catalogue was funded by the property developers Olympia and York. The title of the show came from the catalogue's description of Mat Collishaw's macro photograph ''Bullet Hole'' which showed a gunshot wound to a human head (taken from a pathology textbook). In 2007,

said in an interview with Brian Sherwin: :I had always tried to help my students in any way I could, particularly in those first years after art school. I knew from personal experience how difficult it was—I never had things come easy. I did the same with Damien and Freeze. I encouraged people to go and see the work. I would never have done this if I hadn't believed the show was of exceptional interest—why waste people's time? It amuses me that so many people think what happened was calculated and cleverly manipulated whereas in fact it was a combination of youthful bravado, innocence, fortunate timing, good luck, and, of course, good work. The exhibition was sponsored by the

London Docklands Development Corporation The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was a quango agency set up by the UK Government in 1981 to regenerate the depressed Docklands area of east London. During its seventeen-year existence it was responsible for regenerating an a ...

and

Olympia and York Olympia & York (also spelled as Olympia and York, abbreviated as O&Y) was a major international property development firm based in Toronto, Canada. The firm built major financial office complexes including Canary Wharf in London, the World Fina ...

Legacy

There was one contemporary review of the original exhibition written by Sacha Craddock, which appeared in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. The success inspired a second exhibition several months later, ''Freeze 2'', featuring some artists from the first exhibition and some new faces from other London art schools. The BBC filmed the exhibition and interviewed some contributors. ''Freeze'' influenced a group of artists later to be identified as the

(YBAs—often written yBas). The actual list of members in this art group remained fluid from project to project.

Exhibitors

Two younger artists turned down the chance to be in the exhibition. Dominic Denis was listed in catalogue but did not show work. The 16 students who did exhibit at ''Freeze'' were: *Steven Adamson *

Angela Bulloch Angela Bulloch (born 1966 in Rainy River, Ontario, Canada), is an artist who often works with sound and installation; she is recognised as one of the Young British Artists. Bulloch lives and works in Berlin. Life and career Bulloch studied at G ...

Ian Davenport Ian Davenport (born 8 July 1966) is an English abstract painter and former Turner Prize nominee. Life and work Ian Davenport was born in Sidcup, and studied art at the Northwich College of Art and Design in Cheshire and then at Goldsmith ...

Anya Gallaccio Anya Gallaccio (born 1963) is a British artist, who creates site-specific, minimalist installations and often works with organic matter (including chocolate, sugar, flowers and ice). Her use of organic materials results in natural processes ...

Gary Hume Gary Stewart Hume (born 9 May 1962) is an English artist. Hume's work is strongly identified with the YBA who came to prominence in the early 1990s. Hume lives and works in London and Accord, New York.

Michael Landy Michael Landy (born 1963) is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). He is best known for the performance piece installation '' Break Down'' (2001), in which he destroyed all his possessions, and for the ''Art Bin'' project (2010) at the ...

Abigail Lane Abigail Lane (born 1967) is an English artist who works in photography, wax casting, printing and sound. Lane was one of the exhibitors in the 1988 Damien Hirst-led Freeze exhibition—a mixed show of art which was significant in the development ...

Sarah Lucas Sarah Lucas (born 1962) is an English artist. She is part of the generation of Young British Artists who emerged during the 1990s. Her works frequently employ visual puns and bawdy humour by incorporating photography, collage and found objects. ...

Lala Meredith-Vula Lala Meredith-Vula (born 1966) is an English and Albanian Kosovian artist and photographer. In 1988 she was included in the Damien Hirst-led Freeze (art exhibition), Freeze exhibition. Lala is a professor at De Montfort University, Leicester. Lif ...

* Richard Patterson * Simon Patterson * Stephen Park *Fiona Rae

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeze (Exhibition Contemporary art exhibitions Young British Artists Damien Hirst Art exhibitions in London