Frieze Los Angeles 2024: What’s New, What to Know and Expect
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Frieze Los Angeles returns to Santa Monica Airport from Feb. 29 to March 3, marking the fifth edition of the annual contemporary art fair in the city.
“There’s certainly a lot of excitement around the Los Angeles market,” says Christine Messineo, Frieze’s director of Americas. “We’ve seen blue-chip galleries opening up secondary spaces in Los Angeles.”
More from WWD
Tiffany & Co. Unveils Peter Marino Exhibition at The Landmark
Abel Macias Uses Folkloric Images to Lighten Up Stores, Hotels and Restaurants
There’s been a renaissance of sorts with young artists, she adds, “with Emma Fernberger opening her space. She’s a New York transplant who decided L.A. was the place that she wanted to open her gallery. We see someone like François Ghebaly opening up additional spaces there. There’s a young world. There’s Babst Gallery. Sow & Tailor I think is in their third or fourth year. There’s real energy in Los Angeles. I think it comes from having such a strong artistic community and now we’re seeing the collector base grow. We’re understanding that Los Angeles can hold the market around collecting.”
Among collectors, more star power is expected — Frieze L.A. has in the past brought out the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Leonardo DiCaprio, Owen Wilson, Kendall Jenner, Benny Blanco, Rita Ora, Chris Rock, Usher, Kim Gordon and Amy Poehler.
And there continues to be collaborations, including a partnership with Stone Island, which signed a multiyear global deal with Frieze that kicked off last year. The Italian luxury brand, owned by Moncler, supports “Focus,” a section of the fair dedicated to younger galleries.
“When I came to Stone Island, one of the things that I noted is that it has this incredible kind of cultural intersection with different communities, from music to sports and also to art,” says Stone Island chief executive officer Robert Triefus, who was formerly at Gucci. “We have a lot of artists who wear Stone Island. And I have always been impressed with the way that Frieze helps aspiring art — and individuals. But what’s interesting is their approach to the artistic community.”
What he was struck by, he says, was “the chemistry between Stone Island and its community and the way that Frieze empowers ‘focus’ in each of its destinations to help emerging galleries.”
“Focus” in L.A., overseen for the first time by Essence Harden, who’s the visual arts curator of the California African American Museum, will showcase U.S. galleries that have been in operation for 12 years or less. There are 12 in total, with eight of them making their Frieze debut, including Babst Gallery, Matthew Brown and Dominique Gallery. They join returning exhibitors Make Room, Ochi, Sow & Tailor and Hannah Traore Gallery.
“She’s fabulous,” Messineo says of Harden. “She’s really brought in influence from the Bay Area. We have a couple of galleries that are joining us from Oakland and another from San Francisco.…She definitely has her finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the area.”
The intersection with fashion is a natural one, she goes on, discussing Stone Island: “We know what the audience looks like. There is incredible fashion. People dress so well during art fairs, and it’s casual to elegant. There’s a huge range. And it’s across all age groups. And that’s one of the things that’s unique to an art fair.…What I love about the Stone Island partnership is it comes from a very authentic place in that they’re interested in supporting a conversation around young talent and that young talent is the artistic talent but also young talent who are leading the emerging galleries.”
With Deutsche Bank as global lead partner, this year’s fair will unite more than 95 exhibitors from 21 countries — with nearly 50 percent dedicated to galleries operating in the Greater L.A. area. Exhibiting L.A.-based spaces include The Box, David Kordansky Gallery, Regen Projects and Hannah Hoffman. Notably, Parker Gallery and Anat Ebgi, both from L.A. and previously in “Focus,” are now in the main section. There will also be the expected major international exhibitors, among them, Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace Gallery, White Cube and David Zwirner. Fourteen will be new to Frieze L.A., with a strong representation from Asia, according to the fair, including Shanghai-based galleries Bank and MadeIn Gallery.
Also of note, the site — designed by Kulapat Yantrasast’s architectural studio Why — will reimagine the outdoor space as more of a central gathering point.
“The layout is a little bit different than it was last year,” Messineo explains. “We feel like we’ve embraced that feeling of a campus. There are some public art projects again this year [when you enter] that’s being curated by Art Production Fund. There’s a lot more food and beverage offerings, a lot more places to gather.”
Launched in 2003 in London, Frieze expanded to New York in 2012 before heading west to L.A. in 2019 (followed by Seoul). Its commitment to the U.S. market became evident last year when Frieze revealed the acquisition of The Armory Show in New York and Expo Chicago. Hollywood talent giant Endeavor acquired a majority stake in Frieze in 2016, making it part of the IMG network.
Rooted in a magazine of the same name — started in 1991 by Amanda Sharp, Matthew Slotover and artist Tom Gidley — Sharp and Slotover established the fair, kicking off with reportedly 124 galleries and 27,700 visitors in London’s Regent’s Park.
In L.A., tickets sold out the first year, with 30,000 attendees over four days at Paramount Studios. After moving to Beverly Hills near the Beverly Hilton, Frieze seems to have found a home at Santa Monica Airport, returning to the location for the second consecutive year.
The invite-only preview will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 29; Friday and Saturday will be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Best of WWD
