The Best Booths at Frieze London Denzil Forrester at Thaddaeus Ropac

By Emi Eleode

Two large-scale oil paintings by Denzil Forrester radiate liveliness and movement that immediately catch the eye. They present the nightclub as a space for joy, music, and spiritual fulfillment, while also reflecting underlying political friction and nostalgia. In Professor Version (2025), Forrester captures the dancehall’s vibrant energy, depicting four figures in motion across the floor, with two DJs commanding the decks in the background. By contrast, Yard (2025) illustrates a scene where uniformed police with pointed helmets disrupt a yard party, circling the DJ who spins the deck at the center of the room. Both works display jewel-shaped geometry, with strobe lights fracturing the details into diamond-like shapes that create a dreamlike ambiguity. Influenced by his current home in Cornwall and memories of Grenada and Rome, Forrester uses a color palette of purples, warm ambers, and icy blues. By remixing figures from his own archive, much like a reggae dub DJ remixes tracks, Forrester conveys gesture, action, and the lasting tension of city life.