For Frieze Masters 2026, Ortuzar is pleased to present a focused selection of paintings and sculptures by notable artists of the twentieth century associated with the gallery’s program. Showcasing major works by Robert Ryman, Claire Falkenstein, Joan Synder, Yoko Ono, Lynda Benglis, Takako Yamaguchi, Suzanne Jackson, Richard Mayhew, Peter Hujar, and Sylvia Sleigh, among others, the presentation captures the array of artistic styles and experimental techniques used by artists challenging convention through innovation, and who explored ideas of identity, beauty, and perspective. 

Anchoring the presentation is Robert Ryman’s Untitled (1959), a block of white paint surrounding a warm abstract mark hugs the left side of the composition, while a field of gestural white markings floats to the right, exposing the canvas substrate. The composition also features Ryman's indexical signature: “RRYMAN5,” spelled with two ‘R’s to the right of the canvas. Inspired by Modern artists, such as Matisse and Cézanne, Ryman sought to make paintings that belie a complicated composition with dynamic structure. An escape from palette altogether, the work stands as a rich example of Ryman’s career-long interrogation of white. 

Concurrent with the gallery’s debut solo exhibition of Claire Falkenstein, “Claire Falkenstein: San Francisco, Paris, Rome,” on view through October 31, 2026, are two Falkenstein works that highlight her open structures of copper, brass, and wire. This presentation showcases the artist’s longstanding investigations into theories of space-time, energy, and the behavior of material. Whether drawn from her Point as a Set series or her Suns, these interlaced works reimagine form as a dynamic network of forces, foregrounding permeability, movement, and the invisible patterns that structure the physical world. Also on view is Joan Synder’s Red Field (1993) and Brown Gold (1970). Known for her autobiographical—and occasionally confessional—approach, Snyder layers gesture, color, and material to weave together autobiographical and communal stories

Yoko Ono’s Cleaning Piece (1966/1988) is a bronze rendition of the 1966 version that was originally rendered in Plexiglass. The work rearticulates the original score’s central tension between idea, object, and language, but denotes a shedding of the free-spirited and ethereal philosophy of the 60s with an acceptance of the 80s, an age defined by commodity and solidity. Also on view is Lynda Benglis’ Bravo (1973-1974), a rare example of her metallized knot sculptures, a part of her knot series. It is made of wire mesh, cotton bunting, and plaster, tied while wet, coated with gesso, and then sprayed with layers of zinc, tin, and other metals using an industrial metalizing gun. For Benglis, the knot—likened to embryos and plants—embodies a universal form and primordial symbol, giving physical shape to her inquiry into the nature of form. 

As a prelude to forthcoming programming at the gallery in New York, the presentation includes Takako Yamaguchi’s Silent H #3 (1982) a largescale painting offering a historic glimpse of her practice. She continues her exploration of water—clouds, rain, streams, and oceans—rendered as intricate abstractions.Yamaguchi draws from a wide-ranging repertoire of motifs and art historical references where rival artistic styles come together through landscape and abstraction. Her process recalls the dialectic of order and chaos; liquid paint mixed with metal pigment is spilled and pushed over a gridded surface to produce a marbled effect. 

With her career retrospective on view at the MFA Boston, organized by SFMOMA and the Walker Art Center, Suzanne Jackson’s Rush (1976) is a lyrical example of her experimentation during the 70s with paintings that are built up through multiple layers of acrylic wash on canvas, making for ethereal forms in which any firm distinction between depicted elements is dissolved. The figures flit in and out of discernability as the eye tries to redeem moments of figuration from an abstracted, dreamlike atmosphere. Meanwhile, Richard Mayhew’s Mission Valley (1993) showcases his trademark intervention in color representation – rendered in cool blues, greens, and soft peach tones, Mayhew’s palette transcends topological veracity to evoke a “mindscape” or “moodscape,” and crystallizes his lifelong impulse to transform nature into a site of quiet revelation, weaving together place, spirit, and history in a single, contemplative field of color. 

The booth features several photographs by Peter Hujar, including Pascal Imbert, Scarred Abdomen (1980) and Nicolas Abdallah Moufarrege (II), Paris (1980), both of which were images included in the 1986 exhibition “Peter Hujar: Recent Photographs” at the Gracie Mansion Gallery, the artist’s eighth and final solo show before his death. Hujar’s intimate photographs explore identity, mortality, and queerness with a distinctly skilled and moving openness and vulnerability. His work is held in prominent museum collections worldwide and their themes embody profound and pervading questions of life that continue to resonate with audiences today.  

The works from artists within the gallery program show the breadth of the gallery’s offerings, from the simple, thought-provoking conceptuality of Yoko Ono to the bold, colorful, and scenic abstract landscapes of Richard Mayhew. Through these juxtapositions, the presentation foregrounds affinities across generations, tracing both shared and different approaches to form, figuration, abstraction, and material experimentation.