Marina Perez Simão’s Chromatic Reverie at Frieze London
Pace Gallery presents a mesmerising new body of work by the artist at this year's edition of Frieze London, where restrained palettes reveal unexpected chromatic richness.
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The 2026 edition of Frieze London welcomes a particularly compelling presentation from Pace Gallery, one that invites contemplation of colour’s profound emotional resonance. Within the carefully curated booth, Marina Perez Simão unveils a series of new paintings that demonstrate a deliberate evolution in her artistic practice, embracing a more concentrated chromatic vocabulary whilst maintaining the profound depth that characterises her oeuvre.
What emerges from this refined approach is something far more intricate than a simple restraint of palette. As the artist articulates, these works operate beyond the conventions of monochromatic composition. Rather, they unfold as intricate investigations into relationships between adjoining hues, families of blues that shift between cerulean and slate, grays that hover between warmth and cool reserve, and pinks that range from dusty rose to the most delicate blush. Each canvas thus functions as a complete chromatic ecosystem, revealing the artist’s sophisticated understanding of how colours converse with one another across seemingly limited ranges.
The paintings encourage a mode of viewing that rewards sustained attention. In stepping closer to the canvas, the viewer discovers layers of nuance that initial impressions may not have suggested, a journey from surface simplicity to chromatic complexity that speaks to Perez Simão’s meticulous working method. This is colour deployed not merely as aesthetic choice but as conceptual framework, a means through which to explore perception itself and the manner in which our eyes absorb and interpret the subtlest variations in tone and shade.
The presentation at Frieze London sits within the gallery’s ongoing commitment to championing artists whose work expands the boundaries of contemporary painting. Pace Gallery’s booth D23 serves as an intimate space in which to experience these new works, their scale and presentation calculated to enhance their contemplative power and chromatic sophistication.
For those attending this year’s Frieze London, which runs from October 14 to 18 at The Regent’s Park, the opportunity to encounter this body of work represents a singular moment to engage with painting practice that transforms restraint into eloquence, and limited palettes into infinite possibility.
Imagery courtesy of Pace Gallery (@pacegallery).
