Frieze New York campaign reveals artefacts from studios of Haring, Pollock, Albers, Rauschenberg and Judd

Amy Preston, head of design at Frieze Art Fair, and London-based designer Joe Cole Porter have created the campaign for this year’s Frieze New York, open to the public today. Gathering and presenting, in pleasing order, artefacts found in the studios of renowned artists, the photographic series shot by Nicholas Calcott shows no art, but holds a mirror up to the spaces in which many well-known artworks were created.

“We wanted to celebrate some of the most influential artists who lived and worked in New York during the 20th Century,” says Joe. “Robert Rauschenberg, Donald Judd and Keith Haring for example, all had studios in the middle of Soho – spaces which are now preserved and home to their foundations.”

The two designers worked with eight foundations for the artists of the above-mentioned, alongside those of Josef and Anni Albers, Helen Frankenthaler, Isamu Noguchi, Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, and Alexander Calder. With access to the artists’ tools, art materials, souvenirs, personal belongings and general studio ephemera, the designers wanted to “create a portrait of the artist through these emblematic objects”.

“We worked closely with the archivists to choose objects to best represent different aspects of the artists’ characters. For example, we have an offshoot of Lee Krasner’s spider plant that she used to give out as a present to guests, Keith Haring’s paint-splattered Nike sneakers and a yellow sign initialed with ‘RR’ that Robert Rauschenberg found on the street.”

“We had seen a shoot Nicholas did inside the home and studio of Louise Bourgeois so knew that he would be sensitive to the precious nature of these objects. [He] has a bold, graphic style that gives these archival objects a contemporary aesthetic.”

Frieze New York is open until 7 May.