{{Short description|Art exhibition}} thumb|Freeze Exhibition Catalogue {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} '''''Freeze''''' is the title of an art exhibition that took place in July 1988 in an empty London Port Authority building (the old fire station) at Surrey Docks in London Docklands.<ref name="members.lycos.co.uk">[https://web.archive.org/web/20090410130915/http://members.lycos.co.uk/exposuremagazine/yba.html Setting the 'scene'.] ''Exposure''. Retrieved from Internet Archive 27 April 2015.</ref> Its main organiser was Damien Hirst. It was significant in the subsequent development of the Young British Artists.
==Organisation== [[Image:Hirst-2007.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Damien Hirst was the organizer of Freeze.]] ''Freeze'' was orchestrated by Damien Hirst, 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.<ref name="members.lycos.co.uk"/><ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art-and-architecture/news/artist-behind-1990s-boom-commits-suicide-803101.html | work=The Independent | location=London | title=Artist behind 1990s boom 'commits suicide' | first1=Arifa | last1=Akbar | first2=Marianne | last2=Powell | date=1 April 2008 | access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> 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.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} Saatchi, an art collector, attended ''Freeze'' and purchased a piece of art by Mat Collishaw. Michael Craig-Martin, a tutor at Goldsmiths Art College,<ref name="members.lycos.co.uk"/> used his influence in the London art world to convince Norman Rosenthal and Nicholas Serota to visit the exhibition.
A show of work by Angus Fairhurst in February 1988 was the precursor to ''Freeze''.<ref>Akbar, Arifa; Powell, Marianne. [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art-and-architecture/news/artist-behind-1990s-boom-commits-suicide-803101.html "Artist behind 1990s boom 'commits suicide'"], ''The Independent'', 1 April 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2008.</ref> Fairhurst, along with other students from Goldsmiths College of Art, were instrumental in organizing ''Freeze''.<ref name="members.lycos.co.uk"/> It was there that the work of the Young British Artists caught the attention of the collector Charles Saatchi.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>
The catalogue for ''Freeze'' had surprisingly high production values for a student exhibition.{{Citation needed|date=July 2009}} 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, Michael Craig-Martin 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.<ref>Sherwin, Brian. [http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2007/08/art-space-talk-michael-craig-martin.html "Art Space Talk: Michael Craig-Martin"], Myartspace, 16 August 2007. Retrieved on 12 July 2009.</ref><!-- NOTE TO EDITORS: MYARTSPACE IS A SITE WITH EDITORIAL CONTROL, NOT A PERSONAL BLOG.-->
The exhibition was sponsored by the London Docklands Development Corporation and Olympia and York.
==Legacy== There was one contemporary review of the original exhibition written by Sacha Craddock, which appeared in ''The Guardian''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Craddock|first=Sacha|title='Freeze': Defrosted|newspaper=Time Out|date=24 July 2008}}</ref>
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 Young British Artists (YBAs—often written yBas). The actual list of members in this art group remained fluid from project to project.<ref name="members.lycos.co.uk"/>
==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 *Mat Collishaw *Ian Davenport *Angus Fairhurst *Anya Gallaccio *Damien Hirst *Gary Hume *Michael Landy *Abigail Lane *Sarah Lucas *Lala Meredith-Vula *Richard Patterson *Simon Patterson *Stephen Park *Fiona Rae
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Young British Artists|state=collapsed}} {{Damien Hirst}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeze (Exhibition}} Category:Contemporary art exhibitions Category:Young British Artists Category:Damien Hirst Category:Art exhibitions in London Category:1988 in London Category:1988 in art Category:1980s art exhibitions